Thanks for still reading! You guys are awesome! Hope you like this chapter!


Chapter Seven

I woke up really early the next morning and couldn't fall back asleep so I laid there for two more hours until Darry was finally up.

"Oh!" he exclaimed when he walked in and saw us lying there. "Hi!"

I smiled and sat up.

"You hungry?" he asked. "I'm just gonna make breakfast now!"

I knew what it'd be – eggs and chocolate cake.

"Uh … Yeah, but … I'll make my own!"

"No! No! Scrambled, boiled, fried, er … omelette?" He rummaged through the fridge.

"Uh … Scrambled please," I replied quietly. I didn't want him slaving away for me when I barged into their house and took their clothes and now food. I got up and joined him in the kitchen. "At least let me help?"

"How? What do you want to do? I'm making the eggs and there's not really anything else to do!"

"Fine!" I said, going back into the living room to plop on the couch.

Just as I sat down Johnny woke up. He sat straight and rubbed his eyes.

"G'morning!" I said cheerfully, grinning.

"Mornin'!" he mumbled, yawning. "Where … Oh!" He glanced around the whole room.

"Hey, good mornin' Johnny, River, Darry!!!" cried Soda as he hopped out of the room, excited and, of course, hyper. "How'd you sleep?" he asked me and Johnny, grinning insanely.

I smiled. "Great, thanks."

Johnny yawned again and stretched.

"I'll take that as 'Very well, thanks Soda, you're awesome'!"

Johnny beamed at him and got to his feet.

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After we'd all eaten, Johnny and I helped Pony do the dishes while Soda and Darry raced out the door to work, late again.

"I'll do the dishes tonight!" Soda called as he slammed the door shut.

"Do you guys wanna go the library today with me?" Pony asked while scrubbing a plate. "I gotta give a book back and get a new one."

"Sure," replied Johnny quietly.

You couldn't ask anyone else in the gang to go to a library (except me, if you considered me part of the gang), they'd either go and destroy everything or laugh at you hysterically.

Once we were done we set out the door, me still wearing Soda's oversized dark grey sweater and baggy-on-me jeans, Johnny wearing the same (he looked so little in them), and Pony carrying his book. It was still not completely light out and kind of cold and damp, but I loved the smell of early morning. It took about ten minutes of dead silence to reach the small library Pony loved. We entered (yes, it's open early in this town) and went straight for the shelves of books while Pony dropped his old book into a bin. Pony joined us and started pulling out random books and reading the backs. Johnny pulled out one book and smiled.

"Hey, Pony, it's Gone with the Wind!!" he said, showing it to him. "That movie was good! I'd read this but …" He didn't finish, just frowned and kept looking at it.

He wasn't the strongest reader ever but was a whole lot smarter than he gave himself credit for. He just liked to take his time on things and really concentrate to get everything out of them that could be taken, but teachers didn't have the time or patience to deal with people like that and focused on the faster students, putting him down and just plain saying he was stupid when he really truly wasn't. And since he'd heard all this negative stuff for his whole life he'd naturally come to believe every single one of them.

A few hours later of lying in the chairs and reading random books, we left the library slowly just to find three socs mulling around outside.

"Hey, I didn't know greasers could read!"

We tried to ignore them and keep walking but they blocked our way. They moved up close to me.

"You'd be a right pretty thing if your hair was clean, you had tighter and trendier clothes, and your body was a little more …"

"Shut up!" Johnny exclaimed nervously, interrupting him. I was extremely grateful.

"What?!" the soc snapped and moved closer dauntingly.

Johnny's eyes grew round and didn't say anything.

"Protective?" said the soc.

Johnny looked at the ground.

"Jealous 'cause you're too shy to tell her …"

"SHUT UP!!" Johnny yelled, his face red.

"Don't tell me what to do!" The soc shoved him and Johnny didn't do anything back. "What? Too scared to fight back?!" the soc taunted, pushing him again.

"Stop it!" I cried, trying to block him.

He put his hand on the back of my neck and pulled me close to him.

"Ugh!" I groaned, pushing on him. "Quit it!"

"Let her go!!" Johnny stated forcefully, trying to pry him off.

The other two socs grabbed Johnny's shoulders and pulled him away while the one soc grabbed my hand and started dragging me to his car.

"NO!!" I shouted angrily, fighting against his strength. Why do I have to be so weak?

"No, come on you guys!! This isn't funny!!" Johnny pleaded, also struggling with the soc holding him.

Pony chased me and the soc, and jumped on his back, his arm tight around the soc's neck. The soc let go of me and tried to pry Pony's arm off, gasping for air. I ran back to Johnny and bit one of the socs arms. He let go of Johnny and pushed me onto the ground roughly while the other soc kept hold of Johnny. The soc that Pony was on dropped to the ground, choking. Pony jumped off him and ran back to us, punching the soc holding Johnny straight in the nose hard. I jumped off the ground, too fast for the still-standing-soc, and all three of us bolted as fast as we could out of there.


Hmm ... Well, Johnny's sweet. Please review. I swear, I'm gonna ask that every time until everyone who reads this actually reviews. haha. Anyways, thanks!