CHAPTER 2! WOOT I'VE GOTTEN SO FAR! ;) anyway, this is the chapter when we find out what happens to Dally…some cute moments I think!

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE OUTSIDERS THE BOOK AND ALL OF THE CHARACTERS (sadly including Dally….) ARE OWNED BY S.E. HINTON!-lots of punctuation I also do not own the few paragraphs of Gone With the Wind

Back at our house, the whole gang, except for Johnny and Dally, were pacing around. Fifteen minutes ago, the toughest hood had gotten shot down under a street light, and we were dyeing to know if he was okay, even though we were dead sure he was dead. That wasn't Dallas back there. That was just his body. Befor his body had died, Dallas had left it.

Just then the phone rang and we all fought our way to the fight, pushing each other over, but Darry won.

"Hello?" He said into the phone, "Uh huh…yeah…great! Thanks!" he hung up and turned to us grinning, "He'll be fine!"

Two-Bit whooped and jumped, Steve punched the air, Soda gave a hysterical laugh and yelled "I knew ol' Dallas could do it!"

"Okay, okay calm down you people are going to kill yourselves. The doc also says we can go visit him" Darry announced.

We all smiled even wider.

"But…"

"But?" yelled Soda.

"He's got a month in prison."

"He's had worse."

Darry grinned one of his cool grins, "True."

We all hopped into our old car, which was returned to us by the police after being searched, and drove 5 blocks to the hospital.

On our way something clicked in my mind, "Shit!"

"Pony…" warned Darry.

"Oh, its not like you've never said a few words!" I snapped and saw him scowl through the side mirror, "But, this is important!"

Darry sighed, signaling me to go on, "Johnny!"

Everyone jumped at his name, making the car bounce, "Yeah?" inquired Two-Bit.

"We gotta visit him, he's doing better! The doc said so when Dally and I visited him!"

"Why'd you wait till' now to tell us?" Steve shouted.

"Jeeze, calm down, Steve! In case you haven't forgotten our friend was shot an hour ago!" Two-Bit said hotly.

"Sorry."

"So can we?" I asked.

"Well, duh, idiot!" Darry said.

I smiled in excitement.

We got to the hospital and asked for Dally and Johnny. Apparently the bullet had narrowly missed Dally's left lung and just shot into a rib, but the pain had made Dallas pass out cold. He was still sleeping though, so we decided to go visit Johnny first.

The nurse lead us to his room and gently opened the door. She was actually rather cute, her chocolate brown hair, which matched her eyes, was tied up with her nurses' hat on her head. She had small pink lips which were coated with lip-shine. Her brown eyes were almond shaped and curious. She turned around to see me staring and grinned. I blushed and looked away, and then she smiled to show two rows of pearly white teeth. Sadly she was a soc girl, and would probably be disgusted after she found out where I lived.

"Mr. Cade, there are some people here to see you."

She motioned us in. As we entered we saw Johnny lying down on the pillow. I was happy to see that some color had returned to his once pale cheeks.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey," Johnny replied.

That was all we said for a long time, we all just stood there and stared at each other.

After a couple minutes Two-bit finally spoke, "How ya doin' Johnny? These people bein' nice?"

"Yeah, but they don't let me put in hair grease."

We laughed then I said, "You're doin' good buddy!"

"Yeah! I know! I can sit up now, see look!" He said excitedly and pushed himself up into a sitting position, "I don't even have to use a pillow! Oh, and my burns don't hurt as much it turns out that some fancy place in California made this stuff that heals burns, its kinda slow but I don't care."

"Tuff enough." I said, "Did you find anything about Dally? Have you talked to the nurses about him?"

"Why would the nurses know anything about Dally?" He asked, his dark eyes filling with curiosity.

"Pony, don't scare him." Darry muttered so that only I could hear.

I whispered back, "Sorry…I thought he would know."

"Well?" Johnny piped up.

"Uhh, well you know when we came to see you last, after the rumble?" I started.

"Yeah, and I passed out right?"

I nodded, "Well, Dallas thought you were…gone…" My voice got lower, "And well, he freaked out. He looked something awful, like he was going to croak on the floor. After that, he ran out, robbed that store a couple blocks away from my house. The fuzz were after him, and he was so messed up because he thought you were dead, that he…"

Johnny looked fear stricken, "No…he's not…"

I laughed dryly, "No…but he tried. He's alive, the little bastard—"

"Ponyboy!" Interrupted Darry.

"Sorry." I said sheepishly then continued, "He's Dallas, he can live through anything. He's here to. The bullet missed his lung and is stuck in his rib…the Doc thinks it's broken but he'll make it."

Johnny sighed in relief.

"Hey how'd this place get our number?" Steve said randomly.

Johnny answered, "I gave it to them so that they could call you…back on that day…you know?"

He was talking about the time he got jumped.

"Yeah...so…" Steve said.

"Pony?" Johnny asked.

"Yeah?"

"Can you read to me? Two-Bit got me a copy of Gone With the Wind. The nurse's been reading to me, but I like it when you read better. I like the way you make the characters talk funny."

I smiled, "Sure."

I reached for the book on the bedside table and opened it to where there was a little piece of paper stuck in the middle of the pages as a bookmark.

I started to read, "For an instant there was a silence so acute it seemed that neither of them even breathed. Then the trembling fell away from her, as happiness and pride surged through her. Why hadn't she done this before? How much simpler than all the ladylike maneuverings she had been taught. And then her eyes sought his.
There was a look of consternation in them, of incredulity and something more – what was it? Yes, Gerald had looked that way the day his pet hunter had broken his leg and he had had to shoot him. Why did she have to think of that now? Such a silly thought. And why did Ashley look so oddly and say nothing? Then something like a well-trained mask came down over his face and he smiled gallantly.
"Isn't it enough that you've collected every other man's heart here today?" he said, with the old, teasing, caressing note in his voice. "Do you want to make it unanimous? Well, you've always had my heart, you know. You cut your teeth on it."
Something was wrong -all wrong! This was not the way she had planned it. Through the mad tearing of ideas round and round in her brain, one was beginning to take form. Somehow—for some reason- Ashley was acting as if he thought she was just flirting with him. But he knew differently. She knew he did.
"Ashley-Ashley-tell me- you must- oh, don't tease me now! Have I your heart? Oh, my dear, I lo-"
His hand went across her lips, swiftly. The mask was gone.
"You must not say these things, Scarlet! You mustn't. You don't mean them. You'll hate yourself for saying them, and you'll hate me for hearing them!"
She jerked her head away. A hot swift current was running through her.
" I couldn't ever hate you. I tell you I love you and I know you must care about me because- " she stopped. Never before had she seen so much misery in anyone's face. "Ashley, do you care - you do, don't you?"
"Yes," he said dully. "I care."
If he had said he loathed her, she could not have been more frightened. She plucked at his sleeve, speechless.
"Scarlett," he said, "Can't we go away and forget that we have ever said these things?"
"No," she whispered. "I can't. What do you mean? Don't you want to - to marry me?'"

I looked up from the book and Johnny was lying against the pillow, his eyes drooping.

"See ya soon buddy," I said quietly.

He grinned, his eyes already closed and said, "Buh-bye"

OK that's the end of this chapter…I'm really happy with how this turned out. The next chapter is going to be about a week ahead of this, and Dally will finally be seen. I really like the part when Johnny asks Pony to read.

Also, Cherry is coming soon I dunno when though…probably after or during the end of the next chapter. Yeah probably the chapter after I already have great Dally-annoys-the-hell-out-of-Cherry scene. :D