Chapter 5 The Walk Home

After the movie was over and it was completely dark outside, the Greasers decided it was time to go home.

Cherry and Marcia decided to tag along with them since Bob or any of the other Socs were not around, and Two-Bit gallantly offered to walk them home since the west side of town was only about twenty miles away and they could get to his house to get his car so he could drive them all home.

Cherry was still a little half scared of the Greasers, but after hanging around and talking to them a bit, she started to realize there may not have been that much of a difference between them after all. She was especially getting along with Ponyboy Curtis, who she was walking alongside as he was lighting one of his cigars.

"So tell me about your oldest brother? You never seem to talk about him," Cherry asked, wondering about Darry.

Ponyboy took his cigar out of his mouth and blew out the smoke. "What's to tell?" He asked as he and Cherry stopped by a fence. "He's big and moves houses."

"No, really, what's he like?" Cherry asked, really wondering what Darry's personality was like.

Opal and Johnny then walked over to both of them.

"I feel like I know Soda for as much as you talk about him, tell me about Darry. Is he wild and reckless like Soda? Don't he dream like you?" Cherry asked.

Opal rolled her eyes and joined in on the conversation. "He's a big tough guy who likes to put me and Pony down if that's what you mean."

Cherry was somewhat surprised by the girl's tone of words.

"He likes Soda, but he sure ain't likes me!" Ponyboy, Cherry, Opal, and Johnny then began to walk further. "He can't stand me and he don't like Opal neither."

"He's called me and Pony weak, and he also tells us that we need to quit readin' books and watchin' movies 'cause it's not what Greasers do. Hell, he probably don't like me 'cause I'm a woman Greaser." Opal chimed in.

"I bet he wishes he could stick me in some boys' home and Opal in some all girls school or something so Soda don't let him…"

"What are you talking about, Ponyboy?" Two-Bit asked while walking up to the four.

"Come on, Opal, you and Ponyboy all get along fine," Johnny tried to tell them.

"No way, Johnny!" Opal snapped back to him.

"No, we don't and you just shut your trap, Johnny Cade, cuz you ain't wanted at home ethier!" Ponyboy snapped at him furiously, causing Opal to gasp with shock and become even more angry.

"Ponyboy! How could you say something like that?!"

Two-Bit then hit Ponyboy on the back of the head to teach him a lesson. "You shut your mouth, kid!" He snapped back to him.

Cherry just watched the four yell and fight about this subject in shock. However, it was unknown to her or any of the other Greasers that a familiar blue mustang was coming towards them.

"Say you're sorry, Ponyboy!" Opal demanded her brother.

Ponyboy then called down. "I'm sorry," He told Johnny. "I just got mad."

"That's alright, don't worry about it." Johnny told him.

"We couldn't get along without you, so you can just shut up." Two-Bit told him as he, Johnny, Opal and Two-Bit all began to walk away.

Cherry was about to follow them before she noticed a light ahead of her and immediately realized the Socs were coming!

"Marcia!" Cherry called out to her friend when she saw the incoming car.

Cherry then caught up to Marcia and the Greasers as they all noticed the light as well. They all turned around to see it was indeed coming from a mustang owned by the Socs and when Johnny saw it, he looked as white as a ghost.

"Oh, look! What are you gonna do?" Marcia wondered in fear as the car pulled up behind her, Cherry, and the Greasers.

The leader of the Socs and Cherry's boyfriend, Bob, immediately swung open the car door when the car came to a stop and looked ahead to see his girlfriend standing by the people he hated the most - Greasers.

"Cherry!" He yelled as Cherry and the Greasers took a stop to see the Soc standing before them. "What's going on?! What are you doing?!" Bob asked furiously.

The Greasers didn't say anything to the Soc as Cherry walked up to him. However, she didn't say anything to him ethier and just looked at him as he continued raging to her. "Just because we got a little drunk last…"

"You call reeling and passing out in the streets a little?!" Cherry asked him furiously.

Ponyboy and Two-Bit then slowly came up from behind her as Bob's friend, Randy, came up next to him.

"Bob, I've told you before I'm never going out with you when you're drinking and I mean it!" Cherry snapped at him, leaving him shocked.

Randy then got into the conversation. "That's no reason to go walk in the streets with these bums," He told her.

"Who you calling bums, pal!" Two-Bit yelled back to him.

"Yeah, talk about me and my friends like that again and I'll kick your ass!" Opal also snapped back.

"Shut up, Greaser Bitch!" Bob yelled back to Opal.

"Yeah, since when do girls like you fight?" Randy asked, making Opal really upset as she clenched her fists together.

Johnny wanted to do something and fight back for his girlfriend, but he already tried that before with the Socs and it ended up leaving him scarred. He just stood next to Opal closely while also trying to hide away behind her.

"Hey!" Marcia yelled when Randy pushed her out of the way. He then very angrily walked up to Two-Bit's face. "We got two more in the back seat!" Randy told him.

Two-Bit then turned around and grabbed a bottle from Ponyboy. "Well, pity the back seat!" He shouted back while holding a switchblade right in front of Randy's face.

"You go Two-Bit!" Opal cheered when she saw this.

Johnny then looked over at Bob again, where he noticed something. On his right fingers was a couple of rings, the same ones the guy who beat up Johnny wore, shinning in the moonlight.

"You looking for a fight?" Randy asked Two-Bit.

"I am looking for a fight!" Two-Bit responded with a yell.

"Come on!" Randy shouted to him.

"Put it up!" Two-Bit shouted.

"Let's go! Come on!" Randy shouted again.

As the fight went on, Johnny just looked at Bob with horror as he remembered the time he got beat up by him and hid behind a screaming Opal, who was rooting for Two-Bit to fight Randy and the other Socs.

"Let's go, Two-Bit!" She shouted again.

Ponyboy also looked at the fight in shock, but then the yelling stopped.

"No! Alright, we'll go with you, just wait a minute!" Cherry shouted to end the fight, looking at Bob.

"What?" Opal asked, surprised that Cherry had stopped the fight.

"Why? We ain't scared of these bastards!" Two-Bit informed her.

"I hate fights, alright! I hate 'em," Cherry responded, stuttering a bit. "Come here, Ponyboy." She told him.

Bob was smiling deviously at Ponyboy, who just looked at him back in fear. He then followed Cherry's orders and the two walked away from the scene to stand alone together.

"Look, I couldn't use this," Ponyboy said, referring to the switchblade Two-Bit pulled out on Randy. "I could never cut no one."

"Cherry! Come on!" Bob demanded, already getting impatient with Cherry.

Ponyboy looked into Cherry's eyes and could tell that she was scared and had no other choice but to go with the Socs.

"We'd better go with them." Cherry finally said before walking away from Ponyboy.

Ponyboy just looked at her as she was about to walk back to the car, but before she did so, she turned back around to face him one more time. "If I ever see you in school and I don't say hi, please don't take it personal, okay?" Cherry asked him.

"Yeah, I know," He responded.

"Really, you're a nice boy and everything…"

"It's okay," Ponyboy interrupted her.

Cherry just looked at him before smiling, but her smile quickly faded as she remembered something. She looked at him quickly. "I hope I never see Dallas Winston again, if I do, I'd probably fall in love with him."

Cherry then left Ponyboy as she ran back to the blue Mustang and as soon as she got into the car, the Greasers decided it was time to leave the scene and walk back home.

"Come on," Two-Bit told his three friends as they started to take off and walk back home.

"Boy, those are two of the best looking girls I've ever seen." Two-Bit said as he, Ponyboy, Opal, and Johnny were walking back down the streets.

"Yeah," Ponyboy agreed, not really saying much else about the two Socs.

Two-Bit then spitted something out of his mouth, almost causing it to hit Opal, much to her disgust. "Ew!" She cried while moving away from whatever Two-Bit spit from his mouth.

"What was that? Marcia's number?" Ponyboy asked him.

"Yeah, probably a phony one too. Must have been out of my mind to ask for a girl like that, never go out with me anyway."

As Two-Bit, Ponyboy, Opal, and Johnny were walking past a house with laughter and music coming from inside it, a voice called out, "Where y'all going?"

"Home," Ponyboy answered him.

The four Greasers then watched something get thrown into the path they were walking in.

"Whoa! Come here! Got me a new hat!" Two-Bit said as he picked up the object that was thrown in front of them, which was a black cowboy hat.

Ponyboy, Opal, and even Johnny laughed when they saw Two-Bit put on the hat.

"You're crazy," Ponyboy teased him.

"Yeah, ain't nobody crazier than you!" Opal agreed.

"I don't know why the hell I handed you that busted bottle, you never would have used it." Two-Bit said to Ponyboy.

"I don't know, I might have, where you headed?" Ponyboy asked as he noticed Two-Bit walking over to the house.

"I don't know, play a little sucker, get real drunk," Two-Bit answered, walking into the house before waving. "See you later!"

"Okay!" Ponyboy called out while waving back to him.

"Bye, Two-Bit!" Opal called out before Two-Bit finally left her, Ponyboy, and Johnny on their own.

I told ya'll the violence between the Greasers and Socs would start to get bad, but trust me, it'll get even worse later on. Also, the next chapter is kind of a sad one for Johnny and Opal, so be prepared for a small tearbreaker. Please review or give me feedback.