The night they bought in Johnny Cade and Pony Curtis was a pretty dull one to start off with for Katherine Miller, a 17 year old who volunteered at the hospital where her mother worked at to get a first hand look at what she'd be doing as an RN when she was older.
She'd just finished helping some of the nurses with passing out food, and she was just settling back into her chair in the nurses station, legs up, notebook and school book in hand, studying for a final she'd take the next day. That was until the doors opened and the two gurneys rushed past, with the group of frantic teenage boys right on it's heels.
Ida, a cleaning lady walked past and Katherine tugged at the woman's crisp white scrubs as she asked quietly, "Those two gurneys.. Wasn't an accident or somethin, right?"
"No, child, those boys were the ones who saved them kids in the next town over from that burnin church. Ain't you been hearin the news?"
"Not really." Katherine admitted sheepishly as she asked, "What were their names?"
"I believe it was Pony Curtis and Johnny Cade, the news man said? They were both right round your age, girl."
Katherine froze as it hit her. She bit her lip for a moment, quietly as she raked her hand through her hair and thought back to the recent events. She knew enough to know that whatever happened at that lot the night Bob Sheldon got stabbed was probably just a cut and dried case of self defense.
She was after all, a nonpartial 3rd party. And until that night at the lot, when one kid stabbed another, hell, she hadn't even been aware of the social classing thing, the labels.
She had friends that were on both sides of the fence and until that, she'd really never stopped and thought about anything above and beyond her usual routine which consisted of school, her volunteer nights at the hospital with her mama, the rodeos she rode in occasionally on the weekends, or chores on the farm her father split evenly between herself and her 3 older brothers.
But after that night at the lot, she'd thought about it a lot and she'd come to the general conclusion that people were people, if you cut them, they all bled the same, did they not? Whether Soc or Grease, black or white, or even purple, hell.
A person was a person. And everyone deserved a fair shake.
Of course it went without saying that some of the Greasers she knew had used up their alloted amount of fair shakes, really, but then there were the few like Darry and Soda Curtis, their baby brother Pony who just seemed to have the odds stacked solely against 'em from the time the ywere born.
She sighed as she stood and pocketed some change, called out to her mother, who was over the nursing staff tonight, filling in for the normal head nurse, "Going for a soda, Mama."
Her mom ducked out and said "Good. While you're down there, Kate, stop and see about the Curtis boys. Like it ain't bad enough those three lost their mama and daddy a few years ago."
Biting her lower lip, she nodded solemnly, and made her way down the hallway towards the vending machines in the lobby. She'd just gotten her soda when she heard a voice from behind her.
"Smokes machine is jammed."
"My mama might give ya one." Katherine said calmly as she looked up, found herself looking at Dallas Winston.
"Somehow, girl, I doubt it." Dallas said as Katherine shrugged and sipping her soda asked, "What has the doctor told yall?"
"Why do you care?"
"Because, damn it, Pony Curtis is sort an old friend of mine.. Ain't really talked to him much since high school." Katherine trailed off, quieting as she realized that somehow, subconsciously, despite all her better efforts, despite all her claims to being a nonpartial 3rd party, she really was no better than the angry mob of idiots that were currently demanding the two boys who might die be sent to prison if they lived.
Had she not stopped talking to Pony for some reason or another? He'd been a close childhood friend of hers and when they hit high school, it was almost like for some unexplicable reason, they'd cut ties.
Now it bugged her, because she didn't know why, and she didn't much like it, either.
"Ya mean before ya turned into a snotty little princess, right?" Dallas asked, naturally assuming the worst about the 17 year old girl in front of him. He'd seen her around a few times, didn't recall her running with either the Soc's or the Greasers, so he wasn't quite sure what to make of her.
And common sense told him that like most girls, if she was after a Greaser, it wasn't because she really loved him, it was because she wanted to live dangerously.
Katherine glared at him, rolled her eyes and said "Ya know, Winston.. I never pegged you for a judgemental prick."
She gave the cigarette machine a swift kick and the pack of Luckys tumbled out. She shoved them at him and continued down the hallway.
"Damn broads." Dallas said as he pocketed the cigarettes and walked out into the parking lot to smoke.
As she turned a corner, she steeled herself. She kept reminding herself that if she handled Dallas, she could handle anything else the gang might throw at her. She also kept reminding herself that she needed to rectify this recent error in judgement on her part that'd come to light just moments ago.
She didn't like knowing that she'd actually lost a damn good friend, just because they 'drifted apart'.
She spotted Darry first and tapped him on the shoulder quietly, stood waiting.
Darry turned around and for a moment, he didn't recognize the girl standing in front of him, but when he did, he gave a small smile as he asked, "So you heard."
"Mhmm and Mama told me to tell y'all, if any of you need anything, she's gonna be at the nurses station until midnight. And I wanted to tell y'all I'm real sorry.. About everything. I know it's a stupid thing to say and ya probably all sick of hearin it.. But it's the truth. I've got no other words."
Darry nodded and then Soda said quietly, "Thanks. It's Kate, right?"
"Yeah. Ya'll used to come out and ride horses with my daddy." Katherine said as she shifted her feet around on the linoleum floor, not sure what else to say really. But finally, she asked, "Are they lettin y'all in to see 'im yet?" as she blew a bubble with her gum.
The guy in the Mickey Mouse muscle shirt shook his head and said "Nobody's tellin us a damn thing either."
"Huh? What the hell, are you serious?" Katherine asked as she said calmly, "I'll be right back. I'm gonna go tell Mama what's going on. Maybe she can get somebody to let ya in. It's the least I can do."
"Do you work here?" Soda asked, thinking he distinctly remembered her being maybe a year younger than he was. So she'd be a junior in high school this year, and had he stayed he'd have been a Senior.
"Me, nope.. But I wanna be a nurse when I'm older." Katherine said as she gave them all a slightly curt parting nod and then set off to find her mother.
When her mother heard about the doctors, the way they were treating the guys all in waiting, she grumbled and set off to find the doctor over their cases, intent on giving the man a piece of her mind.
And about 10 minutes later, Katherine found herself standing in the hallway again, with the Greasers who filled it, outside of Pony and Johnny's room. " Mama wanted to come down here personally, tell ya'll that you can go in, just not all at once, but she's kinda still chewing out the nurses who told y'all ya couldn't go in to see 'em, and I'm not even gonna get started on what she told Dr. Taggert about his not tellin y'all anything. So he'll probably be down in a few minutes. Guys a dick, just warning you."
She turned on her heels and walked off, Two Bit asking, "Who's the kid, Darry?"
"Yeah. And why's this matter to her anyway, she looks like one of those damn Soc's." Steve asked as Dally spoke up and said "She's mouthy."
"She's Farmer Miller's kid. My parents had a horse out on their ranch, we used to go and ride. She used to be best friends with Pony."
Soda nodded and then said "I kinda thought they all moved."
"No, we had to sell the horse, remember? When Mom and Dad died?" Darry explained as the group lapsed back into silence, waiting on the doctor to come out, which he did, exactly 10 minutes later, though he didn't look the least bit happy about doing it.
They'd all been in to see Pony and Johnny, so Katherine figured she'd sneak in and at least set things right between herself and Pony. She didn't want an old friend dying or going on living thinking she didn't like him or want him to be a friend. So she sat down in the chair and said quietly, "Hey Pony? If you're listening, man.. I'm real sorry we stopped talkin after 8th grade.. I've been thinkin and I think I know why.. I just didn't want to say somethin to upset you guys after you all lost your mama and daddy. And then y'all had to sell the horse, quit coming out to ride. And then high school came and we got so damn busy.. It's not a good excuse, I know.. But if you live, you stubborn ass, I really wanna be your friend again. We used to have fun remember? We went down to the creek that one night and watched the stars with your brothers and my brothers, and we thought we saw that comet?"
Sighing, she stood and stretched, was about to walk out, when a movement in the next bed caught her attention.
She sat down in the chair next to Johnny Cade's bed and said quietly, " I never really got to talk to ya much, Cade.. Which is a shame, really.. You seemed like a sweet guy. Little shy, but hey, nobody's perfect. "
She took a few deep breaths and then said in an even quieter tone, " All jokin aside... I kinda had a crush on ya when we were in English together in 10th grade. I never told ya because every time I tried, I kinda got nervous and ran off."
She stood and smoothed her hands down the skirt she wore, walked out of the room quietly, just glad she'd said what she set out to say, to both her former childhood friend and the boy she had a lingering crush on, but she'd always been too damn afraid to say something about it.
What she didn't realize, of course, was that both males in the small dark hospital room were awake.
As she walked down the hallway, she made a pact with herself. She'd at least try and go in, visit them both while she was there volunteering. It couldn't hurt, she figured, and she honestly did want to set things right with her former younger friend Ponyboy. She still didn't understand how their friendship just slipped away, the second they both hit high school.
And she was disgusted with herself for letting it happen.
