Author's note: I came up with this story a while ago, but then I got writer's block, and started writing something else. Now I've decided to finish this story.

I started writing it before hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, and if anyone lived in New Orleans, I'm sorry. I lived there several years ago, and I have friends there, so I've heard a lot of stories about it first hand. I don't mean any disrespect by writing this.

Now that that's said, here's the story. Thanks to my friend Meredith for helping me come up with the summary.

Disclaimer: I do not own "The Outsiders" by S.E. Hinton.

Chapter One

Johnny Cade was home alone. None of his friends were home. Two-Bit was hung-over, Dally was in the cooler, Steve, Soda, and Darry were all working, and Pony was at the library. Pony had said that Johnny could go to the library with him, but Johnny had said no. He was almost illiterate, and the sight of all those books made him dizzy.

Now he was wishing that he'd gone with Pony. He was lonely, and didn't have anything to do. His parents weren't home, but he knew that he should leave; they could show up at any moment and beat him up.

That was the thing that really bugged Johnny; his parents always beat him up. Even worse, there was nothing he could do about it. He usually lived at the Curtis's, but sometimes he had to go home. The times of his being at home were few and far between, but they were all too frequent for Johnny.

He was about to go to the Curtis's to see if Pony was back, but before he could leave, his father walked in. It was obvious that he was drunk. He turned to Johnny and stared at him angrily.

"You," his dad growled. "What are you doing here?"

"I…" Johnny stammered. He was frozen with fear.

"You're never home!" His dad yelled, "We give you food and a roof over your head, and what do you give us in return? Nothing!"

"You haven't given me shit," Johnny said. Then he realized that he'd just made his dad madder.

"What did you say to me?" Johnny's dad said angrily.

Johnny knew his dad was going to hit him; there was nothing he could do to fight back. His dad was a lot bigger than he was, and his dad wasn't scared of getting beaten up. Johnny braced himself; the least he could do was be prepared for the blows.

The smack from the belt still took him by surprise. Johnny jumped back and yelped in pain. His dad continued beating him mercilessly with the belt. Johnny was only a few feet from the door, if he could just make it out…

Johnny was almost out of the yard when his dad tackled him. Johnny heard the sickening crack as his arm broke, and he felt the searing pain that seemed to be not just in his arm, but in his whole body. His dad was still beating him with the belt.

"Help!" Johnny yelled, "Somebody help!" He didn't care that yelling for help made him sound like a wimp; he just wanted his dad to stop hitting him.

Then Johnny saw the police car out of the corner of his eye. He thought that the cops would just make it worse, that they would probably just help his father beat him up. I was a known fact that all cops hated Greasers.

He would never have guessed what happened next.

The police car pulled in front of his house; sirens wailing. Two officers got out of the car, a guy and a girl. The guy put the handcuffs on his dad, and the girl sat down next to Johnny. Johnny was sobbing shamelessly.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

Johnny shook his head.

The officer put a hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong?" She could tell that Johnny was sort of in shock from getting beaten up, but she couldn't see any other injuries.

"I think he broke my arm," Johnny sobbed. Why couldn't he act tough in front of the cops like Dally and Two-Bit?

The police officer looked at Johnny's arm. She saw then that the right arm was badly broken. Why hadn't she noticed that before?

"It's OK," she said. "We'll get that arm fixed. Then you'll have to come down to the station and answer some questions. OK?"

Johnny nodded and the cop walked toward the car, probably to radio for an ambulance or something. By then, most of the neighborhood was either in front of his house watching what was going on, or looking out of their windows. Johnny looked for someone he knew and he finally saw Soda running toward him.

"Johnny," Soda said as he sat down next to him. "What happened?"

"Dad was beating me up," Johnny said, "He broke my arm. The cops came and took him away, I have to go answer some questions; they're going to put me in a boys home." Johnny started crying again.

"How do you know?" Soda asked. "You're sixteen. You can take care of yourself."

Soda's attempt at comforting Johnny didn't work very well. He kept crying until the ambulance came, and he didn't stop until they were halfway to the hospital.

The girl police officer, whose name was Officer Paxton, had rode in the ambulance with him. She told Johnny what he would be questioned about, so he wouldn't be nervous he guessed. He knew that he would be nervous no matter what the police officer told him. He was terrified of cops.

Getting the cast on took forever. Once it was on, it itched like crazy, and it was heavy. Johnny's arm hurt, but then again, so did the rest of his body. That was probably the worst beating his father had ever given him. He shivered; just thinking about the beating scared him, and he didn't want to think about what would happen to him when he got home. His parents would probably kill him. At least if he was dead, he wouldn't have to suffer through the beatings.

The door opened and Officer Paxton walked in.

"Your cast is probably dry by now," she said. "We can go."

Johnny and Officer Paxton left the hospital and got into the cop car. Johnny hoped that someone would see him, it would make him look tough.

"Just remember what I told you," Officer Paxton said. "Answer the questions as directly as you can, and don't be nervous. That'll make them think you're lying."

Johnny nodded. "What'll happen to me? I won't have to live with my parents will I?" he asked.

"No, you won't have to live with them," Officer Paxton said. "But I don't know what will happen to you. How old are you?"

"Sixteen," Johnny said.

"Tell the truth," Officer Paxton said.

"I really am sixteen," Johnny said. It was hard to tell that he was sixteen, he looked a lot younger.

Officer Paxton nodded. Johnny noticed that they were pulling into the police station. He was scared. He wished that he could be tough like Dally and Two-Bit, but right then he couldn't have been tough to save his life. He was led into a room with a sign on the door that said: interrogation. There was a desk with a chair on either side of it, and a cop was sitting on one side of the desk. Johnny walked in and sat down in the vacant chair. The Police Officer that had led him to the interrogation room closed the door as soon as Johnny waked in.

The cop at the desk looked up "Jonathan Cade?"

Johnny gulped, "Yes…sir."

The cop smiled, "Don't worry kid, you ain't in trouble."

"I'm not?" Johnny asked. Wasn't the reason he was here?

"No, heck no! It's your parents that are in trouble," The Police officer said.

"They…they are?" Johnny said. He was confused, if his parents were in trouble, why was he here?

"Well, we think so. I need you to answer some questions to help us figure that out." The cop said.

Johnny nodded; he was more confused than ever.

The cop smiled again, "It'll all make sense in a few minutes. I'm Officer Schultz by the way."

For the next half hour, Officer Schultz asked Johnny different questions. How long had the beatings been happening? Did they hurt him in any other way? Had any bones been broken before? What did they use to hit him with? Officer Schultz would grimace and shake his head at some of the answers. He had seen cases like Johnny before, but they always shocked him.After the questioning was over, Officer Schultz looked up from his notes and said: "Let me tell you something about yourself that you don't know. Your parents illegally came across the border when you were about three months old. We didn't even know you were here until today. Your parents probably never told you about that."

"No," Johnny said quietly. "They never did." How many other things had they kept from him?

"There's something else," Officer Schultz said. "You have an aunt that's been looking for you since you were born. She lives in New Orleans and she's your mom's sister. We thought that you were somewhere in Mexico all this time, so the police have been looking there. It's obvious that you aren't going to be living with your parents any longer, and your aunt wants you to come live with her. We told her you would. Is that OK?"

Johnny didn't know what to say. What could he say? He hadn't known any of the stuff that Officer Schultz had told him. Johnny didn't want to leave his friends, but he guessed it was either New Orleans or a boy's home.

"Yeah," Johnny said. "That's fine."

"Great," Officer Schultz said. "You're flight is at nine tonight. That gives you about three hours to get packed."