Author’s note: The Outsiders are owned by S.E. Hinton. Any descriptions given of characters are based on the movie, not the book, as I don’t have the book in front of me at this very moment.
“He did what!” The whole room focused on the voice of a now very angry Sugar Curtis. I had to smile. There was the old Sugar. There she stood bigger than life and madder than hell. It felt good to hear some emotion other than sadness and nothingness radiating in her voice.
“What did he go and do a fool thing like that? Damn him.” Two-Bit, now standing side by side with Johnny who came in seconds behind him, almost jumped back as she pushed her way from behind me and Darry.
“Now Sugar, calm down. We’ll figure this out, but you need to let me clean up your hand.” Darry took Sugar by the arm and guided her to the couch sitting her next to Steve. Soda stepped out from behind me and I could make out the small grin on his face. We gave each other a knowing grin and then let our faces go serious as we turned to Two-Bit and Johnny again.
“What happened to your hand?” asked Johnny. “I guess I broke the glass I was carrying when I realized who…” her voiced trails off. The fire in her was gone again, just as quickly as it came. Darry came back with water, a rag and some fresh bandages. Steve moved over to Darry’s chair to give him room to work.
Soda pulled Two-Bit into Sugar’s room. “What happened with Dally?” I move in to listen.
“When Sugar ran out I pulled my blade. One guy started to get up, but before I could move closer Dally popped out of nowhere. He had the gun and he was pointing at them telling them if they moved he was going to kill them. Unfortunately for ole’ Dally, the fuzz had just pulled up and the cops drew on him.”
“You can talk about it out here.” Sugar’s voice breaks into the conversation. “I’m not a child.” I turn around to find her eyes boring into mine. Soda pushes past me with Two-Bit right beside. “Sorry.”
Two-Bit starts to speak again when the phone rings. Soda looks to Darry who nods toward the phone. Darry finishes wrapping up Sugar’s hand as Soda answers the phone.
“Hello?”
“Hey Dally, you alright?”
“Sure, hang on.”
Soda’s attention turns to Sugar. “He wants to talk to you.”
The room tenses as Sugar slips out of Darry’s grasp and walks toward Sodapop. Soda hands her the phone. She grabs it with her good hand and places the receiver to her ear.
“Hello.” We all stare intently as Sugar turns away and studies the wall behind her. Minutes go by and the faint sounds of Dallas’ voice can be heard, but can’t be made out. Time seems to slow down as I attempt to make out what he’s saying without being too obvious about it. No luck. A few more minutes pass without a word from Sugar and from what I can tell Dally has stopped talking as well. The tension is finally cut with three little words, “Dallas, I can’t.” Sugar hangs up the phone, points her eyes to the floor and walks into her room shutting the door behind her.
No one moves. I guess none of us are sure what to do. Sugar’s bedroom door opens and she motions for Soda to come in. The door quickly closes again. Darry gets up from the couch and turns on the tv. Johnny and Two-Bit take seats around the room while the sounds of Mickey Mouse fill the house. I head to the kitchen to look for something to eat.
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