(A.N. Hey guys! I just rewrote a few little parts of this chapter and will post the 2nd one soon! -Andrea)
DISCLAMER: I do not own The Outsiders or and of S.E Hinton's wonderful characters!
Chapter 1
"Hey Johnny!" I threw another rock at his bedroom window, being careful not to wake up his parents, but making sure I hit his window loud enough to get his attention. When Johnny sleeps, it sometimes takes a while to wake him up. He's like a rock when he's tired
"Johnny, man! Are you up?" I watched the window and saw the dirty, old, broken blinds being pulled up and the window being opened,
"Hey Dal, time for me to go to school already?" I laughed a little, the kid hated school but he still went in an attempt to try to please his parents. No matter what he does, they still don't care. He will always keep on trying to be their perfect son though.
"Yeah, now go get dressed kid," When he turned away from the window you could see the scars that spread across his back like a full body tattoo, they sickened me whenever I saw them. It just gave me another reason to hate every single socs' existence on this planet. I patiently waited for Johnny's head to poke back out of the window
Soon enough, he emerged from the bedroom window fully clothed with something other than his pajamas.
"Are we gonna' head over to the Curtis' house before you walk me over school?" I nodded my head and lit up a cigarette. I had been walking him and Pony to school ever since the accident, they were always targeted the most by the socs. The rumble hadn't helped anything, it made the socs hate us even more. I was even jumped once. I almost pulled my blade on them before the gang showed up, Darry made me keep it in my pocket.
Johnny quickly climbed from the window before landing with a thud on the ground below. I patted his back gently to be sure I wouldn't hurt him, after the fire he went through a bunch of surgeries and crap, we can't be too rough with him for a while yet. He hates it, no football, rumbles, even walking around town too much will make him sore, I don't blame him. It kind of reminds me of when I'm in the cooler, I can't do much of anything while I'm in there. If I move a weird way they try to get me in trouble for it, that's why I always behave in there.
"How ya' feelin' today kid?" I looked over at Johnny as we walked, he slouched slightly and his hands were shoved in his pockets for warmth. He looked up at me and mustered a smile. It wasn't hard to tell it wasn't sincere, you barley ever got to see a real smile from him anymore. It was rare before, but I never got to see it anymore. It's almost like he is depressed or something.
"A little better Dal, it still hurts some," I nodded and took a drag off my cigarette. I tried to keep my cool, even though each time I heard that Johnny was hurting it hurt me a bit too.
"Well, you'll feel like new soon enough kid," I flashed a small smirk at him which made him smile instantly, that time I knew it was a real one. Whenever I seem to be happy Johnny is too. now I always make sure not to be too steamed up when I go to see him so that I don't rattle him up or upset him.
"Yeah, I guess so. I just hope Pony and Steve aren't gonna' be going at it again today," I rolled my eyes at the mention of those two.
Steve and Pony had never got along, it was obvious to anybody who had eyes, other than Sodapop, it had just gotten worse lately. Steve blamed Pony for everything that had happened and just couldn't even stand the kid anymore, not even for Soda. I'll admit it, I was pretty pissed at the Pony too for a while, but when it's somebody in your gang, you need to forgive and forget. Steve just finally has a good reason to hate him so he's making sure to use it up.
"If they are, lord help us all Johns!" We walked the rest of the way in silence, Johnny was wrapped up in keeping warm and I was to busy smoking and thinking about who I was fighting today to even bother talking.
As soon as we got to the Curtis house you could easily hear Steve and Pony yelling at each other like cats and dogs from the porch. I sighed and opened the door. As soon as me and Johnny looked inside you could see everyone hanging out in the living room but Darry, Steve and Pony were clearly in a heated argument. Me and Johnny both stayed in the doorway so that we wouldn't interrupt.
"No kid! That shirt is mine!" Pony rolled his eyes, he usually didn't have an attitude, well, except an attitude to Steve and Darry. Other than that he usually keeps quiet.
"Soda gave it to me moron!" I chuckled a little under my breath, soon enough Darry would be coming out of one of the rooms breaking up the two of them.
"Well he took it from me!" Ponyboy laughed at Steve and mouthed something that I didn't quite catch so I turned to johnny and whispered in his ear,
"What did he say?" Johnny laughed and whispered back,
"Bite Me," I tried my best to hold in my chuckles as Darry came into the already full room, I couldn't help but let out a small laugh. The kid doesn't usually have that much sass to dish out.
"Okay, what are you two idiots fighting about this time?" Darry asked with a very annoyed tone. Two-bit quickly spoke up to answer his question,
"A shirt, Steve is claiming it to be his, while Ponyboy says that Mr. Sodapop Curtis gave to him," Two-Bit said in a mock northern accent like the judges on TV. Soda quickly threw a pillow at him to make him shut up,
"You sound like a Soc, Two!" Soda laughed at him,
"I thought I sounded like I came from up north," He raised his eyebrow at soda as he took a bite out of his chocolate cake,
"Well whatever, Steve, I'll have Soda get you a new shirt, and Pony, it's about time you, Johnny, and Two-bit headed over to school." Darry said and Two-bit quickly laughed back at him,
"I think I'm already a little too toasted to walk these two to school." I rolled my eyes at him, I don't even remember the last time I saw him sober. I was counting on him walking the kids today anyway, I wasn't in the mood to listen to Ponyboy talking about Cherry Valance the whole walk there.
Ever since Cherry had helped us with spying and everything Pony won't shut up about her. She ignores him whenever they're in school or around her friends but you can tell the kid still has a huge crush on her, it's actually pretty funny to see him drool over her like a little puppy. He hasn't ever done it before, I guess it's something about him wanting something he can't have that makes him drool over her, I don't know, but she's older than him anyways so he would have been screwed even if she was a greaser. Either way she probably wouldn't touch him with a ten-foot pole.
"I guess I can walk em' today, I've been doing it most of the time anyways," I volunteered. Darry nodded at Pony to tell him to move his ass. He quickly gathered up all of his books and joined me and Johnny at the doorway.
"You guys be careful, alright?" Darry commanded. I chuckled a little,
"Don't worry Superman, nobody's gonna' mess with me!" I said and Darry rolled his eyes at me,
"Just get them to school okay?" Darry nagged, I looked at him,
"Yeah, yeah, lets go guys," Pony waved bye to Darry and we quickly stepped off of the porch and started heading in the direction of the school, which was a pretty long walk so it is understandable why I wasn't thrilled.
I put out what was left of my cigarette on the ground, making sure not to trip on anything in the process. I can be clumsy if I'm not careful about things, but I'm not going to let anyone know that.
"So Dal, what are you gonna do today?" I shrugged, Buck didn't have any work for me so I didn't really know.
"I'm probably gonna' hunt some action Johns," Pony simply looked over at us, he didn't bother to talk, ever since the accident if he started talking, he would start arguing or get defensive. The whole ordeal really shook him up, and Steve telling him it was his fault Johnny almost died didn't help very much, so he usually kept quiet unless he had any questions or any stuff like that.
"Why aren't you goin' out with Sylvia today Dallas?" Pony piped up, I simply rolled my eyes, she is somebody I wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole, and I have been with some pretty... greasy, for lack of a better word to describe them, girls, so that just proves how bad she is.
"You can probably guess, she's been two-timin' me again, I really can't take her shit anymore," I stated with finality. Pony sort of laughed at me for a sec, "Why are you laughing' kid?" He quickly stopped and stiffened up. I can sort of, intimidate, people sometimes.
"Well, it's just, no matter how mad you get at her, you end up taking her back almost every time," I had to admit it, the kid was pretty smart, and he was right, I always took her back no matter what. But this time I'm pretty sure I won't.
I just shook my head side to side,
"It ain't happening this time, she doesn't deserve even the worst hood in Tulsa, she's just a whore," Pony's ears turned red at my response, he probably wasn't used to hearing girls getting called whores all the time, I just chuckled to myself and kept walking. Sylvia really was a whore if you thought about it, I had always been loyal to her, she just had a tendency to cheat. This time it was with some guy at Bucks, I should find him and give him a piece of my mind...
"It don't even matter anyways, this time I'm serious, were done. I ain't the best guy anyways." Johnny simply looked over at me and nodded he really didn't know how to respond to what I just said, he didn't have any experience with girls. Pony didn't either so he shut up quick, his only experience was with a soc that led the poor kid on. A horn beeped out of nowhere and Johnny quickly jumped five feet into the air.
Johnny seemed a lot more on edge ever since the accident, even worse than before. He isn't just afraid of Socs anymore, no, now he's afraid of other greasers, even the gang. If you move too fast or look at him funny he gets nervous and starts biting his fingernails. His parents have been pretty bad to him about costing them all of that money with the surgery, they don't beat him as bad. (They'd be wasting their money if they did,) They just yell and they won't feed him. He doesn't like mooching off of the Curtis' so he's been loosing a lot of weight. He tries to ignore me when I tell him that he has to eat, I can barley force it down his throat most of the time. He's starting to scare me real bad, everyone already found out I cared about him when he went through his surgeries, so I didn't bother trying to hide it anymore.
"Did ya' eat today Johns?" He shrugged and I stared him down as he tried to avoid eye contact,
"No, I ain't hungry," I sighed heavily, there was no way I could get through to him, even if he looked up to me, Pony can't even get through to him and he always can no matter what's wrong with him.
"You know, you can't just stop eatin' kid. Your gettin' even skinnier than Evie," Steve's girl, Evie, was like a living portrayal of Snow White. She was pale, stick thin, and fragile looking, man, she even looked like a damn doll. But she was real thin and tall, she even looked too thin for a girl but it was probably because she was tall. There was no excuse for Johnny to be this thin, he was even losing muscle.
I walked along, kicking a rock as I went until Johnny finally responded,
"Well, I ain't hungry. I don't wanna' eat." He was still making sure he wasn't looking at me. Pony was just walking awkwardly in between us, he knew I would start yelling soon and he just didn't want to get caught in between us.
"When you get outta' school I'm taking you down the the diner, and your going to eat. I don't care how much you don't want to Johnny, I will feed you through a damn tube if I need to!" He quickly gave up, for now. He'll probably put up a fight later when I come to get him.
It didn't take more than five minutes after I had to yell at the kid until the school emerged from in between a bunch of trees. I still remember when I actually would go to school, it wasn't that bad, considering the fact I only went to get in fights with Shepard, He got expelled and I just dropped out because there was nothing else for me to do. I never went to learn anyways so it didn't really matter.
Johnny seemed to try to inch closer when he started getting weird looks from all of the socs, I just let him because I knew he was scared shitless, They've threatened to jump him in the hallways and stuff, I understand, he killed your buddy but it was self defense. It wasn't the kids fault. I looked over at Pony who was just walking like normal, slouching, clutching his books to his side to avoid having them knocked out of his hands. Out of nowhere though, a familiar voice came booming through my ears, a gentle, sweet sort of voice that we all knew way too well.
"Hey Ponyboy!" She called, Pony quickly turned around and came face to face with the pretty little Cherry Valance. He stuttered a little on his response.
"Oh, well, um, hi Cherry, it's nice to see you." She smiled at his stuttering, she seemed to think it was cute, I don't know how a stuttering fourteen year old kid is cute, but whatever. I'm a guy so I shouldn't ever be put in that position anyways.
"I was wondering if I could borrow your notes for algebra? I already stayed back in that class one year, my parent's are gonna kill me if it happens again!" He smiled at her and said,
"I'm sorry but I left em' back at home, you can head over after school to pick them up if you'd like," She nodded, at him and I was just sitting there dumbfounded as she scribbled a number on a piece of paper, she totally ignores the kid, than out of nowhere she starts being nice. I leaned over and whispered to Johnny,
"She probably wants all the answers to the next text too," He chuckled a little but Cherry didn't even seem to hear us, she simply handed Pony the piece of paper with a phone number neatly scribbled on it,
"Call me when I can head over and pick up to notes," She flashed a smile and uttered a quick goodbye to Pony, she looked over at me and scowled before speeding away, making sure no one had seen her talking to us.
I looked over at Ponyboy, he was just standing there frozen with the number in his hand, he probably didn't understand she was just playing him off to get a good grade, I mean, it was obvious. I still don't understand why she hates me though, I was just joking around with her at the drive in, she's the one who splashed a soda in my face that I ever so kindly spent my money to buy for her. Soon enough, Pony came back down to earth and stuffed the piece of paper into his pocket. I looked over to Johnny who seemed a whole lot more uncomfortable since Cherry had come up to us, he was probably afraid some Socs would get all mad at us for talking to Cherry. I just rolled my eyes and walked them up to the front steps of the school.
"Alright John's, I'll pick you two up after school and I'm still taking you to the damn diner whether you like it or not, okay kid?" I ruffled his hair and smiled at him and he smiled back,
"Okay Dal, See you later," I watched the two disappear into the building before turning around to head back to the Curtis'.
I simply walked along, lighting another cigarette when I dropped my lighter on the sidewalk. I went to pick it up when I saw a set of little dainty fingers with perfectly manicured nails pick it up,
"I don't think you want to lose this Dallas, you might reduce your risk of getting lung cancer," Cherry handed the lighter back over to me,
"So you talk to greasers now? Didn't daddy tell you we were bad news?" I uttered as I lit up my cigarette,
"I can do as I please Dallas, and it would be nice if I got a thank you," I laughed at her between puffs of smoke,
"Why would I thank you? I was in the middle of grabbing it myself redhead," She scowled,
"Well, sorry for trying to be nice, and I do have a name!" I had no clue why she was even talking to me, let alone starting an argument, but I wasn't just going to back down. Dallas Winston never backs down.
"I know you have a name, everyone does, I just prefer not to learn the names of Socs," She simply kept the same old look plastered on her face,
"I'm pretty sure you know mine, it's kind of hard not to!" I rolled my eyes, she always acted like she was better than everyone, it really could piss you off and that is exactly what she was managing to do.
"Here, listen sweetie, you need to quit acting like you are the best person in the universe, you might just get hurt!" She huffed and quickly gave up on the argument, turning around and heading into the school. I looked around to make sure no socs had seen us arguing. I would have been in for it. Even though I can defend myself it still isn't any fun getting jumped.
I sighed, put out my cigarette, and continued walking back to the Curtis' trying to force that girl out of my head.