After saying his goodbyes to his parents and Dally (who was in his first year at a community college), Johnny took out his bike and rode it all the way to school. It wasn't going to be an eventful year. Nothing but football games and practice, researching about their murder in the previous life (seeing if the police found the murderer yet) he had, dealing with his science teacher again and being a part of the Creative Writer's Guild again this year. He smiled to himself at the last part. Creative Writer's Guild was a club where you spend time working on short stories, novels, and poetry.
Whenever Johnny wrote, it was about Ponyboy. He changed his gender and his role in anything he wrote. His story last year won a Creative Story Award and Award Ceremony. It was about Ponyboy, a girl who leads her gang to do good acts within her community.
Johnny finally reached school, parked his bike and quickly went to the front of 'Eastbourne High'.
When he got in, he was greeted by the principal. "Welcome back Mr. Cade! Going to make sure you bring a lot of trophies this year, am I correct?" Mrs. Jeya greeted him with a firm handshake.
"I will, Mrs. Jeya," he said, shaking her hand. He went to find his locker (the number is given to him, along with which floor it'll be located in) and climbed to the second floor. He looked around until he spotted Locker 2003, 6 lockers away from homeroom.
"Lucky me," he thought to himself as he sauntered over to his locker. As he was opening it, he felt someone tap him on the shoulder.
"Hey bruh, you missed one hell of a party last night" a voice yelled to him. He turned around and was greeted by Two-Bit Matthews, the real Thad Castle at 'Eastbourne High'. Also a friend of his in 1965. "Let me guess, you fucked a blonde, didn't you," Johnny mused with a hint of sarcasm.
"Man she was one fine gal," Two-Bit said to him, still thinking about last night.
"Well, see ya later," Johnny said and speed-walked into homeroom. He didn't want to hear him talk about last night, with a lot of description, of course.
He was almost there , not looking at anyone and minding his business. "Johnny, my boy!" Two-Bit yelled, making Johnny turn around bump into someone.
He turned around and saw a young boy (around 14 years old) on the ground picking some books. He swiftly dropped to the ground beside him and frantically helped him.
"Hey kid, you okay?" he asked him. The boy wasn't listening, too busy picking his scattered books from the ground.
"Hey,' Johnny repeated, trying to grab his attention. Johnny and the boy stood up at the same time, and the latter was about to continue walking when Johnny stopped him by lightly touching his shoulder. "I said hey kid, you okay?" Johnny yelled at him, unable to contain his irritation no longer. . The boy tilted his head, finally looking at Johnny. "Thanks," the boy told Johnny. Johnny stopped talking and started to smile. "Ponyboy…" he said quietly.
