"You're such a worthless piece of trash!" Johnny's mothers scream seemed to hit him worse then her actual fist.
He said nothing as he stood there, letting the drunken woman beat on him. He wasn't afraid, just hurt emotionally that she could do this to her own son. After so long you think he would be used to it, but each drunken shout was like a bullet to his heart and he would have gladly taken the shots over the words.
"Get out of my house!" she screamed, throwing her beer bottle at him.
Johnny ducked and the amber liquid spilled out over him as it broke against the wall. He could feel the liquid running down his shirt and he could feel the glass in his hair. It crunched under his shoes as he ran for the front door, doubled over, as his mother threw more beer bottles at him. He slammed the door shut behind him and gasped loudly, the smell of alcohol burning his nose. He shook his head and listened as the glass fell onto the concrete in front of the door. He barley heard the little tinkling of the glass over his parents' renewed, drunken, fight.
Sighing, Johnny wondered idly where he would stay for the night. He shoved his hands in his pockets and tried to keep the tears at bay but he knew he wouldn't be able to for long. It hurt so much to think that his own parents didn't notice him unless they were drunk. It hurt him even worse to know that they didn't care…they just thought him to be a waste of space--which maybe he was. Maybe he out to just go out and kill himself now just to get away from all of it.
"Hey, there, Johnnycake!" someone crowed from behind. Johnny whipped his blade out and spun around, his eyes gazing around wildly.
"Oh," he let out a low whistle of relief, "It's just you, Ponyboy."
"I thought you went home," Pony frowned, as the two boys fell instep with one another.
"Nah, parents are drunk again. You know how they get. It's not me drinkin' this time," Johnny replied as they walked down the sidewalk. It was a moment before he spoke again, "Aren't you supposed to be home with Darry?"
"Yeah."
They fell into another easy silence before Johnny spoke again,
"Don't you think he's going to be worried about you?"
Pony nodded and turned his gaze to the sky. The sun was starting to set and he knew Darry would be upset with him if he were out late again on a school night. However, he needed to take a break from it all. Sometimes it's just a little hard to do all that work and be expected to do it perfectly. Johnny understood that without either of them having to say a word. He liked that about Johnny. He was a good kid.
"Wanna crash at our place?" Pony finally asked as they rounded the corner. Johnny shrugged,
"I was gonna stay at the lot. I don't want to be any trouble. I'm sure Dally's gonna need it more then me."
"Hell, Dally can go stay at his own place tonight."
"What about--?"
"There isn't anything to worry about. Dally can take care of himself. Its you we gotta worry about, Johnny. Come on and stay at our place. Darry would never forgive me if I let you stay in the lot and I don't think I can bare to think of you out there anyway," Pony interrupted, casting the older boy a cold glare.
Sighing, Johnny gave up and followed the boy home. As they stepped through the screen door Darry looked like he was going to have a real yelling fit until he caught sight of Johnny standing there. His face fell into a worried mask and Soda looked up from the table.
"Well, hey there, Johnnycake!" he drawled as if it was the simplest thing in the world to see the boy there, "Been out drinking? You sure smell it."
"Shut up. You've been around Two-Bit too much," Johnny shot, smelling his shirtsleeve.
"Have you Johnny?" Darry asked in his deep voice, eyeing the younger boy before him.
"No! My damn mother threw another beer bottle at me. She's so--well can I crash here for the night? Ponyboy wouldn't let me stay at the lot," he answered, eyeing Pony coldly.
Pony merely shrugged and sat down at the table in front of his course books. He took a bite of Soda's chocolate cake and Johnny wondered idly how the family could eat that much chocolate.
"Of course you can," Darry said, "You can stay here as long as you like. Dally's out of town so the couch should be open for once."
"Where'd Dally go?" Pony asked with his mouth full of cake.
"God knows," Darry replied, "Finished your homework yet."
"Nearly."
"Nearly ain't done."
Pony didn't reply but he picked up his pencil and set to work. Darry sat down in the chair as Johnny turned to take a shower. On second thought, he spun around and said,
"Darry, do you think the world is better off without me even being here?"
Darry looked up and gave the boy such a cold glare even Soda didn't try to lighten the moment,
"Don't you even start talking like you're gonna kill yourself, Johnny. I'll rip your head off and do it for you if you talk like that again. Go take yourself a shower and then you're coming in here and going to sleep." Johnny nodded and muttered,
"Thanks Superman."
He headed towards Darry's room wondering if this was really true.