The End is Only the Beginning

Chapter 2-Going Home

The Curtis house had so much character, even at night. The front yard always had tools that were used to repair cars scattered around it, and there was always yelling that could be heard for miles coming from in the house. Not because they were mad at each other, but because they were often too lazy to get up and talk to each other, so they had to yell across the house. It was quite funny to watch the Curtis brothers, Sodapop Curtis was usually working on cars in the front yard with Steve Randle, while Darry and Ponyboy Curtis would argue about who had to clean up the messes around the house. Often Darry won the arguments, except for when he was too tired. I had been spending most of my time at their house after my dad left, and my mom became very violent.

My mother's name was Judith Watson and she was a short plump woman. She had short black hair that curled up at the sides, and she was only 5 feet tall. She looked nothing like me and looked more like my friend Kinsley. In fact once at a park another mom thought that Kinsley was my moms child and I was her friend. This never bothered me though because it would kill me if I was ever compared to my mom. I had been told by Two-Bit Matthews that Johnny Cade had the same problem, where his mom was real violent. Same with his dad, I would have liked Johnny. I never met him though. I wish I did, the way Ponyboy talks about him always touches my heart.

A while back Darry showed me a picture of Johnny, he was real handsome. He looked tuff, and the scar under his eye helped with that. Even though he looked tuff, his eyes looked sad. He had big black eyes that were a bit hidden by his hair. He really did look like a poor puppy that had been kicked too many times. He had a jean jacket and on the front pocket it said in small letters, "Johnny". It was hidden well by the pocked fold but still slightly visible in the picture. It was sewn on in a messy handwriting with dark blue thread. Im guessing by him...because nobody was there to do it for him. There was so much Johnny never got to do like graduate, to homecoming, pass his drivers test, or even finish "Gone With The Wind." He was only 16.

"Ok, we're here. Are you sure you are ok?" Pony had been asking me if I was alright almost the whole way to his house.

"I am positive, Pony you don't have to worry about me," I lied, walking up the concrete steps with him and started to hear muffled talking. It was Darry and Sodapop, usually one of them stayed awake until Ponyboy came home, I admired them for that.

Ponyboy opened the door and I was almost blinded by the bright lights. They were not that bright, but it had been dark the whole way to the house so it took me a minute to adjust. Pony walked in first and I followed him.

"Where the hell have you be-never mind, Gracie are you going to be sleeping over?" I heard how quickly Darry's tone changed when he saw me and it was almost scary. I also saw the look in his eyes change, at first they were cold and icy, but when he saw me they became warm and welcoming. That was one of the things I liked about Darry, even though he was so tough with Ponyboy and Sodapop, he was so kind and welcoming to everyone else.

"Yeah is that ok?" I never wanted to be a burden so I always asked before going over to someone's home. Darry nodded as he got up to grab a blanket.

"Hey Grace how are you?" Soda asked while helping Darry get a blanket from the closet. I looked up to Sodapop because no matter what happened in his life he always found the good things. He also had a lot of good friends, he had this thing that made people follow him. And he would do anything for the gang, especially Pony. Soda had always been kind to me and Pony always talked nice about him.

"I'm good. Thanks for letting me stay over, my mom got made again." I honestly didn't know why my mom was mad at me this time. It was usually if I got in her way, or didn't finish my chores.

"Of course, you can stay over here anytime you want." Soda was always kind to everyone he talked to, and you didn't have to talk to him to know he was a sweet person. You could see it in his eyes. However he looked different that night, he looked shaken up. Almost like he had been crying, I didn't think much of it though.
"Ok goodnight." Darry said in a firm, but kind voice. As much as he scared me he was really the only person I could talk to about stuff, other than pony.

"Goodnight, Gracie. Sweet dreams," pony said in a soft voice and kissed my cheek. He smiled and walked to the room that him and Sodapop shared. I started to blush slightly.

I laid on the couch and turned the lamp off, the room became very quiet and still. I didn't know if it was because I was so tired, or if it was because I was away from my mom. I planned to never go back to her, after what she did I didn't ever want to see her again. She was supposed to be someone that I could go and talk to but instead she was the reason I had to talk to people. I truly hated her, I wished she left instead of my dad. I wished she died in the fire instead of Johnny, and I never even met Johnny.