That morning, I made mine and Andy's breakfast, since he obviously had to stay home, and stormed off to school. During lunch, I scoured the school looking for Luke Hoskins, getting more enraged the longer it took me to find him. A couple of my friends tried to stop me, but I ignored them. I found him outside, and stormed over to him. "Hoskins!" I shouted. "Aw, hey Chris," he said in a cocky voice, "you finally think about the offer I made the other day to take you out? Cuz it still sta-" Before he finished, I hammered my fist into his nose. I hit him so hard he fell to the ground. He didn't even know what had hit him before I pounced on him again and started beating the crap out of him. "Teach you to beat up on MY brother!" I screamed. I didn't stop punching until one of the teachers dragged me off of him. I didn't even see the huge crowd gathered around us til the teacher pulled me away. He held me by the arm, and brought me to the office.
I just sat in the office waiting for the rest of the day, since neither of my parents could come get me. I sat staring at my blood covered knuckles, trying to figure out if it was Luke's, mine, or both. They kept me there for a half hour after school before they let me go. I was lucky. Usually when fights break out, both kids get at least a two-day suspension, but they seemed to understand when I told them my reasons. I didn't care at all that I got in trouble. I had gotten even. And I knew, being the coward he was, Luke Hoskins would never touch me or my brother again.
I finally made it home and immediately went to check on Andy, but when I got home, he wasn't on the couch. I found him in his room lying on his bed, reading. "Guess you're feeling better?" I asked as I walked in. He looked up from his book and grinned a little. "Yeah, a lot better. I'm still pretty sore though." I walked over and sat on his bed to tell him about my day and such. I didn't get far though, before he noticed my knuckles. "What's this?" he asked, grabbing my hand and looking at my knuckles. "Oh yeah, that..." I said, pulling my hand away. "I uh- kinda got in a fight with Luke Hoskins today. That's why I got home late, they kept me after school."
"Did you get suspended?" Andy questioned. "Naw, just detention for today, that's all." Andy glanced back down at his book with a disappointed expression. After a minute he looked back up at me like he was gonna scold me. "Didja win?" he asked, to my surprise. "Oh yeah!" I replied proudly. "He didn't know what hit him!" Andy laughed a little, even though it hurt when he laughed. "Alright now, beat it and do your chores before either of us get into any more trouble!" He teased, hitting me with his book. I laughed a little and got up to do my chores.
I finished my chores and my homework, and sat at my desk thinking. I was thinking about something I never really thought about before. I was thinking about Sodapop. If it weren't for him, my brother might not be here, I thought to myself. I decided to go back to the DX and thank him again. I had to hurry though, since it was getting late, and the DX would be closing soon. I told Andy where I was going, and left. I walked fast paced to the gas station, hoping to catch him before he left. When I got there, the lights were off inside, and the sign on the door read "closed." I peered through the glass door to see if I could spot anyone. Nothing. I sighed and turned around to head home. Suddenly, I heard a loud bang that sounded like metal hitting the ground over from the other side of the DX. I ran over to the little alley between the DX and an old wooden fence. I saw a newly knocked over trash can rolling slowly across the ground, with a guy standing nearby, his back to me. It was Sodapop. He held the back of his head with his hands and looked into the sky. His hands then traveled from the back of his head, to his eyes. He just held his hands over his eyes and face, and slowly dropped to his knees on the ground, crying. I quickly but cautiously walked up to him, and kneeled in front of him. "Soda?" I said, lifting his chin. He moved his hands from his face and looked at me, his eyes red and watering, and his cheeks streaked with tears. He just stared at me for a moment, until tears started rolling down his cheeks again. He put his head back down, and to my surprise, he threw his arms around me, pulling me into a hug, and just sobbed into my shoulder. I instinctively hugged back, but I was still taken aback by this. I guessed that everything that happened this week just sent him over the edge, and he just needed a hug. I was right, but I still didn't know about what specifically sent him over the edge. I didn't need to know at the moment, I just needed to be there. We sat on the asphalt beside the DX for at least 5 minutes, with him just sobbing into my shoulder. I held one arm across his back, and held the back of his head with my other, trying, unsuccessfully, to hold back tears myself. When he finally began to calm down, I helped him up, and began walking him home. Neither of us said a word. We held onto each other the whole way. I knocked on the door, but opened it and walked in before anyone could answer. The first person I saw was a really big guy, (who I thought might be Darry) getting up out of a chair, probably to answer the door. A worried expression crossed his face as soon as we walked in. He rushed up to Soda, and Soda let go of me and grabbed onto Darry. "Soda! What's wrong little buddy?" he questioned quickly, but calmly. Soda didn't reply, just started to slowly cry again. He brought Soda into the hall and out of my sight. I stood there staring at the corner they disappeared behind, until someone moving on the couch caught my attention. I looked over at the guy sitting upright on the couch, staring at me. It was dark, but I could still make out a picture of Mickey Mouse on his shirt. Then I knew it was Two-Bit Matthews. We both looked back in the direction of Soda and the big guy. The room was silent, except for the muffled Donald Duck noises coming from the T.V. The silence was broken when Meg suddenly came from the kitchen. "Chris? What are you doing here?" I didn't respond. I didn't really know what I was doing there either. Meg and Two-Bit glanced back and forth from me to each other. After a moment of silence, the big guy came back into the room. He stopped, looked down at the floor, and sighed. "Is he ok?" I asked timidly. The big guy looked up at me as if he had forgotten I was there. "Uh, well, I don't know. I don't know what happened. Do you?" he asked slowly. I shook my head. He looked down, sighed again, then looked back up at me. Then he walked up to me. "Sorry, I'm Darry, Soda's older brother." he said, holding out his hand. It was Darry. I shook his hand, but not as firmly as I normally would. "I'm, uh, Christine, or Chris." I replied quietly. His expression changed to a curious one. "Are you the girl who helped Johnny out a few nights ago?" he asked. "Yeah, uh, I guess that'd be me." He nodded slightly. I can't really describe how I felt at that moment, except that I didn't feel too good. I felt like I had helped, but I felt helpless, exhausted but energized, worried but comforted, sick but well, all at once. "Do you know what happened?" he questioned calmly. "No, he hasn't said a word." I replied, "I just found him behind the DX, cryin'. Before I could ask him what was wrong, he just sorta clung to me. I guess he just needed somethin', someone, to hold onto." Darry's worried expression returned as he looked toward the hall. Two-Bit had been studying me as I was talking to Darry. "Chris," Two started, snapping me out of a daydream, "you sure you're ok?" Was I ok? Not really. But of course, I couldn't really say that, so I said the next best thing. "Yeah, I-I think so." Meg approached me and put her hand on my shoulder. "Two and I'll take you home, ok?" I nodded, and turned toward the door. "Hey, Chris," Darry called, snapping out of his own daydream, "Thank you, for everything. For all your help. As far as I'm concerned, you're part of the gang." I'm not sure why, but when he said that, I felt so relieved that I literally sighed. It almost felt as if I could breathe easier. I smiled back at him. "Thanks Darry." He nodded and turned back to the hall, as we turned to the door.
The car ride was pretty quiet. No one could really think of anything to say. There was hardly anything that could be said about what had just happened, whatever it was. "Thanks for the ride, guys." I said as Two-Bit pulled the car up to my house. "No problem, kid." Two replied. "I'll see you soon, Chris!" Meg called, trying not to end the night on a bad note. "Yeah, see you soon!" I replied. When I walked in, Andy was already asleep (as I guessed he would be), so I immediately went to my room, and threw myself on the bed. I had never fallen asleep so fast in my life.
