Chapter 5 is alive. *ba dum tss*

-Kylelover101


Chapter 5 Jackets and Gone With The Wind

Ponyboy wasn't fully awake until he and Johnny hit the dewy grass. The pink sky above them indicated dawn had arrived and the meadowlarks were chirping softly. Johnny and Ponyboy didn't dare sit up until they heard the train tug off into the distance. Ponyboy glanced around, sniffing the air. He could smell the country any day. There they were. In the fields they stood together, the field grass reached their waist and the Pup and small Alpha made their way forward, Ponyboy pulling Dally's jacket closer.

"Hey, man, did Dallas say where the church was?"

'Jay Mountain." Ponyboy replied.

"Yeah, but where is Jay Mountain?"

The Pup paused. Shoot. They hadn't asked Dallas that. Ponyboy wanted to smack himself. Darry would tell him right now that he hadn't used his head and he'd be right. Like always. The Pup shook his head, trying not to think of how much he missed his older brothers and tried to think of what to do next. Johnny pointed at some workers once they reached a lane and had walked for a bit. They were eating breakfast next to machinery.

"Ask them." Johnny suggested. "You look better than me."

Ponyboy frowned. "How so?"

"You look like a farm kid more than me."

"I don't look like a farm boy," Ponyboy remarked. Johnny didn't look like any farm boy either. He still reminded Ponyboy of a lost puppy who had been kicked too often, but for the first time the Pup saw him as a stranger might see him. He looked hard and tough, because of his black T-shirt and his blue jeans and jacket, and because his hair was heavily greased and so long." They'll know we're hoods the minute they see us," Ponyboy spoke.

"I'll have to stay here," Johnny said, rubbing his legs, wincing at an injury he must have now found out about. "You go down the road and ask the first person you see where Jay Mountain is. Run your fingers threw your hair or something, you look like a dirty farm kid."

"I aint no dirty farm kid."

"You look like Soda sometimes."

Ponyboy blushed at the compliment trying to make himself presentable as possible and not that he just jumped from a moving train. "You look like Soda just as much as I do. He's good looking"

"Shoot, you are too, Pup. Hurry up I'm cold."

Ponyboy sighed, not wanting to argue and just wanting to sleep. He was tired. He approached the men who looked at him suspiciously. "Where's Jay Mountain?" Ponyboy asked, then using the advantage that he was still a Pup (He hated that, he was tired of being a Pup and just wanted to know of he was a Beta or an Alpha yet) and began telling a lie that he was going to meet with other Pups to play Army. The Farmers chuckled at him, telling him that Jay Mountain was down the road to the left. Ponyboy waved running off to tell Johnny.

"He said it was down the road," Ponyboy replied.

"He fall for your lie?"

"I guess." Ponyboy shrugged. "C'mon, let's find this place."

True to the farmer's word, The Church was down the road and to the left, although the lane Ponyboy and Johnny used began to dry out and fuse with the grass leading up to the decrypted building with a few broken windows and boarded up front door. Johnny asked how they were going to get in if the front door wad boarded up and that led the Alpha and Pup to wander around until they spotted a window they could crawl threw without harming themselves on the exposed glass. Inside was just as bad at the exterior with dust on the folded pews, tiny mice scurried away as the two inched closer to an older alter next to a ratted out whicker chair with the seat missing.

Johnny ducked when a loud squack and fluttering of feathers was head above him. "What was that?!"

"Just an owl." Ponyboy replied cooley, seeing the creature in the rafters, he shivered. It was cold inside that not even Buck's nasty smelling flannel could cover. Ponyboy didn't like the smell of Buck on him, Buck smelled like weed and expired pork and it lingered on his clothes. The Pup felt a lump grow in his throat as he tried to take it off but his body shivered, against him doing so. At least Dally's jacket masked the weed smell with cigarettes. The autumn morning chill was brutal in the drafty church. Ponyboy flopped on a pew that wasn't completely covered in dust or animals or bugs and held his knees to his chest. Johnny joined him, their heads touching. The Pup went to say something but, like Johnny, was out like a light the moment his eyes shut.


Ponyboy groaned as he woke up, his body was stiff and cold. Maybe I'm dead, he thought. He glanced around, not knowing where he was for a moment. The sun's evening rays cascaded threw the boards and broken windows telling him it was late in the evening. He had slept the whole day away. Ponyboy's mind drifted to the events that happened; the scary thing was, it hadn't been a full 24 hours either. Meeting Cherry and Marcia, running away from home, getting jumped, killing Bob and running out of Tulsa. Ponyboy felt his eyes water. How he wished this was just an awful nightmare. He'd wake up in bed with Sodapop running a hand threw his hair and grinning at him before attacking him with tickles while Darry either joined in or called them to eat breakfast before getting ready for the day. Ponyboy wiped away at his face. He was sure Darry felt sorry for hitting him but he himself was still upset. He missed Darry and he really missed Sodapop.

Too bad this all wasn't one of his nightmares.

His nose wrinkled, sniffing something. Glancing down, he noticed it was Johnny's jean jacket where his head was a moment ago. Johnny was gone.

He looked around, calling for the Alpha. "Johnny?" He wasn't given a response. The Pup whimpered. Johnny wouldn't leave him now. Not alone either. Ponyboy noticed something written on the ground, sloppy and with misspellings.

Went to get suplies -J

Yup, that was Johnny's handwriting alright. Just when Ponyboy felt calmer, he heard rustling of leaves not far away. It could have been an animal, but the Pup sniffed the air. He could smell someone walking his way. Ponyboy gulped until he heard a whistle, long and low, ending in a sudden high note. Ponyboy knew that whistle well enough. It was used by the Gang and the Shepard gang for "Who's there?" Ponyboy returned it just in time for Johnny to push a large cardboard box threw their window hole and crawl threw it.

"Hey, sorry I took so long." Johnny apologized.

"No, you're fine." Ponyboy spoke, helping him threw and picking up the box to take to the mantle. There they unpacked the contents.

"Okay, I got some bread and a week's supply of baloney. Heard that doesn't need a fridge." Ponyboy wasn't too sure about Johnny's assumption but he wasn't going to say anything. "Got some peanut butter and some cards too, it'll kill time."

"Did you get smokes too, Johnny?" Ponyboy asked before grinning as he pulled out a carton, aching for one. Darry and Soda weren't too hot on him smoking. Darry more than Soda. However what caught Ponyboy's attention was the spine of a used paperback book and not just any book. He gasped, gripping the small book with his grubby hands and read the cover out loud. "Gone With The Wind? Johnny how did you know I've wanted this?" Ponyboy had been looking at the library for ages for this book and any book store in town but was always out of luck.

Johnny blushed, "We saw that movie once and I remembered you saying you wanted it. I figured you could read it and it'll pass the time."

Ponyboy held the book close to his chest, smiling. "Thanks, Johnnycakes." The Pup's eyes wandered to the box spotting a bottle of-"Peroxide?" He asked. Johnny said nothing as Ponyboy shook his head.

"No-no you're not thinking-"

"We gotta do it, Ponyboy. They'll have our faces in the papers and we need to disguise ourselves incase anyone sees us." Johnny sounded as if he were trying to convince himself. The Pup frowned, crossing his arms. "I don't see why, we ain't leaving the Church and no one is cutting or dying my hair, no sir-ree." He didn't care if he sounded like a spoiled brat. Ponyboy loved his hair, it was the one good thing he had going for him.

"Ponyboy we're gonna cut my hair too and wash all the grease out of it too. You know the first thing a judge will do is make you cut your hair."

"Nope. Don't care." Ponyboy stomped away from the mantle, taking the book with him to open the first page hoping that would be enough for Johnny to live and let die but apparently it wasn't. "C'mon, Pony, it'll grow back, it's just hair."

Ponyboy huffed. "Fine. Go ahead. And be quick too."

Johnny smiled sadly, opening his switch blade and running two fingers threw a lock of Ponyboy's long hair before cutting.


"Well, guess we're disguised." Johnny mumbled, looking at himself in the broken mirror they found in the back of the church. Ponyboy however, was a sad sight for poor eyes. His once lush auburn greasy hair was now a rough cut bleach blonde. He hated it. He loathed it. He couldn't have fast cars or expensive clothes, but Ponyboy could have pride in his hair. It just wasn't fair.

The Pup said nothing even when the Alpha nudged him. "Shoot man, it's hair."

"Shoot nothing, it's like being stuck in a Halloween costume and I hate it." Ponyboy didn't care if he whined or even if Johnny lowered his head, a thing he often did to hide himself from shame or embarrassment. The Pup huffed, throwing a shard of mirror away. "It took me a real long time to grow my hair like that, Johnny Cade and I don't like how you just got rid of it."

Johnny shivered, "Well. . . I don't like a lot of things either, Ponyboy. Like how I killed a kid last night. Yeah, he's a kid. Under eighteen I'm sure and I killed him!" Ponyboy instantly felt regret and went to hug Johnny just like how Darry did when they all found Johnny after he'd been jumped by those Socs in the Lot. "It won't matter about hair or looks when I'm caught. I'll get strung up myself even probably. I'm an Alpha and I killed another Alpha. This is my fault," Johnny said in a miserable voice. "For bringin' a little thirteen-year-old Puppy along. You ought to go home. You can't get into any trouble. You didn't kill him."

"I aint thirteen!" Ponyboy sobbed. "I'm Fourteen."

"Still a Pup." Johnny reminded him, trying to breathe evenly. "You'll be let off easier than I will."

"Yeah, into a Puppy Home. I don't wanna go to one, Johnny. We can't get caught." Ponyboy sniffed. "And. . .and we can lie. Say I'm an Alpha too." Ponyboy knew that wouldn't work but maybe it was nice to think that if it were to happen then he and Johnny would serve their jail sentence together. It would be easier then anyway. Ponyboy knew Omegas didn't go to jail with Alphas. That's why he had to be an Alpha.

The Pup froze.

Where did that come from?


The next four days were long and miserable for Ponyboy and Johnny. They'd usually spend the mornings playing some form of card game or sitting outside the back porch of the Church when it felt safe. Ponyboy owed Johnny two packs of cigarettes from their poker games and in the evenings Ponyboy would read a chapter or two of Gone With the Wind. Johnny, he noticed, was becoming more vocal and dare he say, confidant. One day as Ponyboy was using the pump out back to wash his face, Johnny had come running from the field. Ponyboy was surprised at first because Johnny knew better than to leave the Church incase they got caught, but there was something in his hand. Something small, fuzzy and dead.

"Caught a rabbit, look." Johnny grinned.

"You sure did, man." Ponyboy spoke, impressed. "What made you do that?"

Johnny shrugged, "I don't know. . . I felt alive though."

Ponyboy couldn't put his finger one it, but during their time together Johnny was standing taller. Ponyboy cuddled in closer to Johnny for warmth one night. The church sure did get colder after dusk, as if the morning's sun's work warming the building was all for nothing. But Johnny didn't push him away. Johnny never pushed anyone who was willing to be kind away.

"I got you Pup, you're okay." He'd whisper still sleepy. Ponyboy thought about how Johnny's parents stunted him. How everyone told Johnny he'd never be anything else but a small, skinny shell of an Alpha. Oh what could have been of Johnny Cade had his father not beaten him so much. Johnny had failed a year in school and never made good grades- he couldn't grasp anything that was shoved at him too fast, and Pony guessed his teachers thought he was just plain dumb. But he wasn't. He was just a little slow to get things, and he liked to explore things once he did get them. He was especially stuck on the Southern gentlemen- impressed with their manners and charm. Ponyboy didn't believe a word anyone said about Johnny.

One morning Ponyboy woke up earlier than usual. He was craving a smoke when he spotted the morning sunrise. He had been so enamored in it that when Johnny commented about it from behind him, he jumped.

"That was really pretty. Too bad it can't last."

"Nothing gold can stay." Ponyboy replied. Johnny gave him a confused look at Ponyboy recited a poem by Robert Frost. "He means nothing can ever truly stay, I guess which is why we have to enjoy the moment." That's all Ponyboy could grasp from the Poem at least. "I don't think I could every talk to anyone about things like this, like clouds and gold, just you and Sodapop. Maybe Cherry if she'll listen." Ponyboy admitted.

"We're special, Ponyboy." Johnny chuckled, sitting hip to hip with Ponyboy, wrapping his jean jacket around him. Ponyboy hadn't realized that he didn't smell like Buck anymore. Or how often he had subconsciously reached for Johnny's jacket for warmth. Johnny however, was noticing it. It sparked something inside of him that he hadn't known was there. A fierce urge to be around Ponyboy more, as often as he could being the only person there with the Pup, was growing. If Ponyboy was sitting on the steps, he was too. If Ponyboy needed a drink, he'd run the pump. If Ponyboy had a nightmare, he'd lull him back to sleep.

Johnny felt strange.

Johnny felt stronger.

On the fifth day, his instincts kicked in majorly as Ponyboy, who had grown so tired of baloney, began to get sick from the lack of nutritional substances and smoking on an empty stomach. Johnny had laid his jacket over Ponyboy again to keep him warm as Ponyboy slept off his sick in a corner He stood by the door, looking around and even walking a little bit away to look around some more before sitting on the steps, his feet tapping into the dirt. His instincts were running wild. He had a sick Pup not too far from him and couldn't leave to get medicine if he wanted to. Ponyboy was drifting off when there was a loud crunching of leaves and snapping of twigs in the distance.

Johnny's ears perked up.

Someone was there.


Leave a review if you liked it. Remember, Two-Bit is a Beta the last chapter I wrote him as an Alpha was a mistake.

-Kylelover101