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The fresh autumn breeze was heavenly to Ponyboy as he walked out of the school and down its front steps. With the school being packed it got way too hot sometimes walking through those hallways, so it was nice to finally get some fresh air. Leaves were beginning to change into orange and red, lots of which have fallen off of the trees and onto the gray sidewalk. Leaves crunch under Ponyboys shoes as he walks towards home. It would be a longer walk since no one was able to pick him up from school today, but he didn’t mind.
Unfortunately, any dreams of this being a peaceful walk home was quickly stomped on. Not even halfway down the block Ponyboy heard the rumbling of a car and the shouts of soc’s. Lots of soc’s like to egg on greasers and make them fight. It gives them a sense of justification when they start fighting back. It was the same old things Ponyboy had heard plenty of times before. Nothing they said bothered him much, not really at least, he always tried his best to ignore them.
“Hey greaser!”
“Oh greaser! Over here”
“Come on greaser come here!”
Of course, after a while it does get annoying. That is beyond a doubt, so pony began to run. His shoes hit the pavement as he ran. All he wanted was to get away from these people, nothing worse than a couple of socs. Ponyboy knew once he got closer to the east side of town they would stop following him, or at least they most likely would back down. No soc wants to run the risk of more than one greaser coming for backup or something. So it was definitely a relief when Ponyboy got them off his tail.
Unfortunately, greasers can never get a fucking break. As Ponyboy approached a four way, he looked both ways before crossing the street. He did notice a cop car coming up to one of the stop signs. Though because he had the right of way, Pony walked across the street. Now, this must have been a cop that thinks he is above the law because he did not stop the car. The cop car sped closer to pony and he had to throw himself onto the other side of the road to escape it due to how close the car had gotten. Getting himself back up quickly, he flipped off the car that was now cruising down the road. His heart pounded in his chest as Pony slowly began the process of what just happened.
Trotting off from the almost crime scene, the nicer houses slowly transitioned to more busted ones. Roofs were leaking, windows broken, trash in yards and lines of rusty cars hogged the streets. But this was home and Ponyboy knew home was better. Lost in his thoughts, Pony almost jumped out of his skin when the sudden presence of a black haired boy appeared. Seemingly out of nowhere, Ponyboy's friend Johnny was now by his side. Noticing Ponyboy's startled look, Johnny looked at the pavement apologetically.
“Sorry Pon, didn’t mean to scare you” He said, his hands crammed into the pockets of his denim jacket
“Nah it's alright Johnny, I just wasn’t paying attention is all” Ponyboy glanced at his shoes, that was what they would do together. They both would often not make eye contact, so they would stare at something else.
The conversations were not necessary. The two boys did not speak much anyways, so enjoying each other's company in silence was common. Simple ‘how are yous’ and ‘what you been up to’ were questions every greaser asked. Johnny and Pony were no exceptions. This could have gone on until the two boys reached Ponys home. However, that is not how things went for those two. A nice looking car pulled up on the side of the road. Immediately Johnny froze up, staring at it with fear while pony was more curious. When the door opened, neither boy was expecting to see Cherry Valance coming out and walking towards them. A smile crossed her face as stopped a few feet away.
“Hi Pony, Hi Johnny” She said sweetly, there was an obvious glint in her eyes, it appeared when she needed to talk, her eyes lit up and she tried to sugarcoat. “I just wanted to spend time with you and I really would like for you to meet my parents! Johnny can come too” She offered, she spoke like what she said was totally normal. Ponyboy and Johnny exchanged weirded out looks before Pony shrugged his shoulders.
“Ah I don’t know Cherry, I don’t think that's too hot of an idea. I don’t know if me and Johnny should” Pony said, trying to think of some sort of excuse to get him out of this, but nothing came up.
Cherry practically dragged Ponyboy to her car, causing Johnny to follow in after him. That’s how Ponyboy found himself in the front seat of a mustang, uncomfortable and stiff as he stared out the window. Johnny was forced into the back, his anxiety was practically seeping into the air. Cherry yapped on about her day and did her best to rope Ponyboy into her conversations with herself. Though Ponyboy did not have the energy to answer, he did his best to be polite and answer when he could. It wasn’t until a large white house pulled into view that both boys immediately regretted not running. Cherry’s house was massive, white with large bushes lining the driveway and shiny cars in a massive garage.
Ponyboy gulped and hopped out of the car when Cherry put it into park. He had to drag Johnny out of the backseat because he did not wanna go anywhere near the house. Why did Cherry think this was a good idea? If her boyfriend found out about this Ponyboy was as good as dead. Hopping up the front steps, Cherry made sure that the two boys were behind her before she held up a hand for them to stop walking.
“Don’t worry you don’t gotta come inside, Let me just grab my parents real quick” then she was gone.
Ponyboy and Johnny didn’t say anything to each other. What would they say? Who knows who was listening or what would happen if they tried to sneak off. So they stood on the porch and waited for Cherry to come back. After what seemed like a couple minutes, Cherry came back outside with two adults behind her. What surprised Ponyboy was that Cherry's dad didn’t seem to come outside. Only two adult women stood before Johnny and Ponyboy. Both boys looked around for a minute before Cherry started to speak.
“Mom, mama, this is Ponyboy and Johnny” Cherry introduced the two boys and in that moment everything made sense.
The two boys glanced at each other, they both immediately knew what was going on. At least they didn’t have to ask. Ponyboy smiled politely at the two women and Johnny gave a little nod in their direction. They both hoped they weren’t anything like other socs, because Ponyboy refused to stand there and listen to two grown women talk shit about him to his face. Though surprisingly things went fine. Cherry’s moms were happy to meet them both and they spoke briefly about Ponyboys schooling. Suddenly, as if god himself wanted ponyboy to suffer, Cherry quickly made her way into the house. She called over her shoulder saying something about being back soon and needing to do something.
Just great. Now two greasers were alone with two socs. All four of them stood on the porch in silence. It was extremely awkward for Ponyboy and Johnny to just stand there waiting for Cherry to come back. They didn’t even want to be there anyways, so Ponyboy quickly glanced around hoping for some way out of this. The answer to his prayers came in the weirdest way possible. Out of the blue, a dark blue busted up buggy car drove down the road. It was a little dented, but fairly good looking and shiny. Ponyboy didn’t think to use his head at this time, so his honest to god thought at first was that Two-Bit found him. He didn’t know how, but maybe two-bit really did. Once the car stopped in the front of the house, Ponyboy trotted down the stairs with a smile.
“Ay Two-bit! Since when did your car get so nice?” He asked curiously, not bothering to look through the window of the car.
It was not two-bits car.
The front driver side door opened up and out stepped an older guy with slicked back black hair. Ponyboy recognized him from anywhere. It was Tim motherfucking Shepard and he did not look too hot. Anxiety was quickly replaced with confusion. What was Tim doing here? How did Tim find him? Was he okay? All his questions were shaken out of his head as he heard Tim start talking.
“Hey kid, Is Darry home?” Tim asked, his face was unusually pale but his voice was steady.
Shaking his head Ponyboy stuck his hands into his jacket pockets. “Nah he’s still at work, so is soda. But I can let you in if you need someone to unlock the door” He offered, hoping that Tim would say yes.
At this point in time Ponyboy would rather spend time with Tim Shepard than Cherry’s soc parents. Johnny was quick to join Ponyboys side, listening in on all that the two had to say. There were two other guys in the back of Tims car, but he agreed to take both of them with him back to Ponyboy's house. Waving bye to Cherry and her parents, the two boys quickly squashed into the back of Tims car. They did not care how cramped it was back there, this was closer to what they were used to.
Zooming down the road, Tim and the others did not talk much. This set a notion in Ponyboy and Johnny to not talk during the car ride. They did not want to accidentally make someone mad. Trees and nice houses slowly began to transition to something more familiar to Ponyboy. Run down buildings and trash littered lawns entered his field of vision. He knew he was almost home, he wouldn’t have to worry about Cherry or her boyfriend for now. Pulling up to his house, Ponyboy quickly hopped out of the car and ran up to the front steps. Quickly finding the key under the doormat, he let himself and everyone else inside. Johnny quickly threw himself onto the couch, happy that he didn’t have to deal with anymore soc’s.
Though Tim and his gang were a different story. Now that they were inside the house, Ponyboy could see just how bad Tim was. His shoulder was bleeding through the shirt he wore and his breathing was ragged. He didn’t talk to ponyboy as he stepped into the kitchen and leaned against the counter. Ponyboy couldn’t see what he was doing, all he knew was that Tim was actively pressing something to his wound.
‘Christ’ Ponyboy thought, ‘He’s trying to take out the bullet himself’
He didn’t know what to do or if he should help. The blood on Tim’s fingers was enough to make Ponyboy feel queasy and his stomach churn.
“I uh, I have tweezers if you wanna use them” Ponyboy said suddenly, his quiet voice sounded loud in the silent house.
Tim stopped what he was doing and looked over at Ponyboy. Sweat was dripping down his forehead, but he shook his head at Ponyboy's offer.
“No thanks kid” Was all he said before starting back up again.
Tim’s hand gripped the counter and he groaned as the pain built up, but he could tell he was making progress. Ponyboy turned his head away and leaned against the doorway, his stomach couldn’t handle the sight and the noises. So, he threw up. Ponyboy bent over and threw up onto the floor. Almost as soon as he did that, Tim followed suit. Though between his fingers he held the bullet that he was shot with. Tim threw it into the sink, not wanting to deal with that anymore. Wrapping up the wound, Tim grimaces at the mess he and Ponyboy made on Darrys floors. Ponyboy had already grabbed a mop, not wanting Tim to do anything while he was injured and Tim was clearly thankful for that. So, he went over to the couch to sit down. Only to find Johnny laying flat on the couch shaking his ass.
“What the fuck is wrong with you” Was all Tim said before the front door opened and a very tired looking Darry walked in.
Darry completely walked past everyone, not seeming to notice who was inside his house. Entering his room Darry threw his shit onto the bed and slipped off his work boots. Ponyboy leaned out of the kitchen, mop still in hand, and called out to Darry.
“Hey Darry, Tim’s here!”
Quickly Darry poked his head out of the bedroom and looked over at Tim.
“Oh hey Tim! What are you doing here?” He said, his voice cheerful to see his best friend.
Tim smiled and walked over to Darrys room, it became a little harder for Ponyboy to hear what was going on, but it was obvious from the raised voices that they were having fun and goofing around. Eventually, in good greaser fashion, they began to rough house. Normally Darry didn’t like it when anyone rough housed in the house, only because something could break, but this was an exception sense it was Tim. Soon Tim came back from Darrys room, quickly running out as Darrys leg stuck out of the doorway, he clearly tried to kick Tim.
“Yeah get outta here” Darry laughed as Tim plopped himself down on the couch.
Going back into his room Darry started folding some laundry that had been sitting in a basket for a few hours now.
“We all know I can beat you in a fight Thimble”
Tim groaned and rolled his eyes at that nickname. It didn’t even make that much sense, but Darry loved to tease Tim with that nickname, so it kinda just stuck. Ponyboy couldn’t remember when Darry and Tim’s friendship started, but at least Darry was making friends. At least this family was growing a little bit and Ponyboy couldn’t complain about that.
The End.