Ralph Macchio Imagines✨

Johnny Cade

Requested by: tqrch-

Beep, beep, beep!
    "Oh my god, shut up!" I scream as I continuously bang at my night stand. My alarm clock finally goes off and I groan as the light hits my eyes. Another dreaded week at school. I quickly take off my covers and run into my closet, the cold air hitting my legs. I pick out an outfit and run a brush through my hair. I thought about today's plans at school.
    "I have tennis practice this morning then again at 3:50, afterwards I have to dog sit for Mrs. Hans then go to Wendy's house to study. Big day." After finishing my hair I find my backpack sitting against my doorframe. I grab it and run down to the kitchen.
    "'Morning mother!" I say.
    "Good morning dear, want some breakfast?" She lifted a pan of eggs off the stove.
    "Sure but make it quick, I have tennis!"
   "Alright, hope you have your uniform," she scraped the eggs onto a small plate and I chugged them down along with some milk.
    "Bye!" I said then scurried out the door.

   Halfway to school I met my best friend, Wendy.
    "Hi!" She said.
   "Ready for tennis today?" I asked.
   "Sort of I-" suddenly she paused and her eyes got wide.
   "Wendy?"
   "Oh my god!" She whispered. "Oh my god!" This time she screamed.
   "What's wrong?" She started to jump around excitedly then pointed to my wrist. I held it up to see a word written in what seemed to be a thin, black ink. My eyes widened.
   "Holy- already?" I wiped at the message with my hand. It didn't come off. I licked my fingers then rubbed at it again, didn't come off. It was real. "My soul message!" I screamed. Me and Wendy grabbed each other's hand and squealed I'm excitement.
    "You're so lucky y/n! I wish I had mine." I looked down at my arm again. It said "hey!" My eyebrows furrowed.
    "Well it's not like it's a special message, this is such a common word how am I supposed to know who it is?"
    "My mom said once you meet your soulmate and they say the word that it'll disappear."
    "What if I don't notice?"
    "Hm, I guess it's all just timing. And having it now doesn't mean it'll be anytime soon. A lot of people get theirs at this age and don't meet till years later."
    "I guess you're right," I sighed, "come on we need to hurry."

    It was early morning tennis practice and my heart was pumping at the thought of all the guys that were gonna be there. Anyone could be my soul mate, what if I don't notice that the message is gone? What will I do? I sighed as I fixed my hair into a ponytail and put on my tennis cap. I grabbed my racket and went out onto the court with Wendy.
    We started some warm ups with each other, the whole time talking about marriage and soul mates. I couldn't get it off my mind, I honestly haven't seen many people in my grade with their word yet. Mostly the older kids who were fixing to graduate.
    "Alright! Switch partners everyone!" The coach yelled. Wendy walked away and in came one of the popular boys in the grade above me. I gulped. He didn't say anything and just got into a ready position. I served the ball and it went flying over the fence around the court. I cringed as he jumped and attempted to hit it back. Once he landed he tripped and fell to the ground.
   "Hey!" He yelled in frustration. My eyes widened and I looked at my wrist. Still there. I sighed.
   "Sorry," I mumbled, then left the court to retrieve the ball.

   "God that was so embarrassing!" I exclaimed. "I'm usually pretty good, I don't know what came over me!"
   "Don't worry about it y/n, it's all the exciting news that you've had. It'll leave your mind and you'll be back to normal."
   "I hope," we parted ways once more and I went into my first period, science. I walked in and grabbed a textbook from the shelf and sat at my desk.
"Hey y/n!" A boy said as I walked in.
"Hey!" I took a glance at my arm as he walked by. Still there. "Thank god," I whispered.

I had spent pretty much the whole day looking at my wrist at every interaction I had. I kind of hated having my word now, it's so annoying to just keep looking at it 24/7 and the fact that other people can see it too. Good thing it disappears once you actually find your soulmate.
I was making my way back to the tennis court for evening practice. Unfortunately Wendy couldn't make it today as something came up so there goes my plans to study with her. I grabbed a ball from the basket and went back to my partner on court.
"Ooh look what we have here!" A boys voice called. We turned to see a gang of greasers walk up against the fence. "Little princess is gonna play her wimpy little tennis game!" He yelled.
"Wow, how creative," I said sarcastically. My partner, Hannah, served the ball and I jumped up into the air and hit the ball as I did so. I pumped a fist, "yes!" I whispered to myself. I heard snickering from the greaser boy.
"Short skirt for such an active game! No wonder they got you here," his eyes darted back to me. I tugged at my uniform.
"Hey buzz off! Nobody asked for you here!" I yelled.
"Yeah leave us alone!" Hannah said.
"No one was talking to you!" He spat. He looked back at me as I stood there. "Go on! Go on!" He laughed. I felt my face get hot and I slammed my racket down on the ground. I heard a crowd of "oohs" as I stormed away. Filthy hoods.
"Why'd you walk off?" Hannah asked.
"Because of them obviously! I'm not gonna play when we have boys like them out there tormenting us. I can't do it."
"But we can't leave until practice is over. What if coach comes out?"
"Then he'll see why we left. I'll just wait here till they're gone." Hannah sighed.
"Well I'm gonna keep playing. I can't let them get to me, I'll tell you when they leave," she grabbed the racket and ball from the bench and went back onto the court.

She never came in to tell me they left. I assume she had just left in her uniform as I had occasionally heard the greasers cackles. I started to worry about her. I peeked out the window and saw that she herself was walking back into the school as the boys laughed at her, specifically the oldest one there. They called him "Dal" I think? The time finally came to leave though and I changed back into regular clothes.
I went out the back door of the changing room in hopes of them avoiding me but I failed. It was getting dark now and surprisingly only one was left. I rolled my eyes and speed walked down the street.
"Hey," he said. I ignored him. "Excuse me," he said again. I scoffed. "Hey!" he yelled.
"What do you want?" I screamed as I turned to face him, "cant you just leave me alone?"
"I'm not gonna hurt you, I just wanted to say sorry," he looked down at the ground.
"Well thanks but no thanks, I'd like to hear it from pretty boy himself. Monster," I whispered the last word. Then the greaser boy walked up to me. I could tell he was the runt of the group, he was small and was about my age. He had tan skin and dark hair. A scar sat on his cheek and he looked reserved as he kept his hands in his jacket pockets.
"He's not a monster," he said. I laughed. "He really isn't once you get to know him! He's just... troubled I guess."
"Aren't all of you?" I snickered. His face turned sour.
"As if it's any of our fault! He cried. As I looked at him I saw hurt in his eyes. He really was a small boy and I wondered how his scar got there. What is he doing in a group like that?
"Listen, I'm sorry. You do seem nice, so maybe the rest of you are as well. But don't expect me to think nice of boys like your friend. What's your name?"
"Johnny Cade."
"Hello Johnny, I'm y/n. Do you go to school? I've never seen you before?"
"I do sometimes, but I don't really do the work. You probably wouldn't notice me anyhow. You might've seen Ponyboy though."
"Curtis? Yeah I know him, I know his brother Sodapop! Don't see him either. Drop out I heard." Johnny looked down at the ground again.
"Yeah," there was a short silence. "You looked good out there doing tennis."
"Yeah with my one hit!" I joked.
"Was still good though, wish I could afford to do things like that." I smiled at him.
"Maybe you could, you can play tennis with anything actually. There's a bunch of old rackets and balls in storage. It's fun really!"
"Yeah I guess I could learn, what do I have to lose. I better go now," he said.
"Alright, bye now," we turned and went different directions towards different ends of town. I took a look down at my wrist and noticed it clean as if nothing was there at all. I paused in the middle of the street and turned to see Johnny still walking.
"Hope I get to see you again Johnny Cade!" I yelled. He stopped and looked back at me.
"You too!" I smiled at this and made my way back home.
———————-
A/N
Hope you liked it!