Disclaimer: S.E. Hinton owns The Outsiders.
You enter the classroom, the sound of mindless chatter surrounding you as you take your seat in the very back, beside an empty chair.
You remember the dark-haired boy who once sat there. You didn't really talk to him, never took the opportunity to get to know him.
His name was Johnny something-or-other. You hadn't payed too much attention to him because he never spoke much. There was nothing that remotely stood out about him, except for the ugly scar that covered nearly one whole side of his face.
His hair was long, falling in shaggy wisps over his brows and hiding his eyes from the world. He never participated much in class, and you wonder if anyone ever noticed his presence. You might have heard his voice once, you aren't sure, he was always so quiet.
You'd seen his picture in the paper only a few days ago, the article heroizing him and two other boys for saving a bunch of kids inside a burning church. He and some other kid had been on the run for murder; the story had been circulating around the school nonstop, but you didn't pay too much attention to it, didn't want to get involved. You just knew that there had been some kind of fight, and then Johnny had killed another boy—another name which slips your mind.
Some part of you wishes you knew how a quiet kid like Johnny could do it, could kill someone, whether it was self-defense or not.
It hits you that you will never have the opportunity to speak to him, never get to know him, and it causes a lump to form in your throat.
Johnny Cade.
That was his name.
You wonder if anyone will remember him or not, and you think to yourself what might have transpired if you took the opportunity, just one second, to acknowledge him, to try and get to know him.
Looking at the empty chair, you imagine a dark-haired boy sitting there, and you smile because you will remember him. You have that opportunity.