Disclaimer: We do not own The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton nor do we own the song "Ugly" by the Exies.
We're a few hours too early but we're expanding Good Fic Day.
"This fic/chapter is being posted as part of "Good Fic Day," an effort to raise the quality of writing here. We hope to encourage more writers to improve the quality of their own fan fiction - spell check, grammar check, keep the gang in character, outline, plot and don't use Mary Sues. Good fan fiction requires effort, and we would like to encourage other writers to rise to the challenge of producing better fan fiction, not only for our readers, but for S.E. Hinton, who created the wonderful book we are trying to honour."
Are you ugly?
A user, a lost soul?
Somebody you don't know?
Ellie was putting the final can of soup on the top of the tower of a spectacular canned food display in the front window of Joe's shop when she spotted Johnny walking down Front Street. He saw her in the window and grinned.
"Hey, Johnny," she said when he walked in the door. "What are you doing all by your lonesome?"
He shrugged. "Just trying to find something to do. Everybody's either at work or … "
"Or they're Two-Bit?" Ellie finished for him, propping up a sign in front of her tower of cans, announcing Joe's spring cleaning sale on canned goods.
Johnny laughed. "Yeah. And I can't find Dally anywhere."
"Hm." It was all Ellie could muster after her last encounter with Dally. He had kept his distance since then, and so had she.
"You guys still fighting?" Johnny asked casually.
"Fighting isn't exactly it. It's probably best if we just ignore each other for the time being. Where's Pony?" she asked, deliberately changing the subject.
"I think he headed down to the DX to hang out for a while until Steve and Soda got off work," he replied cautiously.
"I figured you two would be playing some football or something since it's so nice out," she said as Johnny followed her through the store.
"Maybe we will later when everybody gets off work. You wanna play, too? It'd make the teams even," he suggested, seemingly happy with the change of topic.
Ellie shook her head. "Probably not, but I'll root for you guys. Well, some of you guys," she added with a smile.
"Okay," Johnny replied. "I'll probably go practice some kicks before everybody gets there. Gotta try to get one past Darry this time."
She smiled. It had been a long time since the guys had all played a game of football, and it would be a nice change of pace for once. Hopefully it would get things back to normal.
"Do you want a Pepsi or something before you go? It's on me."
After a little convincing, Johnny finally accepted the bottle of pop, grinning his thanks as he walked towards the door to leave. Ellie followed him to the front of the store to put the finishing touches on her display and was startled when she saw a blue mustang pull in front of the store and four boys climb out.
Johnny leaned against the store front, looking like he didn't have a care in the world as they surrounded him, but Ellie didn't wait around long enough to see what was about to happen. She spun around and ran to the back of the store.
"Joe!" she called before she even reached his office. "Joe, you gotta come out here!"
"What's goin' on?" Joe asked, pulling his glasses off and tossing them on his desk.
"Will you tell those boys outside they need to leave?" she pleaded, trying not to sound as shaky as she felt. "They're going to give my friend trouble, and he didn't do anything."
Joe followed her to the front of the store. Ellie was relieved to see all the boys were just standing outside, even though Johnny was still surrounded by the others. The Socs were laughing and joking around it seemed, but it was clear to Ellie that Johnny was either the butt of the joke or not at all amused by it.
"Everything seems okay to me," Joe offered, slowing as they made their way closer to the door. He seemed to be on the verge of stopping and turning back to his office, but Ellie grabbed his arm.
"Will you please tell them they have to leave?" Ellie asked. "They were the same ones that came in here before when they . . . when I got jumped."
That was enough to convince Joe to step outside and run the boys off, even if they weren't exactly doing anything wrong.
She kept the door open with her foot after Joe walked outside so she could hear the exchange. She tried to ignore the way her hand was shaking on the door handle as she scanned the faces of the boys. Michael wasn't there, but the other four were familiar from the boys that visited her before she was jumped, and they were the same ones that always hung around Michael in the hallways at school.
"Can I help you boys?" Joe asked. He seemed to know well enough which one of the boys was her friend and which were the troublemakers.
"No, sir," said one of the boys. He put on his best innocent expression which made Ellie resist the urge to snarl in disgust.
The only boy standing there whose name she knew was Richard Vinson, and he spoke up next. "We were just asking for directions. We got a little turned around."
Ellie couldn't see Joe's face, but she knew he wouldn't buy it.
"Now, boys," he said, "y'all look like you know exactly where you're at, and I know where you're goin' now which is away from my store."
Richard clapped Johnny on the shoulder, and Ellie saw him just barely flinch at the action.
"Sir, we were just havin' a chat. We weren't causing any trouble."
"They were just asking for directions," Johnny piped in quietly. Ellie was impressed with how calm he sounded. "Like I was sayin', you just go down to the second stop light and turn left and the library's right there. Big brick building. Looks like it holds a lot of books. There's even writin' on the side of the building. You know, 'Library'?"
Richard smiled at him – a toothy, fake smile – and clapped him on the shoulder again. "Thanks, pal." He turned his attention to Joe. "Sorry to make a scene. We'll be on our way now."
Ellie watched all four of them climb back into the mustang, and she made eye contact with Richard. He gave her the same sickening smile he just gave Johnny before he gave her a slight wave of the hand. She jumped in spite of herself when he slammed the car door shut.
"Everything okay, son?" Joe asked.
Johnny nodded. "Sure, it's fine."
Joe walked back inside and Ellie held the door open for Johnny to follow.
"Why don't you hang out here for a while, Johnny?" Ellie offered. "We can walk home together and find that game of football."
"Nah, it's fine," he assured her. He looked back out the window in the direction the mustang drove. "They were just messin' around. Unless … " He trailed off and looked at her closely. "Were those the guys that messed with you?"
Ellie fidgeted with her hands. "No," she lied, "but some of them look familiar, and they look like they're up to no good."
"You wanna call somebody for a ride home when you get offa work?" he asked.
Ellie hesitated for a moment. Normally, if it were Dally or Steve, she would shrug it off just to prove herself tough enough, but Johnny wasn't looking at her like she needed to prove herself.
"If you can't find anybody, I can stay 'til your shift's over," he offered. "That is, if Mr. Thompson don't mind me hanging around."
"Let me call around," she finally decided. "I don't want you wastin' your whole afternoon over a bunch of nonsense."
After several phone calls, she finally got in touch with Two-Bit. He told her he would be there early even, but Ellie had her doubts about that part of the promise.
"You're sure you'll be fine?" Johnny asked.
She nodded. "Yeah. Go practice for the game tonight. Two-Bit'll walk me home. Thanks for waiting, though."
"No problem. I'll see you later tonight."
"Hey, Johnny?" she called before he walked out the door. The more she thought about those boys being around, the further her imagination ran away. "Be careful, okay? Who knows what they're up to."
"I'll be fine," he assured her. "You see how many people are out this time of day? Ain't nothing gonna happen."
"You sure you don't wanna wait around and go with me and Two-Bit? It won't be much longer before I get off work."
"El, you saw them head off that way," Johnny reasoned. He pointed in the opposite direction. "I'm heading that way. It'll be fine."
Ellie sighed. "All right. Just be careful."
"I will," he assured her. "Thanks again for the Pepsi. See ya later."
"Bye, Johnny," she called after him. She hoped he was right.
Money, it's no cure,
A sickness so pure.
Ellie took the last bag of trash out to the dumpster behind the store and walked around the building to wait for Two-Bit to show up. She knew he wouldn't be early or even on time like he promised. She finally saw him making his way down Front Street, taking his merry time.
"Hiya, kid," Two-Bit called as he sauntered towards her. "Been a while since we've done this, huh?"
"Yeah, I guess so," she replied, pulling her sweater tighter. It had been such a nice day, but it was turning into a cold evening. Those early days of spring were always the best and the worst.
"How was your day?" he asked as they walked down Front Street.
"Fine," she replied, glancing around as they walked, hoping they didn't walk right into a blue mustang full of socs. "School and work. The usual. What about you?"
"Oh, a little of this, a little of that," he said. "The usual for me, too."
Two-Bit filled her in on all kinds of gossip he had heard from his loitering that afternoon. She now knew who was dating whom, who was sneaking around on whom, and who was thinking about sneaking around. She didn't recognize half the names, but Two-Bit seemed to assume she knew them all to great extents.
"I tell you, Billy sure is gonna be pissed when he hears Patricia stepped out on him with that sleazeball Frankie. That's gonna be one hell of a fight, and I'm aiming to have front row seats," he rambled as they walked. "Any gossip on Shepard's end I don't know about?"
"Not really," she said, paying enough attention to offer a response when he expected one. "You're worse than a girl, Two-Bit."
"I just like to know what's going on," he said with a laugh.
The light was fading from the sky, but Ellie was still scanning the roads for any signs of a suspicious looking car while still nodding along to Two-Bit's story and giving him the proper signs of her faked interest.
She felt a million times better when they reached their own territory and everything appeared to be fine. That was until she saw the small huddle of boys in the lot that met at the corner of St. Louis Street and Columbus Avenue. She couldn't tell who they were from that distance, but her stomach plummeted at the sight of them kneeling around something. Without seeing their faces, she knew exactly who it was and who they were surrounding.
"Ellie!" Two-Bit called after her as she ran towards the boys. "What the hell?"
He must have finally seen what she had seen because suddenly he was beside her as they ran to join Steve, Soda and Pony. She heard another set of feet pounding the sidewalk behind them, but she didn't care to look back at who it was.
"Oh, my God," she whimpered when she came to a stop behind Steve. Johnny was lying in front of them, and Soda was helping him to sit up. He was bloody and beaten, and she had to look away. It had just been a little while earlier that everything was fine, and now he was laying here, barely conscious. And the only thing she could think about was how it was all her fault. Hers and the Socs.
How could she have been stupid enough to only worry about herself and her own safety when Johnny was the one walking home by himself? Feeling sick with guilt, she sank to the ground when her knees were too weak to support her anymore.
Darry suddenly had his hand on her shoulder and kneeling beside her, and she realized he was the one who was running behind her and Two-Bit.
"He'll be okay," he assured her as everyone else was crowded around Johnny. "We'll take him home and get him cleaned up. He'll be okay."
Ellie only nodded as she stared at the ground. A set of boots stepped into her vision and she knew they were Dally's. Slowly she looked up at him as he took in Johnny's injuries. She knew how angry he had been after she had been jumped, and she was scared to see his reaction firsthand.
Dally stepped back from them, cursing under his breath, looking paler than he usually did. She knew he would be a lot of things at that moment, but she didn't expect him to look ill.
That was when it all finally made sense to her. The same sickening twist in her stomach, past the guilt and worry, was the same way the guys had after she had been jumped. They had the same feeling of helplessness that she had now, and she couldn't believe she had been so blind to that for so long.
Darry's hand was still on her shoulder and she placed her hand over his, giving it a squeeze. She was sorry. For her own actions, for the shape Johnny was in, for not understanding why she should have spoken up before.
"It's okay," Darry told her quietly. "Everything's okay."
Ellie swallowed the lump in her throat as best she could. He could say that as many times as he wanted, but it didn't make it true. It wasn't okay.
We are dirt, we are alone,
You know we're far from sober.
Dally couldn't sit there and do nothing. He wouldn't do that again. Johnny didn't deserve to be beaten like that. To be left alone in the middle of the lot, hurt and scared, until someone found him.
No one was doing anything except for sitting there, watching Darry and Soda clean him up. He tore his gaze from Johnny and looked at Ellie where she sat against the fireplace beside Two-Bit. She was studying him carefully and met his glare when he looked her way. She didn't look away from him; she just held his gaze. He couldn't read her expression at all which he found surprising. He expected her to be the one cleaning up Johnny or to be sitting there crying. He expected something, but she only sat there, staring at him.
First her, then Johnny. He could feel his blood burning as it pumped through him, and he felt closer to exploding than ever before. No one was going to mess with his friends again and get away with it.
Tearing his eyes away from hers, Dally turned and stormed through the kitchen, heading for the back door.
"Dally," he heard her call to his back. He ignored her and pulled the door open, slamming it in her face.
He was halfway across the backyard when he heard the door open again, when he heard her bouncing off the steps and running after his long strides. He circled around the shed and stopped behind it. Clenching his fist, he started taking everything out on the wood.
"Dal," she said, pleading with him.
He punched the wall harder.
"You're going to hurt yourself," she reasoned.
Dally pulled his arm back and punched the shed as hard as he could. When he pulled his fist back, there was red smeared over the peeling white paint. He looked at her and she looked with wide eyes from his bleeding knuckles to his face.
"Are you finished?" she asked solemnly.
"No," he told her.
Clenching his fist, he hit the wall again and again. His punches came in quick succession, one after another, hitting the wall harder and faster with each hit.
She reached for his arm, but he pulled it away from her and punched the shed again. He could feel the bones aching with every hit, but that didn't stop him. He swung his arm again for good measure, enjoying the jolt of pain that shot up his arm as his fist connected with the wood.
"Dally?" she asked timidly.
"What?" he snapped.
"What are you going to do?"
"Christ, Ellie. What the hell do you think I'm gonna do?"
She leaned against the shed, and he waited for her typical pleading to leave it all alone. He waited for her to tell him to forget about it because he would just get himself jailed.
"I hope you're gonna go after them," she said after a long pause.
"What?" he asked, unable to hide his surprise.
"It was a mustang, a blue one, and four Socs," she said.
"Yeah, I know," Dally said. "That's what Johnny said."
"No," she said. "I mean, we saw it earlier, and I know who one of the Socs was. I don't know who the other ones were, but I know one of them."
"Whoa," he said. "What do you mean you saw it earlier?"
She closed her eyes.
"Ellie, what the hell are you talking about?" he demanded.
"When I was at work earlier, Johnny had stopped by and when he left, a mustang pulled up and they were giving him a hard time," she said slowly, looking at him for a reaction.
"You knew they were making trouble for him and you didn't do anything?" he asked.
"I asked him to stay until I got off work," she offered. It was a weak excuse.
"But you didn't, and now you see what happened to him?" Dally yelled. He knew he was taking it out on the wrong person, but between her and a rickety old shed, she was an easier target. She reacted.
She closed her eyes and looked for all the world like she was going to cry.
"I tried to get him to stay, but I was more worried that they were waiting for me," she said. "I thought they were waiting on me because I had gotten one of them detention a while ago and . . . I thought that's what it was about. The one I recognized is the one that started calling me Frankenstein. I didn't think Johnny was going to get hurt. They went the other way."
"Oh, yeah," Dally said sarcastically, "Princess is afraid the whole world revolves around her. She thinks the only thing anyone thinks about is how they're going to hurt her. Kid, you ain't that special."
He watched her sink down to the ground and put her head in her hands. He ignored the shaking of her shoulders as she cried right there in front of him.
The backdoor opened and shut and Dally could hear voices heading their way. He patted his pockets for a smoke and finally found one as Two-Bit, Steve and Soda walked towards them.
"Everything okay?" Steve asked, eyeing the bloody white paint in front of Dally.
Dally held up his bloody fist. "It's fine."
"Who won?" Two-Bit asked.
"Go to hell," Dally replied.
"Is she okay?" Steve asked.
"Ask her why Johnny's beat to hell in there," he suggested.
"What?" Soda asked.
Ellie wiped at her eyes, smearing her make up, and took a few steadying breaths but didn't look up at any of them. She tried to say something, but she started crying again.
"Christ," Dally muttered. He could count on one hand the amount of times she'd cried in front of him.
Soda gave Dally a nasty look and shoved past him. He sat down next to Ellie and put an arm around her shoulders.
"What's going on?" he asked, looking up at Dally.
"It's my fault," Ellie whimpered. "I shouldn't have let Johnny go."
"Shh," Soda said, pulling her closer. He turned his attention to Dally. "What the hell is this about?"
"These assholes stopped Johnny while he was at Ellie's store. They messed with him there, and then she sent him on his way so he could get jumped," Dally said.
"That's not true," she sobbed. "I tried to make him stay, but I didn't know …"
"Nobody coulda known," Two-Bit said. He looked at Dally. "Back off, man."
"Somebody's paying for this," he said. "There's no question about that."
"You bet somebody is, Dal," Steve said. "Just back off her. It ain't anybody's fault but the goddamn Socs."
"Is he going to be okay?" Ellie asked softly.
"He'll be fine," Dally said. "The assholes that did it are the ones that're gonna need help."
"I'm going home," Ellie said, standing up and smoothing her skirt. "I don't wanna be here right now."
"Want me to walk you back?" Steve offered.
She shook her head and wiped her eyes again. Dally felt like telling her how she looked like a raccoon with all that make up, but he didn't. She walked away without acknowledging him. He shook it off and told himself he'd deal with her later.
We are fake, we are afraid,
You know it's far from over.
A/N: Oh no! Poor Johnny! What does Dally have up his sleeve?
Stay tuned everyone. There are only a few chapters left!