Secret (The Outsiders)

Barbecue Sandwiches and Pepsi

We all piled into Dally's car. "Why did I have to come here myself?" I asked him. The boy shrugged. "I wanted to see if you'd do it." he laughed. I glared at him. "Not funny." I smacked him across the shoulder. Dally still laughed at me as he started the engine.

No one was wearing seat belts. We all were wishing we did when Dally took that corner and threw me and Ponyboy into the left side of the car. I grunted when Ponyboy slammed against me. I was really small for sixteen and a fairly big fourteen year old boy basically crushed me. "Ow." I muttered. "Sorry." he said, holding on to the seat as he scooted over.

I absolutely hated Dally's driving. Sometimes it was fun when we were on a back road but when we got the main road, he still drove like a dumb ass. Dally took another turn, nearly throwing Johnny out of the car. I'd managed not to be thrown into Ponyboy since, I had a death grip on my seat. Ponyboy, however, never learned what how to keep from moving.

On the way to Dairy Queen, Johnny looked over his shoulder at my head. I knew he was looking at the bandage. "Johnny, don't worry about it. Its nothing compared to what happened to you." I murmured. Johnny turned away. He was probably remembering that night. I can still remember it vividly.

~

Steve tossed me a Pepsi. "Do they ever leave him alone?" I asked him. Steve laughed. "Not really. Hell, it brings good bussiness to the place." he said. I took a sip of my drink. We watched as all the girls talked to Soda. One tried lighting up a cigarette. Steve then yelled, "Hey dumbass! Do you want to set Soda on fire?" She instantly threw the unlit weed in the grass. The two of us high-fived and Soda flashed us a smile.

Eventually all of them went home. As they were closing up, the gang showed up. Two-Bit threw me over his shoulder and yelled, "C'mon girl, we're taking you downtown." I yelled and laughed as the boy ran around. "Put me down, Keith!" I screamed. The boy eventually put me down and we walked down the road.

I saw Ponyboy's eyes narrow. "What's that?" Two-Bit picked up the item. I knew exactly what it was. "Its Johnny's jacket. He must've dropped it." Two-Bit handed it to me and I noticed something on the collar. "Is that-blood?" I gulped. Soda took it from me and nodded. "Its blood." His voice was shaking.

Thats when we saw movement in the lot. I started running. I barely remember running there. I just know that the guys were stuggling to run after me.

I dropped to my knees beside my best friend's lifeless body. "Johnny!" Tears were streaming down my face. "Johnny." I sobbed. He groaned. "L-Lola?" he managed to get out. I nodded and hugged him. He winced and I instantly stopped hugging him. "Guys!" I yelled. "GUYS!" I didn't know that they were right behind me. "Is he OK?" Steve asked. "No! He isn't! Look at him." I screamed at him. Steve stepped back, putting his hands up.

I saw the gash on Johnny's face. "J-Johnny." I sobbed, clinging to his jacket. I was afraid he was going to die. I was terrified that I was going to loose my best friend.

Then Johnny started crying. It took a hell of a lot to get that boy to cry. He'd taken so many beatings from his old man. I'd seen his old man chase him out of the house with a piece of pipe and a knife. He was cut up and bruised from that.

What the Socs had done to him was nothing compared to the beatings his father did. The gash made me sick to my stomach but I kept looking at him. "Let's get him to your house, Soda." I manged to get out. Dally picked him up. Johnny winced.

Eventually we got to the Curtis house. Darry opened the door and we sat Johnny down on the couch. I sat next to him. The boy struggled to sit up. He finally opened his eyes. "H-hey." he choked out. Tears were still streaming down his face. He winced when the salty droplets leaked into his cut. "You alright Johnnycake?" Two-Bit asked. Johnny nodded and attempted a smile.

Dally busted through the Curtis house and yelled, "Who the hell did this to you? Who? What were they driving? What did they look like?" Dally was yelling so loud that the windows shook. Johnny flinched. "Dally." I muttered. "Shut the hell up, Lolita." he snapped. I could see anger growing in Ponyboy's eyes. He hated seeing girls get cussed at. "Dal, don't cuss at her." He whirled around and smacked Pony upside the head. "Lay off Dally." Darry said sternly.

Dally look angry for a moment. Johnny finally said, "They were driving a blue Mustang. He had a lot of rings." The boy barely choked out his words. It sounded painful for him when he spoke. "You can stay here as long as you need too." Soda told Johnny. Johnny nodded and curled up on the couch.

It was getting late and I was trying to clean out Johnny's gash. "I swear, I'm going to get them one day. I'll kill them if I have too." I muttered. I sounded just like my brother: brutal, angry, ferocious. "You sound like Dally." I smirked at Johnny's words. I continued cleaning off the blood from his neck and shoulders.

"Take your shirt off." I commanded. The white thing was covered in blood. He did as he was told, wincing as he did. I knew Ponyboy and Soda weren't in bed yet, so I walked into their room. "Do you guys have a shirt Johnny can borrow?" I asked, holding the bloody one in my hand. Ponyboy nodded and stood up. He grabbed a navy one and tossed it to me. "Throw that one out. It's completely ruined." Soda pointed at the waste basket. I tossed the old shirt in.

Johnny was leaning against the couch cushions. "Here you go." I tossed him the shirt and he threw it over his head. I put a bandage over the gash. "You don't have to do this, Lola." he murmured. "I did it 'cause I wanted to." I said, smiling at him. I fell asleep later on his shoulder.

~

 "Sorry for bringing it up, Johnny. I know you don't like to talk about it." I sighed. Why did I bring it up? I could've avoided the topic completely! Gosh I'm such an idiot! I crossed my arms and waited for Dally to pull into the Dairy Queen.

I could see the building in the distance. Suddenly Dally took a sharp turn. "DALLAS WINSTON!" I gasped. We were almost hit by another car. Dally looked back at me and laughed. I know I've mentioned this but I hate Dally's driving so much.

"Four cokes and four barbecue sandwiches." Dally said. When we got out order, we parked outside the store. Dally opened the center console and pulled out a heater. "I've been carrying a heater." he said. I could see the silver metal shining in the gleaming sun. "Dally! You kill people with heaters." Ponyboy explained to him. Dally waved his hand at him. "Yeah? You kill 'em with switch blades too, right Johnnycake?" Johnny gulped and kept eating his sandwich.

After we were all done, we started driving back. "Dally, we're going to turn ourselves in." Dallas slammed on the brakes at the boy's words. I flew forward, as did Ponyboy. "YOU'RE WHAT?" Dally screamed. He started to drive again. "You don't know what a few months of jail can do to you." he snapped at the boy. I had never been in jail for more than a month. I've been for two weeks once and it was an awful experience. Johnny sighed and didn't answer. We kept driving in silence until we saw the church. We all gasped.

The church was on fire.