On The Outside (A The Outsiders FF) #Wattys2015

Chapter 4

Dally was walking me home, discussing the current situation. I had told him that Two-Bit and the girls were there when it happened and that they deserved to be in on it.

"Nobody else can know. We'll just tell the guys - besides Two-Bit - that we haven't seen them." Dally said, lighting a cigarette. I fanned away the smoke that drifted my way. He didn't even bother to put on a shirt, which made it awkward for me, and I knew the guys would tease me about it later.

Once we entered the house, Darry jumped out of his recliner, nearly knocking it over.

"Where's Ponyboy and Johnny?" he asked, a mixture of worry and anger showing in his voice.

"More importantly, where were you two?" Steve teased, wiggling his eyebrows up and down. Tiger joined in, a perverted smile creeping up on her face. Soda wasn't paying any attention - he was writing something down on a piece of paper.

Soda pulled us into the kitchen, paper in hand.

"Look, I know you guys know where Ponyboy and Johnny are. Can you give this note to Pony?" Soda said, handing the piece of paper to Dally. Without saying another word, he walked out. Dally and I exchanged glances, wondering if Soda knew anything or not.

* * * * *
The next few days went by slowly. I was woken up by the sound of something hitting the bedroom window. I groggily glanced over at Ponyboy's digital alarm clock that sat on his nightstand. It was 5 in the morning.

I sleepily trudged over to the window and stared out of it. Dally, Two-Bit, Tiger, Luna, and Kimi were standing outside, Dally and Two-Bit preparing to throw more pebbles, which I assumed was the cause of the noise on the window before. I unlocked the window and lifted it up, peeking my head out.

"There better be a good reason why you guys are throwing rocks at the window to wake me up at 5 in the morning." I groaned tiredly.

"We're gonna go visit Johnny and Ponyboy." Dally said. Hearing that news, I became excited and didn't care about being woken up early anymore. After all, it was a good reason.

I crawled out the window and joined everyone outside, earning high fives from them.

There was a red truck parked in front of the house, which made me wonder if Dally stole it or not.

"Where did you get this truck?" I questioned as we made our way over to it. I was hesitant about opening the car door on the passenger side, not wanting to get caught by the police in a stolen car.

"Relax, Princess, I didn't steal it. Buck let me borrow it. Now get in." Dally called from where he was getting in on the driver's side, clearing it up as if he read my mind.

I got in, Dally immediately stepping on the gas pedal, causing us to go zooming off at a very high speed. For some reason, I wasn't fearing the idea that Dally might accidentally cause us to crash. He seemed to know what he was doing, like he's done this multiple times before. Besides, I trusted him. He would never do anything that would result in his friends getting killed. He was smarter than that.

I turned on the radio for some entertainment and Bohemian Rhapsody began playing. Everyone besides Dally sang along, banging our heads to the fast parts. I felt like we were in that one scene from the movie Wayne's World. Eventually, Dally started getting into it, joining along. I laughed at how dorky we were acting, but I was having fun.

It was an hour long drive, and by the time we started up Jay Mountain, the sun was beginning to rise.

At the top of Jay Mountain, I saw flames in the distance. As we got closer, I realized that it was a church and people were gathered around, watching. Something about it clicked in my brain.

"Dally, what did you tell Ponyboy and Johnny to hide out in?" I asked worriedly.

"A church. Why?" Dally answered. He must not have noticed the fire blazing, so I pointed it out to him. He cussed a couple times, pounding the steering wheel with his fist.

I got out of the truck and made my way over to the nearest person in the crowd.

"Excuse me, but what's going on?" I said, hoping she wasn't going to say that there was at least on person in there.

"This old church caught fire, but no one knows how. I think there are two boys in there." she responded.

I felt my heart drop to my stomach. I darted towards the church, but only made it a few steps before I was stopped.

"Where are you going?" Dally called from the truck several feet away.

"I'm not going to let them die." I called back, then ran back in the direction of the blazing church. I heard car doors slam shut behind me, but didn't divert my attention to it.

Chunks of the roof was falling to the ground, black clouds of smoke emitting from the chimney and every broken window.

There was a faint "help!" coming from the back of the church. It was their voices. It was Johnny and Ponyboy.