Teasing Fate |The Outsiders|

29. One Way Or Another

"BUT I LET YOU GO." - The Lumineers (Gale Song)

***

An entire week had passed, and the ugly, yellow bruise staining the left side of my face showed no intention of fading. An entire week had passed, and I'm sure Pat and the Curtis gang were ready to beat me to death with sticks in the middle of the street. An entire fucking week had passed, and I still knew I deserved for feeling like an asshole.

I was throwing my clothes into their respective drawers when the door flung open and Curly's backpack plummeted to the hardwood floor. Calling him out on it would be useless -- I've tried that too many times before. So instead, I wrapped my hand around the strap and swung it back at him before he could flop down into his bed. "Put your shit away properly, alright?" I scold, "I don't have time to clean up after you." The mattress sags as the backpack lands on Curly's stomach. He groans for the most part before digging through one of the pockets but doesn't say anything for a while. I turn my back to him and study my side of the room. Pat was pissed at me, so I didn't have many people to talk to at school -- none that I could stand for longer than ten minutes, anyway -- and Marley had been avoiding me like the plague ever since she showed up with my chemistry exam in hand. I deserved it. I deserved all of it.

All it takes is the sound of a wrapper being torn open for me to turn back around, just in time to watch my brother swipe the crumbs from his bed and onto the ground. Usually, I'd smack him and tell him to smarten up, but he jumps down my throat before I can even get him within my reach. "Pony's lookin' better," he says through a mouth full of granola bar. "He's eating his lunch and talkin' more in class again. Still hates these things though..." Curly's always been a weird kid. The kind to climb trees without thinking about how to get down, the kind to eat garbage for a dollar. But, for whatever reason, Curls really did worry about Ponyboy. For weeks it involved waiting with him outside the school before Soda and the rest of the gang showed up, even nudging him awake when he fell asleep in class. Now, I already knew what teachers -- as well as a majority of Tulsa -- thought about us Shepards, but I was pretty damn proud of him. Even if he brushed it off as just needing Pony to give him the answers for the next quiz, it didn't squash the pride burning in my chest. No, the pride was flattened into non-existence when he sat up and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "-You've seen Marley, lately? Pony's been sayin' she's been staying out late an' stuff. Said she dropped out, even."

I hated my father with every fibre of my being, alright? I hated him for coming back, I hated him for dragging me into his pissing match with Darry Curtis, I hated him for bringing Marley of all fucking people into it. I hated him for everything he'd ever done to Curly and Angela, and I knew that would never change. But, I guess I had to the old fuck a point or two for keeping his two youngest kids away from his scheme. He let Ang and Curls dangle her name out in front of me like a worm on a hook, waiting for me to take the bait and for the illusion to shatter.

I'd spent so long perfecting the lie that Marley was nothing more than a girl who got stuck teaching me chemistry. I'd spent so fucking long to make sure she and Donna Micheals never had to share the same fate. I'd worked so hard, even if it meant avoiding her for days. Even if it meant nodding along to all the filthy jokes Andy had come up with in an attempt to get under my skin. Even if it meant telling her she was nothing but a girl who got in the way and watching her step off my porch with tears burning in her eyes.

"No," I answer bluntly. I grit my teeth and turn my back to him before he can see my eyes close. I'd been waiting for the Curtis brothers to show up at my door for the past week, but I'd never expected Patrick Macrorie to be the one to throw the first punch. He'd gone after me as soon as Dad's meeting with the Keeps had been adjourned. Sure, I'd managed to get a few good licks in, too, but my ego was more bruised than my face. I pulled at the covers on my bed as I let the answer fester, waiting for Curly to push his luck again. Turns out, I didn't have to wait long. "He thinks she's been going to a lot of parties since the accident. Comin' home late and smellin' like beer, even said she was going through their momma's make-up a couple times. Did she ever-"