What happened to your eye, what happened to your eye, what happened to your eye; Johnny's question kept repeating itself in my mind. I felt like the world was spinning. I couldn't make myself look back at Johnny but I also couldn't bring myself to leave. My body was frozen while my mind was working overdrive. It wasn't until I heard the sound of a footstep coming in my direction that I was able to snap out of my shock. I hurriedly swung open the door and made a move to sprint out the door. Every ounce of me was screaming about how I had to get away.

   "Wait, Alex, stop," Johnny shouted from inside the house. I didn't listen; sadly the gang heard him though. I had been so caught up in my state of panic that I hadn't noticed the rest of the gang walking into the yard. While I was happy to see that Ponyboy looked relatively unscathed, their presence was going to make escaping even more complicated. Before I could run past them, Darry grabbed my arm and held me tight.

   "Now where do you think you're going little lady?" He questioned me.

   "Home," I said coldly. As much as I hated being harsh with them, it was better for everyone if none of us got to attached. Looking at Pony, I found him trying to avoid eye contact with me. "You alright kid?" I asked softly; he gave me the cold shoulder in response. "Listen, Darry I really gotta go. Bryce doesn't know I left the house." I told him honestly. Just as his grip on me was starting to loosen, Johnny felt the need to interfere.

   "She's got a black eye." You could have heard a pin drop after Johnny spoke. Knowing that there was mo chance of getting away now, I stopped trying to fight my way loose. Sodapop slowly moved so he was in front of me. Then, with a cautious hand, he slowly moved my hair so it was no longer covering my eye. I hadn't taken much time to look at it yet, if it weren't for the throbbing feeling it left me with I wouldn't have been bothered by it, but based off of their expressions I had a feeling it looked pretty bad.

   "Christ kid, who did that to you?" All of their anger at me seemed to be momentarily forgotten as they stared at me in concern. The icy look in Dally's blue eyes told me he was angry, which confused me. After what I did to them, as unwillingly as I did it, I didn't deserve their sympathy. I had to bite my lip to stop myself from spilling all of mine and all of Bryce's secrets. Sensing my hesitation to speak, Darry leaned down and whispered.

   "I see it only fair to tell you that I'm not letting you leave until you tell us who did this to you." With that, he gently pulled me back into the house. The rest of the gang followed behind us. Sitting me on the couch, Darry placed himself to the right of me while Dallas sat on my left. With the eyes of all the gang members on me, I shifted uncomfortably.

  "Please let me," I began but was instantly cut off.

   "Not a chance." Darry said. I sighed stubbornly. No many how many plans I came up with, I knew none of them would work. That left me with one option; to tell the truth. And when I thought of the truth, I meant every piece of it. Starting with why I stopped hanging out with them. Telling them this would set me free but it would put all of us in danger, I didn't see any other option though.

   "Fine." I said. "I'll tell you. But you might as well get comfortable because this is going to take a while."