Sorry, I'm horrible at summaries. Hope you like it!
Discalimer!-They're not mine I'm just borrowing them for a fw paragraphs
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It was odd for us to get any visitors, besides the gang, that is. Sure we had guys crashin' on the couch nearly every night but we never really had an actual visitor since mom and dad were alive. That was the first thing that struck me as odd when I got the door. Next she had knocked. No one ever knocked in our neighborhood. If the door was unlocked you just threw your head in and hoped you were welcome. And I it wasn't unlocked…well…you found a way in.
I had been nominated to answer the door, being the youngest and all. Seriously it's a bad gig being only 14. The whole gang was scattered around our living room. Steve and Soda slumped on the couch, watching some re-runs or something. Two-bit was lying on the floor devouring a piece of pizza and Darry sat in the big armchair in the corner reading the paper. And even though I was the farthest from the door, I had to get it.
She was out of place on our side of town but at the same time she almost fit it. She was pretty but not gorgeous. Clean but not free of a few scuffs on her shoes and dirt on her legs. Part of her seemed Soc and part Greaser; like one of Soda's old girlfriends. She was so perfectly average. She had to come from in town— the middle class kids. Enough money to get by fairly easy but they would never have what the Socs' had. But then again they didn't get into the rumbles the Socs' did either. I envied her.
She was what people call "petite" no more then 5'3" or 4"; even I was taller then her by a few inches and Darry would have towered over her. Her dishwater blonde hair was bulled back into a messy bun and her chocolate brown eyes seemed nervous. She wore a knee length skirt with a light blue blouse.
"I'm looking for the Curtis house… Ponyboy Curtis. I swear that's his name. This isn't some joke." Her voice was as smooth and warm as the chocolate that tinted her eyes.
"That's me," I said softly.
Before I could ask her what she needed Darry's voice called from inside the house, "Ponyboy for god sake's let whoever it is in and close the dang door. Your letting all the cold air in. I swear sometimes…."
I felt odd leading this complete stranger into our front living room, silently wishing that our house wasn't such a mess. As she stepped into view the guys looked up at her surprised to see an unfamiliar face.
"Who's she?" Soda almost grunted.
Two-Bits lips formed into a side-ways grin, "Well all be damned! Pony did you get a girl? And a looker too."
Darry kicked him, hard and then gave me a look that screamed You-better-not-have. He wasn't to into the idea of me dating yet, said I was too young. It didn't matter though, I wasn't too much into the idea yet either.
"Aww C'mon guys," I could feel my ears turning a bright red.
"Kathy." She answered shooting a glare at Two Bit. "My name is Kathy. I go to school with you Ponyboy. I'm a junior there and I've been away for a few weeks and I just heard about…Johnny and I…"her voice trailed off.
His name nearly crushed me. A deep pit had settled in my chest and my lips quivered. My knees almost dared to give out from underneath me. It hadn't been more then three weeks since he had died lying in a hospital bed covered in burns. 'Stay gold Ponyboy' his words still haunted me. I felt hot tears behind my eyes, daring to fall but I fought them back. I had already done my crying.
The gang seemed to burst into action at his name. Steve and Soda sat up and turned the T.V. volume down low. Two-Bit scrambled off the floor and Darry slowly pulled himself out of his chair. He took the two boxes from her arms and set them on our kitchen countertop. He asked her to excuse the mess and offered her something to drink. She declined; she didn't plan on staying long.
She seemed hesitant to speak "I've been helping Johnny get his GED. He came to me and told me he had dropped out of school and I agreed to tutor him. He was gonna take the test at the end of this summer."
I didn't want to believe her. She couldn't have known this. Johnny didn't keep things from me; he told me everything. She had made a mistake. "Why'd Johnny want his GED for?" I must have asked a little harsher then I meant cus' Darry send me a warning glance.
"He wanted to be prepared, he said when he left his parents he was going to be ready. Wasn't ever gonna go crawling back to them. We had been working together for nearly three months now and we hade become, I don't know…friends."
Friends. The words were poison on my tongue. THEY were friends? Where was she when he didn't have anywhere else to go? When his mom would beat him? Where was she when he got thrown to the ground and punched over and over again by a Soc three times as big as him? Where was she when he cried while his hands were covered in blood? Where was she when he was stuck in a hospital bed; dying? WE were friends— Johnny and I. THEY were not. I wanted to say all those things but I knew I shouldn't.
"He told me about you; all of you. Soda and Steve, Dally," Kathy's voice trembled and then small tears began to fall. "About the things you did; sneaking into the movies, rumbles with the Socs and the football games. He always sounded so happy. And now look at me I'm blubbering. You must all think I'm a giant crybaby. Its just Johnny was such a sweet kid."
And as she started to cry all those things that I had wanted to say but I shouldn't, I couldn't say and I didn't want to. We both had lost somebody special to us. We both had lost Johnny.
Steve had gone to the bathroom and grabbed a tissue box and tossed it to Soda, who then offered one to Kathy. She took one gratefully and whispered a soft 'thank you' as she dabbed the corner of her eyes. I didn't want to embarrass her so I kept my eyes fixed on my shoes; intently watching the frayed laces. There was nothing I could say, there was nothing I could do. I couldn't tell her things would be alright, or that she would get over it; cus' she wouldn't.
I couldn't cry with her either. I had cried long and hard enough as they lowered Johnny and Dallas into the ground. The air had been crisp but warm; the way Johnny liked it, so he could sleep outside at night. Like one of those days where Steve would have come running into the house with a football and we would have chased him all the way to the lot. Or like last September when we all went to the town fair and caused all sorts of mischief. I had cried for nearly three days and now, I stared at my shoes.
Her tears slowed and she spoke softly, "Over the weeks Johnny had left some of his things at my place and I thought he'd want you to have them. You were his family," Kathy pointed to the cardboard box on the counter. I went to look inside to see what had been left to us; Johnny didn't have much to leave behind. As my fingers just barely scraped the edge of the box, Kathy added, "It's not much a notebook, a book we read. I can take them to his parent if you don't want them."
It was then I grabbed the box and held it to my chest. "No! I…we want them. Thank you very much."
Although no one said it we were all very grateful and she could tell, a small smile formed on her lips. "I got something else for you too," She moved toward, the counter and opened the tinier white box to reveal a chocolate cake covered in a thick layer of chocolate frosting. Small grins formed on our faces as well.
"I know most people bring flowers or cards, but he told me you loved chocolate so I thought you would like this better," she said with a smile.
Good old Johnny.
It was like he had gotten if for us himself; to say goodbye. To tell us that things would be okay. To say that things would be good again and at some point we' d be able to talk of him or Dally and it wouldn't hurt so bad. And in a few more weeks Two Bit would crack a joke and no one would feel guilty for laughing. It was like he was giving us this one last thing. We'd make it; we were tough. We were Greasers.
"He always talked about you guys. You were his family and he really cared about you guys. Just thought you should know."
We sat in a comfortable silence for just a moment or two before I finally answered, for us all. "We know."
I wanted to thank her in some way for doing this for us. She didn't have to do any of it. My eyes wondered over to the chocolate cake. "Would you like a piece," I asked. She nodded and we all gathered around our counter, while Darry cut the cake into big thick pieces and Soda passed out some forks. And then we ate the whole thing—and a thousand things were said in those few brief moments without using any words.
Later Darry would walk Kathy home seeing as it was so late and all. As she walked out the door she gave each and every one of us a kiss on the cheek and thanked us. The whole gang stayed over that night; scattered across our living room floor. But I sat in my room going through the box Kathy had brought. There wasn't much; pens and pencils,one of his old baseball caps, a box of cigarettes-- his favorite brand, a small paperback book and a green spiral notebook that looked like it had survived WWI.
I read it cover to cover. A few pages of journal entries, a few of writing excercises, the very end was an essay about the book that was also in the box. I traced his small scratchy writing with my finger. I wanted to memorize it; I wanted to memorize him. I didn't want to one day not be able to remember his face or the way he laughed. I didn't want to forget a single thing about him.
I saw Kathy a few times after that. She always waved when we passed in the hallway or when she saw me in the lunchroom. Once she had even sat with me in the library and talked to me a few minutes about how school was and other things like that. We never were friends or anything but, we didn't need to be.
That night is long gone now and bits and pieces of it are starting to fade but still I remember; it was the best piece of cake I ever had.
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Thanks for reading. Review please! Criticism is welcomed!
Oh and I hope there wasn't a horrible amount of spelling and grammar errors either (I spell-checked!)
Peace out Girl Scouts
BlondieBoo