June Curtis

Chapter 34

Tanner's POV

Braeden and I walked inside the house and gave Dally the cigarettes. "So what are we gonna do about June?" Steve asks and Darry sighs and says "I don't know. We know that if we need someone to watch her, we can't leave her with Ponyboy." Darry pauses and looks at Ponyboy and there are chuckles around the room and Pony says "She is meaner than she looks. Plus, she's an excellent liar." This time Darry even chuckled and said "But, I don't think grounding her is gonna work. We always ground her and nothing good comes out of it. So we need a new strategy for punishment. Then, when we find one that she will absolutely hate, she will tell us what is going on just so the punishment will be done with." We all nodded willingly to try the new punishment but Dally said "Ok, but she's gonna find a way to out smart us because that's what she always does." We nodded at that too because she really does out smart us no matter what we do. We all went quiet with Mickey Mouse on the TV and all of a sudden, they all look at me. "You guys thinking what I'm thinking?" Candy asked and they nodded all except for me. "What?" I asked and Candy came and put her hand on my shoulder and sat me down on the couch and said "You are going to break through June and find out what she's hiding and what she would hate to have as a punishment. No matter what it takes." What?! Are you kidding me?! No!! With Candy's hand still on my shoulder, I jumped up and yelled "What?!" Candy pushed me back down and said "C'mon Tanner, you can do it. If anyone could, it's you. She trusts you a lot." Exactly. She trusts me. "Yes, she does trust me and I want to keep it that way. Look, I want to help her and I want to know what's going on with her, but I don't want to destroy what we have. I lied once to protect her, that hurt her and I don't want to do it again. I promised that I wouldn't lie to her again and if I break that promise, I might loose her, and I'm not willing to take that chance. I can't loose her, I just can't." I said and the gang stayed silent but looked at me and soon Beth said "Alright Tanner, we won't make you do anything that you don't want to do. But, we're happy that you feel like that about June. She needs someone like you. But, we do need to find a punishment and know who and what is behind in all of this." I sighed in relief and smiled a little. "I won't lie to her but, I could go talk to her if ya want." I offered. I won't lie to her but that doesn't mean that I can't talk to her. "You can try." Soda said. I got up and went to June's room and knocked on the door. She didn't say anything so I opened the door and saw her laying on her bed and drawing. She doesn't look happy. This is going to be rough. "Hey June." I said and she didn't look up at me, she just asked "Why didn't you do anything?" I sighed and sat on her bed and said "I don't know. But Dally's right, you need to start listening." Her head shot up and looked at me and yelled "I'M PROTECTING YOU! I'M PROTECTING THE GANG! TANNER, IF I DON'T LISTEN TO YOU GUYS, I GET IN TROUBLE! IF I DON'T LISTEN TO THEM, THEN THE GANG IS IN TROUBLE AND I MIGHT ALSO BE IN TROUBLE! YOU GUYS DON'T UNDERSTAND!" Wow. I know the gang heard that one and possibly the whole neighborhood. She's right though, I don't understand. No one understands what she's going through. "You're right. I don't understand. But if you tell me, I promise I will try my hardest to understand. You just have to give me a chance. Please tell me June." I pleaded but I don't know if I can even get her to tell me. "Tanner, you said that you would wait for me. You're gonna have to keep waiting because I'm not ready to tell and I can't. If I could, I would in a heart beat. But, I can't let them hurt Johnny." She said and... Wait what?! Someone's gonna hurt Johnny?! No they can't! Who would ever want to hurt Johnny? "What do you mean they are gonna hurt Johnny?! Who's gonna hurt Johnny?! June!" I exclaimed. She shook her head and pushed me out of her room then slammed and locked the door. The gang looked at me and Kathy asked "We heard yelling. What happened?" I sat on the couch and looked at Johnny and said "June didn't tell me everything but she said that she can't let them hurt Johnny." Johnny's eyes went wide and he started to shake like a leaf. "Who's gonna hurt Johnny? They must be talkin about another Johnny because they aren't gonna hurt my Johnny! I'm gonna kill whoever touches Johnny besides the gang!" Dally said and he was pissed just like the rest of the gang. "She also said that she's protecting us and if she doesn't do what they say then the gang will be in trouble and she might be too." I added and the gang got even more pissed but Ponyboy and Johnny looked frightened. Dally finally spoke up after a minute or two of silence "Then we won't let anyone walk alone, leave the house without the others knowing where we are going, and we won't let June or Johnny leave the house unless it's an emergency. We have to. Let's do it for Johnny, man. We'll do it for Johnny." We all agreed.

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Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading!