Amber's POV
I ran for what seemed like hours but in reality it was only about 10 minutes. I found myself standing in front of the entrance to a park that I like going to. I wondered if I should stay here seeing as how I couldn't go home. The park was huge, and located on greaser territory. It had a large fountain in the center of it that was surrounded by four benches. I walked over to one of the benches and sat down. As I sat there I started to think about my life, and believe me it was no fairy tale.

It wasn't always bad though. There was a time in my life when I was just a normal happy girl. My family always used to go to the beach or have picnics in the park. I remembered how my dad would always call me his 'little princess'. But that was when I was young, maybe around 5 or 6. Those times didn't last though. It all ended one day when my dad got into a car accident. The doctors gave him some type of drug to stop the pain and help him heal. He ended up getting addicted to it. He started to take other drugs and would always go out and return late at night. He would come home acting funny and getting angry at my mom for no reason. The truth was that my dad had turned into an alcoholic and a drug addict.

At the time I was too young to understand what was going on. All I knew was that daddy had a problem and it wasn't a good one. I remember the nights when I would wake up to my dad hitting and throwing things at my mom. I'd come downstairs and see her on the floor crying and glass shattered everywhere.' What's going on mom?' I'd ask in my innocent little 6 year old voice. 'Its nothing sweetie, go back to bed' was always my mom's answer. When I got older I started to understand my dad's problem. That's when he began hitting me. Most of the time it was because I tried to help my mom when he hit her or just because I walked through the door. He'd yell at me and tell me that my mother should be able to stick up for herself. At night I would sit up in my room crying, listening to my mom screaming as he tortured her. It was heart wrenching but as time passed I got used to it. The beatings came daily and the fights between my parents every night were expected. As each day passed, the arguments go more and more violent until one day, my mom was gone.

The memories all came flowing back to me as I sat there on the bench. It was all too much for me at the moment and I burst out crying, tears blurring my vision. 'Mom, why, why did you leave me? You were supposed to stay here with me! You were supposed to help me through all of this! Not leave me with this horrible person!' "WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME?" I screamed out loud angrily. I started to cry even harder. "Why did you leave me?" I whispered to myself.

When I finally stopped crying, I curled up on the bench and attempted to fall asleep. I lay there, staring into the darkness and listening to the relaxing pitter-patter of the flowing water from the fountain. I was nearly asleep when I was woken up by the screeching of tires followed seconds later by a loud shrill scream, cutting through the silence. I looked up to see what all the commotion was and saw a young boy, about my age which was 16, surrounded by 4 socs.

Johnny's POV
'That stupid jackass' I thought to myself as I walked down the quiet streets of Tulsa. It was around 1am and my parents had kicked me out, once again. 'I don't want to go to the Curtis's at this hour; they probably would kill me for waking them up' so once again I find myself heading towards the park near my house. I always go there when my parents kick me out. For some odd reason, I find sitting in the park relaxing. It's always quiet and a good place to go and think.

I was a few feet away from the entrance of the park when I heard the sound of a car coming up behind me. I looked back to find a blue mustang following me, no doubt the car belonging to a soc. 'Just keep walking' I thought to myself.

"Hey guys, lookie what we have here. A little lonesome greaser boy" I heard one of the socs say.

"Maybe he is looking for a cardboard box to live in" I heard another say. The rest in the car started laughing hysterically. I stopped and turned around, looking at them with an evil glare.

"Lookie what we have here" I said, mimicking the socs voice. "If it isn't a bunch of snobby, pathetic jackasses". I said laughing to myself. The car came to a screeching stop.

"What did you just say grease?"

'oh no!'

The socs in the car all got up and ran towards me.

' Run! Run!' I told myself but my feet wouldn't move.

I let out a bloodcurdling scream as one of the 4 socs that got out of the car punched me in the jaw. I fell to the ground and who I assume was the leader pulled out his switchblade. He punched me again and I felt blood running down my face. I reached into my jeans pocket and grabbed my switchblade. The 'leader' advance on me with the blade and I ducked, with him narrowly missing my neck. He tried at me again, this time, cutting the side of my face. I was about to hit him with my blade when one of the other socs there grabbed it out of my hand and kicked me to the ground.

I got punched and kicked a few more times until they finally stopped and got back in their car.

"That'll teach you not to talk to us like that ever again grease" I heard one of them say. I lied there, watching the blue car drive away, trying desperately not to lose consciousness, but the darkness overtook me.

Amber's POV
I sat there on the bench just staring at the socs beating up the boy. They were all in a circle around him so I couldn't see what was happening. When they finally stopped and moved back, I could see the boy. He was lying motionless on the floor. 'o god' I watched as all the socs piled into the blue car and drove away. Once they were out of site I ran over to the boy to see if he was ok.

As I got closer to him I got a better look at the kid. He had jet black hair that fell in the front of his face, covering just a little of his eyes. His skin was tan and by the clothes he was wearing, it looked as if he were a greaser.

I walked up to him and kneeled down beside him.

"Hey, kid, wake up" I said gently shaking him.

No response

"Come on, please wake up" I said in a pleading tone.

Still no response

"Please" I was getting worried. 'Maybe I should call an ambulance?' I thought out loud.

Just as I was about to get up and find a phone, I heard a groan and saw the kid move.

"oh thank god! Are you ok?" I asked concerned. He sat up and looked at me for a minute before answering.

"Umm yea, I'm fine" he said quietly.

"Are you sure? You look pretty beat up." I said looking at him. There was a large cut across the side of his face, a bruise forming on his neck and he had a bloody nose.

"yea, I am fine, just kind of sore, that's all"

"ok"

We sat there in an awkward silence for a few minutes before he spoke again.

'What's your name?" he asked, his brown eyes staring at me.

"My name is Amber. Amber baker." I said, sticking my hand out for him to shake it.

"My name is Johnny. Johnny Cade, but most people call me Johnnycakes"

"Johnnycakes" I laughed. "I like that name"

He blushed at the comment and then turned away.

"So, how did you find me?" he asked, still looking away.

" I was in the park…and I heard a scream and saw you"

"Oh. Why were you there by yourself at this time of night?" he said turning to face me.

"Well…I got in a fight with my dad and I needed to clear my head. Why were you out here?"

"Pretty much the same reason"

"oh" I said, looking around realizing that we were still on the ground.

"Umm, do you think maybe we should go sit on a bench?"

"Humm?" he said looking at me confused.

"Well, we are sitting on the ground and its kind of uncomfortable"

"oh, right" he laughed.

We got up and walked over to the bench that I was on before, right next to the fountain.
We sat there in silence for a few minutes and I started to drift off to sleep when I heard him say something to me.

"Hey Amber?"

"Yea?"

'Do you think you'd want to come with me and meet my friends tomorrow? They are really nice and that way if you ever need a place to stay, you can come and stay with them."

"Umm" 'say yes! Its not like you have anything better to do tomorrow. Unless you want to go back and face your father'. Did I really want to do that? I thought to myself. I looked over to Johnny and saw him staring at me waiting for an answer.

"Sure"

He smiled and I smiled back at him. Maybe my life could eventually get better.