Disclaimer:Don't own anything except for the character Amanda that's briefly mentioned and the poem.
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:Pony's POV:
I grin as Dally lays out everyones sleeping bags and say "We'll have to build a fire." He glares at me with those blues that can send shivers of fear down my spine and says in an evily dangerous tone "Soda and Johnny can fetch some wood when they return since they are taking forever." I look back towards the way we came and ask "What could be keeping them?" My grey-greens search for any sign of the two boys but all I see is the tall green trees, blue sky, and an occasional squirl. I stand up worrying that something has happened to them and Dally calmly says "Calm down, Johnny may be slowing Soda down due to his wounds, or you brother is taking his sweet time." I watch as he sits down on his blanket in one fluid movement and it reminds me of a cat, sly yet graceful. I nod and drop back down onto the stump that dared to steal a spot in this vacant area of grass overlooking a cliff.
I open a Pepsi bottle and sip it casually reaching for my pack of cigarettes to calm my nerves. I light the cancer stick before enhaling the addictive substance and exhaling the smoke. I sigh as I lean back gazing at the clouds and searching for shapes as I subconciously wonder if this is really a dream, too. "Dally, did Johnny miss me?" His blues regard me with a cross between annoyance and anger as he calmly says "Yeah, if it hadn't been for Sodapop he probably would have hurt himself. None of us can stand it when Johnny gets so depressed like that, so don't go falling into anouther coma." I nod relizing that what he said was really a cover for the fact that he missed me, too. "Johnny and Soda aren't together if that's what you're worried about," he says nonchalantly. The shock in my face makes him chuckle and I say" I never thought that they were together as lovers, I mean they don't act like lovers." Dally's elfish face breaks into a rare smile, an actual smile that isn't wolfish and threatening, as he says "You're right, they don't. Steve even said that Soda's been dating again since the whole Sandy ordeal." I smile back at him and take a puff on my cigarette before saying "Thanks Dally." He seems embarressed, probably because he showed his softer side to someone, but then he says "No problem," like he hadn't even been slightly caught off guard.
He reaches into my pocket for a cigarette and lights it quickly with the skill of someone use to smoking for years. I am only slightly curious as to the fact that both he and Johnny smoked their cancer sticks the same way, letting them dangle between their lips before grabbing it to let out the smoke, after all Dally is Johnny's idol. He motions to his coat he had tossed beside him and I pull out a liter of vodka as he reaches into his bag and pulls out a fairly large bottle of Tequila. "Did Soda grab that bottle of strawberry syrup?" I nod wondering what crazy idea he had planned when I spot two familar figures, one walking and the other lounging in a wheel barrel. "What happened to you two?" They had been gone for fouty-seven minutes so Dally had every right to sound upset. Soda easily shrugs Dally's question away bring Johnny's "carriage" to a halt and Johnny holds up a case of beer and a pint of icecream. "This farmer needed some help so I offered and he gave me this beer as payment and his wife just took one look at Johnny's begging eyes and gave him the ice cream." Dally cocks an eyebrow and asks "How'd you get there and back?" Soda grins and says "Johnny drove us in the car."
It's amazing how opposite they are yet they somehow became really close friends. Like Johnny's dark hair and eyes are opposite to Soda's golden hair and light brown eyes. Eventhough they both are understanding, Johnny's the silent counsiler, or maybe a journal for everyone's problems, just listens without asking any questions. Soda will listen then he'll give you advice. Soda's happy and makes the best of any situations, sometimes leading us into some situations that turn out to be silly enough to make even the Grinch laugh. Johnny's the shy, law abider of us all, and despite his fear and jumpyness he's still innocent where as Soda lives his life like it's a race, fast, fun and laced with danger. Somehow they must have found something they share in commen.
Johnny's smiling at me and when I finanly look at what he's holding up I nearly scream with delight. Yeah, I know, not very tough sounding. Screaming like a little girl, they would diffenatly think that I'm nuts. Great Expectations by Charles Dickons is in his hands. It's one of those classics that I can read and get lost in. I can see myself as Pip and the Socs as the gentlemen and laddies that look down upon him. Stella is like a lot of those classy Soc girls, she looks down upon Pip because he's poor. I don't get why he turned his back on his friends and family just because he was rich. Money doesn't buy happiness, friends and family do, and that's what Pip and I learned.
I'm a dreamer, maybe that's why I like to read so much. Dally's hard and cold, due to the fact he grew up too soon, and doesn't appreciate life like I do. All he knows how to do is fight to survive and hate to keep him going, but I can escape into a book for a little while. He misses out so much, he doesn't understand the beauty of a sunset or the way the sunlight causes water to sparkle. He can still be tough as nails Dally and appreciate beauty. A girl in my class taught that lesson once, we had to write a report on what we found important, she said that almost everyone takes life forgranted. She told us that adults lose what they use to hold precious and sacred because of greed and money. That girl could open anyones eyes and she did. She finished her speech with a poem and I recall it as Johnny sits down in between Soda and myself.
"No dreams or illusions,
Only bitter reality.
No gods or goddesses,
Only man's cruelity.
Forgotten childish innocence,
All that's left is a women's cleverness.
The dove's stopped flying,
Yet the serpant remains poised, ready to strike.
Gone are the protectors,
Alone for the rest of her life.
Sweet smiles long gone,
Cruel sneers decorate the cold mask.
Protective shields and an impenetrable heart.
Friends slipped into oblivion,
Now only enimies remain.
Religion crushed,
Facts heightened.
Delightful naiveness deminished duee to
Useless knowledge.
Youthful openmindness destroyed,
Only wise old woman's shrewdness left.
Hope forgotten,
Hate easily remembered.
Loving no longer often enough,
Betraying by the multitudes.
Yearning no more for love and sweets,
Replaced by the need of cold hard cash.
Farewell Child,
Hello Adult."
I hadn't realized that I had said it aloud until Dally asks "What was that for?" I shrug it away watching Soda's grinning face, Soda understood the poem. "Dally should meet whoever wrote that," he syas with a glance thrown at the blond and I says "He can't. She was killed during a rally against hate crimes. She died because of a hate crime." Johnny smiles softly and says "I remember her, Amanda was her name. She went on a date with Twobit once, said she couldn't turn him down after he begged so much. He came to the lot that night and told me about his date. She took him somewhere secluded and as they watched the sunset she told him that one day she dreamed that the world will be as lovely and peaceful as that sunset. She made him think about life that night, and for once he stayed the night in the lot with me without touching the bottle at all." I tilt my head asking "Why didn't they go on any more dates?" He sighs and responds "She started dating a poet a few days latter. He never planned on asking her out again anyways, said she was too good for him and he doesn't like to think that much. I think he was afraid of what she could make him feel." I nod leaning back to watch the clouds glide across the blue carpet.