The Outsiders: A New Place

Chapter 10

another week has passed, which means we only have one more week until the rumble. me and pony have been hitting it off real good, but we haven't told the gang yet. we aren't sure how they will respond, but they need to know.

"pony, should we tell them now? they are all in a good mood, it's probably best to do it now." i said whispering so no one else could hear.

"yeah, lets tell them. you're going to be the one to tell them though." he said whispering back.

"me? why should i do it? there are plenty of reasons why you are the one who needs to do it!"

"alright, give me three reasons why i should be the one to do it."

i rolled my eyes at the fact that he was making me give reasons why he should do it. "one, you know them much better than i do. two, you're the man in the relationship, and three you are older than me!"

"dammit, those were some good reasons. fine, ill do it."

we both looked to see the gang already staring at us, probably listening in on our conversation.

"so, what do you guys have to tell us?" johnny asked, smirking.

i turned to look at pony and he rolled his eyes and said, "well, me and ash are now dating. we've been dating for a week."

the gang looked unbothered and steve said, "oh, yeah. we already knew that."

"how did you guys know?" i asked, confused.

"well, it's pretty obvious, and two bit here told us." dally said pointing to two bit.

"you told?" i said at two bit, slightly angry.

"wait, you told two bit?" ponyboy asked turning to me.

"hey, he wanted to know! and besides, i told him not to tell anybody."

"big mistake, darlin'." two bit said while laughing.

i told two bit that night that i wanted to spend the night at the curtis house, since i would most likely have to stay there in another two weeks. two bits mom was coming back then, and she could never know that i stayed there.

two bit left the house leaving the curtis brothers, me, and johnny. i wanted to spend more time with johnny, he seemed like a really sweet dude.

"so ash, im guessing you want the couch?" johnny asked quietly.

"not unless you want it." i replied.

"i could never take a spot from a lady, you have it. ill take the chair."

i smiled at him and he turned slightly red. darry, ponyboy, and soda all came downstairs to say goodnight to us. pony reached down and kissed my forehead and johnny said "do i get one too ponyboy?"

giggles erupted (mostly from me) and pony said "oh, you wish." they all headed back upstairs again and me and johnny settled down on our temporary beds. we laid in silence for a while, but neither of us were asleep.

"johnny?" my voice sounded loud in the quiet room. "what's up ash?"

"when your parents beat you... do they do it for a special reason? or just... for no reason, like mine did?"

there was a pause, and for a while i thought he wasn't going to answer. "my parents have nothing else better to do than to beat me. so yeah, i guess they do it for no reason."

there was another long pause, and then, "did your parents ever love you? even when you were little?" johnny's quiet voice whispered.

"my mom actually did. my dad would beat us both, so going through that together made us stronger. but when my dad left, my mom got into alcohol and started taking my dads old habits of beating me."