Sneakers

Chapter 3

“Ponyboy, hit the lights.” Soda said, two seconds later the living room flooded with light. I nestled more into my dark corner in the kitchen hoping I wouldn’t be discovered. 

“We have to get back at them!” when I heard this voice I froze, this voice belonged to Dallas Winston. Dallas was the meanest, coldest, and tuff greaser in Tulsa. His history with the cops goes back to when he was probably three years old, grand theft tricycle.

“Those Soc’s are gunna learn a lesson, and I’m gunna teach it to them!” Steve yelled, 

“Guys be quiet!” Pony whispered harshly “Darry and Lilly are both upstairs, we cant let them hear us.” The boys grumbled,

“We need to have a rumble, so we can pound on them soc boys.” Two bit said, all the boys made sounds of satisfaction, like they actually agreed! 

“Blades?” Bens voice asked calmly

“No, no weapons.” Soda said firmly

“How about Monday night, at the river?” Steve asked 

“Sounds good enough,” Dallas said “I’ll talk to Tim Shepard, and I’ll let them soc boys know what’s coming for them.” he said darkly, there were footsteps and then the door closed. 

“I’m out of here, night guys.” Two-Bit said

“Yeah, me too.” Steve murmured, the door opened and closed, I listened to there feet hit against the old wooden steps. There was a silence,

"Benny, you want to crash here?” Pony asked  

“If it aint’ to much trouble that would be great.” Ben said smoothly  

“Yeah, sure, I’ll just get you a clean blanket.” Soda said, I panicked, I was sitting right under the laundry cupboard. Soda was getting closer, I just sat there and hoped for the best. The light switch flicked on, I saw Soda and he saw me.

“Lillian May Curtis!” Soda said angrily. I stood up and pressed my back to the wall. Pony and Ben both walked in,  

“Lilly?” Pony asked, but Soda cut him off  

“Lillian May, what in gods name are you doing up at this hour, and you better have one dang good reason kiddo.” Soda said, I fiddled with the blanket that was draped around my shoulders,  

“Soda, its, um, well you see I just came down for water.” I said finally, Soda nodded  

“So you come down for water, and then to hide?” he asked, I shook my head  

“No, I was sitting at the table when you guys came in. I was going to go back upstairs, but then…” I didn’t finish, I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes.  

“Then what, honey?” Pony asked softly, I ran over to him and wrapped my arms around his waist.

   “You started talking about a rumble, and I don’t want any of you to fight.” I said hysterically, Soda came over and took me from Pony, he sat me in a kitchen chair.   

“Lilly, you know that your brother and I love you very much, right?” he asked softly, I sniffled and nodded. “Well, the whole idea of the rumble is to make our neighborhood safe, for you and all the other kiddos.” he said smiling at me.  

“What if you get hurt.” I mumbled looking down at the ground, Soda took his hand and lifted my face back up, so that I was looking him in the eye.   

“We wont get hurt.” he said smoothly, I looked up at everyone, Ben’s eyes were glued to the white tiled floor. Pony and Soda were looking at me, Soda had a proud look on his face. But Pony had a look of concern, I sighed.  

“I’m going to bed.” I mumbled as I shuffled out of the room, Soda ruffled my hair  

“I love you, kiddo.” he said with a half smile on his face, I gave my best fake smile,  

“Love you to, Soda.” I said heading up the stairs, I opened the door to my room and laid down on my bed. It was Saturday night and all I did was cry about a rumble and stare at my bedroom walls, fantastic.   

-------------------

The next morning I woke up and stumbled down the stairs, of course all the guys were sitting in the living room.   

“Morning, sleeping beauty!” Two-Bit called over the radio, I smiled at him and walked into the kitchen where to my surprise Ben was making breakfast. When he heard me come in he turned around with a frying pan in his hand,  

“Morning, Lilly.” he said with a slight smile on his face, “Want some breakfast?” he said gesturing to a plate of eggs and toast. 

“Yeah, thanks Ben.” I said sitting down at the table, Ben sat down across from me, his long black hair was hanging in his eyes like always. “Where’s Darry?” I asked looking down at my eggs, Ben laughed and I looked up  

“C’mon Lilly, my cooking doesn’t suck that badly.” he said with a smile, I felt my face turn red.  

“No, your cooking is great,” Ben cut me off before I could finish  

“Your brother had to go to work early today, so I figured since I was already sleeping here I might as well make myself useful.” he said running his hand through his hair. I nodded and took a bite of toast.    

We sat there in silence for a while, he would play with the fork and every so often he would look up at me with those huge grey eyes. After awhile he spoke,  

“You don’t need to worry, about the rumble.” he said quietly, I looked at him for a moment, his eyes were dead locked on mine, “I’ll make sure your brothers don’t get hurt, I promise.” I looked down at the ground, how could he make sure, he wasn’t super strong like Darry. The only one he could probably protect would be Pony because he was older than him by a year.   

“Yeah, okay.” I mumbled standing up and putting my dish in the sink, Ben jumped up and stood in front of me  

“What’s your problem?” he asked with an upset tone, I rolled my eyes  

“You just don’t get it do you?” I asked calmly, Ben looked at me with a confused look, “It doesn’t matter if you have a rumble or not, Soc’s will always think they are better than us. And greasers will always be the scum of the neighborhood, the poor kids.”   

“No, Lilly,” Ben said excitedly “were gunna change all of that, we are going to make them wish they had never messed with us.” I whipped around and thumped him on his shoulder  

“I never thought someone so good looking could be such a dumb ass!” I yelled, it got quiet in the living room, everyone had heard me...