Dally's Sweetheart

Chapter One

"Daniel, I swear if you don't do your homework, I'll ground you for a month!" A voice shouted from inside the Curtis house.

"It's pointless! I'm never going to use math in the future," someone shouted back.

Daniel stood in the middle of the living room, trying to escape his brother, Darry's, arms.

Darry had his arms wrapped around Daniel's waist as he tried to run towards his room that he shared with Pony and Soda.

"Daniel! If you don't do your homework, I'll never let you leave this house again!" Darry shouted. Daniel stopped struggling and slumped into Darry's hold. 

"Fine, then I'll never have to go to school again!"

Darry let go of Daniel with a sigh. "Please, Danny, just do your homework," Darry begged. Daniel sighed. Daniel hated homework. Specifically math. There was no point in it, and the fact that he wouldn't even use it for his future job, he didn't feel the need to do the homework. 

The front door of the Curtis house burst open, and Dally, Johnny, and Two-Bit walked in.

"Johnny!" Daniel shouted and ran towards his best friend. "Tell Darry that doing math is pointless! He's trying to force me to do my math homework!" 

"Just listen to Darry, kid. He's your guardian and you need to do what he says," Dally said, leaning against the door frame. Daniel stuck his tongue out at Dally before flicking him off. 

"Nobody asked you, Dallas" Daniel said and turned to Johnny.

"Yea, Danny, you probably should be doin' your math homework," Johnny shyly said, his face seeming guilty that he was siding with Darry. Daniel pouted and stomped off to his room. 

"Do your homework, Daniel!" Darry called as he slammed the door shut. Daniel plopped down on the bed and curled himself into a ball. The homework wasn't the problem. It was the fact that everyone seemed to side with Darry when it came to decisions about him. Why couldn't he choose what he wanted to do? Why did it have to be up to everyone else? So what if he didn't do one math assignment? Soda was a high school drop out for Pete's sake and you didn't see Darry yelling at him for that. 

Daniel hit himself in the head. 'Stupid, stupid, stupid. Don't think about that Daniel. He would still be in school if he could. He's helping provide for all your necessities.' 

Daniel sighed and stared at the ceiling of his room. Why did his life have to be so difficult? He doesn't remember doing anything bad to deserve losing his parents. None of them did. Sure, he might have stolen a few packs of cigarettes but they were always confiscated by Darry before he could even open the pack.

A knock on the wooden door broke Daniel from his thoughts. Soda peeked his head in through the door before walking completely into the room. 

"Everything okay, bub?" Soda asked as he sat down on the edge of the bed, next to Daniel. Daniel only pouted, trying not to seem like a pouting baby in front of his older brother but Soda made it so hard to stay tough. 

Daniel shook his head and sat up only to throw himself into Soda's chest. Soda softly chuckled before grabbing onto Daniel and running his hands through his soft hair. 

"I can't do my math homework," Daniel finally muttered after a few moments of silence. 

Soda paused for a second before he sighed. "Why ain't you ask Pony for help?" Soda asks. 

"Because every time I need help with homework, I just end up sitting there while he does it for me. I'm not smart like Pony," Daniel says and buries his head into Soda's head further. 

"Danny, you can't compare yourself to Pony all the time. You guys might be twins but you guys are two completely different people. So you might not have the brains that Pony has but you're sweet, although you have a bit of an attitude, you're caring, and so incredibly nice. Don't forget how handsome you are, too. I'm surprised you're not being crushed by a swarm of girls by now." 

Right, Daniel thought. I'm not being swarmed by girls because I'm a greaser. Plus, you're my brother. If anything, they'll just use me to get to you.

Daniel didn't say anything after that. Soda eventually got up to leave for work and left Daniel to lay in bed. 

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Pony invited Daniel to head to the drive-in with him later that day. Daniel agreed, wanting to stop decaying in his bed all day. It was just going to be him and Pony at the drive-in considering the other gang members were busy. Pony and him snuck in through a hole in the fence despite having money to pay to get in. 

Pony wanted to go see the new Paul Newman movie so they sat down near the front of the screen to watch the movie. As they walked past all the cars parked in the lot, they saw multiple couples making out or cuddling. Daniel cringed. The movie hadn't even started. 

The movie was pretty interesting but it was probably something Daniel would never go see again. He did have to admit that Paul wasn't bad looking but really, that was the only reason he enjoyed the movie. 

The walk back was silent as he and Pony walked back to the house. Pony had a distant look on his face as if he was thinking about something. Daniel didn't bother to ask what though. The silence was interrupted as a loud engine came from behind Pony and him. Pony glanced over his shoulder before grabbing Daniel's hand and running down the street. 

"Hey, Pony! Stop! I'm not in track like you are!" Daniel shouted as Pony continued to drag him down the street. 

"Come on, Danny. Just keep up," Pony shouted over his shoulder. Daniel tripped over a beer bottle laying on the ground causing him to fall. Daniel let go of Pony's hand to catch himself. Pony quickly turned around when his hand became cold and rushed towards Daniel who was on the ground with bloody hands and a scrapped knee. 

"Oh, Danny! Come on, get up!" Pony said and tried to pull Daniel up from the ground before the blue Mustang reached them. 

"Pony, I can't! Just go get the others, okay?" Daniel said and tried to push Pony in the direction of their house. 

"No, come on, Danny. I'm not leaving you here," Pony said and continued to try and pull Daniel up off the ground. 

"Pony. Please just go get the others. You know I won't be able to keep up especially not with my scrapped knee. I don't want you to get hurt, Pony. Please," Daniel pleaded and with a reluctant look, quickly turned around and ran towards the house. 

The blue Mustang pulled up beside Daniel as Pony turned the corner. Four socs got out of the car with a laugh. 

"Well look what we got here, boys. It's a greaser," One of the socs said, grabbing Daniel by the hair. Daniel let out a cry of pain and reached up to try to grab the soc. Another soc grabbed Daniel's hands and pinned them to the ground before a greaser with rings all over his fingers came up to Daniel with a pocket knife in his hand. Daniel tried to squirm out of the grip of the soc holding him but it was no use. His grip was too strong. 

"Look at him struggle. That's hilarious." The one with the knife said. "You know, I think this greaser could use a haircut." He walked up to Daniel and held the knife up to his hair. Daniel's hair wasn't long by any means so the knife was held up near the back of his neck, the first soc still gripping his hair. 

Daniel let out a loud yell, hoping someone would come and save him before he got cut up by some soc with a knife. He couldn't turn out like Johnny, always looking behind him when he hears a car or flinching at the sight of a soc. He couldn't live his life in fear. 

"HELP, SOMEONE! PONY! SODA!" Daniel shouted. "DARR-" 

"SHUT HIM UP! FOR GOODNESS SAKE, MAKE HIM STOP"

A rough, calloused hand covered his mouth and a knife was held up to his neck. His screams became quiet as he looked at the socs with wide eyes. The leader chuckled with a smirk on his face. 

"Not so brave now, are we greaser?"

Daniel laid there, with a knife against his throat, in the grip of a group of socs, waiting for Pony to come running back with the rest of their brothers to save him. He didn't want to die tonight. Hopefully Darry wouldn't be mad about the math homework.