Secret (The Outsiders)

Surprise

Remember the Soc's Two-Bit and I saw?

On the way home, the same black Camaro drove past us. Two-Bit gave them the finger and we continued walking. "Wonder where they're going?" Two-Bit asked. I shrugged. "Socs need to stay on their side of town." I muttered under my breath. "From the looks of it, they ain't going anywhere but further in."

Two-Bit grabbed my legs and threw me over his shoulder. I laughed and hit him in the shoulder. The bandana pushing my hair back slipped out and hit the pavement. "Hey! My bandana." Two-Bit, without putting me down, reached down and picked up the red piece of fabric and stuck it in his pocket.

"Hey, Two-Bit?" I asked as the older boy set me back on my feet. He must've noticed the sudden seriousness in my voice because he stopped and moved in front of me. "Yeah. What's up?" he asked. I looked down the road where the Camaro had gone. It was towards the DX and Sodapop was working today. "Do you think they were talking about Soda?" I was worried and Two-Bit could tell by the sudden change in my voice.

Soda was my best friend. I loved him like a brother and we did nearly everthing together. I had seen the way the Socs had reacted when they thought Two-Bit was the guy flirting with their girlfriend. What if they got a hold of Soda? There was no way in hell they were going to lay a hand on Soda.

I turned around at the sound of two pairs of feet heading towards us. Johnnycake and Ponyboy were headed our way. "Where y'all headed?" Ponyboy asked. He ran a hand through the blonde hair that was slowly growing back out to brown. "DX." I responded. I pulled a weed from my pocket and tossed the empty pack in the grass. "Anyone got a lighter?" Johnny pulled his from his pocket and leaned forward to light my cigarette.

As we headed closer, I could hear voiced arguing back and forth. One was clearly Sodapop's. "Oh hell no." I mumbled under my breath. I pulled my switch blade from my pocket and ran down the side walk. The three boys behind me were tearing up the street at the sprinted after me. I'd been sprinting in track since freshman year, and I somehow managed to get pretty good at it. There wasn't a chance they were going to catch me.

I reached the DX and the red headed Soc had my best friend pinned against the wall. "Get off you, you piece of shit." I yelled. "Lolita! Get out of here! Go!" Soda screamed.

No. I wasn't leaving. That Soc had a knife and others in the car. Ponyboy, Johnny, Two-Bit, and I could take three other Socs. No matter how much Soda begged, there was no way I was leaving him pinned against a wall. He had a busted lip and his face was swollen from being hit in the face numerous times. I was sure steam was coming out of my ears by now.

"Get off of him!" I screamed louder before shoving my arms hard into the Soc. He stumbled, allowing Soda to get away. I flicked my blade out and took a few steps closer to the Soc. I delivered a blow to his stomach since there was no where else I could reach. He didn't hesitate to hit me back. His fist made contact with my cheek and I was knocked off balance. I rolled across the pavement and quickly jumped up. This time, he flicked his blade out. I knew to back out, but there was no way he was getting away with doing that to Soda.

I jumped on top of him, but he tossed me over his shoulder. A sharp pain went across my arm as I went flying over the Soc. My back smacked against the pavement and the wind was knocked out of me. He stood over me and I was quick to drag my knife across his ankle. He screamed out in pain and stumbled back.

That was when the boys stepped in.

Ponyboy pulled me back. "Lita, you're bleeding."

Pony was the only one who called me Lita.

Wait, did he say bleeding?

"I'm what?" I asked. "Bleeding. He cut you." I touched the side of my arm. A wet, sticky substance covered my arm. "Get me back to Darry."

By now, the boys had chased the Soc into his car and down the street. They all came up to me and sat down. "Are you hurt?" Johnny asked. He held my cheek in one hand and tilted it to the side. I shook my head. "He cut me but I'm okay."

Small droplets of blood were falling on the pavement. Running footsteps were running towards us. Soda scooped his arms underneath me and lifted me to my feet. Now I could see the pair of footsteps making their way towards us. It was my brother, Dally. Soda and Two-Bit made a second of eye contact with me before their heads snapped pack to look at Dally.

"Is she bleeding?!" Dally shouted, astonished. "What the hell happened?" Dally suddenly acting like how a brother should in situations like these was not unusual. All the boys did because I was the only girl in the gang. So the boys didn't even blink an eye at Dallas's behavior.

He looked from me to Sodapop. A bit of anger was still in his eyes from when he saw Soda and I "cuddling" on the front porch of the Curtis house.

"What happened to you?" He turned his attention to Soda. Soda straightened up. "They jumped me and beat me up. Lola was the one who got them off me. He cut her and hit her a few times. We're trying to get her to Darry." Dally glared at me and stuck his finger in my chest.

"Why the hell can't you stay out of it? Soda would've been fine on his own." Dally was yelling at me. He shoved his hands into my chest and I stumbled back. I looked over at the gang and they were standing there. Who could blame them? Dally was scary when he was this mad. Dangerous even.

Something was different in Johnny's eyes. It was like something had set his black eyes on fire. His hands clenched into fists. In the years that I had known Johnny, I'd never seen him angry. Not even when he was handcuffed to a table when he was talking to me during the cooler's visiting hours. Johnny stepped forward and shoved his hands hard into Dally's chest.

"Don't you dare touch her. You hear me, Dallas?" The entire gang had wide eyes and open mouths. Johnny worshiped the ground my brother walked on, and to hear him yell at him that way was a shock. Dally looked from me, to Johnny, and then to the gang. He turned on his heel and walked away.

"No one ever lays their hands on you." Johnny stated when he turned around. The anger in his eyes was still there, but it was fading quickly. "Johnnycake, calm down a bit. He's gone now." I said in a slow and steady voice even thought I was shaking. He nodded and searched his pockets. "Anybody got a weed?" Two-Bit was the first one to toss one to him. He lit it up. As he lifted the cigarette to his mouth, I noticed how bad his hands were shaking. Nerves. I grabbed one of his hands in mine and squeezed it.

The gang and I all headed back towards the Curtis house. My arm was still bleeding, but one of the boys had torn the hem of their shirt off to wrap around my wound. The blood was seeping through a bit quicker than I'd like for it to. Hopefully I wasn't going to need any stitches.

"What happened to Lola?" Darrel asked when I stepped through the door. "Soda? Are you alright? Both of you, sit on the couch. I'll clean you up." Soda and I did as I was told. Darry rushed to the kitchen and filled a bottle with warm water and grabbed a rag. He had bandages and some medical tape.

"Darry, I can clean Sodapop up and I can fix myself."  Darry opened his mouth to argue, but closed it quickly. "Darry, you looked tired. You've been working all day. You don't need to worry. We're alright." It wasn't late, but by the look on Darry's face was showing that he was exhausted from work. He set the bowl of water and handed me the rag.

Johnny wrapped an arm around me and kissed my temple. "I'm headed home." I nodded and leaned up to kiss him softly. "See ya later, Johnnycake." I watched him head out the door with a sigh. I turned my head back to Soda. "I wish his parents were better people..." I dabbed the wet rag against his face.

"Lola?" Soda asked.

"Yeah?" He looked up at me with his big, beautiful eyes. He was frozen and I wasn't quite sure why. I tilted my head to the side and cupped his face so he'd look at me. He pulled his head away from me.

"I think I'm in love with you."