I love Johnny so much it's insane!! ... I obsess too much! haha.
Chapter Eleven
"What?" I spat. "But …"
"No, he won't be home for a few hours," Johnny's mom was saying.
"Oh, that's just gross!" Johnny muttered and went into his room. I followed and he quietly shut the door.
His room was small, dusty, dirty, and there was nothing but a bed and a tiny junky dresser. The room held a feeling of having been abandoned for some time.
"Not very exciting is it?" he said as he sat cross-legged on the floor, dumping the food in front of him.
"Doesn't have to be," I mumbled, sitting beside him.
Trying desperately hard to ignore his mom's pathetically flirty voice and laughter, we started to eat quickly all the food, which consisted of cheese, bologna, crackers, bruised bananas, and random four year old granola bars. It wasn't the best combination ever but it was edible.
When everything was gone we sat back silently and reluctantly listened to Johnny's mom's fake giggles. He stared at the wall, his face showing his anxiety and disgust. He shifted uncomfortably and with it, a loud creak from the floorboards followed. His mom's cackle immediately stopped. Johnny froze, his breath ragged.
"JOHNNY!!!" she screamed up the stairs.
I stared at the door, waiting for it to slam open in any second. I glanced back at Johnny and saw him trembling with terror. His mom then started swearing at him and threatening him with everything possible until she just groaned, told the unknown man to follow her, and left, slamming the door so hard the walls shook.
"Man, she really must want to … uh …" He turned red and got up, his breathing still shaky. "I mean, I'm surprised she didn't come up here! I … I'll be back in a few minutes."
"Yep."
I leaned against the wall and started thinking about … everything. I knew a lot of what Johnny went through from my own experience, but I'd never seen or heard one of my parents cheat. Man, if I felt awful hearing her, just imagine how Johnny felt. I shook my head, trying to think of something else but it didn't work and about five minutes later Johnny had reappeared in his usual ripped blue jeans and jean jacket but a black t-shirt instead of the grey one Soda had lent him. His hair was still wet but I could tell there was hair oil in it too.
"River, do you think of yourself as a greaser?" he asked quietly, sitting back down.
I smiled weakly. "That's like asking you that question! I … am a greaser I think, but I don't act like one. I also don't really look like a greaser girl either so … I guess I'm just … classified as one … or nothing. I get pretty much ignored anyways so maybe I'm nothing. I don't know! Why? Do you think I'm a greaser?"
He shrugged. "Sure."
I smiled. As it grew completely quiet yet again I felt my eyes starting to droop. Johnny yawned causing me to too and the next thing I knew I was lying on the hard floor and was asleep.
------
The next day I woke up to someone shaking me. I opened my eyes and saw Johnny looking frightened.
"Come on!" he said and grabbed my arm, pulling me to my feet.
I wiped the sleep out of my eyes and heard the angry footsteps coming up the stairs. Suddenly scared, I let Johnny direct me over to the window and climbed out. It was a long drop to the ground but the fear of him mom getting us overpowered my fear of heights and I jumped. I scrambled to my feet and moved out the way. Johnny landed beside me and we both looked up to see his mom stick her head out of the window to shriek and swear at us furiously. Quickly, we turned and ran as fast as we could.
We finally stopped when we'd reached the Curtis' house. Pony was just stepping out the door when we collapsed on his front steps, panting.
"What happened to you guys?"
Johnny shook his head, trying to catch his breath.
"Can you walk?"
We both nodded and unwillingly got up.
"Alright. Let's get goin' then. Dally's waitin'."
It took only a few minutes until we reached the corner of Pickett and Sutton. Dally was leaning against a pole, smoking.
"What's goin' on, Dal?" Johnny asked, now able to breathe.
"We're early."
"Whaddya wanna do?" asked Pony, his hands in his pockets.
"Nothin' legal, man. Let's get outta here."
I trailed slowly behind them feeling invisible. Since the movie didn't start until it was dark we slowly walked over to the Dingo to watch fights and then the DX to bug Soda and Steve. Then we chased some little kids across a field, Dally and Ponyboy shouting after them. I didn't really chase the kids though – I just tried to keep up with Johnny, Ponyboy, and Dally. We spent a few hours doing nothing really which I was good at, and then it was dark and we snuck into the drive-in under a fence. Shivering harshly, we made our way over to the seats.
Yes, so ... I'm just starting to follow the storyline of the actual book so ... yeah. But I'm adding River into everything (of course). mm hmm. Hope it's not boring. haha!
