Pretend (johnnyboy & curtis sister x cherry)

Chapter 1: Recap

A/n- please don't judge this book off of this chapter. I know it's bad but I promise it gets better. I wrote the first couple chapters almost a year ago and my writing style has changed a lot since then. I'm just too lazy to go back through and edit them.

Lavender Curtis is the name, and breaking hearts is the game. Just kidding! I've never dated anyone in my life. My older brother Sodapop though, he's a heartbreaker. He's got girls all over Tulsa calling his name. Even socs. But Soda only had eyes for Sandy. She cheated on him, got pregnant, moved to Florida to live with her grandparents, and broke up with him. Soda took the breakup really hard. I'm sure it didn't help that Sandy did all of this the same week as "The Incident".

"The incident" happened one cold night in mid-September. My twin brother, Ponyboy, had gone to the drive-ins with a couple other guys from our gang. I had stayed home because my oldest brother, Darry, had grounded me for getting a bad mark on a test. The boys had met two soc girls while they were at the drive-ins. Their names were Cherry and Marcia. The girls were alone because they had ditched their boyfriends after finding out that they had brought along alcohol. Pony, Johnny, and good ol' Two-Bit offered to bring Cherry and Marcia home. While they were walking, they were stopped by a blue mustang filled with socs. Bob and Randy (Cherry and Marcia's boyfriends) were upset that their girlfriends were with greasers. The girls left with the socs, not wanting to start a fight.

Ponyboy didn't get home until 2am that night. He was talking with Johnny in the lot, lost track of time, and fell asleep. Darry was so angry that he did something that nobody had ever done before. He hit Ponyboy. Pony ran off after that. Then he got into some real trouble...

Ponyboy found Johnny and they somehow ended up at the park. Then the same blue mustang from earlier that night pulled up. (I also would like to point out that these same socs jumped Johnny around six months ago. They beat him up real bad and left a scar on his face. He started carrying a switchblade after that.) The socs were drunk. They threw Pony into the fountain at the park and tried to drown him. Then sweet, kindhearted Johnny did something none of us could've ever pictured him doing. He pulled out his switch and stabbed Bob, Cherry's boyfriend.

Johnny and Ponyboy went over to Buck Merrill's place, hoping to find Dallas Winston. Dally was always in and out of the cooler. He didn't like obeying the law. If anyone could've helped Pony and Johnny hide from the cops, it would've been Dally. He instructed them to hop on a freight train to Windrexville, and hide out in an abandoned church on Jay Mountain. He also gave the two boys $50 and a loaded gun, and Pony his brown leather jacket.

For the next five days, Johnny and Ponyboy hid in that old abandoned church. They also cut their hair so that they wouldn't fit their descriptions in the newspaper. Pony even bleached his.

On the fifth day, Dallas Winston went up to see the two "wanted murderers". Dally drove us all nuts not telling us where they were hiding. He took them to Dairy Queen and filled them in on what was going on in Tulsa. He told them about the rumble we were having the following night, to settle the greaser vs. soc thing once and for all. Dally also told Pony and Johnny about how Cherry Valance was spying for us greasers. Johnny then admitted that he wanted to go back and turn himself in. Dally wasn't too happy about that. He's always had a soft spot for Johnny and didn't want him to toughen up in jail.

When the three got back to the church it was on fire! A local school was on a picnic atop the mountain. A few of the children had gone missing and were most likely inside the burning church. Ponyboy ran in to save them, and Johnny followed close behind. They found the kids and tossed them out the window to Dally. Johnny pushed Pony out of the church just before it caved in on them. After slapping Pony on the back to put out the fire on his jacket and accidentally knocking him unconscious in the process, Dally entered the church and dragged out Johnny.

All three were rushed to the hospital. Ponyboy ended up being fine. Dallas only had a burn on his arm from saving Johnny. But Johnny... was in critical condition. He had a broken back and several third-degree burns. The doctors said that if he lived, he wouldn't ever be able to walk again.

Not everything about that day had been awful, though. We were reunited with Ponyboy. I hadn't seen my brother in days and I missed him terribly. While Ponyboy, Sodapop, Darry, and I sat in the hospital waiting room, many cops and reporters came by to get Pony's story. They took lots of pictures. I've always hated getting my picture taken, but Soda loved it. Then we all went home and for the first time in a very long time, we got a good night's sleep.

The next day Darry, Soda, and Steve all had to go to work. So it was just Ponyboy, Two-Bit, and I. We went and saw Dally and Johnny in the hospital. Johnny really wasn't doing too well, and it was eating Dally up inside. While waiting at the bus stop on the way back home, Two-Bit noticed that Pony was running a fever. Ponyboy made us swear not to tell Darry because then he wouldn't be able to fight in the rumble. We ran into Cherry Valance, too. She gave the boys some information about the rumble, and that Randy wouldn't be going. Pony already knew that though, because he had run into him before we got to the hospital. Then Two and I left Cherry and Pony to talk about god knows what.

When we got back to the house the five boys started getting ready for the rumble. They all greased up their hair, except Darry cause he never uses hair grease. They left the house hootin' and hollerin' and doing acrobatics. "My friends are a bunch of lunatics," I remember saying to myself.

I didn't do much while they were gone. I was really worried that something was gonna happen to one of them. When they returned, I was glad to hear that they had beat the socs. I was surprised to find out that Dally somehow got out of the hospital and showed up to the rumble. Darry said he and Pony went off to see Johnny.

The boys were in pretty rough shape, so I grabbed out the first aid kit and started cleaning them up.

About an hour later, Ponyboy and Dallas showed up, both with glum looks on their faces. Pony then said, "Johnny isn't gonna make it. Doctor says he's only got about a week left.". Then Dallas Winston started to cry. None of us ever knew that he was able to produce tears. I started crying too. Johnny was my friend. I never could've imagined my life without him. He was the only person who I felt I could be totally honest with. I could tell Johnny anything. Soon Pony and Soda started balling too. Darry just stared ahead at the wall, and Two-Bit looked down at his feet. Steve was trying to act tough, but we all knew he was on the verge of tears. We all sat there in silence, unable to imagine life without Johnny. Then Pony broke the silence by saying "We could get along without anyone but Johnny.". That only made me cry harder.

Then when we all thought things couldn't possibly get worse, Ponyboy passed out. He had gotten a concussion during the rumble. Some soc had kicked him in the head a few times.

~Time skip to the present day (this still takes place in the '60s)~

It's now been exactly 54 days since "The incident". Johnny somehow pulled through. He's had a couple surgeries and is still in the hospital, but he's gonna make it. That first week was really rough, though. We all sat around awaiting the dreaded phone call informing us that Johnny was dead, but it never came. And we are all so very thankful for that.

The court lifted Johnny's charges, too. Y'know since he's a hero now, and still recovering.

Things are looking pretty good for us greasers now. I can't wait to see what else is in store for us.