You could have heard a pin hit the ground as the gang took in my statement. No one even had a chance to respond before my fight-or-flight instinct kicked in and my word vomiting began.

       "If you're gonna call social services, you might as well just save yourself the time and just drop me off on Bryce's doorstep now. Because that's where I'm gonna end up if you let the system get a hold of me."

        "You don't know that for sure." Darry's attempt to get a word in only encouraged me to speak louder.

       "Like hell I don't." As much as I respected Darry, for once I didn't mind my tone in speaking to him. "As soon as they run my name through their systems they'll find my parents and contact them. And because money buys everything in this damn town, my parents will be able to do damage control and get off with some poor excuse of a warning that no charges will be pressed as long as they stay home.  Which they will, for a week or two tops if I'm lucky. And just like whenever my parents are back, everything will be fine and will Bryce behave himself as always. But the moment work calls, and it always does, they'll leave and Bryce will be ready to beat me with a vengeance." 

       No one spoke up when I fell silent. Turning my head to look everyone in the eyes, multiple members had their mouths agape. While I was far from being as quiet as Johnny and Ponyboy, this was hands down still more than the gang was used to hearing me say.

        "Darrel." My heart jolted at the sound of Dally's raspy voice. He cared about the gang, no one ever questioned that fact, but to go out of his way to speak up in this type of situation wasn't like him. "The kids got a point."

        Encouraged by Dal's support, I locked eyes with Darry. "This isn't some black-and-white, good beats bad situation Dar. The system ain't fair and you know it."

       As Darry dropped his head into his hands, his mask of authority was replaced by the truth of his youth. He may have been  older than the rest of us, but at the end of the day we were all the same: kids who had all been dealt bad decks of cards in life. For Darry, his hand involved growing up a lot faster and having to take on a lot more than he was supposed to.

       Seeing one of the strongest people I know start to crumble tugged a symphony on my heart strings. My own anger and fear towards the situation started to melt away.

        "Superman." Speaking in a much softer voice, I scooted closer to him and put a hand on his shoulder. His raised his head to look at me. "I'm not asking you to fight this battle, or even try to shield me from it. I got no plans on crashing here, and I can even cut ties with y'all to make sure the fuzz can't trace me to the gang in case Bryce goes back on his word."

           Darry's eyebrows gradually kept rising as he listened, but he didn't interrupt me. "I know you need to look out for Pony and Soda, and you gotta trust I'd never try to do anything or ask you to do anything that would bring y'all harm."

     I looked around the room at the rest of the gang.

     "This was supposed to be my fight against Bryce. None of y'all were supposed to find out or get put in harms way."

       Dal rolled his eyes at my remarks, but Two beat him to speaking.

       "What's it gonna take for you to realize you're one of us doll?" With a lopsided grin on his face, he reached over and ruffled my hair.

        "Yeah, kid." Steve took Two's pause as a chance for him to jump in. "You're as much a part of this gang as the rest of us, so I don't wanna be hearing anymore of this your fight versus our fight bullshit."

        "You can't leave when we just got you back." Ponyboy's voice offered a refreshing sense of innocence into the conversation. "She can crash on the couch, can't she Dar?" While his naivety put a small smile on my face, I knew Pony's idea wasn't a choice.

       Even though I would gladly give him all the money I had, Darry didn't need the responsibility of another mouth to feed and he didn't the trouble that would come if Bryce called the cops on me. I knew that, and from the look on Darry's he knew it as well. But before I could decline so Darry didn't have to look like the bad guy, Dally surprised me by once again speaking up.

        "Ain't no way she can stay here. It's to predictable a move. She needs somewhere she can lay low without Bryce knowing." He locked eyes with me.  "There's a spare room at Bucks. It ain't anything fancy like you're used to, but he owes me a favor and I could get him to give it to you for cheap."

        I was nodding my head before he had finished speaking. But Darry beat me to speaking.

        "Bucks isn't really place for a 15 year old kid Dal, plus she's got school to worry about."

       My eyes flicked back and forth between the two males like a pendulum.

        "It beats her being homeless or getting sent home to get beat by her own brother. Sides, it's summer so no school." Although his resolve seemed to be breaking, with his eyebrows furrowed together Darry still didn't look fully convinced.

        "It'll just be a temporary solution Dar, and I'll figure something out about school in the fall. I promise I won't be dropping out anytime soon." This was an honest declaration on my part because as much as I hated most of the people at my school, I liked learning and knew getting an education was important.

         With a heavy sigh, Darry looked back at Dal. "And you're telling me Buck is going to be fine with housing the fugitive sister of a super Soc?"

       Dal's signature smirk was plastered on his face, as his head shook slowly.

       "Now when you hear me say that? Buck don't even like letting soc's into his bar. If I suggested he housed one he'd think I lost my mind." Despite knowing Darry hated when anyone smoked in the house, Dal pulled a cigarette out from his pocket and lit it. He took a drag before continuing. "But what he don't know won't hurt him. So long as little Lexi here is willing to play along, I don't see why Buck wouldn't agree to renting a room to a relative of mine - perhaps a cousin who's new to town."