A/N:
Sorry, sorry. I've been working on this since the last update but
was completely stuck and hopeless for a long, long time. I'm sorry,
next time will be faster, promise, promise P.s.: Where the heck does
the ' go in Curtis's?
Dedication: To Ger, wherever he's run
off to these days.
The holidays blew over quickly in a torrent of rain and gusting winds. In a way, it seemed too soon for Johnny; he wasn't looking forward to going back to school and being ridiculed by some classmates for his ripped clothing and inability to read as well as them. He'd concentrated on his homework and had it completed, it had kept his mind off the sound of the arguments that flooded through the house on an almost daily basis. In a way, he waned to go back to school as an escape from his home life. It seemed that no matter which way he went he couldn't escape the darkness that followed him.
As luck would have it, the morning when he woke up to go to school, the sky was dark and the air was filled with the sounds of his parent's voices. For a moment he considered not going to school, simply doing nothing all day; laying in bed, staring at the ceiling and counting spiders, but before he could even think of what he was doing he was out the door, going to school, carrying only his books and a jacket that he hadn't had time to put on.
"Hey Johnny," said a voice coming up behind him, which startled him a for a moment. "Walk with me?"
Johnny turned around for a second before his face split into a grin. "Sure I'll walk with you Soda… Where's Steve?" He'd come to realize that wherever Soda was, Steve wasn't far away.
Soda looked good; better than he usually did. He looked happier than usual, which was saying a lot since he was the happiest person Johnny had ever met, and he was wearing a new shirt. His jeans had holes in the knees, but by the look on his face it was as if he didn't even know.
"He's stayin' home today, his dad came and got him last night from my house, we was going to have a sleepover but he had to go home, and his dad said not to come over in the mornin', so… That means he's staying home."
"Oh…" was Johnny's simple reply. He never knew what to say, even to Soda.
"Where's your lunch?" Soda asked after a few moments passed in silence, noticing that Johnny was only carrying his books.
Johnny was quiet for a minute before saying, "I guess I forgot it."
"Didn't you forget it before? You sure are forgetful Johnny, but so am I."
After waiting a minute for Soda to continue, the question was asked, "Did you forget anything today?"
"No," Soda answered, shaking his head. "Not that I remember anyways. I'll get to school and then we'll be doing homework and I'll remember I left it at home… Well, maybe today I won't remember I left it at home, because I forgot it at school before the break, but you know what I mean, don't you Johnny?"
"Yeah," Johnny answered, smiling weekly. He wasn't looking forward to being asked for his homework, but not because he'd forgotten it. "I know."
----
As soon as Johnny stepped into the classroom, he felt like an oddball. Most of the kids were wearing new clothes like Soda, although some looked like they had cost more than others. After a minute of looking around, Johnny saw two other boys dressed in old clothes full of holes, which made him feel a bit better about himself- he wasn't the only one who hadn't gotten new clothes for Christmas.
"I hope everyone had fun during their holidays!" Mrs. Brown announced loudly, closing the door as the bell rang. "I thought we'd start today off a little bit differently… Why don't we all say a little of what we did during our break when I call your name from the roster?"
As a murmur of agreement hit Johnny's ears, he cringed. He could hardly say he did nothing with his family and hung around with the Curtis's making cookies and learning to play chess through lessons with Mr. Curtis? After hearing a few minutes worth of stories of classmates, he decided that wasn't what he was going to do.
"I stayed at home during the break…" He said quietly once his name was called. "We made cookies and played chess, and opened presents…" Everyone else had taken an awful lot longer than he had, but he stopped once he realized he'd just called the Curtis house home. A few people snickered at how little he did during his holiday, which caused Johnny to shoot them a dirty look.
He'd called the Curtis place home, but he hadn't really meant to. He knew he was always welcome there, but he couldn't think of it as anything other than 'The place where the Curtis's live', he couldn't even call it 'The Curtis's home', because he'd never really known what a home was. By the time he came out of his thoughts, Janet Walker was finishing telling what she did over the holidays, something about going on a trip to New York, bringing Johnny to briefly wonder if people from New York were as stuck up as the people from the West side of Tulsa.
----
The rest of the day at school went without a hitch, and for once Johnny was feeling good when he was walking home from school. He'd managed to get a decent mark on his homework by explaining to the teacher he hadn't understood it; she'd helped him out, although a bit too fast for his liking, and there had been something impatient in her tone. She'd ending up telling him what to write half the time, but he still felt good. Maybe he'd have something worth showing to his parents.
He was a few streets away from his house when he heard a car honking behind him; a loud clear beep, not like the muffled honk that came from his parent's car. He ignored it, not seeing what it had to do with him- he was on the sidewalk, out of the way… There were a few kids further behind him. When the honking continued, he turned and saw the car quickly approaching him, and it slowed down when it reached beside him.
It was a nice car- for a moment Johnny wondered how some teenagers had gotten a hold of such a nice car, and thought that they had perhaps stolen it, but when he saw inside he decided they were just rich- they had nice clothes as well as a nice car.
"Hey, kid!" one of them called out of the back window, and Johnny nearly choked, not knowing how to deal with older kids, or rich kids for that matter. "What are you doing, kid, walking all by your lonesome? Hey, Grease!"
Johnny looked at the ground and started to walk a little faster when he heard the car stop. He didn't know why they were stopping, why they were talking to him or what they wanted- but he knew what he wanted! He wanted to get home so he wouldn't have to deal with them! He was cursed when he felt a hand clamp on his shoulder and started to struggle when it started steering him off the street and into the backyard of a house.
"Stop fighting Johnny!" someone said, and Johnny finally looked up and saw he was standing outside the Curtis's house, which wasn't surprising since he had recognized the voice as Darry's. "Don't want to leave you alone by those creeps…"
"What…" Johnny started, but couldn't quite put his thoughts into words. He wondered what Soda would have said, Soda could always put his thoughts into words. Heck, sometimes it seemed he could put Johnny's thoughts into words too, without even being told what he was thinking.
"Come on," Darry said, opening the door and ushering Johnny inside. "Those guys are still around… We'll talk."
