Johnny POV

"Come on, Dal. We're going to be late." I sighed as Dally took his time walking around the grocery store, looking at the dry, crumbly cookies, the under ripe fruit, and the overpriced ice cream. We were supposed to be down at the lot for a picnic that the girls planned, and it was our job to bring dessert. Finally, I took a box of chocolate chip cookies and a box of sugar cookies and walked over to the cashier.

"That'll be $2.22." He said, clearly bored. I handed him two dollar bills and a shiny quarter, and he gave me back three dull pennies. I shoved the money in my pocket and began walking down the street. Dally'll follow soon enough.

As I got to the lot, most of the gang was already there. Ponyboy and Rachel were reading under a tree, engrossed in the new world the book described. Steve and Two-Bit were tossing a football around with Emma. It looked like a game of monkey in the middle and Emma was the monkey. Jennifer and Sodapop were sitting in the grass together, lost in their own little world. I looked over at Darry and Angelina setting food on the giant picnic blanket.

I snuck up behind Angelina and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hey." She said happily as I kissed her temple.

"I brought some cookies from the store." I set down the shopping bag and watched as Angelina arranged the cookies on a plate, immediately making them look more appetizing.

"Where's Dally?" Darry asked me.

"I left him at the store, he should be here anytime now."

"Key words any time." Darry laughed. His laugh was loud, booming, and rare. He hasn't laughed much since his parents died.

Shortly afterward, Dally arrived with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

"Did you guys start the party without me?"

"We would never start without you." I said, laughing. Angelina laughed as I put my arm around her.

"Lunch is ready!" She called to everyone. Soda helped Jennifer up and they walked over to the picnic blanket hand in hand. It was the first time I had seen Jennifer without her crutches in a long time. Everyone else trailed behind them.

We all helped ourselves to the food and talked about unimportant things. Sodapop and Steve talked about the gas station. Two-Bit mentioned swiping another switchblade and Dally just focused on food.

"So are you two ready for school?" Darry asked Ponyboy and Rachel. Ponyboy rolled his eyes and grabbed another sandwich that Angelina made. Rachel laughed nervously and glanced at Jennifer.

"We still have yet to register her." Angelina spoke up quietly, taking a sip of her lemonade.

"Aren't you girls planning to stay here?" Soda asked. The girls looked at each other before Jennifer finally answered.

"As of right now, we're not sure." She said, her voice giving no hints as to what she thought. What's that supposed to mean? Darry raised his eyebrows and then furrowed them, not sure what to say. We continued eating in silence, and I could see Sodapop staring at Jennifer, wondering the same thing I did. What happens if the girls decide to leave?

We soon finished the meal, and the girls began putting away the food. Darry took the football and we began tossing it around. At first the girls watched, with Emma heckling Two-Bit whenever he dropped the ball, but soon she joined in along with Angelina and Rachel. Jennifer waved them on, looking perfectly content to sit on the picnic blanket and watch us while polishing her nails.

We split off into teams with Darry, Rachel, Angelina, Ponyboy, and me on one side and Two-Bit, Emma, Steve, Sodapop, and Dally on the other. As we walked to our sides I tried to recall the last time we had even teams. It's been so long, this will be interesting.

"All right," Darry boomed across the field to the other team, "since we have some company, we will be playing touch football, no tackling." He eyed all of us to be sure we got the point, but Dally seemed the most upset of all the boys. We lined up, even though we knew everything would turn to organized shit with the ball flying in every direction.

At one point Rachel had the ball and tossed it over to Angelina. Angelina caught it and began to run towards the end zone. Dally ran after her and was about to tackle her when she swerved slightly to avoid him. However, she tripped over his foot and somersaulted, landing flat on her back. We all paused and crowded around Angelina, except for Dally who now had possession of the ball and was running towards the end zone.

"Angelina?!" Jennifer called, beginning to get up. I heard Angelina laughing and the guys let me through. She had a wide grin on her face and her shoulders were bouncing. I helped her up and she waved to Jennifer, indicating that she was fine.

"Hey, Dallas! Nice job nearly killing the best receiver, we could've really used her on our team during half time trade offs." Two-Bit called.

"Oh just be quiet." Emma scolded while elbowing Two-Bit.

I looked over at Angelina, wondering if she'd go over and rest by Jennifer but she walked right up to Dally and took the ball from his hands, as if nothing happened.

We resumed playing, and Angelina threw the ball to Ponyboy. However, Sodapop intercepted the ball and began running for a touchdown. He threw the ball down in the end zone and began obnoxiously dancing. I heard Jennifer's clapping stop, probably because she was so disturbed by her boyfriend's dancing.

Sodapop ran over to Jennifer, who had just begun painting her toenails and lifted her bridal style and began spinning around.

"What the hell are you doing? Put me down!" She squealed.

"Not until you give me a congratulatory kiss." Jennifer quickly kissed him and he set her down.

"Now go back to the game, babe." She said shooing him away.

At half time, Darry traded me and Ponyboy for Dally and Emma. So we were essentially playing guys against girls.

By the time Jennifer announced that the game was over, Darry's team won 23 to 10. We all dispersed, lounging around in the grass and talking as we enjoyed the rest of the afternoon.