Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders; S.E. Hinton does...
Ponyboy POV
Dally. Dallas Winston. The boy who was jailed at the age of 10. The gang leader who had spent as much time in jail as out of it. The tuff and tough 17-year-old who made guys twice his size flinch at just the mention of his name. Maybe this is what he was on the outside. But to me, Johnny, the gang, he was so much more.
The boy that Johnny idolized. The one we had to bail out of the cooler more times than we could ever count. The jockey that won Buck countless sums of money and cost him just as much. The most dangerous person that I had ever met. The gallant Southern gentlemen that took the blame for things that he never did.
To the world, to the police, maybe even his own parents, he was a problem. Just another problem that society couldn't fix. Just another boy who was never given a chance. Just another hood to yell at, to jail, to kill. But to me, and definitely to Johnny, and maybe even the gang, he was a buddy, a brother, an idol. He may have seemed unfeeling. But he did feel, just the same way that the rest of us did.
He was the generous donor who gave me the coat off of his back, literally. The coat that later saved my life and prevented me from dying the same way that Johnny did. The courageous teen who risked his life for kids he didn't even know. The elder brother, almost, who gave his life for the only kid, and maybe the only person, that he loved. Johnny.
Johnny Cade. The kicked puppy who loved his parents though they didn't give a hang about him. Who forgave them for killing him inside. His parents may have given life to Johnny, but they killed him, too. They'd started slowly but surely murdering him brutally, tearing him apart, from the very day that he was born. Abusing him, verbally, physically, and emotionally. But he still was kind, forgiving, generous.
He was the boy who killed to save my life. He was protective of me, and never wanted me to get hurt. Was he half-killed when those Socs jumped him? Yes. But was he half-dead inside before that? Yes. And did those Socs kill any confidence or security that he had left? Yes. But he was still caring, protective, loyal.
He was Dally's faithful shadow. He was calm, cool, and collected, but not cold. Never cold. He may have been surrounded by a bleak world of ice, snow, and sleet, but he had a fire inside. A burning love and passion for the gang. For their safety, and well being. That's why he helped Dally. He probably was the only reason why Dally didn't kill himself years before he did. He talked to him sometimes and kept his out of trouble, just as my mother did when she was alive.
My mother. She was golden and beautiful, just like Sodapop. Sodapop. My brothers. The only thing that I had left. The gang. The group of guys that I had grown up with. I was close to them as brothers. I don't really have two brothers. No. I've got six. Six brothers. Darry, Sodapop, Johnny, Two-Bit, Dally, and Steve. Yes, Steve. Even Steve, who thought I was a tagalong and a kid. He was my friend at first because he was Soda's, but we had an unspoken bond, somehow. It kept us together, and it was just as strong as any of the bonds between me and any of my brothers.
My mother, my father, Johnny, and Dallas. They were gold. All of them. My mother, because she cared about me and my brothers, all of them, all six of them. My father, because he was a role model, funny, hardworking, and caring. Johnny, loyal, caring, pure inside though almost every last shred of life had been taken from him long before his death. Dally, because he was protective and caring under that hard exterior. Everybody who had been taken away from me. They were all gold. And they are all gone now.
Because Nothing Gold Can Stay.
A/N: Tell me what you think - Stay Gold, Everyone!