New Greaser in Town

Chapter 21

Christina's POV

As soon as I realize that Soda knows that it was me helping him. I run. My heart is beating so hard it hurts my chest. I part of me feels regret for stepping in & helping, Soda is old enough to take care of himself. Now because of this, he's probably wondering how the hell I did that. I was weak & vulnerable when I first got here & he knows that all to well, I couldn't changed that much over night. However another part of me feels guilty for feeling that. Of course I'm gonna help someone in trouble, especially if they're in the gang.
"Chris wait!" Soda yells running behind me trying to get to me.
I start to pick up my speed, even tho it hurts, but then I realize that even if he stops chasing me & doesn't catch me, this is still going to follow me around. The lying, the sneaking around & all for what? All just because I'm too scared to tell then that I'm training for self defense? It's not worth it. I stop running & turn around. He slows down & stops in front of me. I prepare myself for the questions, or yelling, or both. He looks at me with confusing & anger. I don't know where to begin.
"What the hell was that?" Soda asks. I stay silent.
"Answer me. Please." He says & grabs my hand.
"I joined wrestling. That's why I haven't been around lately." I finally admit & in that moment, I feel so much relief & so much weight off my shoulders. He looks, almost disappointed.
"Why would you keep something like that from us?"
"I knew that you guys wouldn't be supportive if you found out I was even considering it." I say.
"Yeah because it's completely ridiculous. We are here to protect you Christina!"
"Maybe that's the point!" I scream. This throws him off.
"Maybe I don't want to be dependent on someone all the time! Maybe I want to be my own hero sometimes okay?! I just wanted to do this one thing for myself from once, just this ONE thing!" I scream through the tears in my eyes.
"Christina...." he says gently grabbing my face.
"I just, I...." I stop to take a deep breath. "Ever since that night, I've realized that the world is cruel & unfair & im not promised tomorrow. & I want to live soda, I want to live." I say crying at this point. He grabs me & pulls me to him. I feel childish, crying on his chest.
"Shhh, it's okay." He says stroking my hair.
"After that night, it suddenly hit me that.... I almost died Soda. I almost died!"
"No, you weren't. You were in bad condition but, your brother told us you were gonna make it-" soda says but I can't help but interrupt.
"No Soda. That's not true. He lied to you. The doctor said that there was a chance that I wouldn't make it. That my body was to weak to handle the accident & that's not something that's easy to know. They said that if Two-bit hadn't found me on time, I would have died." I sobbed. Just saying it out loud brings me back to that night & it makes me want to throw up. He hugs me tighter.
"Christina, I'm so sorry. I know this probably isn't something that is easy to just forget & move past, but you're not alone. I get that you want to defend yourself, but that doesn't mean that we aren't here for you whenever you're in trouble. We love you, & we always will." He says. I smile & hug him tighter. & I don't know if it was just base on how vulnerable I feel in the moment, but here right now with Soda.... its one of the first times I've felt safe here after that day.
After a while of silence, we pull away.
"So, we should probably go tell the gang." He says. This surprises me.
"W-wait, what?" I ask.
"You're going to tell the gang that you're in wrestling." He says.
"N-no, I can't d-"
"Yes you can & you will Christina. Okay you've kept this from everyone for too long. It's time to tell them." He states.
"But, but it thought you understood....?"
"I do. But that doesn't mean I'm not still mad that you didn't tell any of us." He says raising his eyebrows.
That's not entirely true. I told Johnny. But I would never tell them that. They would get mad that he didn't say anything either.
"Plus, Dal's suspecting something." He hesitates to say.
"What?" I ask getting worried.
"Yeah, he thinks you might be cheating on him." He admits. Oh no. Dallas. I wouldn't ever do that to him. I wouldn't ever put him what Lucas did to me. & I know that he cheated on me when I was 14, but he was my first boyfriend & something like that at that age makes you feel awful. & the feeling doesn't go away. Looking back I feel stupid for being so sad about it when I was still pretty young.
"Oh my god." I say bring my hands to my mouth covering it. "Soda, I, i would never do something like that to Dallas. I love him!" I say.
Soda stiffens, he seems surprised with what I just admitted.
"You, you love him?" He asks.
"Of course." I say.
Silence.
"Well that's great! Umm, yeah well anyways let's go tell he gang." He says.
"Okay." Now that I know that Dallas thinks that, I need to reassure him that it's not true. We talk to the house & on my way I begin to practice what I'm going to say to the gang, & Dallas. We finally get to the front steps of the Curtis house & my heart brings to race.
"By the way, thank you Chris." He says smiling at me.
I just smile back & say "anything for you Soda."
We both take a breath & open the door.

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I'm baaaaaack ! I am so so sorry for just randomly stoping the story ! I've honestly missed this so so much & I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter & I'll be writing many more soon. 💜

~Quote of the day~
"Sometimes what you need is better than what you want."