I looked through the peephole to see Darry, looking furious. My screen door was locked, so I only opened my real door.

"Hello, Darrel," I said through the screen.

"Where are they?" He sounded like he was going to kill them.

"Why do you need to know?"

"I want to make sure that fag ain't smooching my brother!"

"Sorry, can't help ya."

"I know they're in there!"

"Fine. Who do you want to see?"

"The queer one!"

"Alright."

I closed the door and locked it behind me. I was not going to let Darry lay a finger on him. I had a plan.

I knocked on my bedroom door and said "It's Audrey!" Johnny opened the door slowly.

"Is he gone?" asked Johnny.

"No, you guys need to move quickly," I said as I walked in and locked the door behind me. "You guys are in trouble. When I leave, lock the door behind me. Take the window and hop outside. Once outside, move quickly but quietly to the woods in my backyard. When you see a spot that looks kind of cleared away but not really, walk towards it. That's a path that leads deep into the woods. Eventually, you'll find a stream. I'll stop Darry as much as I can, but I can't guarantee that he won't find the path. That's why you need to hide when you find the stream. There are lots of spots to hide there. Good luck you two."

Nervous, I went to go answer the door again. I opened the door and kept the screen shut.

"Sorry, but Johnny doesn't want to talk to you right now," I said through the screen.

"What!? I didn't drive all this way for nothing!" yelled Darry.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what to tell you-"

"Let me in."

"What?"

"I said 'let me in.'"

"Nope. No can do. This is private property. You are not welcome inside."

"I'm coming in there whether you like it or not."

"No, you're not-"

But as those words were leaving my lips, Darry full-blown punched through my screen door and busted his way inside, all in under three seconds. He wrapped his hands on my neck and choked me for a couple of seconds before slamming me to the ground. Normally, I would've been fine and could've gotten up in a few seconds. But part of my head slammed onto the corner of my hall table. It cut me pretty bad. I remember feeling my head. I looked at my hand and saw the blood. Then the world went black.

-

I awoke to a bright light shining on my face. I didn't know where I was. I looked to my left to see Soda with his head in his hands. Confused, I asked him where I was.

"Audrey! You're awake! Oh, thank god, I thought we lost you!"

"What? Why are you acting like I almost died or something?" Then I felt a sharp pain in my head. "Ow! God fucking damnit, why does everything hurt?" Then I felt sharp pains going up my back. "Jesus! Fuck! Get a doctor or something!"

Soda rushed out and came back with some bald guy. I remember him saying "Come quick! She's awake! And bring some painkillers, will ya?"

As the nurse injected painkillers, Soda explained everything that had happened.

"So I was at the house, worried because Darry seemed very angry when he had left. After an hour, he still wasn't back. So I went over to make sure you were okay because Darry gets violent when he's mad. The sight was horrifying. Your screen door was absolutely destroyed. When I stepped in, you were unconscious on the floor. There was a lot of blood around your head area. And you were very pale. I called an ambulance. You're lucky you survived. If the cut was half an inch deeper you would've died."

"How long have I been unconscious?"

"Three days. I was beginning to think you wouldn't wake up."

That's when I noticed how red and puffy his eyes were.

"You know, if it didn't hurt to move I would hug you right now," I said.

"I'll just hold your hand for now," said Soda.

After a few minutes, it dawned on me that he hadn't mentioned Johnny or Ponyboy.

"Are Johnny and Ponyboy okay?!" I asked quickly.

"Oh, don't worry about them. They're fine. They came home later that night. They've been in and out of this hospital visiting you. And Darry apologized to Johnny after. It's all because you stood up to him. No one ever stands up to him."

"Well, thank goodness. It'd kill me if one of them got hurt under my watch."

I called the Curtis household to tell everyone that I was fine. I wasn't expecting much more than an "oh okay cool".

"Hello, Curtis household," said the voice of Two-bit.

"Two-bit? Is that you? It's Audrey calling-"

"Audrey? You're awake?"

"I've been conscious for approximately thirty minutes."

"Oh, thank god! Is it visiting hours yet?"

"Yeah, I think so-"

"Say no more!" said Two-bit as he hung up.

I hung up the phone and closed my eyes. My mind started to trail off. Cherry popped into my head again. Without thinking I asked Soda about her.

"Does Cherry know about what happened?" I asked.

"Yeah, actually, she does. It was all pure coincidence. She came to your house as you were being lifted into the ambulance. Her immediate reaction was to shriek 'Is Audrey dead?! She can't die!' Then she started crying her eyes out. Some doctor had to reassure her that your heart was still beating. She's been in and out a lot more than any of us. She even asked for a few moments alone with you. And yet she still managed to remain a secret to all the guys."

"She wanted time alone with me?" I asked, cheeks turning red.

"Yeah. I mean, most of the gang wanted time alone with you. I'm assuming it's because we were all convinced you were gonna die."

"God, why are y'all so dark?"

"Because you were half an inch close to death! Jesus!"

"Alright, alright. I get it. Calm down."

At that moment, the door burst open. Johnny, Ponyboy, Steve, Two-bit and Dally poured in.

"You're not dead!" cheered Two-bit.

"Shut up! That's so, incredibly, inappropriate!" said Steve, slapping him on the arm.

They ran towards my hospital bed and proceeded to ask questions.

"How long have you been awake?"

"Do you remember being asleep?"

"What's it like being unconscious?"

"Jeez, one at a time, please. I can barely think right now, but that could be because of the whole head injury thing," I said.

"Sorry, we were just worried. But really, how are you feeling?" asked Two-bit.

"Like ass. I've got a splitting headache and I feel like I'm gonna barf. How are you doing?"

"I don't know how to respond to that," said Two-bit.

"Eh, you don't need to. Say, where's Darry?" I asked.

"Um, Audrey, you remember what Darry did, right?" asked Soda.

"Yes, I know. That doesn't mean he needs to avoid me."

"He almost killed you, and you still want to see him? Man, if I was in your shoes I wouldn't want to be anywhere near him," said Steve.

"Look, I don't think he purposely hospitalized me. I want to give him a chance to explain himself before I make any assumptions about his actions, that's all."

"If you say so. But I haven't seen him since. I don't even know if he's visited you." said Soda.

"Oh well. If you see him, tell him to come visit me."

I talked with the gang for a little while longer. But I had to convince them I was fine so they'd leave me alone for a bit. My head was really starting to pound at that point, and the painkillers weren't working.

Turns out I had a mild concussion. It wasn't that bad, besides the couple of times that I threw up and the splitting headache. I slept a lot for those next few days. The doctors wanted to keep a close eye on me since a lot was going on in my head area. That also meant no more visitors until I at least stopped vomiting. Thus making those the longest two days of my life.

It was Sunday morning until I saw someone who wasn't a doctor or a nurse again. And I was lucky that that person was Cherry. It felt like being let out of a prison sentence.

It was eight-thirty in the morning. I was so bored. I was tired of sleeping at that point. I was looking out my window which had a wonderful view of the parking lot. My doctor came in and said, "Since you've gone twenty-four hours without vomiting, you're welcome to have visitors again as long as you promise to be careful." I couldn't belive it. It was music to my ears.

Then the doctor added "If you're ready, there's a girl in the waiting room who's really anxious to see you. I think her name is Sherri-"

"Send her in!" I said excitedly.

"Alright."

The door slowly creaked open. Cherry emerged from the hallway. She stepped in and closed the door behind her. Then she walked over to my bed and sat on a chair close to me.

"Hey, how's everything going?" she asked softly.

"Ten times better now that you're here," I said as I felt my cheeks turn red. She looked really nice. She was making my heart flutter out of my chest.

"I brought you something that might make your time here a bit better," she said as she reached into her bag and pulled out a box of chocolates.

"You are the sweetest, you know that?" I said as I pulled her into a hug. My back was better at that point.

When I was hugging her, I heard soft sniffles.

"Is everything all right?" I asked as I motioned her to sit in my bed with me.

"It's just, I thought you were going to die. I know I shouldn't be the one crying, but you've added that missing piece to my life, you know? I don't know what I'd do if I lost you! You're more than just a forbidden friend because I think I-"

But she was cut off by the sound of knocking. I heard from the other side of the door "Hey Audrey! The hospital called and said you're allowed to have visitors again! I thought we'd drop by!" It was the voice of Two-bit. And he wasn't alone.