The Outsiders: Before My Time | Sodapop

New Sunrise

A few hours later

I peacefully awoke on my own. I fluttered my eyes open to reveal an empty church. The sun was pouring in from broken windows and the open doors, lighting up all the dust particles that were floating in the air. I sat up straight and cracked my sore back.

"Johnny? Ponyboy?" I called out. I realized that something fell off my chest and onto my legs, so I picked it up and noticed that it was the brown leather jacket that Pony got from Dally.

"Over here," I heard coming from the back.

When I stood up, I dusted myself off and followed the noise. I met Ponyboy on the back steps on the church and plopped down next to him. My entire body was sore, what I wouldn't give for one of Soda's famous massages right about now, or one of Two-Bit's jokes about how I'm getting old.

"Where's Johnny?" I asked, looking around.

"He went to get supplies."

"That's good."

"I'm hankering for a cheese sandwich," Ponyboy said.

"I'll take anything at this point, I'm starving," I said. When I spoke, my bottom lip felt sore and swollen. I almost thought there was a little ball under my skin. I tapped it gently with my finger, it was sensitive and tender to the touch. My tongue ran around the inside of my lip, I could taste the dried blood from when I was fighting with the Socs last night.

He sighed. "Me too."

"Here's your jacket." I handed it to him.

He smiled and held the jacket close. "You were shivering."

"Thank you," I said softly. He's a really sweet kid. He has such a good heart.

"You know, I've never been outside of Tulsa before."

"Never?"

He shook his head. "No one really ever leaves Tulsa. Most people get stuck there for life. For greasers, it's a dead-end road. Darry had a ticket outta there... but he gave it all up." He was silent for a moment, as if he was reflecting. Then he asked, "what's California like?"

I haven't been to California in years, but I remember it fondly. I said, "it's hot. Really hot. I lived in a big city, so there were a lot of people there. It has great food, and the culture is pretty easy going. I used to live near the beach so I'd go all the time."

"Do you miss it?"

I shrugged and nodded. "Yeah, sometimes."

"What made you come to Tulsa of all places?" He asked.

"First place that made me feel welcome, I guess," I stated softly. I had to be careful about what I said.

"Think you'd stay here forever? You know, if you had the choice to leave?"

I chewed on the inside of my cheek for a moment to think about his question. He asked me if I would stay in Tulsa forever, but I took it as would I stay in 1965 forever. Even though it's nearly an impossible question, I still had an answer. "If I had the chance to leave, I think I would. I need to be where I belong."

Ponyboy had beads of sweat forming at his hairline. It was chilly outside so he shouldn't have been sweating like that.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked, I flung my arm around his shoulders and scooted closer to him.

"I'm just letting my imagination get the best of me. And I'm plumb-tired." He sniffed. I knew he tried to act tough in front of the gang, but he was still a young kid with feelings that he just can't keep bottling up. I always heckle him about talking to me, because that is the healthy way to deal with things. I've been trying to help him come to terms about this taboo way of dealing with problems, and it is slowly working.