Keep On Trying by Another Illusion

Summary: Dealing with the deaths of two friends, Two-Bit uses all his wit to try and keep his remaining friends together, and on meeting someone within detention realises the importance of family and friendship to get through these difficult times. Two-Bit, OMC, OFC 3rd person POV

A.N- I’m British so use British spelling and terminology, which you may know by now! Thanks as ever to my betas and all my reviewers.

Disclaimer:I do not own Two-Bit or any of the characters created by S E Hinton or ‘Take It Easy’ by the Eagles.

Nine: Building Bricks

“Lighten up while you still can / don't even try to understand / Just find a place to make your stand / and take it easy ..."

Two-Bit opened his locker carefully; there was an exact art to it. If he opened it too quickly the mess --or as he preferred to call it, creatively placed stuff-- would fall out on the floor. He quickly replaced his Gym bag with his English textbook. There wasn’t much of a point in bothering with the book, it wasn’t like he was going to learn anything, but he liked to be prepared in case the principal walked in unannounced. He was always ready with a suitably studious expression on his face. Granted, he was usually reading the comic he had hidden under the textbook, but so far he’d only been caught once.

He approached the classroom with a sense of dread at the impending boredom he would have to endure with Mrs Baker. He could see Bonnie talking to some guy outside the classroom, it was the same person from yesterday and Two-Bit now was almost certain he was Bonnie’s brother. He decided not to go and introduce himself, not after that look he’d been given yesterday as he left school, or the kid’s annoyance at Bonnie forgiving Two-Bit.

When he arrived in the classroom, Mrs Baker was scribbling an extra credit essay assignment on the blackboard that Two-Bit knew nobody would do. He looked for a free seat carefully and decided to sit next to Bonnie; after yesterday he just wanted to test the waters.

“Mind?” he asked as he moved to the seat, she smiled and shook her head. He looked at her for a moment as she wrote something down. “Are you actually going to do the essay?” he asked, a look of mock horror on his face.

“If I have nothing better to do, yes. Besides, I don’t want to fail English because I have a rubbish teacher,” she said confidently, tearing the page from her notebook and placing it inside a book.

“Was that your-” Could he call her adopted brother that, or would she be offended? Maybe she thought of his as her real brother, Two-Bit swallowed, it was becoming more complicated.

“My brother? Yes,” she said. “That was Marty and our elder brother is Dale.”

“How old’s he?”

“Twenty-four.”

“So did your folks adopt him as a baby too, or what?” Two-Bit asked, trying to seem unfazed by the whole situation.

Bonnie was smiling, she was clearly pleased he was at least trying. “No, Dale came when he was fourteen, and Marty came when he was thirteen. My folks have a soft spot for those who probably would be sent to a boys’ home otherwise … well other than me, I mean.”

“Oh.”

“Did that sound arrogant? What I meant was that newborns get adopted more easily than teenagers, particularly someone like Marty or Dale.”

“Why?” he asked, worried that perhaps they were violent and the type of guy who would kill you as soon as you looked at his sister.

“Because,” she said simply. There was a slight pause before she spoke again.“Look, Two-Bit, what’s going on, y’know, with us?” It was the worst possible question that Two-Bit could have been asked.

He shrugged. “No idea, just going along with whatever happens,” he said honestly.

She smiled and nodded. “That sounds like a good idea, I guess.”

Two-Bit leaned against the chair and read the essay title; it was about use of place, or something like that. He wouldn’t do it anyway, and if --in a rare occasion-- Mrs Baker asked for it, he could charm his way out of the situation with ease.

“About-” she began as the bell rung. There was a mass exodus for the door and as Two-Bit put his book away he looked at her.

“Yeah?”

“It doesn’t matter,” she said, shaking her head and smiling. “See you around, Two-Bit.”

For once Bonnie’s mother was not taking a lesson when Bonnie and Marty returned home. Bonnie happily collapsed into a chair and exhaled. It had been a long day and the only light relief had come from Two-Bit of all people.

She still wasn’t sure what exactly was going on with them, she didn’t know whether she had a date tomorrow or not, but she hadn’t wanted to bring it up. At least they were talking again.

“Damn, it’s cold,” she said, loading the fire up with wood. Bonnie loved the open fire in the living room, it reminded her of winter and Christmas and just felt homey.

“Yeah, I guess it’s getting closer to winter now,” Dale said, yawning as he sat in the armchairs.

“It’s November now,” Bonnie stated pointlessly. “It sort of is winter.”

“It is?” Dale asked, shaking his head. “Shit. I’m losing all track o’time, y’know.”

Lori started to cry and Dale sighed. “She needs feeding,” he said dully, walking out of the room.

Marty looked at Dale’s retreating form then at Bonnie. “I’m going to go and help with Lori,” he said suddenly. “Dale looks like he needs some help,” he added in a low voice.

Bonnie nodded and watched Marty walk out. She hugged her knees and watched the wood burn, reflecting on the day.

Moments later, Dale walked in holding Lori. “Hey, Lori,” Bonnie said brightly, watching as her brother held her squirming niece. A cute pink bow was tied in her dark hair, keeping the unruly curls from falling in her eyes. She needed a haircut, but Dale thought the bow was cute and kept stalling whenever Bonnie mentioned scissors to him. “Did Ma have to go teach?” Bonnie asked while she stuck her tongue out at Lori who rewarded her with a big smile.

“Yeah,” Dale said sitting down and sighing happily, probably --Bonnie suspected-- at the thought of not working. “She waited until I got home to leave, I think she only just made it.” During the day, their mother looked after Lori until Dale came home. She tried to teach her students at home, but if she had to teach piano somewhere else she would schedule it for after Dale got home. Bonnie suspected Dale wouldn’t have the first clue what to do with Lori while he worked if he moved out.

“You’ve got a letter, Dale,” Marty called to his brother from the kitchen. “It looks sort of official.”

“I’ll take her,” Bonnie said. Dale passed the infant to Bonnie and then, yawning, walked into the kitchen.

Dale returned quickly, opening the letter and Bonnie watched him read it. As his eyes darted down the page his face seemed to fall.

“Is it from-”

“Yes,” he said stiffly. “It’s from her lawyers.”

“And?” Marty asked quickly as he walked back into the room holding bottle of soda in one hand and a packet of potato chips in the other.

“Finalising a meeting to sort out everything next week.”

“Oh.”

“Will you have to see her?” Marty asked quietly. Bonnie looked at Dale, it was no secret that his wife leaving had been really hard for him and she wondered if he was ready to see her yet. Bonnie had liked Sharon, she was older than Dale but she had seemed real nice. Appearances, Bonnie knew all too well, could be deceiving.

“Probably,” he said evenly and Bonnie raised an eyebrow, a look of concern in her eyes. “Don’t look at me, there ain’t no love lost between us. Hasn’t been since she cleared off with Don.” Dale looked at Lori and shook his head, his expression weary.

“Is she going to try and get Lori back?” Bonnie asked suddenly.

“No, maybe … I don’t know. If she wants to hurt me she might try it. I don’t think so though, I think --I hope-- she will just want to get it over with. She’s pleading no contest so …” he trailed off and sighed.

“Are you okay?” Bonnie asked tentatively.

“O’course I am.” Dale said sharply, his tone at odds with his answer.

“How’s Ma?” she asked, deciding the best thing for all of them was to change the subject. .

“Stressed. She’s having to start the Christmas songs.”

“It’s November!” Marty scornfully said.

“Trust me, they need the practice by the sounds of it,” Dale said, smiling wickedly. Marty laughed.

“So what’s going on with that guy?” Marty suddenly asked, turning his attention to his sister.

“I don’t know ... just seeing what happens, I suppose,” she said quietly.

“Dale, can you believe this kid?” he asked.

“Leave off her, yeah?” Dale said, looking at Bonnie carefully.

“Well, don’t come cryin’ to me, sis.”

Bonnie sighed. “I won’t Marty. I’m not a baby. I’m older than you!”

“Not where it matters,” he said quietly, standing up. “I’m going for a smoke.” He ran a hand through his hair, shrugged at Bonnie and then walked out.

Elvis was playing loudly from the old record player in Two-Bit’s living room. He smirked as he opened a bottle of beer and leaned back against the chair.

“So, how was it?” he asked Soda.

“Her name was Sharon,” Soda said calmly. “It was okay, she was nice.”

“Steve?” Two-Bit asked, hoping for some more information than the little titbits Soda had offered.

“They got on well, Evie sets people up well,” he said with some pride. “O’course Soda was in a near panic before she turned up, and she was intimidated by him. But other than the whole spilling her drink all over her new dress, I would say it went well.”

“What?” Two-Bit asked laughing, looking at a now crimson Soda.

“I tell you, Soda, you get more like Pony every day. Soda here, thought it would be real sharp to talk with lots of wild hand movements, until he knocked over her chocolate shake all over her light pink dress.” Steve grinned and tried to disguise a snigger.

“Ah, shut up Steve!” Soda said, trying to fight a smile himself.

“So are you seeing her again?” Two-Bit asked casually.

Soda shrugged. “Maybe, I don’t know.”

“The thing was Soda was unusually quiet and this girl was real intimidated by him. I hope you two actually talked more or whatever when Evie and I cleared off.”

Soda nodded. “Once you left it was definitely better,” he said, a wicked smile in his eyes.

Steve stuck up his middle finger with a bold smirk. “Fuck you.”

Two-Bit grinned, watching the scene in front of him with some distanced amusement.

“I got to him there,” Soda said, grinning. “Did you see that, Two-Bit?”

“Shut up,” Steve snapped.

“See,” he said pointedly.

“Yeah?” Steve challenged before looking at Two-Bit. “So when are you seeing Detention Girl then?”

“Tomorrow,” he said, unsure of what was actually going on. It had been arranged for tomorrow, but after everything that had happened he was unsure there would even be a date He couldn’t even tell if there was hope of ever having a date with her because of how screwed up he’d made everything. Still, he didn’t want to bring it up in front of Steve and Soda. He had a feeling she had tried to bring it up earlier when the bell rang, but she’d just left it, maybe she had given up.

Steve shrugged and looked at Soda who was frowning at Two-Bit. He became momentarily worried that perhaps Soda knew what was going on, but Soda didn’t say anything and instead changed to the subject to something safe -- music and cars, stuff that didn’t really matter.

It was a rare enough occurrence for Two-Bit’s mother to still be home for dinner, let alone have a night off, so Two-Bit felt that having dinner with her at was strange to say the least.

He smiled as he watched his mother sit down after bustling around the kitchen, she was ferocious tonight in her approach to cooking which was something he had scarcely seen before. He guessed he didn’t know her that well though, she sacrificed all her time working to keep everybody afloat. Two-Bit felt sort of guilty that he didn’t have a job, that he didn’t do more around the house to help out, but he just felt cold at the idea of getting a job or accepting any real responsibility at all in life.

“Are you alright, dear?” she asked as he began to eat his dinner. He nodded. “Where’s Peggy?”

“She’ll be down in a few minutes, Ma. Try not to worry, yeah?” He picked at a potato for a moment. “She’s always late anyway, unless it’s going to see one of her friends or her boyfriend,” he said, emphasizing the word ‘boyfriend’ with disgust.

She looked at him sympathetically. “You’re freaked out by it too?” He shrugged, knowing she understood exactly why he was disturbed by this sudden turn in events. “It was bound to happen sooner or later, you were twelve when you had your first girlfriend.”

“Outside of Kindergarten, anyway,” he said lightly, smiling at his mother.

“Well, Peggy didn’t even have a boyfriend then, remember?” she asked cheerfully. Two-Bit tried to remember that time when she was in Kindergarten, he would have been about ten or so and it was shortly after their father had left. He couldn’t remember much about it, just that Peggy had an obsession with the colour pink.

“Didn’t she?” he asked.

At that moment Peggy came into the kitchen, she looked at Two-Bit and their mother curiously. “Were you talkin’ about me?”

“O’course not,” Two-Bit said quickly.

She sat down and picked at her dinner, exchanging a dark look with Two-Bit. “You’re not usually home, Ma.”

“I had a night off.”

“Oh,” she said, looking down at her plate. Two-Bit suddenly smiled to himself as he remembered her mentioning earlier she was thinking of going to see her friends after dinner, if their mother was home she had no chance in hell of getting away with that.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes,” she snapped, Two-Bit swallowed. Peggy was fit to explode and his mother would have no idea why. Two-Bit needed to get away and quickly.

Two-Bit stood up and Peggy glared at him.

“Ma,” she said. “Can I have some soup instead?”

“Why?”

“Because you know that I hate potatoes and it’s like a friggin’ overdose of ‘em.” Two-Bit thought it was funny how Peggy hated all potatoes and their derived products, except potato chips and French fries, she could stand those all right.

“Thanks Ma, dinner was great,” he said, standing up to leave.

“Oh, Peggy, just eat them this once.t

“Ergh, I hate you!” she snapped. Yep, Peggy was turning into a real teenager.

Two-Bit made a narrow escape to his room where he could still hear Peggy starting to yell and his mother’s shocked attempts at reasoning. He suspected it would soon be a full blown argument. Typical! Two-Bit didn’t quite get why Peggy could be so unfair to their mother, she did so much for them and asked for little in return. Hell, she didn’t even ask Two-Bit to get a job, or pay any money to help with the bills.

Two-Bit quickly decided that listening to the argument was not how he wanted to spend his night. He could go out and get a couple of beers from Buck’s. That sounded like a far better plan.

Tugging on his jacket, Two-Bit walked down the stairs, past the chaos and into the cold.