Who would've thought

Part 5- Jay Mountain

Ponyboy came back shortly after along with directions to Jay Mountain. We got up from the grass and started walking. The road was steep, and our weak legs were starting to ache.

I figured Johnny was the most tired, since he'd stayed up all night and didn't get any rest. I walked over to him and put an arm around his waist for extra support. "You good, Johnnycakes?" I asked.

Johnny sighed and nodded his head. "I'll be fine." We continued our hike. Finally, the church came into view and we almost kissed the holy ground when it did. I ran the last few steps and jumped through a window.

I lay on the ground, not caring about the dirt and dust. "Oh my god, we made it!" I huffed, out of breath from climbing that darned hill. Johnny and Pony followed soon after. We were all ecstatic to finally have a proper ground to put our feet on, and a better place to sleep.

I wasn't tired anymore, but Pony and Johnny were exhausted. They found a bench to sleep on while I made myself comfortable on an old couch. I stared up at the ceiling, which had a crack right across.

Dal was right, the church was definitely abandoned. Not only was there a thick sheet of dust collecting on everything, but the ceiling had cracks in it, there was a leak somewhere around, and the floor was filled with holes and loose planks of wood.

The country animals had gathered around, making a home in this church wherever they could. An owl had made his nest in the roof while  bunnies were hiding out underneath some creaky stairs.

I sighed, still getting over the situation we were in. My exhaustion was catching up to me. I leaned my head back on the couch and let myself de-stress as sleep overcame me.

. . .

The next morning, I woke up not knowing where I was. I shot up and hit my head on something. "Ouch!" I opened my eyes and saw Ponyboy rubbing his head. "Shoot! Sorry." I apologized.

I then looked around. "Where'd Johnny go?" Pony shrugged his shoulders. "I think he went out to get some supplies." I nodded my head. "That's okay. As long as he's safe."

Ponyboy grinned at me. "What?" I asked. He shook his head and replied. "You're good for Johnny. You guys get each other." I smiled at him. "You're a good ol' couple 'cause you care about each other."

I really did care about Johnny. So, so much. I couldn't live with myself if anything ever happened to him. And neither could he, with me.  "Thanks, Ponyboy. That's a real nice thing to say."

I got off the couch and went to go find the water pipe. I took a drink of the refreshing, cold water and wiped my mouth. When Pony did the same, I looked around the church.

In the nighttime I couldn't see much, just the major things like cracks and holes. Now I could see every single spec of dust floating around, thanks to the rays of sun shining through the hole in the roof.

I noticed Johnny's jacket lying on the ground. I picked it up and dusted it off while coughing. Pony watched me as I put it on backwards on purpose. "How do I look?" I playfully asked, while waving my arms around.

He laughed and nodded his head. "You look absolutely stunning, dear. How ever did you come across such a fine piece of clothing?" I flipped my hair behind my shoulder.

"Well, dearie. I actually found it at this charming boutique called 'Jonnay'" In all honesty I had no idea how to spell it, since it didn't exist. We then heard the rustling of leaves and bolted to the door.

We heard a low whistling, which I learned from Darry, was a signal used by Tim Shepard's gang saying, 'Who's there?' Pony did the same thing back, then I opened the door.

As soon as I did, Ponyboy shot out the door and fell down the steps. I laughed so hard my ribs hurt. Johnny laughed as well and looked up at me. I pretended I wasn't wearing his jacket backwards, even though I was.

"Fancy seeing you here." I leaned against the old doorframe. It started to crumble, so I jumped back. I then saw Johnny shivering, and realized I was still wearing his jeans jacket. "Shoot." I started to take it off. "Here you go."

Johnny stopped me. "No, no. Keep it. You look cute in it." I knew Johnny was joking since I still had it on backwards. I took it off but put it back on, the proper way this time.

Ponyboy propped himself up on his elbows and cocked his eyebrow. "I swear, Pony, you're gettin' to act like Two-Bit more and more each day."

Pony replied with, "Who's acting?" I rolled my eyes playfully. "And is that a bad thing?" I asked. Johnny thought. "Well, no. Unless you start lookin' up skirts. Then I would be worried."

I laughed. "I can assure you that I won't be doing that, so don't worry." I also added, "So what'd you get?" We headed over to a dusty table and Johnny started placing things down.

Impatient, I peaked in the bag. "Baloney...matches... bread... more baloney...even more baloney. What the hell is with all the baloney?" I asked.

"Well, it's cheap and easy. Plus, I don't know what you guys like eating." I scoffed at Johnny. "And you didn't even bother to buy some chocolate cake?" He put his hands up in mock surrender. "Where am I supposed to get a cake from?"

Pony rolled his eyes and continued looking through the bag. "Cards, Peroxide. Peroxide?" My eyes widened. "Oh no, Johnny. You're not thinkin' of-" Johnny nodded his head.

"We're all gonna cut our hair, and you two'll bleach yours." I backed away. "Oh hell no! You two can do whatever the heck you want with your own hair, but no one's touching' mine!"

Johnny sighed. "If we get caught, they'll make us do it anyways. Our descriptions'll be in the paper and they're out lookin' for us." I crossed my arms.

"Can't I at least keep the length? I've been growin' my hair for years." Johnny shook his head. "They write about hair length, too." I groaned and leaned my head back. "This sucks!"

"Okay." Pony stated. "Get it over with." I watched as Johnny started to cut and bleach Pony's hair. I really like it the way it was before, it suited him. Now, he looked like a little kid. Like a small boy that would collect potato bugs or something like that.

It was my turn next, and I closed my eyes shut. I sat down in the chair and held my breath. I trusted Johnny, but not with this kinda stuff. I wouldn't be surprised if he accidentally cut it all off. I felt sawing at the ends of my hair and I winced at the feeling. "Be careful, Johnny." He sighed and continued.

When it was done, I was shocked. I checked out myself in the mirror. "I don't actually look too bad." Johnny then handed the knife to me so I could cut his hair. I bit my lip as I got to work, trimming it at first, then full on chopping it off.

I think it was more painful for me to watch than it was for Johnny to feel. I cut off his bangs and thinned out the sides. When I finished, I was proud of my work. I still liked Johnny's hair the way it was before, but this looked nice as well.

"There!" I passed him the broken mirror. "Oh, darling! You look like a model!" Us three laughed to lighten up our sour moods. I then dipped my hair in the peroxide as far as it would go, so only my roots were still it's natural brown.

I went out in the sun to let my hair bleach. Since I was tanned, the light shade didn't really suit me well. I sighed, already missing my old hair. Pony, Johnny and I studied ourselves in the mirror.

Well, I thought to myself as I looked at my reflection. This is gonna be one hell of a story to tell the grandkids.

THEIR POOR HAIR!!!!! That's all I have to say, so ciao for now. Stay Gold! 💛