Grease Stained Asphalt

A quiet sigh filled the air around the barren room, echoing slightly off the walls.

"What if we never find him?" A voice said quietly, hoarse from crying.

Another voice spoke up, just as quietly. "Peanut, you can't think that way," The voice belonged to Lefty Mancini. "I-I mean…there's plenty of places we haven't checked yet!"

Peanut Romano shot Lefty a sad glare. He knew he was only trying to help, to cheer him up, but nothing would cheer Peanut up until Johnny came home. Johnny Vincent was the Greasers' clique leader, with Peanut in second of command. As of recent, Peanut was given the spot of leader; Johnny wasn't present to be the roll. "We've looked everywhere in New Coventry, Blue Skies, and Bullworth. He's gone, I know it Lefty! H-he's…gone…"

Lefty winced painfully, knowing that Peanut was more than likely to be completely correct. He knew that Peanut and Johnny were quite literally two peas in a pod, and it hurt him to see Peanut so low. Where ever you went, Peanut was always thinking about Johnny, how to help Johnny, to protect Johnny, to make sure that slut girlfriend of his didn't hurt him too bad. Johnny was Peanut's entire mindset, regardless of how he, himself, was feeling. Lefty sighed a bit, reaching over to place a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder, gripping it tightly. "Look, tomorrow's Friday, and after classes we can search all weekend," He squeezed his shoulder again. "How does that sound?"

Romano blinked away the tears that threatened to spill over, turning his head to look Lefty in the eyes. He nodded slowly after a few moments of thought. "Alright, thanks for talking to me Left." Peanut smiled faintly over at Lefty, using his sleeve to roughly wipe the dried tears and snot off his face.

With a small nod, Lefty stood and exited the room quietly, leaving Peanut to his thoughts. To be completely honest, Peanut felt extremely guilty that Johnny was missing, considering all he ever thought about was how to keep him safe. Yet, he failed. Another sad sigh filled the air, and the new leader drifted off into his thoughts.

When the two Greasers were kids, around 10 and 13, he and Johnny had gone off exploring an industrial area similar to Blue Skies in their home town. As they were goofing off inside a half built apartment building, a group of tweekers had confronted them with knives, claiming they were "trespassing" on their territory. Peanut was terrified, yet Johnny…Johnny wasn't. In fact, the older boy stood tall, chest out to the tweekers, screaming at them to back off, or else! Or else what, neither of the boys knew, maybe just a weak punch to the gut or shin, followed by hightailing it out of there.

"You better back off!" Johnny's voice squeaked, huffing toughly. "Or else, youse gonna get it!"

Peanut hid behind his taller companion, chest heaving from fear. The men in front of them looked really scary to a 10 year old, especially when you had no means of defense, or protection. He curled himself behind Johnny more as the men laughed loudly, inching closer.

"You really think you scare us, kid? You're like what," One man scoffed, reaching down to flick Johnny's nose that had turned red from the cold air. "8?"

All three men began laughing even louder, only to freeze as Johnny brought his hand up, and smacked the man's hand up, and backwards, as hard as he could, earning a loud cracking sound as the finger bone cracked loudly.

"Ow! You little shit!" The man growled, holding his hand tightly to his chest.

"I told you that you better back off!" Johnny repeated, taking a step closer, his eyes flickering to the ground quickly to search for any sort of protection. Hazel eyes landed on a heavily chipped brick, and he zipped down to grab it, holding it next to his head. "Who wants a broken finger too?!" He said loudly, his fingers curling around the brick so tight his knuckles flushed to a ghostly white.

The two men on either side of the first man to get his finger cracked glanced down to Johnny, then back to the man, quickly taking a few steps back before running out of the building. "Sorry Rog, I don't want any broken fingers too!" They called after, leaving nothing but dust in their place. The main interrogator only glared harshly at the two boys, before turning and exiting the building after his two friends.

Johnny dropped the brick, dusting his hands off while turning to face Peanut. "See! I told ya I'd protect you!" He then smiled widely, putting his hands on his hips in a tough pose.

Peanut looked on in amazement as Johnny single handedly scared off three grown-ups, and lived to tell the tale. "…thanks Johnny, I owe you!" From this moment on, Peanut swore his life to protecting Johnny, and to make sure he repaid him for what he did.

Peanut blinked away tears he didn't realize he was shedding, a faint smile on his lips for the first time in a week. He swore to himself that he would find Johnny, even if it was the last thing he did.