Donald Addams knocked on the door of his daughter's bedroom, hoping that she was awake. He cracked open the door slightly as to check on her and saw her and Cherry fast asleep on the bed. Farrah's eyes opened at the sound of the door, and she smiled at her father sleepily. He motioned for her to come out in the hall with him and closed the door.
Farrah tried not wake Cherry as she got up and out of the bed. She groaned at the state of her room. It was covered in empty wrappers, records, magazines, and makeup. She hated cleaning her room almost as much as she hated Dallas Winston.
As soon as she closed the door and was in the hall, she gave her dad a hug.
"Morning, Daddy." She mumbled with a yawn as her father returned the embrace. For some reason, she could feel him squeeze her a little harder and a little longer than usual. Farrah and her father had a good relationship, but they were never very affectionate. Her parents had divorced after Mr. Everett's company brought in a hefty prophet. Mrs. Addams thought that he was becoming too materialistic, so she filed for divorce. She was now living in San Antonio, Texas.
Mr. Addams knelt down in front of Farrah, his green eyes troubled and distraught. He stroked her dark hair affectionately. "Sweetheart, I need to tell you something. I have some bad news. It's about your grandmother...,"
Farrah raised an eyebrow at this and asked, "Grandmother? You mean...Grandma Adler?"
"Yes." Mr. Addams responded. "Your grandmother is very sick, and she needs someone to take care of her. I need you and Everett to help out."
At this, Farrah nodded. She didn't really know her Grandma Adler all that well. In fact, the last time she had seen her grandmother was when she was five years old. Ten whole years had gone by, and Farrah barely knew that she still existed. Hopefully, this experience would bring them closer together.
"There's one condition that comes with this responsibility, Farrah." Mr. Addams went on. "Your grandmother cannot leave her bed, and she's going to need attention almost all day. You're going to have to move in with her."
"What?" Farrah asked in disbelief. "Now wait a minute, I never agreed to moving! I don't even remember Grandma Adler! How can I be moving in with her?"
Mr. Addams bowed his head and said, "I thought you would be mature enough to handle this. She's a sickly old woman, Farrah. She needs help. We can't put her in a retirement home because she won't have it. The woman is not going to budge–,"
"And what about you? Why aren't you coming with us, Dad?" Farrah cut in, her tone louder than before. Her anger was searing as she swatted away her father's hand as he tried to comfort her. She glared at him. "Too busy with the company, or just too busy for us?"
She started to stomp off when her dad grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back. "You are moving in with her and that's final! I already had to deal with your damn brother, and you are just as stubborn as him! Start packing your things now, because this weekend you are moving to the eastside."
Farrah started to cry, choking on her tears as she struggled free and ran into her bedroom, slamming the door. By this point, Cherry had awoken and was ready to comfort her friend. This weekend, Farrah thought to herself with pity, I'm living in Greaser territory.
3
Friday at school, Johnny and Ponyboy were sitting behind the basketball courts, eating their lunches. Johnny was shivering, despite the fact that the sun was shining merrily. He had taken a shower at the Curtises' house, and the wind was blowing harshly by his cold head. The sun rays were beaming down on Ponyboy's dark hair, combining with the hair grease to send off an extreme shine. He looked out across the courts and saw two girls walking towards them. Pony recognized the red hair of the one.
He nudged Johnny and said, "Hey, look. It's Cherry Valance."
Johnny took a bite from his sandwich and nodded. He looked over at the girls as well, realizing that the brunette girl was the one with Cherry at the Seven-Eleven that day. They were both looking nice, wearing buttoned-up sweaters, long skirts, and saddle shoes. Cherry had her hair in a ponytail, and the brunette had a ribbon pulling her hair back.
"Wonder what they want with us." Johnny thought aloud before setting his sandwich on the picnic table. Pony said whispered something about 'staying cool' as the girls stopped in front of them.
The brunette cleared her throat and hugged her books to her chest. Her eyes went from the ground to Johnny's face, and she said, "Hi, um...you're Johnny Cade, right?" Johnny nodded as she went on. "I heard that you live on Lorne St. Is that about right?"
"Yeah," Johnny replied quietly.
The girl looked back at Cherry, who seemed to prod her on by giving her a goading look. The brunette smiled weakly.
"I'm Farrah Addams, and I'm not stalking you or anything. I just wanted to know if you live on Lorne. My grandmother lives there, Cadence Adler? You probably don't know her." Farrah paused for a second, her cheeks flushing a light pink color. "Anyway, I hope I didn't interrupt you or anything. It's just that I'm moving in with my grandmother for a while and...I don't know. Just wanted to know."
Although Pony and Johnny nodded, they were shocked to hear that a Soc was moving down into Greaser territory. There had never been a Soc living on the eastside. It just wasn't custom. This would mean that Farrah's brother, Everett, would also be moving to the eastside. This would cause a lot of chaos.
"That's cool," Johnny said nonchalantly. "Real cool."
Farrah and Cherry exchanged smiles, then Farrah said, "Well, it was nice meeting you. I'll see you around."
The two girls began to walk off, leaving Pony and Johnny in a stunned silence. Pony sipped from his milk carton, trying to figure out why a Soc would move to the eastside, when he watched Johnny stand up and call, "Farrah!"
She and Cherry turned around as Johnny said, "I live at 223. It's a little white house with a big oak tree in the front." At this, Farrah nodded.
"Alright, I'll remember that. Bye Johnny."
After the girls had retreated back into the building, Pony looked over at Johnny with a humored nonetheless impressed grin. He patted him on the back good-naturedly.
"Good for you, Johnny! You didn't even break a sweat!"
Johnny shook his head, looking pleased with himself, and said, "Well, that's tuff enough, ain't it?"
3
A.N.: Woo hoo! I'm really beginning to like where this is going! I keep getting more ideas, which is always great! I know there wasn't any Dally in this chapter (I'm still coping from that), but there will be PLENTY more later on. I want to make two things clear: A) I'm basing this on the book AND the movie and B) Johnny is going to be another prominent character in the story. He's quite essential. So leave the love!