Runnin' Barefoot

Johnny was right. I had to figure everything out on my own, and I made up my mind then and there that I would.

And the first thing to do was to get my shoes. As soon as I got up, I threw on a jacket and headed for the door. I didn't expect Jimmie to be there, I hadn't showed up in the past two weeks and the last time I did see her I had yelled at her... Boy was there gonna be hell to pay trying to get her to help me again. But it really was my own fault. Sometimes, pretty rarely, but sometimes I lose my temper really easy. I'd have to learn to control that.

"Where ya goin', Pony?" I heard Darry when I was hardly out of the screen door.

"To the track, I'll be back later."

"Get someone to go with ya. I don't want you walkin' by yourself too much." He poked his head into the living room.

"Yeah, those socs oughta be itchin' to jump one of us now, ever since Dally hit that one with the soda can." Soda laughed from the couch.

I stopped when he said that and realized pretty fast that they were right. It would be my luck that some socs would decide to try and jump me today because of something Dallas did.

"I'll get Johnny to go with me." I said before I closed the door behind me. I changed my mind on the way to his house, though. After all we'd talked over and all that he'd told me, I wasn't ready to face Johnny. Not yet, anyway. So I decided to get Two-Bit to walk with me instead.

OoOoOo

Two-Bit didn't have a problem with going with me to the woods to try and find my shoes when I asked him.

"Hell, I helped get you into all this, anyway, I might as well." he laughed while we left his house.

"Helped?" Two-Bit's mouth never needed assistance in anything. "You and your mouth are the only reason I'm in this mess."

"Yeah! Where'd you think I got the help from?" I couldn't help but chuckle, at least he'd agreed to come with me, "So she threw your shoes into the woods, huh?" He laughed, "What'd ya do to her, man?" Just like that, my good mood was gone.

"I didn't do anything." I shoved my hands into my pockets. I was getting real tired of running that whole scene over and over again in my head, she was the one who humiliated me and everyone was making it seem like it was my fault or something I did, "And I don't wanna talk about it."

"Oh, lighten up, kid. You take yourself too serious, she was probably just kiddin'."

"Right, real funny." I mumbled, I was about ask him something then, but as soon as I saw his face I couldn't remember what I was going to say. Not even to this day, I can't.

He wasn't smiling anymore, his face was like stone...grim is the word, I think. That has to be the word. His eyes were stormy, and his expression dropped. He looked deadly, and it scared me.

That's when the shiny gray corvair pulled up next to us.

Just my luck.

There were three socs inside, but they were small so me and Two-Bit could take them pretty easily if they tried anything. Honestly, that wasn't what I was worried about. It was the soc that was driving that worried me. His name was Eric Cruise. I'd never actually seen him before, but I recognized him from the deep scar under his eye and the two false front teeth in his mouth. Soda had told me about him.

Two months ago, Two-Bit had been messing around at the DX with Soda and Steve when Eric the soc drove up with his brand new dark gray corvair to show off and bad mouth the "grease monkeys" he'd pay to fix his wheels. That wasn't anything new. Socs always tried to make us feel like dirt in front of their friends. Especially Soda and Steve because the girls liked them so much.

He must not have known much about us greasers, though, because he tried to get in a battle of wits with Two-Bit, of allt people. Of course he lost, and Two-Bit ended up throwing a few eggs at his pretty new car to teach him a lesson. But when Eric got mad and said something dirty about Two-Bit's mother, that's when all the jokes stopped.

"Ponyboy, you should've seen his face," he told me, "And once he got a hold of him..." he shook his head, like he'd remembered more than he'd wanted to, "He wanted to kill him, Pony. If me and Steve hadn't'a stopped him, he would have."

That boy was the same one that was next to us now, and glory if he wasn't giving Two-Bit the same look he had. Worse even...

"You wait 'till I catch you alone, Matthews," he said. His voice was hard and lifeless. It scared the devil out of me, but I didn't show it.

"Yeah, I'll wait," he said back, flipping out his ten-inch switch blade, "then you won't have anyone to pull me off you."

Eric didn't say anything, but you could see his face turn white as a ghost before he drove off. I stared after the car until it was out of sight.

"It's alright, Ponyboy, you're fine." Two-Bit patted me on the back and lit up a Kool. I realized, then, that I'd been holding my breath the entire time.

"Should we go back?"

"You kiddin' me? I ain't scared of them-" he went on calling them all kinds of names I don't care to repeat, "No, you go ahead, I'll wait for you right here." he said, leaning against the school's outside staircase. He looked cooler than usual, almost unnaturally. I was almost afraid of him.

"You sure?" I asked.

He looked up like he had forgotten I was even there, "Yeah, I'm sure. Don't worry, they won't bother you, kid," he laughed, "It's me they're gunnin' for."

OoOoOo

I walked across town as fast as I could until I was clear out of soc territory. Two-Bit could've told me anything he wanted, but I wasn't taking any chances. I didn't want him to get jumped, either, so I knew I'd have to get my shoes fast. I took a minute to catch my breath and decided to jog the rest of the way

It didn't take me quite as long to get to the track. And I didn't have to bend over to catch my breath, either. But I didn't pay attention to that. I had to hurry and find my running shoes before those socs came back looking for Two-Bit...or me. I looked around, and to be honest I was a little disappointed that Jimmie wasn't there. I know it didn't make sense for her to keep waiting out there for me when I'd yelled at her that I wasn't coming back. I don't know what I was thinking, but it bothered me anyway.

I stood where I had been the last time I was there, when Jimmie Lee had thrown my shoes off. She'd slung them somewhere to the left, so I went that way. And I was extra careful once I hit the bush, if there was broken glass and chipped rocks on the smooth part, there was no telling what was back in there.

I looked all through the trees and on the ground, but I couldn't find them for anything, and I knew I had already spent too much time out there looking for them, so I decided to just leave. I'd try again tomorrow. There was no telling where they were anyway.

"What you doin' out here?"

I looked up once I was out of the trees, and I was a little spooked when I saw Jemima standing a few feet away.

"Uh," I ran my hand through my hair and looked around. I was kinda happy to see her, but I didn't feel like fighting or arguing. I didn't have time for it, either, "I was looking for my shoes." I walked closer to her. I had to get out of there, but I figured the least I could do before I left was to apologize.

"Look," She interrupted me, "I...I din't know there was glass out here," I was confused when she said that, "I saw you bleedin'."

"Oh," I shrugged, "It's okay." She had yelled at me while I was hurt, but like she said, she didn't know. And it wasn't her fault there was broken glass out there, anyway. "I didn't mean to yell at you, Jimmie... I'm sorry I did, I just lost my head." I couldn't even look her in the face. I felt ashamed. I was speaking to the ground, but her hands caught my attention. She had her arms folded, so it was hard to see, but there was something around them, "What happened with your hand?" I pointed and asked. She looked down and put them behind her back.

"I got 'em," she said, she ignored what I'd asked her, "I'll bring 'em to ya tomorrow, if you want, since you leavin'." I could feel my forehead wrinkle.

"Alright, sure. I'll come back tomorrow..." I wasn't sure what to do then, I felt like I should've done something, or at least stayed and talked to her more, but I left anyway so it wouldn't get too awkward.

OoOoOo

Two- Bit and I got back fine when I met him at the school. He thought it was a riot how nervous I was about the whole thing.

"I told you you were fine!" he laughed, "I bet they didn't even know who you were...they wouldn't remember you anyway, even if they did."

"Yeah, says you." I said, "Besides, I wasn't gonna just leave you there like a sittin' duck. They would'a whipped you."

"Psh, hell. I wanted 'em to come back. Somebody's gotta teach that guy a lesson in manners."

I laughed, "Yeah? And since when do you have manners?" He laughed, too.

"I got 'em all beat outta me I guess. Maybe it works the same the other way and I can beat 'em into him." He cackled. He kept up like that all the way to my house.

"You comin' in?" I asked him when he didn't come up the porch.

"Nah, I'm headed out. Who knows. Maybe I'll run into our good friend again." He flipped his collar and left down the street. I couldn't understand him, but I left it alone and went inside. If he wanted to get into a fight that bad, who was I to stop him?

OoOoOo

I went to bed kind of early that night. I was thinking about Jimmie again. My mind was occupied when I saw her, but now that I had time to think, the whole thing seemed strange. Why had she been out there?

She had seemed different. She was talking to me almost like she was afraid of me. And she offered me my shoes back! I would've never thought she'd do that in a million years. There was something I wasn't understanding. Again.

I looked up when Soda came into the room.

"You're turnin' in early too, huh Pony?" He asked, plopping onto the bed and kicking his shoes off. I mumbled and he pulled the sheets up over him. "You tell Darry 'goodnight'?"

"Yeah." I lied. I didn't feel like going through that talk again. Darry didn't need me to say 'goodnight' to him. He never even said 'goodnight' to me. He was so stubborn. Just like Jimmie.

Just then my mind flashed back to earlier when I had seen her.

"I din't know there was glass out here...I saw you bleedin'."

I shook my head. Of course. I should've known right then and there that that was her stubborn way of apologizing. I'd seen and heard Darry do it enough to know. She had said those words, but meant "I'm so sorry I made you hurt yourself. I felt horrible when I saw how bad your foot was."

"Man, Pony, the other day when you raced Steve... that was crazy."

I sat up when he said that, maybe now I'd know why they had all been staring at me like I had three heads that day at the lake, "What do you mean?"

He laughed, "I mean you, Pony!" I still didn't understand, but he kept going, "I don't think I've ever seen you look so mad before. I know I ain't ever seen anyone run that fast before."

Well of course I'd been mad, Steve made me that way. That and thinking about how Jimmie yelled at me and made fun of me all the time...

Then I froze. They were bandages. She had bandages on her hands.

Then I understood everything that Johnny had told me, every single word. And I felt dumber than a sack of rocks.