The Outsiders II

Chapter Eleven

One fine afternoon when, me and Soda was working the DX. I almost forgot, Steve went on to college and I took over for him. I was about to finish up and head on over to the Nightly Double for my anniversary movie date with Mag. We were together for two years.
"You love her, Pony?" Sodapop said.
"Yeah. I do." I sighed happily.
"Glory, you must. I'm shocked that girl ain't knocked up by now." Soda teased.
"Yeah, yeah, zip it pal." I nudged him.
"I hope you're being careful." Sodapop eyed me.
"Yeah, I get it, Soda. I know." I rolled my eyes.
"Good. Because if she ends up..." Sodapop let his words slip, but continued anyways. "I swear little man, I'll beat the tar outta you, ya hear?"
"Soda, you ain't gotta worry. We don't plan on having until we're older." I assured him.
"Good." Soda said.
"You know what, Sodapop?" I looked in his eyes.
"Yeah?" Sodapop smiled at me.
"I'm gonna marry her." I grinned with pride.
"Are you sure she's the one?" Soda questioned. "I thought I was gonna marry Sandy, but you seen what happened, kiddo."
"She ain't Sandy. She's nothing like Sandy. Plus Darry said she's a keeper." I glared at him.
"I know, Pony. I know she's ten times the girl Sandy is. I'm just saying, are you sure."
"I am. I'm gonna marry her."

In that moment, I reflected on her life, and all her past. The childhood she had, it was no wonder she had a poor reputation with society. She was raised on the wrong side of the tracks, she was taught nothing but hatred, and she was a menace to society, even though she didn't even earn that title herself. I guess she was just born into it. With her parents leaving her with a brother like Mickey, it was no surprise the ended up the way she did. She was so full of anger and hatred towards society. Especially the socs. Who could blame her?

Johnny was the same way. He came from a mighty broken home, and hated the world for how he ended. It was no surprise when Maggie and Johnny became friends. They had the most in common than any of us.

Nobody ever cared about Maggie. It set her off, because she had that look in her eyes like a little girl wanting her mother's love. Which was true in her book. That's all she ever wanted. Outside her greaser status, she was nothing but a no count greasy tramp. She was no more than rotten scum to the socs and to the rest of society. Then she met Dally. Dally opened up her eyes to a whole new world. He showed her the love and affection that greasers share with one another. That's what built her up.

Johnny was the only one who cared about her as much as Dally did. Johnny? He loved Maggie. He loved her almost as much as I do. He talked to me before about it.
"I love that girl, Pony." He'd say. "But I don't love her enough to protect her. I wish I could, but I can't. That's why she ain't ever gonna be my girl. I can't protect her like I need to." It hurt Johnny. He wanted to be everything to Maggie, but the moment things would go south, Johnny would let her down. Even if he tried, he'd still let her down. But what Johnny didn't know, is he did love her. If he could set her free so she could be with someone who could protect her, that's love in a nutshell.

I hope Johnny would be proud that she's my girl. I know he would. I determined to protect Maggie until the day I die. I was determined to love her more than Dallas Winston ever could.

The biggest thing that ever got under her skin, was Mickey. Maybe Mick loved her at one point in their lives, but his hatred for her grew quickly after their parents left them. Their parents were hard junkies, always into the hard stuff. Maggie was never hit by her parents, but Mickey was beaten nearly everyday. You had to have some kind of empathy for him, but it don't make up for the fact he would badly beat Mag when she was growin'  up. Hell, he whipped her with belts, chains, sticks, anything he could get his hands on. What he put her through, made her cold and distant to people. She feared rejection and hatred, so she completely isolated herself from everyone. I wanted to make sure that went away. I wanted to relieve her of her fears and misery. I wanted to be the reason she woke up happy in the morning.

Magically, we saw Maggie strolling down the street. Her hair was quite long by then, down to her mid back, and she'd gotten taller and a little slimmer, but that's because she was fully filled out. She still had that sweet, innocent face she did back when we were a couple of dumb fifteen-year-old star crossed lovers. That particular day, her hair was in a braid and she was wearing jean capris and a white tee shirt under a jean jacket. She strolled past the DX and gave us a warm smile.
"Hey there, Pepsi-Cola. Hey Ponyboy." She grinned. Boy was I ever in love. She was simply beautiful. I smiled widely as she walked down the street towards the Nightly Double.
"Go." Soda nodded his head forward.
"What about the DX?" I said.
"I'll cover it. Don't you worry. Just go. And here." Soda threw me a bottle of his cologne and beamed with pride.
 
I threw off my DX shirt and cleaned myself up, putting on a little bit of cologne and off I went. Running through the summer dusk with nothing on my mind but her.