Bad Reputation||Brooklyn Winston

Chapter 14

When we got to the hospital, we went to see Johnny first, since he was on the first floor.

"Hey kid, they treating you ok in here?" Two-Bit asked when we walked in.

"I guess. They won't let me put enough grease in my hair." Johnny said.

Two-Bit and Ponyboy sat down in the chairs next to Johnny's bed. I just stood in the doorway. Johnny looked and sounded horrible. And he was attached to all kinds of machines. Suddenly I understood what Dallas hated so much about hospitals.

Ponyboy grabbed my hand and pulled me toward him.

"Hey Johnny." I said.

"Hi Brooklyn. You know, Dally came by earlier."

"He did?" I asked.

"Yeah. He wasn't supposed to be in here. He snuck in. He said... He said he was sorry he couldn't save me."

Two-Bit and Ponyboy looked at me.

"Everyone's going to be ok." I told Johnny. "Everything is going to be ok."

Johnny looked at Ponyboy. "Hey man, what about that book?"

"What book?" Two-Bit asked.

"He wants a copy of Gone With the Wind so I can read it to him." Ponyboy explained.

"I'll go get one." I said.

Two-Bit stood up. "I'll go with you."

As we walked to the drug store down the street, I asked, "He isn't going to make it, is he?"

"I don't think so." Two-Bit told me.

I tried not to cry as I said, "I knew that him and Ponyboy shouldn't have gone in there. I knew that something bad was going to happen."

"They saved those kids. Johnny is going to die a hero."

"But he shouldn't have to die. It should be anyone but him."

Two-Bit nodded. "I know."

When we went back to the hospital, Ponyboy was coming out of Johnny's room.

"What happened?" I asked.

"He just passed out."

Two-Bit handed the book to the nurse outside Johnny's door. "Can you make sure he gets this?"

The nurse nodded.

"You!" A woman yelled.

We all turned toward the direction of the voice. There was a small woman rushing toward us. She looked a lot like Johnny. She was pointing at Ponyboy as she said, "If he wasn't out with the likes of you all night, he wouldn't be in there right now!"

Two-Bit started to say something, but Ponyboy pushed him down the hall. I knew that Ponyboy didn't like hearing women being cussed at, but I felt like cussing this woman out myself. I probably would have if I didn't care about getting kicked out of the hospital.

As Johnny's mom argued with the nurse, I stared at her. She was the cause of Johnny's pain and suffering.

She noticed me staring at her. "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing. I mean, it's just that now I understand why he never wants to go home."

She gave me a look that I didn't really know how to interpret. "Don't think that I don't know about you. You're a Winston. You're nothing but trouble. You and your brother don't even have parents."

I stared at her for another moment before turning around. She wasn't worth it.

In Dallas' room, he was yelling at a nurse.