Forever Apart (Johnny Cade) {The Outsiders}

Seventeen

So the three of us walked down the sidewalk and next to the road.

"Would've taken my car but the brakes are shit. Almost killed me and Kathy the other night," Two-Bit explained to us. Kathy wasn't his girlfriend. They were just two people who messed around whenever they felt like it. I didn't understand their relationship, they were basically using each other.

Then I tripped over something in the road and lost my right flat. "Wait!" I turned around and slipped it on and when I turned, I saw a blue mustang. They cruised past us and we quickly turned across the road to a burger place. But the mustang drove around the building and parked just by the door.

I opened the door to go inside but Two-Bit grabbed my hand. "I wanna see what they want."

"No, please Two-Bit," I pleaded. He pressed his finger on his lips and then stepped away from the door. Ponyboy pushed himself in front of me and we watched Randy and a couple of his friends walked up the sidewalk.

"No jazz before the rumble. You know the rules, ape-face," Two-Bit said.

"We know. I wanna talk to you." Randy pointed to Ponyboy.

"Go ahead," Two-bit said. Ponyboy followed Randy to the Mustang and they talked next to it. Randy's Soc friends stayed with Two-bit and me. Two-bit kept himself placed between me and them. He teased them about their pants and the way they dressed to ease the tension.

I kept my arms crossed and stared at the ground. I didn't like being near them. I just wanted to go see Dally and Johnny. I just wanted everything to be okay.

Randy honked the horn in the mustang and the Socs gave Two-Bit dirty looks as they walked away. Two-Bit only continued to cackle at them.

"Hey, what's all this about a rumble happening tonight?" I asked him. I knew what a rumble was, they sounded awful. Greasers and socs fighting, sometimes to the death. There were skins rumbles, chains, knives, and other weapon-based rules.

"It's no place for a lady like yourself," Two-bit said. "It's because of everything that's happened and everyone's so angry. So what did mister supersoc have to say?"

"He ain't a Soc," Ponyboy replied. "Just a guy that wanted to talk, that's all. Come on."

Two-Bit and I followed Ponyboy down the sidewalk. "Hey, you alright?" Two-Bit asked me.

"Yeah. I was worried that interaction would go a different way," I answered.

When we got to the hospital, the nurses said Dally was wide awake but cranky. I could tell he was getting on their nerves because of it. But we know that to just be old Dallas. "Can we see Johnny?" I asked the woman behind the counter. "Johnny Cade?" She recognized me and nervously smiled.

"Um, yes. I think he's ready for visitors." She looked at us with such sadness in her eyes. "Right this way." She led us down the hall to Johnny's room. "You doing okay sweetie?"

"I am," I replied. She smiled at me and then gestured to a door. "Thank you."

We walked inside and saw Johnny lying on his stomach with his arms up by his head. He was shirtless and we could see all the burns and markings on his back. There was a mirror just below his head. So when we looked down at the mirror, we could see him and he could see us.

"How they treatin' you kid?" Two-Bit asked. Johnny didn't reply. He just weakly opened and shut his eyes. "Look, you got your picture in the paper here for, uh, being a hero." Two-Bit showed him the front page.

"Yeah, that's tuff enough, huh?" Johnny said. His voice was scratchy and it honestly sounded like it hurt him to talk.

"Johnny, you need anything?" I asked in a gentle voice.