Thank you again to all of you who reviewed the last chapter!! I LOVE reading your reviews, and I appreciate so much the time all of you take to write to me! Hope you enjoy the next chapter....

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The weekend came and went and everything seemed back to normal. Even Darry had pretty much settled down by Monday. The only difference was that Johnny spent a lot more time at the Curtis house and less time off by himself in the lot, but the whole gang felt pretty good about that.

Tuesday marked a full week of calmer nerves for all seven of the boys. Pony had gone off to school a few hours ago, and Darry and Soda were at work when Johnny hopped up the steps of the Curtis residence. It was mid afternoon. No one was home, but Soda had told him that he would be home first tonight since he had worked the early shift. It was Soda's night to cook dinner so Johnny thought maybe he could help him out a bit and possibly spare them all the agony of eating another of Soda's strange concoctions.

It was starting to rain so he headed into the house. Darry had told him over and over, 'come by anytime, whether we're here or not'. He walked into the kitchen and was about open the refrigerator for a glass of milk when the phone rang.

Johnny picked it up. "Hello?"

There was no answer, but he could tell someone was there.

"Hello?" he said again. Then he shrugged and hung up.

He jumped when the phone rang again almost as soon as he'd put it down.

He picked it up and before he could say anything, a raspy voice hissed, "I know where you are..."

Obviously, since you called, Johnny thought. But the hairs on the back of his neck were starting to stand on end.

"You're in the kitchen.... by the stove."

Johnny didn't say anything. He was standing right next to the stove.

"That's right, I can see you."

Johnny tried to rationalize what was happening. Almost everyone's phone is in the kitchen, every kitchen has a stove....

"Where do you think I am?" the voice asked.

Johnny still said nothing, but a sick feeling was forming in his stomach. There was another phone in the livingroom, but he'd just been in there.

The voice on the other end let out a quiet but menacing laugh. "I'm in the bedroom... on the other phone!"

Johnny spun around and looked down the hall. Darry's bedroom door was open just a crack.

"GET OUT OF THE HOUSE, GREASER, OR YOU'RE DEAD!!" The voice screamed into the phone.

Johnny dropped the receiver and ran out to the porch. But once he was out there, he didn't feel much safer. Was there even a phone in the bedroom? He didn't think the Curtises had more than two phones. What if the psycho just wanted him to come outside?

He sat down on the bottom step of the porch where he could see the door of the house and most of the surrounding area. He was breathing rapidly and shivering, both from cold and fear.

The rain was coming down a little harder now.

Someone would be home soon, he hoped.

It was, of course, Soda who arrived first. He walked up the driveway and found Johnny sitting on the bottom step of the front porch, looking pretty wet and more than a bit nervous.

"Hey, kiddo," he said running up to him. "Whatcha doin'?"

Johnny just looked at him. Soda was soaked too from walking home in the rain, but he still looked like his happy-go-lucky self.

Soda got down beside him. "You're always welcome to go inside, you know that, right? You don't have to stay out here, it's kinda rainy..."

"I know," Johnny looked down. "I was inside for a while..."

Soda studied him for a moment. He was shivering. Something had happened, he wasn't sure what. "What's wrong, Johnny?" he finally asked.

Johnny hesitated. He knew fear was written all over his face, and Soda didn't look like he was going to let this go. "Uh... some guy kept calling... it was creeping me out."

"What guy? What did he say?"

Johnny shuddered, remembering. He struggled to keep his composure because he really wanted to tell someone, but he was so scared. "He.. he was just saying stuff to scare me.. "

"What kind of stuff?"

Johnny looked at his shoes.

"Johnny..."

Johnny swallowed hard. "He kept saying...he knew where I was... it was like he was watching me and he could see what I was doing.." Johnny was losing his battle to fight tears and words were just spilling out of his mouth now. "He called twice.. he said he was already in the house and he was calling from a phone in the bedroom and I don't even know if there is a phone in the bedroom, but I got really scared and so I came out here and sat on the steps because I knew one of you would be home after a while-"

Soda sat down next to Johnny and put his arm around him. "Johnny, there's no phone in the bedroom. He was making all that up to scare you. We only have the two phones... you poor kid..."

Soda could feel anger mixed in with his concern for Johnny. Who would do this? And would it happen again? Would it happen to Pony? The two kids had been pretty shaken up over the news casts from the previous week and some jerk knew it and was playing off their fears.

Johnny just stared at his shoes. Soda sat there holding him for a minute until he calmed down a little.

"We thought we were really moving up in the world when we got that second phone for the livingroom!" Soda said, trying to lighten the mood. "I mean, hey, we're practically socs now! Man, if we had three phones, do you think we'd even be livin' on this side of town anymore?"

Johnny looked at him for a second, then he finally smiled just a little. That was good enough for Soda.

"C'mon, let's go inside and start dinner. Pony and Darry will be home soon and they're always half starved. You hungry?"

"Yeah,"

Johnny followed Soda into the house.

Soda did his best to put on a brave face. He didn't spook too easily, but this was a little creepy.

And they both jumped when the door swung open behind them.

Dally walked in and gave them both a curious look. "What's with you two?" he asked, lighting a cigarette.

Soda let out his breath and tugged at Dally's arm. "C'mon, Dally! You know Darry doesn't like people to smoke in the house."

"Darry's not here- Johnny how long were you hanging out in the rain? You're gonna get sick," he said walking over to the hall closet. He pulled out a towel and threw it to Johnny.

Johnny dried his hair a bit, put the towel around his shoulders and sat down in the livingroom. He was only wearing a t-shirt and now, he had to admit, he was getting cold.

Dally followed Soda into the kitchen. He had immediately noticed Johnny's nervousness and Soda seemed somewhat jumpy as well, which was unusual. "What's going on?"

Soda started getting out stuff for dinner. He hesitated for a second, not wanting to make a big deal out of the whole thing and embarrass Johnny. "Oh, some jerk has been making prank calls."

"What's he sayin'?"

"Oh, I don't know. He's just trying to scare people."

Dally wasn't satisfied with that as an answer, and Soda wasn't surprised. "Care to be more specific?"

Soda sighed and started to say something, but Johnny came in.

"It's nothing, Dal," Johnny said and explained to him what had happened.

Dally just took a long drag on his cigarette and didn't look very happy. "Two-bit," he said finally.

"Huh?" Soda and Johnny said together.

Dally flicked his cigarette into the sink and looked up. His eyes were blazing, but he was calm. That was when he was the most dangerous.

"It's Two-bit again," he said angrily. Dally had found out about Two-bit's ski mask prank and had threatened to pound him into the ground if he ever did anything like that again. He hadn't found it funny at all. Now he was convinced it was Two-bit making the phone calls and he was really mad.

"N..no... I really don't think it was Two-bit," Johnny said. He wasn't one hundred percent sure, but he knew Two-bit would get it if Dally thought he'd done something like that.

"He's really pushing it."

"C'mon, Dally," Soda pleaded. "Two-bit wouldn't do that to Johnny, you know that!"

"After that stunt he pulled Friday? I don't know what he'd do! And I swear, if he thinks he's gonna mess with Johnny I-"

"Who's gonna mess with Johnny?" came a voice from the livingroom.

Two-bit came hurrying into the kitchen ready to rumble with anybody who'd bother Johnny. But he was met with only an angry glare from Dally.

Soda immediately stepped between them. Johnny just looked away, uncomfortable at the thought of being the one causing conflict.

"Two-bit, you didn't make any prank phone calls over here today, did you?"

Two-bit looked at everyone innocently. "No, why?"

Dallas seemed to relax a little. He took a last drag on his cigarette and threw the remains in the sink. Two-bit was great at joking, but terrible at lying. And he was definitely not lying now. Soda sighed in relief and went back to preparing dinner. It was looking like he'd need to cook extra food.