Forever Apart (Johnny Cade) {The Outsiders}

Fourteen

Dallas snuck inside the church while we were still asleep one morning. He woke up Ponyboy by saying "blondie" really loud.

I sat up on the blanket and rubbed my eyes when I awoke. I looked around at the church we had no problem making a home. There were cigarettes everywhere, wrappers, bottles, it was kind of a mess.

"Whoah!" Dally laughed when he saw me. "Look at you. You look nothing like me!" I rolled my eyes at him and got up to my feet.

"How's Darry? Is he upset?" Ponyboy asked.

"Is the fuzz after us?" Asked Johnny.

"One thing at a time," Dally said. "You guys hungry? You wanna get something to eat? I'm starving man."

"You're starving? Try eating bologna for four days," I said. Dallas only laughed at me and then asked Johnny for a cigarette.

"I got a special delivery for Ponyboy Curtis." Dallas handed a letter to Pony. "It's from your brother, Sodapop."

"Does he know?" I asked.

"No. I told him I didn't know where you guys were. He said he didn't believe me. He really wanted me to give that to you, man."

While Ponyboy opened the letter and read it to himself, Dally continued to tease me. "Short blonde hair," he chuckled. "Honestly, man, I don't think I like it."

"I think she looks beautiful," Johnny said.

"Of course you do," Dallas teased. He was in a surprisingly good mood that morning. It kind of confused me.

"Hey Dal, what's going on with the cops man, you hear anything?" Johnny asked.

"How come you got hauled in?" Ponyboy asked.

"Those boys down at the station know me by now. While I was there, they kind of beat it out of me that you guys were," he chuckled at himself. "That you guys were headed for Texas, man. Texas!" He laughed some more.

"Are they after all three of us?" I asked Dally. The boys got quiet and stared at me.

"The socs didn't turn in a girl, just the boys. So you're actually good to go free," Dally explained. I looked at Johnny. I looked at his scar and his new haircut. I was still going to run away with him. From the way I smiled at him, and the way he smiled back, it was like we communicated. He knew and I knew and we were on the same page.

Dally started chuckling again. "Look at these two blondes," he pointed to me and Ponyboy.

"Shut it, Dal," I said as I put my jacket on.

We got into his car that he "borrowed" from a friend. I sat in the front seat and once again, held on as he drove like a maniac. Ponyboy and Johnny sat in the backseat. They were used to his driving and didn't react like I did.

"Would you slow down, Dallas?!" I hollered.

"What?!" Dally leaned toward me and the car swerved. I screamed and hit his shoulder as he laughed and corrected the car on the road.

I clenched my stomach after it growled at me and looked around at the town. Thank god we were getting something to eat, Dally's friend's treat, I assumed. Eating those bologna sandwiches day and night was getting old. I wanted a hamburger and a shake, maybe some fries too. As I thought about food, I got even hungrier.

"Hope you're in the mood for barbecue man," Dally said. He pulled into the parking lot of a Dairy Queen, totally cutting off a driver, causing him to yell at us. He ordered some sandwiches and cokes and then we parked and ate in the car.

The boys immediately dug into their sandwiches. I drank almost all of my Coke and then ate my barbecue sandwich, made with a little too much barbecue.

"That soc you killed had plenty of friends," Dally said. "It's all over town, Soc against Grease. It's all worse than before, I had to start carrying a heater, man."

I looked at his pocket and saw the outline of a gun. "Dal, you kill people with heaters," Ponyboy said.

"Don't worry, it ain't loaded," Dally said. "What a worrier," he scoffed.

I wiped the barbecue from my face and looked out at the road in front of us. I thought about the soc versus grease situation getting worse than before. It was all horrible.

"Tim Shepards gang and I are having it out with the Socs in the vacant lot tomorrow night," Dally continued. "Oh, and, we have a spy."

"A spy?" I asked him. I crumbled up the wrapper my burger came in into a ball and held it in my palm. "Who?"

"Remember that good lookin' broad I tried to pick up the night you, uh, wasted that kid? What's her name? The redhead?" Dally snapped his fingers and tried to remember her name.

"Cherry Valance?" Ponyboy asked.

"Cherry? The Soc?" Johnny asked.

"We were all hanging out down in the vacant lot. And she pulls up in her old stingray, right? She said that she's testify that the Socs were drunk and they were the ones looking for a fight and you guys just fought back strictly on self-defense. Man, that girl does hate me. I think she's kinda cute though." I rolled my eyes at my brother. I knew Cherry liked him, because he was handsome and dangerous, but he didn't need to know that.

"Would you calm your ego for, I don't know, two seconds?!" I snapped.

"Whoah! What's wrong with you, Blondie?"

"We're going back and we're gonna turn ourselves in," Johnny interrupted. Dally and I both turned around to look at him.

"What?" Dally snapped.

"I got a good chance of being let off easy. We tell 'em it was self defense, we get Cherry to testify. And we also tell them about Peggy getting assaulted and it was defense," Johnny explained. "I won't tell them you helped us, I'll give you your gun back, everything will be okay."

"This is what you wanna do?" Dally asked. He was annoyed at Johnny but wouldn't show it.

"Johnny! I really don't think..."

"It's not fair for Soda and Darry to worry about Ponyboy. And they never said anything about Peggy so she don't even have to hide. I doubt my parents are worried about me," Johnny continued.

"Did you know Two-Bit wanted to go to Texas to hunt for you?!" Dally interrupted him.

"Hunt for me or for her?" Johnny pointed at me.

"That's not fair," I said. "Johnny, it's not gonna end in the perfect way you think. Trust me, I know!"

"How would you know?"

"New York has a big crime rate! I've heard and seen things. It's not gonna happen the way you want, Johnny," I argued.

"You get off and go about your normal life. Ponyboy will go back to his brothers and I will be the only one to take the fall. No one's gonna worry about me," Johnny said with a shrug.

"Did you hear what I said about Two-Bit?!" Dally almost yelled.

"Yeah, yeah the gang worries. Ponyboy's got siblings, you got a sibling...I-I got nothing."

"Johnny...you have us. You have me! I don't wanna stand by and watch it all unfold. I don't wanna act like I wasn't there, that night." Johnny wouldn't look at me. He wouldn't look at Dally either. He just ate his fries and stared at the ground.

I huffed and turned around. Dally did the same and started the car. He mumbled some curse words under his breath as he backed out of the parking lot. Then we drove back to the church. Dally's driving was much better one our way back. He was suddenly put in a bad mood and hardly moved his head to talk to anyone. He didn't feel the need to tease us.