A/N: Here I am, as promised!
Disclaimer: Sorry, I don't own The Outsiders or the characters, but I do own the ones that you've never heard of, because I made them up!
Summary: Ponyboy asks a girl to help him train for track try-outs. But as their friendship forms he'll have to witness a lot of things that he never even imagined was real. The Drama ensues.
Ages: Ponyboy, 14 Jimmie Lee, 15
Runnin' Barefoot
Chapter: 7
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I was real sure of something, too. I'd have to go back for my shoes.
But I'd wait to do that. I had my regular shoes to hold me off, and I didn't really plan on training at all. I know I had said I would, but I didn't feel like it. My legs and back hurt, I was getting sunburns on my face and neck, and I don't even have to tell you about my feet. I didn't feel like running. I hated running. I never wanted to run again. I didn't even feel like going outside.
So I didn't. For two weeks I went straight home from school. I faked sick when anyone asked me to go anywhere, I ignored the phone, and I hardly even came out of me and Soda's room. But even doing all that, I couldn't get Jimmie out of my mind. Or Johnny. A few nights, I couldn't even get to sleep because I was wracking my brain. What did he mean, "She did everything I wanted"? Had he not heard a word I told him about what happened when I was out there? I thought about it so much, it gave me a migraine – twice. But I didn't ask Johnny about it. And I definitely didn't talk to Darry. I just found something else to do to kill time.
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I went outside on the porch to draw one time when it really started bothering me. I can draw a sunset from memory almost perfectly, but whenever I got a chance to see one, I always liked it better to use a live one instead of a memory. I was almost out of time on this one, though. I hardly looked up when Soda and Darry pulled up to the house. But when Soda got out of the car and started whooping and hollering, I put my stuff down. Darry laughed when Soda yanked me up by my sleeves and spun me around.
"What's going on?" I laughed once he set me down.
"I'll tell you, little brother!" Soda yelled. "Your big brother, Darry, here's been workin' on some hot shot's house for the past month and a half. And the son of a gun thought he did such a good job, he gave Mr. Curtis a little tip!" He said before cheering again. I smiled, but I was still a little confused. I sat back down and looked up at Darry.
"What was the tip?" I asked. He had his muscled arms folded and a smirk on his face.
"Six hundred dollars." I blinked, "And the boss says I have too many leave days unused, so—"
"Ten days paid vacation!" Soda yelled, turning cartwheels in the yard. I grinned this time, and stood.
"That's great, Darry!" he ruffled my hair and I shoved my hands in my pockets.
"Yeah, I know kiddo." Darry's voice was different. It was softer, and warmer. I'd never seen him look so happy. He and Soda were so happy. I was glad; I was especially proud of Darry. If there was anything in the world Darry needed it was a break.
But I wasn't happy. I couldn't be. There was too much on my mind. I didn't show it, though. I went right along celebrating and cheering with Soda until Darry made us come inside. He promised us a big dinner that night.
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I'm not so sure how the gang all found out about Darry's bonus so fast; I had no doubt that Sodapop had something to do with it, but I woke up the next morning to Two-Bit snatching the covers off of me and Soda and Steve jumping all over my bed.
"Alright, alright, knock it off. I'm late for school." I groaned. I squinted at my clock: I was more than an hour late. Darry was going to ring my neck.
"School?" Two-Bit howled, "I got news for you, kid, you ain't goin' to school today!" he yelled before he climbed on the bed and joined the other two. I hollered at them to stop, they only did when Two-Bit jumped on my hand and nearly broke it. By then, Darry had come in and ran them off. I threw the sheets off of me and sat on the edge of the bed, looking at my hand.
"It ain't too bad, is it?" he asked. I rubbed it, and said it would be fine.
"You're pullin' me outta school, today?" he smiled, and I couldn't believe it. Whoever said money didn't buy happiness obviously didn't have enough.
"Yeah, Soda talked me into it, and since it is Friday…" his smile dropped right after that and old Darry was back for a while, "But only today. And I wanna see your make-up work on Monday. Don'—"
"Okay, Darry." I kept rubbing my hand.
"Hey, Ponyboy, get outta bed! Darry, let the kid get dressed, will ya?" Dallas yelled from the hall.
"Where're we going?" I asked when Darry got up to leave.
"To the lake." He answered and closed the door. I hopped out of the bed really fast then, and forgot all about my hand, my soreness, my sunburns, my feet, everything. I don't remember ever being so excited. We hadn't been to the lake since I was nine. That was with mom and dad. Now the whole gang was going! It would be the perfect thing to get my mind off of everything that had been bugging me. It didn't take me two minutes to get dressed.
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Even the ride there was fun. We all piled into the truck and blasted the radio down the street. Two-Bit and Steve yelled and cursed at people walking on the sidewalk and Dallas shook up some of the Soda cans we bought and threw them hard at any socy-looking cars, and once at a socy-looking boy. He fell out on the concrete when it hit him in the back of the head, knocked out cold.
"That oughta knock 'em down a few pegs, ey boys?" We all laughed. I did, too. What did I care if Dally Winston gave some soc a concussion? He should've known better than to walk by himself. It wouldn't be the first time Dally gave someone a concussion, anyway.
When we got there half the Pepsi's were gone, but none of the beer. Dally didn't care, the Pepsi's weren't his.
"We didn't come here for a picnic, kid. Don't worry, Ponyboy, we got plenty of cold ones for you and Johnnycakes." He laughed. Even though he knew Darry would break his jaw if he found out he tried to get me and Johnny to drink.
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I was out of the water in five minutes. It wasn't that I wasn't giving a good time. Soda and Steve were being too rowdy and Two-Bit was splashing too much. So me and Johnny sat in the back of the truck watching everyone else with Dallas and talking.
"You kids want somethin' to watch?" We all looked up and saw Two-Bit about a mile high in a tree, "I'll give you somethin' to watch!"
"Yeah? What are you gonna do, Mathews?" Dally dared him.
"What's it look like? Look and maybe you'll learn somethin', greaser!" he shouted back.
"Man; I sure hope this is the deep end!" He shouted before he dove, getting water on everyone and everything. Dally grinned. I was a little shocked, you hardly saw a smile on Dallas' face unless he was about to start trouble.
"I think I'm up for a dip, boys." He said, putting out the cigarette he'd been smoking.
"Go ahead." Johnny laughed. Dallas patted his back hard and left us there. We both watched him climb up the hill everyone had been jumping off of, and started taunting him when he took his shirt and jacket off. But it turned into just plain shouting and laughing when he continued undressing until he was completely stark naked in front of everyone. I felt my ears get hot and I looked away. Everyone else had an arm covering their eyes.
"Ugh!" Johnny laughed, "Come on, Dallas!"
"Why didn't you bring any swimming trunks, dummy?" Soda yelled, throwing a stick that didn't reach him.
"I didn't have any," Dally answered, "I didn't want to get my drawers wet."
"You're a sick man!" Steve yelled.
"I just washed 'em!" Dally still was smirking and had his hands on his hips and his feet spread wide. I don't know why I looked back up; I know I had to be as red as a beet.
"Jump, then, and get down from there!" Two-Bit hollered, "You're scarin' the nature away!"
"Alright, alright. Cover your eyes! I'd hate to embarrass you ladies!" He yelled before he did a cannonball into the water. I wasn't surprised that everyone kept their distance from him in the water.
"How come you won't swim, Johnny?" he shrugged.
"I don't dig water," He answered, finishing off the last Pepsi, "Why'd you get out? You've been acting weird ever since you told me about that Jimmie girl."
"I haven't been acting anything." Johnny smiled.
"You have so. And now you're gettin' offensive."
He meant defensive, but I didn't correct him. If it was anyone else I would have, I would've taken pleasure in doing it, too.
"I like you better when you're quiet," I grumbled.
"Come on, Mr. Trackstar!" Steve yelled, trudging out of the water, "Come race me!" I climbed out of the truck. I didn't want to race Steve, my left foot had healed fine but my right was kind of tender, I just wanted to get away from Johnny and his questions.
"What do you say," he sneered at me, "To the road?"
"From the road," I kept cool, "I want all your buddies to see you get whipped." He chuckled and we both started off toward the road we turned in from.
"Whatever it is you're tryin' to hide," Steve started once we were far enough that no one could hear, "I'm gonna figure it out, and soon, Mr. Trackstar."
"What makes you think there's anything to figure out?" I snapped at him.
"I told you. You've been disappearin' all the time and you haven't been taggin' along all the time like you usually do."
"You'd think you missed me from the way you talk."
"I'm gonna find it out," he kept on like he didn't hear me, "And if it's anything like I think it is, it's gonna be a whirl of hell for you once Darry knows."
"I'm shaking." If Steve had been anyone else in the world he would've believed that I wasn't afraid of Darry. But he wasn't. He was Steve. And he knew, because he was just as scared of him as I was.
"Ready, big shot?" Steve said once our feet finally reached the pavement.
"Ready, big mouth." I knelt down, staring at the ground the whole time, and waited for him to say 'go'. But he never did. I found out why when I looked up after a while. He had already started and was a good five or six yards ahead of me. That, for some reason, made me really mad. Actually, mad isn't the word. I was fuming, and I shot off instantly. All I could even think about was racing Jimmie at the football field, and her friends laughing and cursing at me. That look she gave me when she beat me with a ten second head start. The things she shouted at me while we were training, and how she laughed at me while I coughed and fought to catch my breath. I felt the heat rushing to my face, and I pushed even harder. Steve wasn't going to do that to me. Not ever. I could see the truck and the lake getting closer, I could hear my heart beating in my ears, but I didn't feel my feet pounding on the ground.
When I came to a stop, I was ankle deep in the water, and in a daze. I took a minute to catch my breath and looked up. Everyone was looking at me weird. Johnny, Soda, even Dallas. I looked around for Steve, and when he finally did show up beside me, he was looking at me the same way. I wanted to rub his face in the fact that I had beaten him, but I was getting the creeps with everyone gawking at me.
"How'd you do that?" Steve finally gasped. I looked around at everyone else again before I turned back to him.
"Do what?" He didn't answer me. No one did. They just kept staring.
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All during the ride home Johnny was quiet. That would've been normal, except he'd been talking so much before, and now he wouldn't even crack a grin at Dally. And he worshiped Dally. Then I suddenly remembered all that I'd said to him, and how I'd been acting toward him over the past weeks. I was being real dumb and selfish. I told him I liked him better when he was quiet just when he started opening his mouth. I was pretty sure I'd hurt his feelings more than a few times, and I felt really bad.
When we pulled up to my house, it was dark and Johnny was about to go home, but I told him to stay since it wasn't a school night. He didn't look at me, but he said sure and we all went inside.
"I'm not mad at you, Johnny. I been just thinkin' a lot," I finally told him. I'd waited until Darry and Soda were in the kitchen eating and couldn't hear us before I said anything. We both just sat there quiet, "I can't figure nothin' out."
"Figure what out?" I lit up a cigarette. It was embarrassing to tell him that I couldn't understand what he meant about Jemima. Don't ask my why. I don't know why.
"What you meant when you said that Jimmie Lee did everything I asked her." I said, flipping the lighter closed.
"Yeah, I figured you wouldn't," He answered, I handed him a weed and he kept talking after I lit it for him, "You're too deep sometimes, Pon. I mean, bein' deep is good, but you think too much over little things." He looked up at me and smiled, like I should've got what he meant then. But I didn't. I guess he could tell, too.
"Look. What all did you want out of askin' her to train you?"
"I don't know…to run faster, I guess."
"And what else?" I watched Johnny flick his ashes and thought.
"I guess," I took a long drag and held it before I answered him, "I wanted us to be friends." Johnny nodded.
"And when you talked to Darry, what'd he say?" I shrugged.
"He told me that I should relearn all the basics. That it would help if I did."
"Ok. And what happened when you went out there?" I groaned and pushed myself of the ground. If I had known this was where he was going with all his questions I never would've said anything to him.
"I already told you what happened," I almost yelled, "She insulted me, and talked about my hair—she made me take my shoes off and threw 'em in the woods so I could get a rock jammed in my foot and cut the other one!" I was almost shaking, going through the humiliation all over again for the third time.
"You oughta get to bed, Pon. You're startin' to get grumpy." Johnny lifted himself off the ground, too, "I'm serious, man, just think about it more for a few days, but not so deep. Think a little less, I guess. I dunno, but it'll mean a lot more to ya if you figure it out on your own, Ponyboy. If it were different I would'a told you before, you know that."
I looked at him hard. I hardly ever remembered that Johnny was almost three years older than me, but the way he was talking now, he seemed older than even Darry. But I couldn't get what he meant, still, and it made me feel dumb; like I couldn't see something that was right in front of me, and that bothered me so much that my throat got one of those lumps in it. You know the kind that hurt and that you get when you're sad or frustrated, that you try to swallow down, but that won't leave until you bawl your eyes out.
"Yeah, I think I will head on to bed." I shifted on my feet and tried to look in his eyes, "Thanks, Johnny."
When I got in the bed, I pulled the covers over me and turned over so Soda'd think I'd fell straight to sleep, I needed to think. I needed to, but I couldn't. Everything just replayed itself in my mind and it didn't make anymore sense than it did before, and it was making the lump in my throat get bigger.
I wished I had mom and dad. Dad would tell me everything I was misunderstanding. Why I was afraid and ashamed to tell anyone that I'd asked a colored girl for her help, why I couldn't focus, why I wasn't jumping out of my socks to hear that Darry got the best news of a lifetime, why I felt so confused over something quiet little Johnny had said. He'd tell me and even make it funny and say something like: "What happened to you being the sensible one of my boys? Here I am thinking you're gonna grow up to be a scholar and you're walking around without shoes!"
Then mom would tell him not to tease me and tell me it would be fine. Mom was so beautiful. Her hair was golden and brighter even than Soda's, and her eyes were like his too, clear and brown. I kept thinking about her and dad and how they couldn't help me anymore, and buried my face into my pillow so I couldn't feel the tears on my face.
Johnny was right. I had to figure everything out on my own, and I made up my mind then and there that I would.
TBC