"I love you too, Ponyboy Michael Curtis." | The Outsiders Story

6

I heard a horn honking. It was Dally's car, parked out in front of my lot. I run outside to meet him. "Mornin'!"

We start to drive towards Windrixville. I little while later, Dally notices the huge smile plastered on my face. "You know they haven't been gone for a more than a week right?"

"Yeah I know." I felt on top of the world. "I'm just excited to see him."

"You must really like him."

"Love." I say and turn up the radio as his convertible's open roof blows my hair in the wind. I put on my best pair of jeans and a t-shirt, putting on Pony's sweatshirt before leaving. It still smells like him; my favorite smell. I also grabbed Pony a pack of cigarettes off his desk yesterday before I left, as well as a lighter. I figured the pressure of the church would make him want to smoke.

-

We were there in no time. The church was wooden and looked as if it was abandoned for twenty years now. Dally parks the car on the drive up to the door and we get out. I can barely contain myself, excitement filling my body.

I walk in after Dally, and he wakes them up. I hear them excited to see Dally, meaning that they can leave the church. Immediately, I notice the freezing temperature in the church.  I shiver silently.

Ponyboy stands up, the same Pony I know. "Pony." I say and run to hug him.

He kisses me. "You have no idea how much I missed you Sarah." He breathes into my shirt. "You smell nice."

"Thanks." I reply. I kiss him again, almost forgetting that Johnny and Dally were there. When I pull away, I run to Johnny. "Hi Johnnycakes. How ya doin?"

I smile at him as we pull away. I didn't even notice their changed hair. Johnny's looked much more natural, with its jagged cuts and non-greasiness. Ponyboy looks much more different. His hair was bleached and cut much shorter than he normally wears it.

"You hair." I point out.

"I know it looks lousy." He replies.

"No no. I love it. It just doesn't look like yours, with no grease." Dally and Johnny talk while I remember the note Soda gave me. I reach in the sweatshirt pocket. "Soda asked me to give this to you." He immediately grabbed it and sat down to read it.

He looks so engulfed in the letter; silent for a few minutes while his eyes follow the words. I didn't read it, I felt that it was an invasion of privacy.

"I'm starving. You guys hungry?" Dally asks the boys and I. They agree and we leave. I put my hand around Pony's waist as we walk out; I could tell he lost a little weight. He moves his arm around my shoulders.

We decided to sit in the back of Dally's convertible, not wanting to let go of each other. We sit together, my head resting on his shoulder.

We sit in silence. "Wow, you are really..." Dally starts.

"What?" Pony asks. He then looks at me, smiling. "What'cha thinkin' 'bout?"

"Nothin'" I reply, still smiling. "I just love you." My last words were a whisper. He kisses my forehead as we pull into a Dairy Queen.

They order burgers, me deciding not to eat. I just watch them eat, and listen to their conversation.

"... I wanna turn myself in." I just start to listen closely when I hear this. Dally thinks this is crazy, but Johnny has some good reasons. We leave the Dairy Queen to go back to the church.

-

'The church!' I thought as we park in the drive. It was on fire, the blaze engulfing the structure. I look over to a class of kindergarteners, my kindergarteners!

I volunteered to be a teacher aide for Mrs. Y's kindergarten class at the beginning of the year. I love the kids, but I have a special connection with a kindergartner named Mary. I started to babysit her, making some extra money to pay for bills. I sometimes watch her brother Michael too, but I secretly like Mary the best.

I get up from Ponyboy's arms quickly and jump out of the car. I run over to the kids, most of them crying. Mrs. O'Briant's talking to another bigger man wearing a tie and glasses. Her blue eyes have concern in them, her stance is slouched.

"Sarah oh my gosh. I told them not to play in the church." She said panicking.

"Yeah." I bend down to hug another student, Mary's best friend Brenda. "Where's Mary?" She points to the church through tears. I rub her shoulders and make a quick decision. "I'm going in!" I yell to the car.

I heard complaints from the car, but I don't listen. I am content on saving Mary. I find a large rock to break the boarded up window of the church. I pull another board off as I climb inside.

I hear someone drop behind me. It's Johnny, and Ponyboy soon follows. "Okay, let's find the kids." I instruct.

We walked through the heavy, black smoke to find kids. We could hear kids faintly crying over the sound of burning wood. I find kids in every room, huddled in corners.

"Over here!" I yell to the other boys. I found a group of five kids in a corner of one of the rooms. We start to carry them to the window and drop them out of Dally. I accidentally gulp some smoke-infested air. I have a coughing fit, so I put my head out of the window, get a big gulp of air, and go back in.

We find two more kids and bring them to safety, but no sign of Mary. "MARY!" I yell.

"Wait we didn't find her?" Ponyboy asks. His eyes are partly closed, the smoke burning all of our eyes.

"No. MARY!" I yell again. I hear a little girl yell my name. I run to where I thought I heard her voice. I call her name again, and locate her almost instantly.

I run to her, she is in the room farthest from the window. I see her silhouette and bend down to hug her.

"Oh my gosh Mary."

"Sarah I'm scared!" She says between sobs.

"Yeah I know." I look up when I hear more wood creaking. "Come on." I pick her up and put her head in my shirt, trying to shield her as much as I can from the smoke. It could definitely hurt her, with how young she is.

I start to walk to the open window to find Johnny still in the church. "Johnny what are you doing!?"

"I'm checking one last time. I'll be right behind you." He assures.

"Okay be careful." I say back and start to make it to the exit. We almost get to the exit before I hear the loudest creak from the roof. It's going to fall. I look back, Johnny is right behind me.

I almost make it to the window when the roof falls, wood falling onto me and Johnny. It hits him first, him screaming in agony. I acted fast, bending down over Mary to protect her. It comes down, the scorching hot wood hitting my arm and my face. I scream, the pain over-bearing. I feel like I'm going to pass out, but I muster enough courage to push the wood off of me and get Mary out of the window.

I collapse, the same injured part of my face hit the floor of the church. I scream even louder, but I feel myself being picked up. It was Dally, he put me outside on the porch of the church. The pain is making my vision go blurry in the corners, but I crawl as far away from of the church as I can.

I see Dally carrying Johnny out of the window out of the corner of my eyes. He looks terrible, his body limp and charred. I see Ponyboy too, unconscious next to me. I try to move farther, but I collapse and feel myself start to get tired. My vision fades to black.