anyhoo ... thanks for reading ... if you're reading this ... which of course you'd have to be reading this if you're reading this ... (?) okay then ... hope you like ...
Chapter Seventeen
I sat up, aching, and glanced around, confused. Remembering where I was, I rubbed my face and sighed. I shook my head, trying to forget my dream and trying to keep back the tears and grief. I missed Sam and Jen so much and thanks to my father, my plan for my life had been destroyed. Now, my life was worthless. Groaning to myself, I got to my feet and stepped outside of the back of the church. The air still smelled like morning and the sun seemed so … young and new in the sky. Eventually finding some inner peace, I stood there for about an hour until someone appeared beside me.
"River? You alright?" asked Johnny quietly.
"Yeah – Yeah, I'm fine."
"Do you wanna come with me to get some food? Better do it while it's still early."
"Yeah, sure."
"Okay. I couldn't wake Pony so I left him a little … message." He smiled slightly. "Come on."
Slowly, we walked down to the little corner store we had noticed on the way to the church.
"What should we get?" Johnny asked, looking around with his hands shoved in his pockets.
I shrugged.
"Okay then."
He then grabbed a basket and headed over to the aisles. Walking through them, he started grabbing some bread, peanut butter, a deck of cards, and cigarettes. He stopped in front of a shelf of random stuff. His facial expression never changed at all as he grabbed some peroxide and soap. I frowned.
"Peroxide?"
He looked over at me. "Pony's going to hate me."
I smiled. "Wait! Soap?"
He pushed his eyebrows together. "Why not?"
"It's just that … It's smart but I'd have never thought of it. You're a smart one, Johnny!"
He shifted his eyes back to the shelf but I could tell he was happy. Soon we'd moved on to another aisle.
"Hey!" He grabbed a book off a rack. "It's Gone With The Wind!" He grinned at me. "It'll help pass the time, that's for sure. And maybe Pony'll forgive me."
"Get it!"
"Okay! Yeah, I think we got enough for now." Shoving the book in the basket, he headed over to the counter.
I liked shopping with Johnny. He saw a lot of things differently than me so he thought of a lot of stuff I'd never think of. I liked seeing what he'd think of next. Also, I never had to worry about him slipping something into his pocket and getting chased after by either security or the owner of the store.
After he'd paid, we started out the door and back to the church. When we'd reached it, I heard a rustling, and soon enough Ponyboy swung open the door and scrambled out, tripping over his feet in all his excitement. He just propped himself up on his elbows and grinned crazily.
"Hey, Johnny, River. Fancy meetin' you two here."
Johnny smiled. "I swear, Ponyboy, you're gettin' to act more like Two-Bit every day."
Ponyboy jumped to his feet and tried to raise one eyebrow like Two-Bit. "Who's acting?"
"Come on inside. Dally told us to stay inside."
I was so happy with how drastically the atmosphere had changed over night. According to me, we were no longer a murderer and two accomplices running from the cops, we were three teenagers on an adventure. Feeling loads better and happier, I followed Johnny and Ponyboy inside. Johnny put the bag on a bench and started pulling stuff out to show Pony.
"Well, we got a loaf of bread, a week's supply of bologna here, peanut butter …"
Pony pulled out the book and stared at it. "Gone With The Wind?"
"Thought maybe you could read it out loud. Help kill time or somethin'," Johnny told him softly.
Pony looked at him and grinned widely. "Thanks a lot, Johnny!"
Johnny shrugged. "… cigarettes …"
Pony shoved his hand in the bag and helped him as I stood back and watched. I wanted to see his expression.
"… deck of cards … Peroxide?" He stared at the bottle, his eyebrows furrowed together. Then, as it hit him, his eyes widened. "You – You ain't thinking …"
I stifled a laugh as Johnny sighed. "We're gonna cut our hair, Ponyboy, and bleach yours and River's …"
"No! No!"
"They'll have our descriptions in the papers and we can't fit 'em, man," Johnny pleaded.
"No! No, sir! You ain't gonna touch my hair!"
"Look, we'll have to anyway if we get caught. You know the first thing the judge does is make you get a haircut."
Ponyboy shrugged. "I don't see why."
"I'm gonna cut mine too, Pony, and wash the grease out, but I can't bleach it. I'm too dark-skinned to look okay blonde. And River's cutting and bleaching hers too. Aw come on, Ponyboy. It'll grow back."
Pony groaned. "Go ahead. Get it over with."
Johnny flicked his switchblade open and moved behind Pony. He grabbed a chunk of his hair and started sawing at it.
"Ow!" Pony moaned, wincing.
"Sorry, man."
"Ow!"
"Dang knife!"
"Don't pull so hard!"
"Quit gabbing!"
Once Pony's hair was considerably shorter, Johnny tucked away his blade.
"Can I see now?" Pony seriously sounded like a little whiny ten year old. I laughed and he narrowed his eyes at me jokingly.
"No, Pony, we gotta bleach it first," Johnny replied, grabbing the peroxide.
Fifteen minutes later I sat beside Pony outside as Johnny reappeared from the church carrying a large piece of glass. "Here, Pony, this'll do it. Here." He sat it in front of Pony.
Ponyboy grimaced, sticking a cigarette in his mouth. "Gee, this really makes me look tuff," he muttered sarcastically.
"Alright," Johnny said, handing him his blade. "Go ahead. Get your jollies."
"My pleasure."
"Yeah, I know it is. Be nice."
Grinning, Pony started hacking at Johnny's hair, pleased to be getting his revenge. Johnny squinted in pain and Pony seemed delighted. "Hurts don't it?"
"Yeah, yeah … Come on, man, I didn't cut that much off you!"
"Your bright idea, smarty," Pony mumbled, but he stopped, handed the blade back to him, and looked at me. Johnny raised his eyebrows at me and I bit my lip, anxious.
"How – How much are you cutting off?" I asked quietly and he shrugged.
"I don't know."
"… Fine!"
I sat down on a log and he stood behind me. He picked up a bundle of my long straight black hair, inhaled deeply, and sawed at it. I clenched my eyes shut tight and gritted my teeth, and a few minutes later my head felt so much lighter. My hand immediately shot up and I felt my poor hair. Getting upset, I didn't say anything at all while Johnny bleached it.
What felt like an hour later, Johnny set the mirror in front of me and I stared into it sourly. My hair almost reached my shoulders and was insanely choppy and surprisingly layered. I didn't mind the cut, I personally thought Johnny could become a successful hair stylist if he wanted to (which I doubted), it was the colour that disgusted me. I was blonde and sure it looked good on some people, I just wasn't one of them. Glowering, I looked over at Pony. Now, he was one of the people who could pass as a natural blonde.
"Why'd you do this to me?" I asked Johnny miserably.
"Sorry," he murmured.
Both of us glowering, Pony and I watched Johnny was the grease out of his hair from the pump, then followed him back inside the church. As I watched him shiver uncontrollably, I almost felt happy to see him suffer after destroying my hair. It was a drastic change going from black to blonde and I was still in a sort of shock.
"I'm still tired," Pony said abruptly.
I glanced over at him and saw tears streaming down his face. Johnny looked at him, guilt clear on his face.
"Look, I'm sorry I cut your hair off, Ponyboy."
"It ain't that … Just … I dunno – I'm all mixed up."
"Yeah, I know … Everything's been happening so fast, y'know?"
Yeah, I knew!
Johnny put his arm around Pony's shoulders comfortingly.
"Man, you know that little one-horse store this morning? I was thinking Two-Bit, he could've walked out with half that thing … Good ol' Two-Bit huh?"
Ponyboy sniffed. "Remember how he was wise-cracking last night? … Just last night we was walkin' Cherry and Marcia home from the movies …" I watched as Johnny's face twisted in pain as Pony continued talking. I could read what was going on in his head from his face. "… Just last night we was laying up in the Lot looking up at the stars."
"Stop it, man!" Johnny burst, jumping to his feet and turning his back to us. "Shut up about last night!"
Pony got to his feet too, squinting. "Johnny!"
"I killed a kid last night! Couldn't've been more than seventeen, maybe eighteen, years old and I killed him! How'd you like to live with that, huh?" he cried, sitting on the bench and putting his head in his hand. Pony and I sat beside him. "I didn't mean to. They was drownin' you and I didn't know what to do." He paused, then quietly muttered, "… Sure is a lot of blood inside of people."
The picture of Bob laying in a pool of his own blood flashed into my mind and my stomach turned.
"What're we gonna do?" Pony asked gently.
Johnny snapped again and stood up. "Aw man, it's all my fault for bringing a thirteen year old kid and a girl along! You know, you ougtta go home y'guys! You can't get in any trouble! I mean, you didn't go on and kill him!!"
"No!" Pony shouted.
"What?!" I snapped, my eyes huge.
"I'm fourteen, I've been fourteen for a month, and I'm in this just as much as you are!"
"Just 'girl'?!" I freaked, jumping up and staring straight into his big black eyes. "That's all I am?! We're your damn best friends, Johnny, and there's nothing in this whole world we wouldn't do for you! We're all in this together and as far as I'm concerned we all killed Bob Sheldon!"
"No! I didn't mean it like that, y'guys! Don't cry!"
I hadn't noticed the flood of tears spilling down my face and I could hear Pony's sobs behind me. "Don't cry, you guys!" Johnny begged and pulled us both into a tight hug. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. It's gonna be alright. We'll be fine."
aww shucks. Isn't Johnny just the sweetest thing ever? But PLEASE PLEASE review!!!!
wanna know what i'm listening to at this moment? too bad - paul mccartney. i love paul mccartney. he's awesome. anyways ...
if you wanna make me happy you only have to do one SMALL little thing that will take literally two seconds - REVIEW!!! it will make my day and make all this worth it. 'kay.
