'Sup, guys! Sorry I didn't update Sunday, I turned out to be busy that day. Anyways, I don't have much to say here. So yeah...
Please follow/favorite/review if you are inclined to do so! Especially reviews would be great. I would love to have some feedback! Anything is welcome on reviews - except please no pointless swearing at me for being a terrible person and blowing up buildings and murdering puppies and stuff. That helps, like, literally nobody. Enjoy this next chapter, guys! :)
~Gracie~
I woke up in a place I didn't recognize. All I really knew was that my neck hurt. Bad. I reached up to touch it, and few flakes of dried blood came off. I was confused at first. Then memory came rushing over me like a wave.
I remembered myself lying there helplessly in that alley, a gang of angry Socs hell-bent on cutting me up. I had yelled for help; for anyone to come and help me. But no one came, or so I thought. Where was I, anyway? Was I dead?
Drowsily, I tried to sit up, wondering how long I had been asleep for. But as soon as I lifted my head from the pillow it was resting on, I realized sitting up might not be such a good idea. My neck ached and I still felt a little dizzy from loss of blood.
"Is she awake?" I heard an unfamiliar voice from across the room.
"What? Where am I?" Now I was confused. For the first time, I took in my surroundings. I appeared to be on a couch with a soft blanket covering my body. I noticed a black-haired, young-looking boy asleep on an armchair beside me. Who is that? Is this his house? Did he bring me here?
The boy who had originally spoken to me crossed the room. He had long, reddish-brown hair and greyish-green eyes. "Oh. So you are awake!"
"Who are you? And where am I?" I repeated my previous question.
"I'm Ponyboy, and you're at my house, of course. You took a pretty bad beating from those Socs - it's pretty lucky we found you. Or more like Johnny did." Ponyboy motioned to the sleeping boy on the chair. "He's been waiting there all night for you to start comin' around. Hey, what's your name?"
"Uh, it's Gracie." I stammered out quickly. Why did that boy - Johnny - bother to save me from those Socs? He sure didn't look like to type to take five Socs on his own. Or to scare them away at all, for that matter. He was slight in build, and looked to be only about fourteen. Not that I was much older than that. I was fifteen.
"Hey, Johnny!" I was jolted out of my thoughts by Ponyboy's sudden voice. "The girl's awake! Says her name's Gracie or something!" The black-haired boy woke with a start. His black eyes were huge, and he was pale as a ghost. His breath came is short, erratic gasps. I wondered why he looked so scared.
"Gee, I'm sorry Johnny." Ponyboy said quietly. "I didn't mean to scare you like that."
"It's okay, Pony." Johnny replied. But his voice was shaky and his breath was still uneven. Boy, was he spooked easily.
Then he turned to me. "Gracie? Is that your name?"
"Yeah... Why am I here again?"
"Well, you were hurt. Your neck was bleedin' pretty bad..." He spoke quietly, as if he didn't want to get to the point of what I was really asking him. Or maybe that was just how he normally acted.
"No, I mean, why did you bother to take me out of that alley? Me, a random girl from the streets?" I stared up at him intently.
Johnny looked surprised, almost embarrassed. "I just didn't want them to hurt you… a girl… like… like…" He stopped himself mid-sentence. Whatever he was going to say, he clearly didn't want to talk about it. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to steady the speed of his heartbeat.
I was confused, but I caught his drift and let the subject drop. "So, Johnny, tell me about yourself." I figured that if I was gonna be stuck here with an aching neck and a fuzzy mind, I may as well make some conversation. But Johnny looked stunned, as if no one had ever asked him that question before. For all I knew, maybe no one had.
He just sat there looking like he really didn't want to answer my question for a while. But whether he did or not, I will never find out, for Ponyboy came to fetch him in due time, saying that him and "the gang" (who were these people?) were going out to play football, and that Johnny should come. "You should probably get some more rest," he said to me. "You've only been asleep for a couple of hours, and you'll need all the energy you can get to make up for that blood loss." Then he and Johnny left the room.
I was curious about this boy. He was clearly scarred in some way that I may never find out. But I wanted to know. I wanted to know the person behind those big, black puppy-dog eyes. I thought about it all the way down to the depths of unconsciousness.
Thanks so much for reading, guys! Again, please follow/favorite/review if you want to! Speaking of which, thanks so much to PinkAmy, my first reviewer! Also, loads of thanks to those who followed/favorited this story! Your support is always appreciated. :) Bye guys! Love you all!