After a quick confrontation with the creepy lookin' woman outside of Johnny's room, I can the discover that she was his god awful mom. I wanted to beat her senseless and watch her die I hated her so much. Is it bad that I didn't even really know her but I wanted to see her gone? Probably not....she deserves to die.

And on the way to Dally's room, I had to try my hardest not to cry. I didn't want anybody else in the group to see me cry. I already had to deal with Soda and Dally seein' me that way....nobody else needed to see. I tried keepin' my personal life away from everybody....it would be useless to cry now.

Ponyboy kept givin' me these annoyin' looks as we rode in the elevator to see Dally. It would've been better to ride with Steve....at least I could make fun of people around him. He was funny....Ponyboy...not so much. Pony's a good kid....but he seriously needs to loosen up or he'll end up like Darry or Dally one day.

But at least Darry and Dally didn't give me those stupid, wonderin' looks....like a certain SOMEBODY was right at this motherfuckin' moment!! "What're you lookin' at?!" Pony's eyes widened a bit and he looked away. "N-Nothin'....you're really worried about Johnny, aren't you?"

I cocked an eyebrow. "Naw shit. Why?" He shrugged. "I've never seen you this tense before."

I let out a rather sarcastic chuckle as I came back with, "And you're so calm, huh? That's our Johnnycake in there, Pony....he could die." He frowned ever more. "Don't remind me, Two-bit....but I suppose it really is that bad if you're worried." Alright, I was gettin' sick and tired of this shit.

"Is it that un-fuckin'-believable that I'm capable of carin' and feelin'?! You say I'm tense? Hells yeah, I'm tense! We gotta a rumble to go to later, our best friend is dyin' and my boy-" I threw my mouth over my mouth in order for me to stop my "almost" confession. Pony's eyebrows shifted. "Your what?"

I shook my head. "Nothin'. I was just gonna say.....my boy...Pony, we can't let Johnny's condition get us down. We have to fight this fight against the Socs and win, ya'hear me?" Ponyboy nodded as he turned away again. Then, I ain't sure if he knew I could hear him or not, but I heard him sayin' somethin' in the faintest whisper that made me immediately feel bad for the kid.

"God....please don't take him away from me.....there's still things I need to tell him....about me....don't take him....listen to his words, God.....sixteen years really ain't enough time." See? What I did I tell ya? If any of you thought he was actually straight, I demand you cough up some loot now.

Dally and his nurse were arguin' whenever we finally got to his room. He greeted us both with a smile and a few "pretty" words about his nurse (in translation, he hated her and he wanted outta this death hole). I tried to hide my joy by smilin' at Ponyboy, who was smilin' back at me. I dunno what he was smilin' about, but I sure was glad to see Dally again.

"Shepard came by to see me a while ago." I smiled weakly and replied with, "That's what Johnny said. What'd he want?" He grinned weakly and said, "Said he saw my picture in the paper and couldn't believe it didn't have "Wanted Dead or Alive" under it. He mostly came to rub it in about the rumble. Man, I hate not bein' in that." I hate that you ain't in it either, Dally. But needed your rest if you wanna get outta here. I don't want you to get anymore hurt than you already are...even though you're practically need even injured.

But physical injury ain't what he needed to rest the most. It was mental and emotional injury. I knew just as much as the next guy that he was just as worried about Johnny as I was. Me and Johnny were the only two people Dally cared about....and I still don't even know he he cares about me that much.

He grinned at Ponyboy and started to speak again. "Kid, you scared the devil outa me the other day. I'd thought I'd killed you." I glanced over at Ponyboy, whose eyebrows had shifted again. "Me? Why?"

Dally then went on to explain that he'd try to kill the flames offa his back, but ended up knockin' him out cold. I knew Dally had always felt ill towards the boy, but he at least cared enough not to want him dead. So...there's some humanity in Dallas Winston after all. But then...the exact reason I didn't wanna come here in the first place occurred.

"Uh......how's the kid?" Here it goes..... My heart was beatin' at a very fast pace...and not the good kind of "fast pace". Hmm....this has been happenin' a lot lately.....I think maybe I should get a check up or somethin'...

"We just left him." I can't do it.....but I have to. If I truly loved Dallas Winston, I'd do it. And that's exactly what I did.

"I don't know about stuff like this...but...well, he seemed pretty bad to me. He passed out cold before we left him." Dally went white as he silently cursed to himself behind his teeth. I sighed and glanced over at Ponyboy. Thanks a lot, you imaginative bastard.

"Two-bit, you still got that fancy black-handled switch?" Ah...my ol' switchblade. It took alotta hard work to steal it....I never used it....I just loved paradin' it around to fellow hoods. "Yeah."

"Give it here." I pulled my blade out and handed it right to Dally. That knife was one of my most prized possessions....but Dally was more important to me than a blade. I could live without the damned knife, but I couldn't live without Dally.

Dally grabbed the knife as I allowed him to caress one of my fingers as his hand slowly slid back. I guess that was his way of showin' affection without Ponyboy catchin' on. "We gotta win that fight tonight." Oh boy...he was gettin' tense.

I could tell by the way he was speakin' now. "We gotta get even with the Socs." His head bolted up to face Ponyboy. I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was thinkin' about Johnny and Ponyboy...as friends...as boyfriends....either way.

"For Johnny." Then I sighed as I watched his stare at my blade with hurt eyes. I knew he wanted to go on and say, "For Johnny....not you, Ponyboy." Dally's always thought that Ponyboy was nothin' more than an attention grabbin' numbskull.

But I beg to differ. After hearin' Ponyboy's prayer in the elevator, I knew Dally had it all wrong. It's obvious Ponyboy loves Johnny. And I'd figure it'd be obvious that I love Dally....

I stared down at the broken greaser. Seein' him this close to tears made me wanna die. The fact that he was like this and I couldn't do a damn thing to help him. I'm some boyfriend, huh?

Dally may do a lot to make him deserve bein' here....but he really didn't deserve it. Why am I still able to say that I love him? He's a radical, an asshole, a bastard...just a real class act jackass. But somehow....I was able to look at him lyin' in bed...wishin' that I could take all his pain away.

Eventually, Ponyboy managed to get me to leave the hospital with him. I guess he figured that both Dally and Johnny's condition (both mentally and physically) were takin' a toll on me. So much that I decided to let him rest a bit on the bench outside while I went for for cigarettes. Again, I barely had enough money to buy the cheapest things.

I just had enough change for me and Pony to catch the bus home. So....after I'd snagged a pack from the store, I quickly opened the pack and lit one up. I needed some stress relief after my day as of far. I ended gettin' weird looks from people as I drug hard on my weed.

After I finished, I put the butt out and tossed it. Once I'd gotten back to Ponyboy, he looked rather pale and sick. I gently put my hand against his forehead, only for him to jump back slightly. "You feel okay? You're awful hot."

"I'm all right." Tch, bullshit. I know what okay looks like and I CERTAINLY know what sick looked like. So after a while of him playin' macho man tough guy, I promised him that I wouldn't tell Darry about his health.

Darry was gonna kill me.....but Ponyboy's my friend. Dally's told me before that I should stop listenin' to him and that he's just usin' me for my blind kindness. I had to disagree. Ponyboy was a tuff kid.....he didn't need my support for anything.

So after we hopped aboard the bus, we chatted about the rumble and Darry. I swear Darry's too smart to be around a bunch of hoods like us. Darry wasn't a greaser....he was just labeled that because of us. Now as for the rest of us....we were greasers....probably so until the day we all die.

We stopped off somewhere near the vacant lot and met with with Cherry Valance once we actually arrived at said destination. I'd figured that since the rumble was only a few hours away that she had some last minute details for us. "Hi Ponyboy. Hi Two-bit." I stopped walkin' and Pony soon followed.

"What's up with the big times?" She pulled the strings from her jacket as she replied with, "They play your way. No weapons, fair deal. Your rules." "You sure?" Even though she was on our side for now, I still didn't trust Socs.

She nodded and came back with, "Randy told me. He knows for sure." I turned away and just simply said, "Thanks, Cherry." I headed away from the two teens. I was still heavily stressed out about everything goin' on.

Ponyboy had asked me a lot about the rumble today...and for once....I was really bad at pretendin' that I wasn't scared. There's a first for everything, I suppose. Still....my mind was still flashin' back to Johnny and Dally. Johnny bein' sick and Dally bein' devastated over it.

I wanted to see him again so badly...but should I? I need to see him just one last time before the rumble....but I dunno if I should. I guess I'll just have to think about it. Think about seein' the love of my life before the biggest rumble to take part yet.

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Okay, I ended the chapter like this for a very important reason. I need y'all's opinion.....how should this story end? Should I stay true to the actual ending or should I make up a completely new ending? Because, to be quite honest, I've already thought of how I'm gonna end it.....but I want everybody's input on how to end it.

So....to EVERYBODY currently reading this, I need you to either review this chapter with your opinion or PM me. Because I'm way too lazy to put up a poll. D: Your opinion is heavily appreciated and I shall thank you! :)