Mean Socs ||Darry Curtis||

Chapter 5

Darry's POV:

"Darrel, that was the principal. They need you right now, and they say it's an emergency. Go down to the office and take your things with you, I don't know if you're coming back," Mr. Jones says to me as soon as I sit down.

Alarmed, I get back up and grab my things. Did I do something wrong? Am I in trouble? What kind of emergency was it?

Maybe Ponyboy or Soda is sick and Mom and Dad are coming to pick us up. Maybe something happened to one of them. Whatever it was, it sounded urgent.

"Hi, you um. You asked to see me?" I ask my principal, Mr. Smith, once I get to the front office.

"Ah, yes, Darrel. Have a seat. We're just waiting for your brothers on the other side of the building," he says.

My brothers go to the middle school. It's the bottom floor of the high school, but it's a pretty far walk to get to the office.

"Is something wrong, sir?" I ask him. He nods.

"I'm afraid so, Mr. Curtis, but you're just going to have to wait a few more minutes to find out. I'd rather tell the three of you at the same time," he says. His face is hard as stone, not showing any emotion.

Finally, my brothers get here. It seems like they took an hour, but it's only been about 5 minutes. They sit down on either side of me. We all stare up at the principal.

"Boys... I... I don't know how to say this, but your parents have gotten into a car accident." I stare up at him in disbelief, unable to say a word. Ponyboy immediately starts crying and I put my arm around him. He brings his hands to his eyes and sobs. Soda takes a long, loud breath in, and sighs.

"What?" He asks a second later, "This has to be a joke."

"I'm afraid not, Soda." Mr. Smith replies evenly. When reality hits Sodapop, it hits him hard. Obviously, he hasn't fully processed this yet.

"This can't be happening," I hear him whisper.

"It's ok, guys. They'll be fine," I say, trying to be cheerful. I pull both of my brothers in for a hug.

"I... I'm not so sure," Mr. Smith says. I look up at him.

"Why... Why not?" I ask. He sighs, and has a pained expression on his face.

"I really hate to be the one to tell you boys this..." He says, and his voice trails off. I stare at him with pleading eyes. Please don't say their dead. Don't say it in front of my brothers.

Their only in 7th and 9th grade. (Pony's 11 and Soda's 15) Please say that their ok, that they'll be fine. Please?

"Boys," he says and clears his throat. "The... The last time we talked to the hospital they said that both of your parents are in critical condition." My heart sank. That was not good.

"So... So what should we do? You pulled all of us out of class and I don't think Pony can go back to class like this."

"Oh, no. I wouldn't expect you to," he says.

"Darrel, you drove here, right?" He asked. I nodded. I had driven here in my parents old, beat up Ford. They let me take it when they have to work, because they both work at the same company.

"Why don't you drive Soda and Ponyboy down to the hospital down to the hospital and spend the day with your parents?" He asks. I nod, this sounds ok.

"Guys, go over there for a minute," I tell my brothers, pointing to the other side of the room.

"I have to talk to Mr. Smith." They oblige and I turn back to our principal.

"Darrel." He says simply.

"Mr. Smith... Are they... Are my parents going to be ok? Has anyone talked to them?" I ask. He sighs and puts a 'comforting' hand on my shoulder.

"There's... There's no easy way to say this," he says and my heart sinks down into my stomach.

"As I said before, their in critical condition. The doctors that I spoke with gave them a few hours at best. They were hit by a train," he tells me and I try as hard as I can to keep my cool.

"Ok. Thank you, sir," I say.

"I'm so sorry, Darrel. I just hope I'll be seeing the three of you back at school tomorrow," he calls as I walk away. Of course, I think to myself. Always about being at school the next day. Our parents are sitting in a hospital, dying as we spoke and all he cares about is us coming to school tomorrow? People these days.

I walk down to where my brothers are standing. Soda has Pony's hand in his, and he's rubbing out younger brothers back in hopes that he'll stop crying.

"Ready, guys?" I ask. They say nothing, just follow me to the car. We drive to the hospital in complete silence. Nobody wants to say anything, nobody has the nerve too. None of us can bare to feel any worse than we already do.

There's a mixture of worry, fear, sadness and regret in all 3 of us.

"It'll be ok, boys," I say as I walk up to the receptionist's desk.

"Hi, um, we're looking for Mr and Mrs. Darrel Curtis Sr.'s room," I say.

She scrolls down a computer and says, "Ahh, yes. Room 213, floor 3." I nod my thank you and we make our way to the elevators. We finally get to their room.

"Mom, Dad?" I say, quietly, and I vaguely remind myself of a Kindergartener on his first day.

Man, I remember Ponyboy's first day. It seems like it was just yesterday, but reality it was only 6 or so years ago. I remember watching Pony and Soda get on the bus hand in hand as mom sobbed into dad's shirt.

"He's not coming back, honey. He's growing up and he's going to forget about us. Pony's our last baby, I don't want to lose him. Not just yet, anyways." She said.

I remember that day better than any other. It was my first day of middle school, 6th grade. That was the day I met Elizabeth.

But I'll always remember that way mom said that, like she'd already lost Sodapop and I. Well, now we were losing her, but the difference was, she wasn't coming back.

A/N: Did you expect that? I'm just trying to play with your feels, like a lot. Another chapter will be posted SOON, and hopefully with Elizabeth's POV, too.