The Outsiders: Reunited at Last

Chapter 3: Alone with Johnny

Johnny's POV:
    I was grateful when she finally broke eye contact with me. Despite having once been really close to her, she was now a total stranger to me. There was a time where she was viewed as part of the gang, we all cared about her and looked out for her. And she used to care about us, or at least that's what her actions led us to believe. But then she cut us out of her life, she treated us like most Soc's treat us. Her treatment of us hurt worse than most jumping do; we thought she cared about us but then she kicked us the curb at the time that we were the most down. We had just lost the Curtis parents, who for most of us were as close to real parents as we had, and then she just abandoned us.

   "Your parents treatin' you any better these days?" Her voice snapped me out of my train of thoughts. I felt my gaze harden as I watched her move around the room like nothing had changed.

    "I don't see what right you have askin' me that," I could see guilt and pain appear in her eyes when she head my tone, but I surprisingly didn't feel bad about what I said. She had hurt us and I wanted her to know that. "Why'd you come back here anyways?" Placing the photo she had been looking at back on the table, she turned to face me. One of her blue eyes was hidden by her hair but the other was staring straight at me as she said,

   "The gang comes before family."

Alex's POV:
  Johnny's eyes widened after he heard what I said. He clearly hadn't expected me to answer like that; I didn't blame him for doubting me. I was fairly certain that the gang hated me, with just cause of course. I just wish that I'd had a chance to say goodbye to them. But Bryce never would have allowed it. As Johnny and I stared at one another, I couldn't help but notice a cut that looked as if it had reopened right above his eyebrow. Pulling my gaze away from him, I made my way over to the bathroom and found the first aid kit under the sink. Making my way back to the living room, I sat on the couch and motioned for Johnny to sit by me. He raised his eyebrows at me.

   "I ain't gonna hurt you," I said. "Now take a seat so I can fix that cut above your eye." Johnny slowly sat down. I wasted no time in opening the first aid kit and getting to work on the cut. It wasn't to deep but I had wanted to clean it so it wouldn't get infected. Soon the bleeding stopped and it looked as clean as it would get; if it were up to me I would have put a bandaid on it but I knew that Johnny would say that wasn't the tuff thing to do. Once I was done, I closed the kit back up. Johnny and I were just staring at each other.

    "So," he said.

     "So," I responded. I hated the awkwardness between us, Johnny and I used to be so close and now we couldn't even maintain a conversation.

   "Why'd you do it?" He questioned me. I tilted my head in confusion. "Why'd you stop hanging out with us? Bryce leaving us was no surprise, he always cared to much about his image. You were different though, at least we thought you were different. You had never been one to obsess over labels; so I ask you again, why'd you do it?" At the mention of Bryce's name, I flinched and jumped from my seat. Looking over my shoulder at the clock, I saw that nearly half an hour had passed since I had arrived. When I looked back at Johnny, his face was pale white. As much as I wanted to ask if he was alright, I didn't have the time to.

   "Look Johnny, I'm sorry okay." The words tumbled out of my mouth a mile-a-minute. "I didn't want to leave you guys, but it was the only option. Please tell the rest of the gang that I'm sorry and that I still love them all. I wish I could stick around but I really need to leave." When Johnny didn't say anything, I shrugged it off as him being angry at me. Quickly, I made my way over to the door. Right as I put my hand on the knob, I heard a quiet voice behind me.

   "What happened to your eye?" At this, I froze.