AN: I guess you could say my writing skills are "rusty". I haven't written anything like this in at least a year. But "The Outsiders" inspired me like WHOA, so here we go.

Disclaimer: Dont own The Outsiders. (though i wish i had Johnny, haha.)

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It wasn't meant to be this way. Johnny Cade was NOT supposed to be dead in that hospital bed.

Breathe. Relax. What Soda told you couldn't, couldn't, COULDN'T be true. You'll go into the room, and he'll be there, sleeping, and he'll try and talk, and you, her, Ali, you'll tell him to save his strength, and everything will just be perfect and normal.

Except when you walk in that room, and its silent, you can't help but cry.

You're talking to yourself instead of Johnny.

You haven't said a word to anybody in weeks.

This is your mind, and it's telling you to wake up.

Johnny Cade is dead. Get over it

But, everyone EVERYONE knows, it wasn't meant to be this way…

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Rewind to 5 years ago when I first met Johnny Cade. He was 11, I was 10, and it was nothing more then innocent.

Nurses office. The teacher had seen bruises on Johnny. I had a bloody nose.

Waiting for the nurse to get done with the kid infront of us, I decided to give a quick "hello" to the kid sitting across the hall from me. Even then, his skin was ever-so…dark. His hair wasn't greased. That would come in a little while.

He nodded, acknowledging my existence there, and that was really it. The nurse called him in a few seconds later, and within 10 minutes, he had left the room, turning around to look at me. Even at 11, he looked like a little lost puppy. I guess he never grew out of it.

And for the longest time, that was all I heard about him. Till one day, when I was sitting around in the park near my house, and I saw him, running as fast as he could, till he stopped, underneath a tree…

I could hear his panting from where I was on a bench. And being the overly-concerned (and now 12.) year old girl that I was, I wanted to make sure he was okay.

I began to walk towards him, when his head snapped over to where I was. I stopped, looking at him, him looking at me, before he muttered, "You're the girl from the nurses office last year…"

His looks had changed, even if just the tiniest bit. His hair was growing longer, and his eyes just looked broodier, darker…

"Are you okay?" I asked, as I sat down next to him. He looked up at the sky, at the tops of the trees, before nodding.

"Yeah, just…family issues." He said, his gaze diverting from the sky, to me. "I guess its awfully rude for me to not introduce myself…I'm Johnny, Johnny Cade." He stuck his hand out, though it looked…awkward, like he wasn't used to shaking hands.

"Ali, Ali Bennett…" I said, my voice quivering. This was strange, a boy and I alone, in the park, underneath a tree…People were probably getting the wrong idea. Still, I shook his hand. His palms were cold, not at all what I expected.

We didn't say much. He just sat there, looking around at things, and I just stared at the ground, occasionally him, when he wasn't looking.

This was the beginning of the friendship of ours that would last for the next 4 years Johnny had left. And over time, things just got worse for him, and worse for me, but we managed to make it through.

Or so we thought.

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something possibly coming tomorrow? who knows. r&r so i know what everyone thinks. please&thankyou. 3