FOREVER CHANGED

CHAPTER 24

ONE LOVE

"Mr. Curtis, you'll be partnered with Miss Baker", Mr. Preston called out from the front of the classroom. The science fair wasn't for three more months, but partners were assigned now, so the students could find a theme, and work on their project.

The petite strawberry blonde, with deep blue eyes, looked over her right shoulder and smiled shyly at the young man behind her. Pony smiled back and she turned away quickly.

He didn't know much about this girl, just that her name was Carolyn or Carrie for short, she was fourteen and she was very shy.…she was mighty pretty too.

Carrie wasn't a Soc, or a greaser for that matter.…she lived on the east side of town, in a modest home. She was the youngest of five children…she had four older brothers. She had two loving parents, her father was a saleman and her mother a part-time secretary. Carrie was a very good student and an accomplished ballet dancer. She also had a serious secret crush on one…Ponyboy Curtis.

"Mr. Preston, I was wondering if Johnny could help with the project. I know he wont be able to be here for the presentation.…but he'd still get graded on the project, right?", Ponyboy offered with a smile.

Mr. Preston nodded. "I think that's a wonderful idea Ponyboy. It's very hard to give a home-bound student a high science grade, when he's not here to do the lab work", Mr. Preston smiled then nodded to the door. "It's fine with me, but you'd better ask your partner if it's okay with her".

Pony looked behind him to see Carrie walking out of the room. "Thank you Sir", he replied, running after her. "Hey Carrie, wait up", Pony called.

Carrie turned slowly. "Hi Ponyboy", she said quietly. "Listen, me and Mr. Preston were just talkin' and we thought it'd be a good idea to let Johnny Cade into our group.…ya know, so he could bring up his grade….he's missin' all the lab work….", Pony stumbled through the sentence. "If it's alright with you", he added.

Carrie gave Pony a little grin. "Of course, that'll be fine", she answered sweetly. Ponyboy bit his lip. "You'd hafta come to my house though.…it's still hard for Johnny to get out to some places", he explained. It wasn't exactly hard to get Johnny out of the house, it was more difficult to get him into places…most of these places weren't accessible.

"Sure, I understand.…just tell me where and when.…", she replied, when the second bell rang. "701 Maple street…um…tomorrow, after supper", he called, jogging to his history class.

"701 Maple street, tomorrow after supper", she repeated to herself as she dreamily walked down the hall to her next class.

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"Glory Ponyboy, you should invite girls over more often…I've never seen you clean so much", Darry joked as he finished dinner. Pony frowned and continued to dust.

"Are you sure 'bout this Pony? I mean, I ain't never been good at science.…and I cant exactly help with the work", Johnny said, nervously.

"Yeah I'm sure. It'll be fun Johnnycake", Pony replied excitedly, patting Johnny on the arm.

The doorbell rang, Soda playfully pushed Pony out the way, and reached the door first. "You must be Carolyn", Soda greeted, extending his hand. She nodded.

"Yes, but you can call me Carrie", she said quietly. "Well Carrie, I'm Sodapop Curtis but you can call me Soda", he said, sporting a dashing smile.

Soda walked Carrie into the dining room. "This is our older brother Darrel and his girlfriend Maggie….and you already know Ponyboy and Johnny", he said introducing the group, they all shook hands in greeting.

Carrie looked at Johnny and smiled. "Not officially, but I've heard about you", she stated, referring to Johnny and lastly offering her hand to him. Johnny looked down, embarrassed, hoping Carrie knew of him as the boy who helped save those kids from the burning church, and not the boy who killed Bob Sheldon.

Maggie and Darry cleaned off the table, so the kids could work. Pony and Carrie did most of the talking, Johnny only spoke when spoken to, which was usually how it worked. He watched intently as the two interacted; the way Ponyboy smiled at Carrie, the way Carrie looked at Pony.

Johnny was never comfortable around girls, especially really pretty ones, except for Maggie…but that was different. He had always wished he was more like Pony; handsome, outgoing , self-confident…someone a girl would want to go out with.

Johnny looked down at the opened textbook in front of him and pretended to read the page. He glanced at his hands then at the side of his wheelchair and sighed; 'that's not likely to happen now', he thought sadly.

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"So what'd she say man?", Johnny asked as Pony pushed him out of the bathroom and lifted him into bed. Pony looked around the room, Maggie had just left to get something..

"She said yes…we're goin' to the Dingo on Saturday", he whispered excitedly. Johnny smiled and nodded.

Maggie walked back in and cleared her throat. "Just what are you boys up to?", she asked, referring to their whispering. "Nothing", they answered in unison. Maggie giggled and returned to filling Johnny's medication cups.

" 'Night Johnny…we'll talk in the morning'", Pony said, running into Darry in the doorway. " "Night kiddo", he said, kissing the top of Ponyboy's head.

Darry walked into the room. "Sleep tight Johnnycake", he said, tousling Johnny's hair. " 'Night Dar", Johnny replied with a smile.

Johnny watched as Darry walked toward the door, stopping to place his arm around Maggie's waist. He whispered something into her ear, she threw her head back and giggled, blushing as Darry left.

When she turned around, Maggie noticed Johnny's face was as red as hers. She gave him an embarrassed smile, then walked over to administer his medication.

"Maggie, you love Darry?", he asked quietly, between sips of medication and water. Maggie nodded. "Yeah Johnny, I think I do", she replied happily.

"Good", he said quietly, as she began to undress him. Maggie noticed, he looked like he wanted to say something else. "Ponyboy likes Carrie", he blurted. Maggie smiled. "That's nice", she replied, applying the special cream to his torso, chest and neck. "They're gonna go on a date, to the Dingo, on Saturday", he added.

"Oh yeah?", she commented, refastening his back brace, and buttoning up his pajama shirt. "Yeah. Everybody's got someone; Pony has Carrie, Darry has you, Soda has Sandy, Steve has Evie and even Two-bit has someone.…he and Marcia have been datin' over a month now", he continued.

Maggie nodded as she tucked Johnny in and sat down on the side of the bed, propping his still healing left hand on a pillow. "Maggie?", he called softly. "Hmm?", she questioned, her eyes meeting his. "Do you think I'll ever find a girl who could love me?", he asked truthfully.

"Of course", Maggie answered hastily, before the weight of his question began to register. "Any girl would be lucky to have you, Johnny", she added, her eyes misting a little. She didn't expect to be asked that question and she definitely didn't expect it to affect her the way that it did.

" 'Cause…um…well, I ain't never gonna be able to take care of myself on my own, right?", he asked pleadingly. "Probably not", she whispered, sadly. "And Dr. Franklin said I'm never gonna be a dad…I mean be able to make a baby", he stated quietly, his tears dangerously close to spilling over his lower lids.

Maggie sighed heavily and swallowed the lump in her throat. "Johnny maybe you should talk to Dr. Franklin about this", she offered. Johnny looked away, he didn't want her to see him cry. "No, that's okay….I was just wonderin' what a girl would think", he replied, sadly.

Maggie smiled at being called a 'girl'. "You know what I think Johnny?", she asked, raising her brow. Johnny looked back at her, anxiously waiting her answer. "I think there is one true love for every person. And when the time is right, you will find that somebody", she stated, running her thumb over the scar on his left cheek, brushing a fallen tear away.

Johnny gave a small smile. "You get some sleep now, Sweetie", Maggie ordered, brushing Johnny's bangs away and kissing his forehead. " 'Kay…thanks Maggie", he whispered, tiredly. Maggie walked out, turning the light off, but leaving the door opened a crack, in case Johnny needed anything.

Johnny closed his eyes and sighed. For the first time, in a very long while, he had hope.…hope that one day, he'd find that one true love.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yes this was a little sappy, but I hope you liked it any way. Next chapter is the last chapter.…followed by the epilogue chapters that will be up sometime next week when I get back from vacation. Chapter 25 should be up tomorrow or the next day.

QUESTION: About the epilogue.…I know in the book Sodapop dies in Vietnam….I don't want to kill him off, but I'll let you decide. Please review with your suggestion.

1) Soda dies, like in the book

2)Soda lives and comes back a hero

3)Soda lives, but comes home an injured hero(not seriously injured)

REVIEWERS: You guys are so wonderful, more huggles for all of you. To Maddiecake, WhoaaReally53, outsiderslover93, Kawaii-Chibi-Kai, SamSammySamantha, iheartponyboy33, and TheBee'sKnees, thank you all so much.