ʜᴇʀᴏ

james andrews

the next few days were relatively normal, except for one thing. dallas hadn't been by the house at all. nobody in the gang had seen him since ponyboy told him off.

i felt guilty. we were all he had and now he felt unwanted. and it was all my fault.

that next saturday, ponyboy, johnny, and i were at the drive in. i needed to get out of the house and ponyboy offered for me to tag along.

ponyboy ran into cherry, so he left to go sit with her. it was just johnny and i sitting towards the back, talking about how awful the movie was.

"i'm gonna go get a pop, you want anything?"
i asked johnny as i stood up.

"oh yeah, get some popcorn.."
he said.

"got it."
i nodded before heading off.

i started to walk over to the snack stand. i was behind the building, heading towards the front when i felt someone grab me from behind and throw me up against the wall of the building.

it was jamie. he wrapped his hand around my throat and looked down at me. his eyes were so angry. i had never seen someone so angry before.

i tried to talk, but he was squeezing my throat so tightly the only thing i could manage to do was let out a few squeaks.

i put my hand around his wrist, digging my nails into it.

"i heard about your little date with dallas.."
he said, coming nose to nose with me.
"didn't go as planned?"

i dug my nails in deeper and used my other hand to push at his face, doing anything to get him off of me.

"oh honey, i told you to stay away from him.. should've listened."
he pulled away from me before backhanding me across the face.

my head hit the brick wall behind me and i almost fell down but he grabbed me by my jacket and pulled me back up.

"jamie.."
i mumbled.
"please.."

"shhh, don't talk."
he said, putting a finger over my lips.

jamie wasn't there anymore. it was like he was taken over by something else. he had a horrible, evil look about him. there was nothing behind his eyes besides anger.

"jamie.."
i said, putting my hand on his face.

he pulled away from my touch, disgusted by it.
"you're dirty. he made you dirty.."

his grip on my shirt tightened and he looked around for a second before punching me in the face. my head hit the wall again before i crumpled to the ground.

jamie stood there for a moment, staring at me as if he was deciding what to do.

"you better hope i don't see you around again. next time i won't let you off so easily."
he said.
"fucking whore.."

he kicked me in the stomach and then the head a few times. he spit at me before walking away.

i looked up and saw johnny standing off to the side, frozen with what i could only presume was fear. he snapped out of it before running over to me. he bent down next to me, pushing my hair out of my face.

"oh fizz.."
he sighed.

he looked up in the direction jamie had walked off in.
"ponyboy?!"
he hollered.

a few seconds later ponyboy came running over to us. he looked down at me and gasped.
"holy hell, what happened?"

"james andrews happened."
johnny said.

then, he stood up and started to walk off in the direction jamie went.

"johnny! stop!"
ponyboy yelled after him, but he wasn't listening.