Chapter three- Walking again

Johnny looked at me with a look I was used to. Fear. He was scared. He was scared to start walking again. He was still badly burned and he wasn't sure if he could take the pain.

"C'mon, Johnny, you gotta try!" I said. Johnny looked at me.

"I-I don't know if I can, Pony. I'm just not sure I can." He said.

"Yes you can. You can do this, Johnny. If you can survive all those burns and all that heck we went through, you can walk again. You know you can!" I said, getting anxious. I wanted Johnny to walk again so he could go home and everything would be as it should be again. Back to normal. Johnny sighed. He closed his eyes and took in staggering breaths. I knew he was scared. He had that look in his eye. The one that reminded me of a lost puppy.

"I'm scared I won't really be able to walk again, Pone. And I'm scared that if I am able to, I'll fall and hurt myself." Johnny said after a little while. I could understand that. It was just that if Johnny didn't try, he never would walk again and things would never be the same.

"Please, Johnny, you gotta try. I ain't gonna let you fall, you know that." I said. It was up to me to help him walk today. I wanted to help him with his exercises.

"I just don't know…" Johnny said and I sighed. Johnny wasn't getting up unless I made him.

"Johnny, if you don't get up on your own, I'm gonna have to force you up." I said in a calm voice. Johnny's eyes widened. I think he was a little surprised that I would even threaten to make him get to his feet. I had always been a little nervous around Johnny ever since he got hurt. I wasn't sure what to do. I didn't want to hurt him. Not that I would on purpose; I just didn't want to hurt him on accident.

"Look Johnny, you gotta start walkin' again if you wanna go home." I said. Johnny looked at me.

"Back to that house? Back to where I'm not wanted? Where I'm hated? No way, Pony! I ain't never goin' back there!" Johnny said angrily and I knew it was from spite against his parents.

"I didn't mean there, Johnny. That ain't never been your home no how. I mean to our house; mine, Darry's and Soda's. You're gonna live with us." I said, smiling at the memory of Darry telling me my best friend was coming to stay. But he'd have to walk before the doc'd let him go.

"I don't know, Pony. You know it's hard enough on Darry and Soda already. I can't do that to ya'll." He said, shaking his head.

"Don't worry about it. Darry and Soda both got raises. Steve, too." I said. Johnny's eyes widened again. "So you don't worry 'bout nothin'." I said. Johnny shrugged.

"I still don't know about walkin', Ponyboy. I just ain't sure. I want to walk again, but I just don't know." He said.

"Look, I ain't scared to get you up, now." I said, growing impatient. Johnny sighed. Johnny then winced in pain as he sat up. He put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it so tight, it went numb. I didn't know Johnny had that much strength. I helped him slowly stand up onto his feet. Johnny was surprised at how easy and virtually painless it had been…so far. Next came walking.

"Great! Now don't even think about walkin'. Just do it." I said. Johnny looked at me. His eyes were still huge and still had that lost puppy look, but they were also hard with determination. Johnny sighed and then he started to walk. He and I both were surprised at how easy it was for him. It was like nothing had ever happened, like his feet weren't even burned. They weren't burned too bad, though. His shoes had saved them and for some reason, his hands weren't burned bad, either. They were on the back with second degree burns, but it was his back and arms and neck that had the worst kind of burns. He had a few third degree burns on the back of his knees and his knee caps were burned pretty bad, too, so that made walking a little painful, but with all the pain medication he was on, Johnny could barely feel anything. At least that's how the doctor explained it to me.

"This ain't so hard after all." Johnny said and I knew he was as ready to go home as much as I was ready for him to.

"I'm gonna let go of you, now, Johnny, and you try and walk on your own." I said and Johnny nodded a nervous nod. He let go of my shoulder and he walked a little slowly to the other side of the room and back to me. I had to hug Johnny again.

"Johnny! You can walk again!" I said. Then Soda and Steve came into the room.

"What's goin' on?" Steve asked, not taking his eyes of Johnny. Johnny grinned.

"I can walk again, ya'll. Everything's gonna be back to normal. I can walk again."

A/N- HE'S WALKING!!!!!!