Knowing Your End

Three

"What do you mean you just, 'found it'?"

"It was just laying on the ground. On the corner of Pickett and Sutton." Dallas pointed across and down the street.

"That doesn't make sense." I furrowed my brow.

"Yeah, I know. Reading isn't really my thing, if you know what I mean, so actually picking the thing up was kinda a shocker to me-"

"No, I mean, why would it just be there?"

"You think I have any idea?"

"You found it!"

"Yeah? Well I don't got a buggin' clue." He said, shrugging his shoulders as he took another swig of beer. Buck's wasn't busy yet, it was still early though, fifteen before six. I never come when it's busy, unless I need a place to crash. There's only one extra room, and it's first come first serve, so me and Dallas got a little competition going on here.

"Do you think someone lost it?" I questioned, hoping it wasn't true.

"The thing doesn't look touched. Nobody's that obsessed with a blasted book, and if you are you need to get some help. It doesn't got fold marks or nothin'. No pages bent. It's better than brand new." He gave me a side eye before slipping a quarter on the counter, wait, nevermind, it was a chocolate coin. I knew Dal better than to actually pay for something legally. "How bad is it?" he asked.

"How bad is what?"

"The book? I mean, all books have a happy ending." he took another drink.

"Uh... it's bad." I choked. That's all I could manage to get out of my mouth.

It was a moment of silence before he shook his head and smirked, "Does Pony actually cut his hair?" he looked at me, his icy blue eyes meeting mine.

"And bleach it, yes." I smiled, but faded. This was going to be harder than I thought.

The next few days we read about two to three chapters per day, depending on how everyone's schedules add up. I think Pony was most squirmy out of all of us, since all his personal thoughts were being thrown around, even though he's never said, or written them down, himself.

Steve cuts healed, although his ribs will take a month or two, but they'll heal on their own. I took a first aid course a while back, good thing, considering what the gang does in their spare time. I buy more five times more bandages than the average household needs.

I never found out where 'The Outsiders' actually came from. And if Dally did get it somewhere other than off the street, I wouldn't be able to beat it out of him anyway.

The gang never came to the thought I wasn't from here. Sometimes I'd hum random songs I knew by heart that were from the future, and they'd just ignore it. Except for one time Johnny said he liked the tune and wondered what song it was, I simply said I couldn't remember. The music isn't as good here and it was in the future. I listened to Taylor Swift, Fall Out Boy, Halsey, some Selena Gomez. I remember singing/humming some Melanie Martinez, Dally thought I was going mentally insane. It's nice to know he's worried about my health.

We weren't very far yet in the book, and I've been trying to put the whole reading thing to the side, since the 'fire' part is coming up. My nervousness must have been showing more than I thought because it feels like others are avoiding the chapter six as well.

I did my usual activities. I still went to school, the same one as Ponyboy and Two-Bit. I'm only fifteen, and in my mind, everyone needs an education. I did okay in school, but was still unsure about whether to go to collage or not. Depends how much money I got. I spent some days after school getting some extra cash at the DX with Steve and Soda. That's how I usually played it in the winter, summer was about the same, but I'd go to the rodeo with Dally sometimes.

But no matter what I did to keep my mind off the book, it still called me. But something stopped me from burning the thing. I couldn't tell what it was.

When we read the scene where Johnnycake cuts Pony's hair, Two-Bit screamed. It was hilarious. "Not your tough hair..." Sodapop whimpered. That didn't stop us from reading onto chapter six. Darry figured since none of the gang actually experienced this, that he would no longer skim over the rest of the book.

"Johnny gagged and I almost dropped my hot-fudge sundae. "Cherry?" we both said at the same time. "The Soc?"

"Yeah," Dally said. "She came over to the vacant lot the night Two-Bit was jumped. Shepard and some of his outfit and us were hanging around there when she drives up in her little ol' Sting Ray. That took a lot of nerve."

Ponyboy spoke up once Darry paused. "Cherry's never spoken a word to me after that Nightly Double. What's she doin' spying for us?"

"Yeah," Two-Bit began, "How do we know she isn't spying on us for them? Oh, and Pony, next time you want a broad, pick up your own kind."

"Says you checking out what's-her-name."

"Can I keep reading?" Darry questioned, making the room cool down.

"Johnny had been quietly finishing his fifth barbecue sandwich, but now he announced: "We're goin' back and turn ourselves in."

It was Dally's turn to gag. Then he swore awhile."

"Ha, Pony's too innocent to write what I said." Dally mocked, proud of his long vocabulary. "Glory kid!"

"Dally, considering what comes outta your mouth, it's a good thing." Darry said.

"You wanna grab a Coke?" Ponyboy offered.

"Sure." I nodded, we weren't finished that chapter yet, we were interrupted when Tim Shepherd came tearing through the door, needing Dallas for who-knows-what. I slipped it into my jacket pocket, knowing somehow cake or beer would end up ruining it leaving it at the Curtis' house. So me, Pony, Johnny, and Two-Bit left since the others had elsewhere to get to. I needed a break from that book.

* * * * *

That's all for this chapter. I didn't really like how this one ended, but oh well. I promise the next chapter will be exciting. Thank you so much for reading, please leave a comment of what you thought!