FicWad

I woke up in a vaguely familiar room, not my house, I knew that much, but familiar none the less.

I tried to lift my head but I couldn't. When my shoulder gets hit, and I get hit in the head, it's a magic combo. I'm gone.

I used my eye span to scan the room. There were seven teenaged guys around me. One Johnny, and one was Darry!

Then I remembered the other kid out in the street: "Johnny should I go get Darry?"

Ponyboy.

"Hey she's alive!"

It was the overly friendly sarcastic voice I heard before. I looked to see who had spoken. It was Keith Mathews.

"Hey Keith," I said weakly.

Keith shuddered.

Another guy looked at me. He had a broken nose and a chipped tooth. "He goes by 'Two-Bit' now actually."

I remembered his voice and thought for a second, Steve.

I looked around, saw Johnny, Darry, Kei- Two-Bit, and the person I was sure was Steve, and that kid who had to have been Ponyboy. There were two more.

"Oh crap." I thought. The creepy guy who belted me was there too. With my helmet off, he looked kinda cute... AHHHH. NO I can't think that about a guy almost killed me.

I looked at the other two.

One had really good looks, really handsome, but not my type I could tell that much from looking at him. Sodapop. He was to only one left!

"Wow!" I thought, "These guys GREW UP."

Johnny looked down at me worriedly.

"Hey Johnny! I'm alright." I was trying to take that look off his face, it's one I hate on him, it doesn't fit him at all. He doesn't look like Johnny worried.

"Good," he said but the look didn't leave.

Then I looked him over to make sure he hadn't changed much. That's when I saw a scar going from his temple to his cheekbone.

I gasped. He knew what was up.

"It's nothing." He said with finality.

"What happened?" I asked. I was gaining strength, so I sat up. I can recover relatively quickly.

"He got beat up by some Socs awhile back." Sodapop said with extra finality. This was obviously a touchy subject. One I felt I should know about, but was afraid to ask for two reasons: I didn't want to know, and I didn't want to anger the guys when I just got back after being gone for 3 years.

"Guys..." Johnny said uneasily, I knew what was coming. "She should know."

He looked at Sodapop of all people. Soda looked at Steve, Steve at Two-Bit, Two-bit back at Soda, who finally looked at Ponyboy.

"Fine." Ponyboy said. He was sitting on the carpet. There were two armchairs and a couch, and I had been using the couch.

Pony looked around uneasily and started in on the story.

By the time he finished I was horrified. That was what the creepy guy (whose name I still didn't know) meant; "Finish what you started... Kill him this time..." He thought I was a Soc come back to finish Johnny off.

I leaned back and stared at the ceiling. Oh my God. Johnny got beaten so badly, he had cried. I never saw him cry after a beating, with the exception of the first few. He had always been really strong, he hadn't even cried when Dad went after him with the two by four, until I was hurt beyond moving.

A few hours passed of talking and catching up. The creepy guys name was Dallas Winston. He used to live in New York, and had come back just after I left. I just forgot about him after I left. Ponyboy just turned fourteen, my god has he grown up, he looks exactly like Soda did at thirteen. Wow. Their parents died a few months ago. That's a REAL shame. They were like secondary parents to Johnny and me, and apparently Dally too. They always made us feel better.

Johnny finally said he better talk to me alone for a while and we walked to the lot and sat down leaning against an over turned car seat, a relatively new addition.

It was about two o'clock in the afternoon.

Johnny turned to look at me.

"Were the hell did you go?" He asked really harshly, not like him at all.

"I went to Los Angeles." I said quizzically, what was with the interrogation?

"You have any idea what happened after you left?"

"No..."

"Dad came after me saying that I told you to go get the cops, he beat for days, every time I moved from where he left me last."

I just stared in amazement.

"As I got older he beat me worse! And where were you? How am I supposed to know? You never told me anything! Just that you had a plan! That didn't work out very well."

Millions of questions filled my head. Finally I picked one. "Why didn't you run too?"

"I would have, if it weren't for the guys, they kept encouraging me, saying you'd come back and everything would work out, and be good again! Well here you are three years later!"

"Johnny..."

"Well?"

"The plan, it's, it's still ok isn't it? You still want me to make things ok?" I asked.

"No! You know what..." he got up and walked in the direction of Pony's house, and my bike was parked in front, I hadn't noticed that.

He walked to my bike grabbed the helmet and shoved it at me.

"You can just go back what ever kind of 'better' life you had in LA cause I don't need you any more, I was doing just fine on my own!" He was practically yelling.

"Johnny..." he shoved the helmet in my gut and walked a few feet away and turned from me. "Johnny..."

"Just get outta here, ok?"

"If... if you r-really want me to..." I was stunned. I was shaking. But it was what Johnny wanted.

I put on my helmet, mounted my bike and turned it on.

"Good bye, J-Johnnycake. I love you so much." I whispered mostly to myself, for comfort.

I kicked off and drove away into the noon sun.