"Give the kid a bath, David."

They shoved Ponyboy's head in the fountain, holding him as they thrashed while two others approached Johnny, holding him back as he fought to get to his friend. One punch to the gut, two, three... he stopped struggling around four and went limp, breathing heavily and letting out a strangled sob every few seconds, his eyes remained fixed on what little of his friend he could see still sticking out of the fountain.

Gradually Ponyboy stopped moving. His arms stopped flailing and Randy stepped back, staring at Bob as realization flooded onto both their faces.

"We didn't mean... you... Bob you fucking killed him," Randy exclaimed, his voice high pitched and scared. Johnny's head snapped in the direction of the soc that had been with Cherry earlier that night.

"Shit," Bob hissed, looking terrified and angry. At himself? Johnny couldn't tell.

"We gotta get outta here," one of the socs holding back Johnny said and let him go as he started for the car, the other following suit and leaving Johnny standing there, slumped, his eyes still fixed on his friend.

Then, he moved so slowly there almost seemed to be a force holding him back, he went to the fountain, dragging Ponyboy out of the cold water with trembling hands. His breathing hitched as he caught sight of the pale face, the blue tinge his lips had.

An engine started, and someone had their hand on his shoulder. When he turned, Randy was staring at Ponyboy looking... upset? That confused him. Socs shouldn't feel sad about someone they hated. They didn't feel.

"S-Sorry, kid," he mumbled, hurrying toward the car and leaving Johnny alone by the fountain, his forehead resting on his friend's chest.

His friend's still chest.

It's over, guys, and I appreciate the reviews that've kept me going all this time. True, it was a short fic, but I never meant for it to be novel-length by any means. My next fic will come out sometime soon when I get a handle on my other stories and everything.

I'd really like to say that this is by far my favourite story on ff I've written and I hope you all enjoyed it. I'm also proud to say that this is about my third finished multi-chapter Outsiders fic and I'm hoping to start up on JRC again in the future when I have more time.

Thank you again for reading and reviewing, I appreciate it.