Chapter Nine: Do it for Johnny (& Cherry)

Featuring:

Dallas Winston*

Buck Merrill

Johnny Cade*

Cherry Valance

Vienna Parks:

* = featured character narrates part or all of the chapter

/ = character isn't ever physically present in chapter but is still featured

: = original character that wasn't in the original book, movie, or musical and was created for this story

Dallas Winston:

Do it for Johnny. Do it for Johnny. Do it for Johnny. Do it for Johnny. Do it for Johnny. Do it for Johnny. Do it for Johnny. Do it for Johnny. Do it for Johnny. Do it for Johnny. Dammit.

I gripped the blasted wheel as hard I could. It's late at night. I took the wheel prayin' that it would make Buck stop talking and take a rest instead. It didn't. It's just doggone distracting.

I needed Buck to come, he was the one who set me up with the rodeo, and insisted on comin'. He don't even got sumn in particular to talk about, he just wants to talk to get a kick outta me.

"Cmon Dally laugh a little, it's a nice day out."

"It's three in the mornin'." I'm going to Utah for Johnny. I just need to get through this goddamn drive.

I just hafta get that money, I just need to win. So Johnny won't end up like me. If he gets bailed out, he won't even have enough time to get as fucked up as I am. The money. For Johnny.

I went all this way. I'm missin' days of visiting hours with Johnny for this. I had to write a letter to Cherry, I couldn't even tell her in person. The only person from the damned gang I told was Pony. And I'm stuck with dumbass-Buck for a few hours longer.

I've been stuck in Utah for two days. I had just enough time to put myself together for the rodeo today. I was playing 'round with my hair 'cause I was bored.

"Hey Dally!" Buck shouted, his voice was raspy 'cause it was early in the morning. He knocked loudly which only pissed me off more. I ignored him, I was still bugged at him for distracting me throughout the entire blasted car ride. I was gonna lone it to the rodeo, Buck was staying here.

"Yer lady shipped a letter." He muttered behind the closed door. I turned around to see Buck's dirty fingers slip an envelope under the door. The envelope was sealed and everythin', man I hate Socs.

Man, I wish I could've taken her here.

'Dear Dallas,

I didn't know you were doing rodeos professionally. You should've told me.You should've told me you were leaving. But that doesn't matter anymore.

I think it's real nice of you to do this for Johnny, it's sweet. Just be careful, don't get hurt. Please write me back when you're done with the first rodeo.

If you're wondering, Soda is doing a lot better, I think he's going to start working tomorrow again. Marcia really wants to go back to the East side tomorrow so I'll probably go with her. Maybe I'll just go to the Curtis brother's house with her.

I know you don't need me to, but I'll visit Johnny for you. I'll go everyday after school is done. Good luck at the rodeo. I miss you. Be safe.

-Cherry' I think that mighta been the first time a broad was worried 'bout my being safe. There was always sumn different about Cherry. I liked that. She's stupidly vulnerable, but I like it. I really like it.

In spite of myself I smiled at the words on the paper.

I looked at the rodeo arena. I looked at the crowd, and I looked at the horse. I saw Johnny standing in the middle where I would be riding any minute now. He had his hair in his face like he always did, and that nervous expression on his face.

He looked at the crowd too, but they didn't see him, 'cause he wasn't really there. My mind was actin' up on me. He pushed his hair out of his face, even though he knew it would inevitably get in his way again. First thing I'm gettin' him is a goddamn haircut once he's outta the slammer.

I notice his dark brown eyes scouting the arena. He scratched the back of his head anxiously, he was never good in crowded areas, even though he ain't really here.

Then he saw me, and his eyes were glowing. He walked over to me. I wanted to slap him on the back and scold him about his posture. Dammit, the guardian thing is growing on me, I'm gon' end up like Darry. Dammit.

He looked up at me, "Good luck, Dal" he mumbled. Speak up I wanted to say, but I knew I woulda sounded crazy 'cause he wasn't really there, wish he was. His smile got brighter the closer he got, he had dimples. How'd I not know that?

Then she appeared, right where Johnny had. Johnny's illusion took advantage of my distraction and faded away. But she stayed. Her red locks shimmered in the light. Her eyes didn't wander like Johnny's did, she saw me right away.

She didn't come closer, she just stood there. I wanted to go over there, I wanted to run to her, I wanted to kiss her and feel the touch of her skin for the first time in days. I might just miss her.

She smiled. She smiled at me 'fore she faded away right in front of me.

I knew then that I was gonna win this shit for Johnny, and I was gonna come outta that blasted rodeo okay, for Cherry.

Johnny Cade:

I was expectin' Cherry any second now. She's been awful consistent, coming here right after school lets 'er out. It's not like talkin' to Dally, but it'll do. She's growing on me. I think she's growing on Dally too.

I looked at the clock, she's a little late.

Her figure rushed in abruptly, looking around at the other prisoners and their visitors. She could be spotted easily 'cause she was always the most 'put together' visitor, she looked a little messy today though.

"Sorry, I ran to check the mail- I thought I'd be able to make it around the same time but- I'm sorry, Johnny." She threw her purse under the table like it was a bowling ball. Her hair was all over the place but she was still...Soc-looking.

"He hasn't written back?" I ask. I kinda wanted to take it back when I saw the look on her face, but to my luck she reluctantly responded. "No, it's fine though. If he's hurt he would tell me. So he'll be fine." She looked at me like she didn't believe herself.

I wanted to shake her and tell her it was fine, but I was worried outta my mind too. Why's he even doin' a rodeo so far away? Don't he know it's more dangerous than the little ones at Buck's place? Does he get more kicks outta it?

What if he don't tell Cherry if he got out okay? And what if he really doesn't?

Cherry slumped down into the chair and audibly sighed. "I'm gonna try to move you into Buck's place with Dallas when you're outta this place, okay?" I exhaled loudly. What she said makes me remember.

I think about the outside world, what I'd give to git outta here and run in the grass. To see Dally without a glass barrier again. To read 'Gone with the Wind' without Pony's voice being muffled when he reads it.

I thought about findin' my way staying at Bucks. I thought about school. I thought about my other greaser buddies that don't visit as often, I'll be able to see them more. "Like I'm gettin' out anytime soon." I said, the sarcasm oozing through my words. My lips moved around an invisible cancer stick, them cops only condone smoking outside the cooler.

She hummed like she knew sumn I didn't. She probably does, Soc's seem all-knowing. "It'll go by in a flash, you'll be out faster than you think." She fiddled with a golden necklace. It was pretty, with them heart-shaped chains. You don't get those 'round the East side.

Her eyes drifted off the necklace and to me, she was thinking of something to say but got distracted...or sumn 'long those lines I guess.

She eyed my jacket with envy, she wasn't even tryna hide it, "You think I'm any different, Johnny? Am I just another Sylvia?" I knew what she was sayin', I think all of Dally's girls should be asking questions like that. But all of Dally's past girls were never really like Cherry.

It was almost like I could see the green in her doe eyes as they narrowed. She cared. She liked him. That made me smile. "Hey! Don't start laughing on me, Johnny I'm serious!" She smiled back. I liked her more than I liked the others, not like the past ones gave me any mind.

We could laugh together, I liked her, but ya can't ever really get attached to Dally's girls, they don't stick around. Even Dally admits it.

Laughing died down, and I was forced with time to think of how respond to a question I hardly knew the answer to. "Hope not. And wanna know what I think? You're different in...some kinda way. He don't look at the others the way he looks at you. I think he knows you're different too." She was pleased with that answer.

She was very pleased. "And Cherry? I hope ya know- man, Dally's gon' kill me if he finds out I told you this. I want ya to know that he's real fragile when he cares about someone. I trust ya won't mess him up, but if sumn were to happen to you, I mean- If sumn happened to me I don't even wanna know what Dally would do, that's why I'm careful now, Cherry. I walk away from prison fights which, trust me, ain't easy 'round here. I talk to no one, besides visitors. 'Cause I gotta be careful, for Dally. So be careful Cherry."

I couldn't tell if she heard me, she stilled looked happy. Goddammit if I don't get through to her- "You think he'll ever love me the way he loves you? You think I'll stay?" She looked so hopeful. I miss hope. I really really miss the hell outta it.

"I want you to, I really do. It'll be the three of us, and there'll be nothing else like it." I wanted to tell her that 'cause I was being fed off the hope. I really was. And I wasn't lying either, I want her here with Dally and I.

She smiles some more and I think to myself Do it for Dally, Cherry. Be careful.

I was escorted by one of them cops into my tiny ol' cell. It was suffocating, man, what'd I give to be at Buck's with Dally right now.

I'm pushed harshly into the cell, I hear the metal clanging behind me, which is the cell locking. I hate the cooler. I hate it a whole lot.

I heard a weird rustle under the bed. I thought about what this blasted place could be hiding under my bed. Maybe it's a cop with a heater gettin' ready to take me out for good. Or a sewer rat. Neither would shock me.

But what did roll out from under the bed did shock me.

A frail female figure rolled herself out of the shadow of my bed. She was small, hell, she was even smaller than Cherry. And Pony. She must've been half of Dally's size, she was definitely smaller than me.

Height wise, Cherry was always the shortest. She's gotta be around 5'3, most Soc girls are perfectly 5'5 so that made Cherry stand out. Soc boys are short too so it works out, they're most 5'6-5'8, that's what Dally tells me. Pony and I are 5'7, but I'd like to think I'm 5'8 by now. Pony's gunna get taller soon enough, his brothers are tall so there's no doubt he'll be too.

'fore the world came crashin' down on us and I had to kill Bob and Darry hit Pony, Soda measured our heights against a wall. He used a black marker and wrote our names next to them. Most of the gang was full grown by now, but Soda is more of a child than a teenager so it makes him happy doing things like that.

Dally was taller than the rest of the gang, he was nearly as tall as Shepard's gang. Dally was at 6'3(plus 3/4 of an inch if that counts), just barely taller than Darry who's 6'2. Soda is 6'1 and he's really proud of his height. I think all the greasers are. Two-Bit was 6'2 and Steve was 6'0. Greasers were almost always six foot.

Dally tells me the greaser girls are taller than the Soc ones. Greaser girls are most 5'7-5'8 according to him. And Dally's hardly ever wrong.

But this girl? She's gotta be 5'1. How does someone so small end up in jail? Guess they could say the same 'bout me, though. "Oh, it's you. You're Dallas' little brother ain't ya?" She said, her voice was kinda low, she seemed tuff. Real tuff. I wondered if she knew Dally wasn't my real brother, but didn't say nothin'

"Who the hell are ya? Were you one of Dally's girls?" I asked the girl. She was awful pretty, she got that black hair. It looks kinda glossy. She's got even darker eyes. She's pretty.

"Vienna Parks, call me Vi, Vienna, Austria is where I'm from. I've been around every inch of Europe for all my fifteen years of life. I thought Tulsa would be a break. But yer dad rats you out and suddenly you're here till they come to Tulsa."

"Sum introduction." I muttered. Vienna, Austria is a whole plane ride away. "And I'm too young to be Dally's girl, I've just seen you visiting him." Huh. She's talkative for such a small girl. She almost makes me wanna talk too.

"So? What about you?" She asked. The girl threw herself onto my bed with a lack of manners. I wanted to say something but she looked comfortable, and I didn't want to ruin that. No one's ever that comfortable 'round here. "What about me? You seem to know enough 'bout me, Vienna." She's probably the first person I haven't felt shy around.

"Vi. Cmon, gimme your name, how ya got here. I'm stayin' for as long as you spend time here so might as well tell be who you are, roommate." I paused. "You're what??" I don't have roommates, ever. I've only ever lived with my parents or stayed the night at the lot.

"I'm living with you. Now, name!" She threw herself off the bed nearly as fast as she threw herself on it and approached me. She might've been 5'0. Dammit, she's already growin' on me. "Johnny. Johnny Cade." If she didn't know before, she definitely knows I'm not Dal's real brother now that I've said my last name. I'm sure no Winston boy.

"No.." She got closer, I could smell her scent, she smelled like..lavender. It was awful sweet. "No?" I said, getting quieter. She made me wanna talk, but she's makin' me real nervous being so close. "No. You don't look like a Johnny. You need a better name than that. I'm gonna call you Tucker."

Tucker. That's Dally's middle name, does she know that? She didn't ask if she could call me that, she just told me. "So Tucker how'd you get here?" She took a break from being all up in my space and held onto the bars of the cell, staring out it.

"I killed a Soc." Maybe I shouldn't have said nothing, she shortened her break from my space and came right back. "No. Way. That's tuff, man. What'd ya do???" She shook me by the shoulders. I tried to keep my focus on her eyes as mine got dizzy and blurred. She got bored of the shaking and instead used my shoulders as supports for her to jump up and down.

Mentally? I'm smiling ear to ear lookin' at her jump, even if it was for the most unreasonable of reasons. Physically? I allowed myself to slip a grin out. The grin faded a little when I thought about how to answer that kinda question. "A group of Socs were drowning my best-friend. I didn't know what else to do. So I stabbed one of them Socs in the head."

Guilt washes over me as if it was that night again. I could smell the blood. I could feel the bruised parts of my body. I could only see from blurry eyes that made most of my surroundings unclear 'cause of my tears. I killed that boy.

"Hm. Winston raised you right, Tucker." I looked away, cause I didn't wanna say nothing 'bout that. 'Bout the fact I killed a guy who wasn't even old enough to be a damned adult. And he never will be, 'cause of me. I saved Pony, but at what cost?

She looked down at my jacket. Dally's jacket. Her hand moved down to the zipper to grab ahold of it, but her eyes traveled up to mine. "'Ey don't be caught up on that crap. Ain't no Soc out there that's worth feelin' guilty for, he woulda killed you next."

I ripped my eyes off her 'cause I didn't wanna talk about it no more. I know he deserved it. I know it's what I shoulda done, but sometimes I wish I didn't do it. If I didn't do it I wouldn't have this awful overgrowing guilt.

I blink twice to try to reel myself back into the present and not into the past of that blasted night. I reran everything she said about herself in my head and tried to go off that to say sumn to her. "Ya think yer dad is comin' to get you soon?"

She let go of the zipper and backed up, realizing her lack of distance. I could see her cheeks flush, which didn't look right 'cause of how confident she looked. "Naw. He's gon' be awhile, right now he's tryna help take care of my sister's two year old girl. She's a single mom."

She walked off to the bed tryin' to hide her cheeks getting more red by the second. It was awfully funny, I held back a smirk. "Aw shit, how much older is yer sister." She laughed. She let her hair down that was originally in a ponytail and plopped herself on the bed. I followed her and tried to put a distance between us when I also sat down. "My sister, Latvia? Lottie's my twin." Her twin has a two year old.

Vienna is 15.

Her sister was Pony's age when she was pregnant. I looked at her, and she looked at me, waiting for a reaction. I tried to not think about it, and I tried real hard not to say anythin'.

"So...where'd y'all get those weird names from?" She smirked, she definitely knew the topic change was intentional. She started tapping her thigh as she thought of how to word her response. "My sister and I were born in Vienna, which is the capital of Austria. But my mom got pregnant while they were traveling the country of Latvia. I dunno why they chose those names, liked traveling I guess."

"They're kinda cool." I said without thinking. They were, my parents never thought too much about what to name their child. They didn't choose a name that reflected who they were. They didn't really...care. "..Aw thanks, Tucker."

She paused, and the cell went silent.

"Sooo, you're gunna sleep on the floor, right?" She said, looking straight at me like she was serious. I woulda said yes if she were my mom or really anyone from the gang besides maybe Pony or Dally. But I wasn't scared of her, I wasn't even shy around her. I wondered how that came to be.

"Hell no, it's my cell, Vienna."

"Vi. And I'm a lady, Tucker. So be a gentleman."

"We're greasers Vi, ain't no one gon' be a gentleman. I'm takin' that bed." She threw herself further onto the bed, holding my pillow hostage. "Fine. But you don't get a pillow 'cause I'm not leaving, sleep at the headboard."

I didn't argue with that one.