A.N. No excuses for my laziness and forgetfulness. You guys really have to review though.

Scout POV

I woke up the next day to the television blaring in the living room. Crawling out of bed o threw on a pair of cut offs and a purple tank top and walked out of my room.

"Oh my God, it's the lochness monster!" Two-bit had turned around from watching Mickey and screamed hiding behind Steve. Steve snickered. I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, laugh it up." I stumbled into the bathroom and threw some cold water on my face. That sure woke me up! I looked back in the mirror; I really did look like a mess. I started the 5 minute struggle with my hair and brushed my teeth. When I got out of the bathroom I walked into Ponyboy's room and shook him awake. He groaned.

"Go 'way." He rolled over and pulled the cover over his head.

"Come on, Pony. We have to go meet Dally." He shot up like a bullet and ran into the bathroom. I heard the shower turn on. Walking into the living room I saw Johnny sitting on the couch. I plopped down next to him and gave him a kiss. After a few minutes I got up again and slammed my fist on the bathroom door.

"Hurry up Pony, we have to leave." I slipped on my converse and grabbed my pull over back sweatshirt and walked back into the living room with one more bang on the door. Finally, Pony was out of the bathroom. He ran into his room and started going through the drawers.

"No, that's ok Princess, take your time", I shouted from the living room. Two-bit started to cackle next to me, from Mickey or my comment I have no idea, but it was creepy as hell. Ponyboy grumbled but eventually walked out of his bedroom smacking the back of my head as he walked by.

We walked to the corner of Picket and Sutton and saw Dally leaning against a light pole, smoking a cigarette.

"Finally you guys are here. Let's hunt some action."

"Where are we going", Ponyboy asked.

Dally smirked, "Nothing legal".

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37 straws, 4 bottles of Pepsi, 1 switchblade fight, 16 cigarettes and 1 game of 52 card pick-up later we snaked our way under the fence at the drive-in. We sat in a row of seats near the concessions. A few minutes later 2 soc girls sat right in front of us talking about something. I only caught the end of the conversation.

"…well, I'm not going to go out with them when they're drunk!" Wow, if all girls thought that way Two-bit would never get a date in his life, I mused. Dally leaned forward and started playing with the red head's hair. Uh oh, this won't end well. Apparently, Johnny thought so too because he practically ran out the aisle murmuring he was going to get a Coke; naturally, I followed.

We held hands as we walked through the line in the concessions. One look at each other and we burst out laughing.

"Dally's gonna get slapped, hard!" Johnny vigorously nodded his head wiping tears from his eyes. I was biting my lip when he ordered a coke for each of us, my lips trembling to keep from laughing. The second we were outside we started laughing, it died down when we passed a few socs who glared at us, the same guys who jumped Pony. We glared back and walked back to our seats. Dally was when we got there.

"So how old are ya'll", the girl with black, bobbed hair asked.

"14", Pony and I answered simultaneously.

"16", Johnny mumbled from next to me.

"Funny, we that a three ya'll were-""16", the red head interrupted her friend.

"How come you ain't scared of us like you were Dally", I asked.

"You guys are too sweet to scare anyone." Dally came walking back with an armful of Cokes. He handed one to Pony and another one to the black haired girl, who we found out to be Marcia. He handed the last with a small smirk to the red head, whose name was Cherry.

"Thought this might cool you off." Cherry glared at him and dumped the Coke on his head.

""Maybe that'll cool you off, Greaser! When you learn to talk and act decent, then maybe I'll cool off too!" Dally leaned over her…

"Leave her alone Dal", Johnny yelled from beside me. I blinked, Johnny stood up to Dally.

"What did you say to me?"

"Leave her alone, Dally", I spoke up. Dally's glare turned on me. I gulped, but held his eyes. Finally, he stood up and walked away mumbling about wiseass kids. I took in a shaking breath. Cherry and Marcia asked us to sit next to them and "protect" them. Sure, right, we can do that. Just as soon as were done walking our pet unicorns on Mars.

Just after we sat down next to them a hand laid on both Ponyboy and Johnny's shoulders.

"That's it, Greasers, you've had enough."

We all stiffened and turned around. Standing behind us was the town idiot, Two-bit was grinning at us like the Cheshire cat. I looked over at Johnny who was as pale as a ghost.

"Sorry kid", Two-bit messed up his hair, "I forgot." I rubbed Johnny's back through his jean jacket. He looked over at me and smiled slightly. I felt as breeze and shivered a little pulling on my sweat shirt.

Two-bit and Marcia hit it off and were started speaking in a language I like to refer to as "Two-bitese". At some point Ponyboy and Cherry got up to go to the concessions and they both came back kinda pale and upset, but were fine a minute later, wonder what happened. I laid my head on Johnny's shoulder daydreaming.

Johnny shook me awake from my dreams and I groggily walked down the street with everyone being towed by Johnny. I vaguely heard Pony shouting about something and Two-bit smacking him in the back of the head, but I really wasn't awake until I heard the sound of a car from behind us. We all looked over and saw a blue mustang pull up to the curb. Johnny squeezed my hand tight and pushed me behind him. I could only here snippets of the conversation.

"…only a little drunk…"

"…reeling and passing out in the streets…"

"…pity the back seat…"

"…c'mon, right now…"

Screaming and the sound of broken glass was the only thing I could hear, before the air went completely silent. I peeked out from behind Johnny to make sure no one was dead. Thankfully no one was, but I saw Cherry and Marcia climb into the car and it sped off.

Slightly disheartened, the rest of us walked back towards the lot. Two-bit broke off from us to get "rip-roaring drunk" as he put it. Johnnycake, Ponyboy, and I laid down on the old back car seat that sat under a tree in the middle of the lot. I was so exhausted, I felt as though my legs were about to fall off. My eyes closed the second my Johnnycake sparked the fire.

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What felt like two seconds later I felt myself shaken awake. I cracked open my eyes and blearily looked at Ponyboy.

"Come on, we fell asleep. Man, Darry is gonna kill me!" Crap! I jumped up and blew a kiss behind me at Johnny as I sped after Pony towards home. As we walked through the door, Darry shot to his feet like a bullet and loomed over us.

"Where the hell have you been? Do you know what time it is?" I bit my lip and looked down at my shoes standing slightly behind Ponyboy. Darry was real scary. Ponyboy shook his head slightly, not looking into Darry's eyes.

"Well, it's 2 o'clock in the morning, kiddos." It was then that Soda decided to make an appearance. He sat up from the couch and rubbed his eyes.

"Hey, Pony, Scout, where'ya been?"

"We fell asleep at the lot." Of course Pony would blurt something like that out.

"You what?!" Darry's face was livid.

"L-look we w-were talking with Johnny and we k-kinda just d-dropped off…" My voice stuttered and trailed off.

"I'm sorry, we didn't mean to", Pony added.

"'I didn't mean to', 'I forgot', that's all I ever hear from you!" Darry got up in Ponyboy's face.

"Come on, Darry…", Sodapop always sticks up for Pony.

"You shut up! I'm sick and tired of hearing you stick up for him! You hear me!"

"Don't you yell at him", Ponyboy stepped further in front of me shouting at Darry. Darry slapped Pony across the face almost sending him flying across the room. We all froze, it was like time had stopped. I had tears in my eyes that threatened to stream down my face. Darry looked down at his hand like he had murdered someone.

"Ponyboy, I didn't mean to", if it was a different situation, I probably would have laughed at the irony of that statement. Pony bolted out the door me following close behind him. I vaguely heard our older brothers yell out the door for us, but we were already halfway down the block.

Pony tripped over Johnny.

"Come on, we're running away." Johnny didn't even think twice. We grabbed hands and ran to the park entrance. Pony started to cry and was pacing back and forth. I wanted to cry along with him so bad, but I had to be strong for him. I took in a shaky breath and blinked my eyes a few times to get rid of the tears.

We walked to the park and climbed onto of the jungle gym that sat next to the fountain. The park was the most beautiful place in town. It seemed as if the flowers were always in bloom. During the day, it was filled with the sweet laughter of children and young couples walking down the cobblestone path that lead through a small wooded area. Benches were always filled with mothers with perambulators and toddlers holding ice cream cones and lollipops. We saw a blue mustang pull up about twenty feet away from us. Suddenly, the park wasn't so beautiful anymore.

Six socs stumbled out of the car; I could smell the beer from where I sat. I gagged slightly. Before I could react my legs subconsciously began to carry me to the other end of the park, a soc following me. I would have gotten away if I hadn't stepped into a hole in the ground. This hole, I mused, was probably made by some happy toddler just hours ago, and now it will be the reason I die. My ankle began to throb and swell. I was kicked in the ribs a few times before the drunken soc stumbled back to the fountain. I peered after him.

My eyes widened. They were drowning Pony! I pulled myself to my feet and limped as fast as I could over. The next thing I saw I could never forget for as long as I live. Johnny, who had also been beaten, reached into his back pocket and pulled out his switch blade. Everything went in slow motion as Johnny ran up behind the boy with the rings and stabbed down. The boy, Bob Sheldon, dropped with a cry. His friends froze for a second before running like mad men to the mustang and screeching off not one look behind, the cowards.

I finally reached the fountain. I pulled Pony out of the water laying him on the ground, checking his breathe, he was still alive. I then looked over at Johnny. His eyes were haunted, completely empty, void of any emotion other than shock, and maybe a little fear. He stumbled backwards and I caught him lowering him into my lap on the ground. He sat there while I rocked him just staring at the switchblade in his right hand, the crimson blood running down to the hilt. I looked over at Bob.

He wasn't moving, not that I expected him to be. Blood pooled around him staining the concrete around him a deep red. His face was turned away from me so I could only speculate the shock his face must have held. I could imagine eyes widened and mouth gaping open trying to desperately to obtain air it never will again. I thought about him. He had so much going for him. He was the most popular boy in school, one of the brightest too. He was incredibly handsome, practically having a waiting list of girls to go out with him. He had all the money in the world and able to get anything he wanted, never having to worry about getting beat by his parents, or if you will have enough money to pay the bills, or if he'll end up on the street with no one to help, no one to care. He had it all, so much potential, gone in a split second.

But I was happy he was gone. He had terrorized my family long enough. We were always scared to walk around on our own in fear that Bob's group would jump you. Yep, I was glad that he was gone, until I realized how. Up until that point, I had completely blocked out the fact that Johnny had killed him. It couldn't have been sweet, mild-mannered, timid, Johnnycake, but it was. The epitome of innocence had turned into a murderer.

A.N. Oh my gosh. Super long chapter for you guys. I hope you liked it. Once again, if any of you could write me a Crutchie origin story, that would be stupendous and I will love you forever!