𝔰𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖊𝖗 𝖔𝖋 '67

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 28

I left Soda's house wondering what the letter says. Do I open it? or should I wait till I give it to Dally? Either way, I was so eager to find out what was written inside it. I see three people get out of there car, I realized it was my parents and my sister. I haven't seen them in so long, did they even miss me?

I had the urge to walk over to them. It was either I told them how much I miss having them around or yell at them for kicking me out. This was my family and it just came to mind that at the end of the day, they act like every other rich snob in this town. I see my mothers head turn to my direction. I immediately ran away, I was too afraid.

As I continued to run down the street, I tripped over the sidewalk and bumped into something. I get up from the ground and look down, blood was dripping down from my knee, "Shit" I called out. I then realized there was still a person beside me, I turn over. "Are you alright?". Cherry fucking Valance. I awkwardly smiled, I can't believe I made a fool out of myself in front of her. "Oh uh yeah i'm alright" I said limping. She looks down at my leg, "Riz, you're bleeding. Let me help you out" she says. Why was she being so nice? I thought she hated me?

Without saying anything else I let her help. She made me sit on the side walk as she pulled a handkerchief and a bandage out of her clutch purse. She sat down beside me and applied pressure onto my wound, "Why are you being so nice to me?" I asked Cherry. "Well I don't know, I just didn't want you to be left alone and bleeding" she replies. I had a feeling she was referring to her boyfriend. I sighed, "I'm sorry about Bob" I said. Cherry sadly smiled back at me, "Yeah, I know Johnny probably didn't mean to kill Bob. I could tell that Johnny was shy and a good person. I bet Bob scared him to death" Cherry said. I looked away from Cherry, "This whole thing is just a disaster".

After she placed the bandage on my knee, Cherry looked over at me with a concerned look, "There is something that you should know, Riz" Cherry spoke up. "Bob has a lot of friends that want Johnny to pay for what they did to Bob" Cherry explained. "Well, what do you mean? Do they wanna kill him?" I asked worried. Cherry shook her head, "No. They want to rumble, Greasers vs. Socs" Cherry said.

A rumble? I thought. This could be bad. "Shouldn't we stop them?". Cherry scoffed at my comment, "Oh believe me, I've already tried that. They don't care what us girls have to say". Cherry was right, them boys weren't gonna listen to girls. "So I guess we just let it happen?" I ask Cherry. She nods at me, "That's all we can do, Riz" she said. I lift myself off the sidewalk and lean against the stop sign, looking ahead of me, "I hope Pony and Johnny are all right, wherever they are" I say. Cherry's face got sad, "Me too. It shocked me that we went to the movies the same night they ran away".

Cherry looked at me, like she had something on her mind. I confusingly look back at her, "What?" I ask. She gets up and walks towards me, "What if I be like a spy?" she questions. I furrowed my eyebrows, "A what now?". She begins to slightly grin (I got kinda freaked out to be honest), Cherry had a plan on her mind. "Like a spy. I'll testify that the socs were drunk, they wanted to fight Johnny and Pony in the first place, and Johnny strictly fought back on self defense. It's the perfect plan!" Cherry explains. I couldn't believe that Cherry was actually trying to help us out, especially the fact that Johnny was the one who killed Bob. "You would actually do that for my friends?" I asked Cherry. Cherry smirks, "Listen, I know we had our things in the past but I know that Johnny didn't mean to kill Bob and I guess this is my way of saying that i'm sorry for all the crap I put you through over the years".

I smiled and pulled Cherry in for a hug, "Thank you!" I say. I released her from the hug. I was so grateful, everything was going to be okay now. "Don't thank me, we're doing this for Pony and Johnny they deserve to come back home" Cherry says.

***
I finally made it back to Buck's place. I was so glad to tell Dally the good news! I ran up the steps of the front entrance of Buck's bar and swung the door. Dally was sitting at the bar and drinking a beer. He turns his head over, he gets off the stool and walks over to me, "Hey doll, how was Soda's?" Dally asks. "He's not doing so good, I felt terrible he really needed a friend today. But he also wanted me to give this to you..." I handed Dally the letter. He sat back onto the stool and I sat next to him. He opened up the letter, I could barley see what it said. I just waited to see what Dally had to say about the letter. "What's it say, Dally?" I ask Dal as I get a glass of water from the fossett. He looks up at me with a hard look on his face, "Did you tell Soda?" Dally questions. I shook my head at Dallas, "No, I didn't give him any hint or information that I knew where the boys were. Why, what does the letter say?".

Dally looks back at the note and starts pointing everything out, "Well for starters Riz, it says Dear Ponyboy" Dally lightly shouts. My eyes went wide, I walked over to Dally and took the letter out of his hand. I read every word of what Soda wrote. Dally was right, Soda does know. I looked back at Dally, "Listen, I don't know how he could've found out? I literally didn't even say or mention the topic" I explained. He takes a sip of his beer and a long drag on his cigarette. He turns his head back at me, "Then tell me exactly what happened at Sodapop's house, tell me every conversation you had with him" Dally says.

"Alright I will. Well first we talked about how terrible this whole Ponyboy and Johnny situation is, then Soda and I talked about what kind of questions they asked him and Darry, and then we talked about what the cops asked you" I said to Dally. See? how could Soda find out about how Dally and I know where Pony and Johnny are from what we talked about earlier? Dally spoke up, "What did you say when he asked about what the cops said to me?" Dally asked. "Well I said what you told me, that you thought that they were most likely hiding in Texas" I said crossing my arms. Dally got off his stool and got up close to me, I backed up a bit. "Riz, how did you find out that I knew where Pony and Johnny were hiding?". My mouth slightly dropped as I realized how darn stupid I was. Sodapop found out the same way I found out. "Oh god, I am so so sorry" I apologized.

Dally rubbed his face and sighed, "It's whatever, just be a little more smarter and let's just be happy how lucky we are that Soda isn't here right now about to try to kick my ass for helping his brother run away from home" Dally said. I nodded at Dally. Then I remembered the good news that I had to tell. Also to mention the rumble, which is bad news to me but probably good news to Dally. "So I kinda ran into somebody on the way home from Sodapop's" I tell Dallas. He faces over to me, "Who?" he asks. "Cherry Valance" I replied. "Oh god, did you guys get into a fight or something?" Dally questions. I giggle at his comment, "No silly. I was walking back and I accidentally tripped over the sidewalk and scrapped my knee. I ended up bumping into Cherry, she actually helped me out and we got into talking. She also gave me some pretty exciting news" I vindicated. "Well what is this good news you needed to tell me about?" Dally said eagerly. "Cherry wants to be our spy and testify that the socs were drunk, that they started the fight, and Johnny fought back strictly on self defense. I wasn't really excited about how the socs want Johnny to pay for what he did to Bob by having a rumble against the greasers" I said.

Dally's entire face lit up. He jumped off his stool, "Man this is great, a rumble!" Dally happily shouts. "Ahem, what about the fact that Johnny might not get thrown into jail because of Cherry testifying against the socs?" I say to Dally. He walks over to me and grabs my hands, "Oh well that's also great news that Cherry is helping us out" he smiles.

"How about we get something to eat? I'm starving man" Dally says as he puts his hand over his stomach. I agreed to go get a bite and just as we were leaving, the door opens. Dally and I turn ourselves towards the door and look over, it was Steve. He looked out of breath, like he rushed to get here. "Steve, what are you doing here?" I asked as I made my way over to him. "Riz, you need to come back home" Steve said. I wasn't really sure how to feel nor didn't know what to say to Steve. Did they really want me back? I stood there with a blank expression upon my face. Both Dally and Steve waited for an answer.

As much as I missed my family I was right where I needed to be, with Dally. If my father never decided to go after me the way he did the night of Dally's and I's first date and forbid me to ever see Dally again, I don't think I would be who I am today. My father taught me that there are going to be people out there in the world that are going to judge me for the person I decide to spend my time with or who I wanna be with. I would be a girl who went by the book and did what everyone else told her to do, I would be like Cherry Valance. She goes by the book and follows "the rules", but deep down she is just frightened.

The word, "No" passed my lips. Steve looked up at me shocked and upset, "Why not?" he asks. This was the right time to tell Steve about the baby. The time is right and who knows when another opportunity will come. I looked Steve right in his bold eyes, "I belong here with Dally". Steve furrows his eyebrows and tilts his head at me, "W-What's going on?"

I gaze over at Dally. He had a clue of what was going on, his face just says it all. He looked uncomfortable and scared. He takes a deep breath and come closer to Steve and I. He scratches the back of his head, "Man, there is something that you should know" Dally says with a slightly shaky voice. Steve started to look very impatient. I uncomfortably grin at Steve, "I'm pregnant" I confess.