Sick
Darry's P.O.V.
"Darry!" Pony yelled as he came running into my room. "Darry, you got to hurry! Johnny's throwing up all over the lot! I think he's gonna die if you don't help him! Please Darry; you've got to make him better!"
I stood up and looked at Pony. He was sweaty and breathing heavy from the run from the lot to here. He looked scared and I knew he wasn't joking with me. "Show me where he is and I'll try to help him Lil' Colt,"
He took my hand and started pulling me towards the lot. Halfway there he gave up on dragging me and ran for Johnny. He looked back to make sure I was following until he saw Johnny and left me to find them myself.
It wasn't hard to find them. Johnny was near that old abandoned car, throwing up of course, and Ponyboy was rubbing his back. He saw me and waved, looking terrified at the fact that he couldn't make his friend feel better. "Do you know why he's throwing up Pone?" I asked, scooping Johnny up when he stopped barfing long enough to catch his breath.
"I think it was that cancer stick he found on the ground," Pony said, "Some kid gave him a match to light it and once he started he started coughing and when he finished he started puking. Is that cigarette gonna kill him Darry?"
"No Pone," I said, "It's just making him feel sick because he ain't used to smoking. It'll happen to you if you start to Pony. I don't ever want to catch you with a cancer stick, alright?"
He nodded and I looked at Johnny. "This goes for you too, Johnnycakes," I said, "I don't ever want to see or hear that you've been smoking. Got that?"
He nodded. "I don't wanna be sick again," he whimpered, burying his head into my chest.
"Good," I said. I let Pony get onto my back and carried the two rascals back to the house. I was going to have to talk to the gang about offering these two cigarettes. I don't want them to turn out like the rest of them, with yellow teeth and lung cancer. They were perfectly healthy at the moment. Well, Pony is at least. I was going to be working on making sure Johnny would get healthy and stay healthy. Hopefully, he would get to stay with us.
Nobody's P.O.V.
A few weeks after the incident in the lot, Darrel was taking Pony to school when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Curly Shepard, Tim Shepard's fourteen-year-old kid brother, was trying to give Johnny a cigarette. Johnny was obviously refusing, but anyone could see that he was breaking under the pressure. Darry put Pony on a nearby fence and went marching across the street.
Curly Shepard was sporting a black eye afterwards for trying to fight the oldest Curtis, which led to a small rumble which was won by the Curtis gang. He never did try to give them cigarettes again.