Chapter 3

(This is rare and different but ya know!)

Chapter 3

Ponyboy's POV

I can't believe tomorrow is the first day of school. I hope it goes okay for JT. The socs always like to pick on the new kids. Maybe she'll be in my classes. It'd be nice to have a friend, well more than just a friend, with me all day.

I begin thinking about her. I don't mean to sound cliche, but she's so pretty, and she doesn't have to try. She's a great person, and I'm glad we got our feelings for each other off our chest. We both needed that.

She's not like other greaser girls either. I like how she doesn't wear makeup because of her natural beauty. She doesn't wear showy clothes like most others. She likes to wear her hair up instead of a fancy mess of curls or waves. She's not loud or too giggly. She's wonderfully down to earth. I like that about her.

When I'm around her, I feel different, more laid back. She's my best friend I could ever ask for. Well, that's a girl anyway. Johnny's on the flip side of that. Anyway, she's just amazing, if I had to be honest.

It's strange to think how we love each other like we do. I never thought it'd happen. Sure I'm still kinda young, and I've always been told that I'll get interested in girls at one point. I've skipped all of that and went straight to the "falling hard for a girl".

Earlier this afternoon, we sent JT out to go get more groceries. Well, she more or less offered. Darry and Soda came home, then she left with the pickup. I'm not even sure she has a license...

So now it's just the guys and me. Sometimes we just hang around and do nothing. Other times we just talk when it's us. Before JT, that's all we ever did.

"Hey, Ponyboy," Steve says. "You got a girl in mind?"

"He's not interested in girls like me and you are," Soda tells him.

"Oh, it'll happen one day. Trust me," Darry says. "I remember you growing up. You always talked about 'em, and you still do." Sodapop shrugs in agreement. He couldn't argue. It's true enough.

"Yeah. I remember when it happened to me. Boy, I wish I wasn't so caught up in girls. They can be trouble," Two-Bit says. "All they do is complain. 'My hair's messed up. My makeup is terrible.' It gets annoying."

"You're telling me. Those soc girls at school are always talking like that," I add.

"Yeah. They're always doing stuff like that," Johnny agrees. Dallas laughs to himself.

"These greaser girls ain't much better. They're loud," he comments.

"JT ain't," Johnny replies. Everyone chimes in their agreement. I can't help but smile at the thought of her.

"When's the first time y'all went all the way?" I ask a bit randomly. Everyone looks at me with a confused expression on their face. It's just a question. I don't get the big deal.

"I was fifteen," Darry admits first.

"Sixteen," Soda follows. It's strange to think that my brothers were young too. I guess everyone was. I'll just have to pull that truth from them.

"I was about seventeen," Two-Bit says. "And stupid too. I was reeled when it happened."

"I don't even remember how old I was... I think I was around fifteen or sixteen," Steve says honestly.

"What about you, Dally?" I ask. He looks into the air for a second. He then kicks his feet out and lights a cigarette. He takes a drag and blows out the smoke.

"I was about fourteen. A little young, but that's alright," he finally says. "What about you and Johnny?" I look to him, and Johnny shakes his head in denial. He just hasn't found a girl yet. I know he will though.

"I haven't either," I lie. I almost feel guilty for lying to them like I did, but it's for my own good and JT's sake. We both promised not to tell.

"Good. I'll skin ya if you do any time soon, you hear?" Darry says sternly. I swallow hard at his words. Oh no. I hope they never, ever figure it out.

The front door opens, and JT walks in. She looks as pretty as ever. I guess I'm "smitten" with her. I remember mom saying that about how she felt about dad. I always thought it was a funny word until I knew what it meant. Now I believe it's true, and I feel it.

"Well are y'all just gonna sit there and stare or are you gonna help me pack everything in?" she asks, dropping a paper bag on the kitchen table. Everyone jumps up and goes outside to grab a bag and lend a hand. I offer to take the one in her hands. She smiles and allows me to carry it for her. Since our "talk", she's allowed me to be a little more helpful. I've always tried to help anyway. She's stopped being so independent with me.

After everyone eats dinner and goes home, my brothers, JT, and I get ready for bed. Since we've got school, Darry makes me and JT go to sleep really early. Otherwise, we'd never wake up.

Soda comes in the room me and him have shared since mom and dad died. I stare at the white wall as he lies down beside me. He turns off the small lamp and fidgets until he's comfortable. It seems the only time he's not fidgeting is when he's tired. That's when he's as still as a rock. I'm not sure why, but he's like that.

I think about school and the socs. What if they bother JT? I can't defend her all the time if we don't have the same classes. Maybe she could defend herself considering the fighting Darry taught her and the switchblade she carries in her back pocket.

"Pony, whatcha thinking about?" Soda asks.

"School."

"I figured as much. Go on to sleep."

"I can't," I answer as I roll over to face him.

"Why not?"

"I don't know." He blinks at me drowsily as he begins to get tired.

"I'm gonna tell you something, Pony. If you ever find the right girl for you, make sure she's the right one. Sometimes things ain't what you think they are. You dig?"

"Mhmm... You ever been in love?"

"Yeah."

"What's it feel like?" I ask curiously.

"You feel happy around your girl. She makes your heart go faster, and you can't stop smiling around her."

"That's nice..." I yawn.

"Yeah. Real nice..." he says as he relaxes and falls asleep.

•••

I wake up in the middle of the night for some reason. I push Soda's arm off of me and climb out of bed. I stumble in the darkness to find my way to the kitchen. I stub my toe on the kitchen table, holding back a curse word as I do so. I get a glass of water before quietly avoiding the table and going back to my room. I pass JT's open door as close to silent as I can get.

"Ponyboy?" she calls quietly. I stop and walk back to her room. I lean on her door frame. "I can't sleep."

"I can't either."

"Why can't you?" she asks.

"I don't know. Why can't you?"

"I had a bad dream..."

"About what?"

"You died..." she says quietly. "Will you stay with me?" I nod and walk over to her bed. She scoots over to make room for me. I pull the covers up to my chest. I give her as much room as I can so she won't feel uncomfortable or weird. It must be strange having me sleep next to her. I'm used to having someone next to me. She's not.

"Come closer," she quietly complains. I smile a little at her tired attitude. I scoot closer, and she leaves almost no space between us.

"Go to sleep, JT. We've got school in the morning," I tell her.

"I'll try to. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," I reply. In a moment, I hear her soft and steady breathing. I know she's asleep when I look at her. I then close my eyes and try to end up in a dreaming state like she is. An arm gently settles across my abdomen. I open my eyes a little to see her close to my side and seemingly holding me. I hesitantly put my other hand on hers. She smiles a little in her sleep.

Maybe tomorrow won't be so bad for either of us. It's a new year with our new lives. She's already made a deal with a few socs to not mess with her. Maybe he'll go through with it. Who knows? Just one step at a time...

•••

I feel quick movement beside me. I jolt up in a sitting position as I see JT running out of the room. I follow her into the bathroom since the door's wide open. She's on her knees and leaning over the toilet. She's holding her hair back. JT coughs and then flushes it. She looks at me with watery eyes. I'm sure I have a scared and worried look on my face.

"Are you alright? Maybe you shouldn't go to school..." I tell her. She shakes her head and wipes her mouth.

"No. I'm fine. I've done this for the past two weeks."

"Two weeks? I thought it was just once."

"Yeah, well, you weren't always up when I was."

"Well if you say if you're alright..."

"I'm fine. I'm gonna take a shower," she says. I nod and leave the bathroom.

Eventually, Darry walks in the kitchen to make breakfast. He looks at me as I sit on the couch and try to find something on the television.

"What are you doing up so early, little buddy?" he asks.

"Nervous," I simply answers. He nods as taking my reference to school. He begins making breakfast.

"Hey Soda! Get up! We got work today!" he hollers.

"Noooo..." I hear Soda groan.

"Pony." I look at Darry and nod. That means he wants me to drag him out of our room. I get up and slowly make my way there.

"C'mon, Sodapop. Gotta get up," I tell him. He sighs, realizing we'll bother him until he gets up. He stumbles out of bed and behind me into the kitchen.

"Are you making bacon?" JT asks from her room as Soda and me walk in the kitchen.

"Yeah... How'd you know?" Darry calls.

"I can smell it." Darry looks at us with a surprised look.

"I haven't even opened the package," he says. I furrow my eyebrows. How'd she know? That's really weird.

She comes out of her room dressed and everything. I quickly shower after Soda and then change into my school clothes. We then sit down for breakfast.

"Hey JT, how'd you know what I was making before I took it out of the package?" Darry asks again.

"I told you. I smelled it."

"From your room? With the door closed?" Soda asks with an unbelieving expression. She nods in confirmation. Wow...

"Who knows? Maybe I'm getting super powers," she says. We all laugh.

"Are you ready for school?" I ask her. She shrugs.

"I guess as ready as I'll ever be."

"Well you two better hurry," Darry informs us, taking his dishes to the sink. I do the same.

"Honey, I'm home!" Two-Bit calls, slamming the front door.

"Hey, Two-Bit!" JT says happily.

"Y'all ready to go?" he asks.

"Sure. Let's go," I say. JT and I grab our books and what not. "Bye Darry! Bye Soda!"

"Bye! Y'all be good now, you hear?" he calls.

"Good luck, JT!" Soda calls.

"Alright. Bye!" she answers. The three of us go outside and begin walking to school. We walk by Johnny's house to pick him up. Surprisingly, his mom or dad isn't chasing him out of the house.

We all arrive at school with minimum talk. That's rare for us. We're always talking on the way to school. I wonder what's up. Probably because it's the first day.

"Alright y'all, if you get in any trouble, holler for me," Two-Bit says. I know he's mainly talking to JT though. Me and Johnny know what to do in case we get into any fights or something. We usually tough it out. JT's the one he's really worried about. He probably ain't so sure hisself how they'll treat her. I guess we're all wondering about that.

"C'mon, JT. We'll go talk to someone about your schedule," I tell her. She nods then turns to Johnny.

"Any advice from you either?" she asks. He halfway smiles which is only something JT can make him do. He never used to smile. I guess she brought out a different person in him.

"Yeah. Don't let them socs give you any trouble."

"Trust me, I won't. I haven't before!" He laughs and goes inside. We follow behind, and she stays close to me.

"You think I'll be alright?" she asks. I look at her.

"Yeah. You'll be alright."

•••

"I don't ever wanna go back there again," she says, storming past me and sitting angrily on the couch. All I did was ask how her day went... for the third time.

"Why? What happened?" I ask. Darry, Soda, Steve, and the others walk in just behind us.

"Everyone's a pain in the ass. All my teachers call me 'Jane'. No one ever calls me that. It gets annoying. They talk to me like I'm stupid. Every girl down there is a soc, I swear to you it's true. They all stare at me and make fun of me. I want to punch their damn faces in!" She yells the last sentence into the couch pillow.

"C'mon, it couldn't have been that bad," Soda says. She frowns at him for a second.

"The only good thing about my day was being around Ponyboy," she answers. "That's all I got."

"It'll be alright. It's a new school, and you don't know anybody. You'll get used to it," Darry assures her. She puts her face back into the pillow.

"Whatever..." she mumbles. Two-Bit sits on the couch beside her.

"Aw cheer up. At least you came back in one piece," he says.

"True, but I feel like a billion of them. I'm so tired."

"Did anybody give you trouble today?" Steve asks her.

"Yes, actually. They just call me and the others a bunch of names, spit at me, threw food, pencils, and paper at me. Some of them are brave enough to pinch the back of my arms," she complains. I didn't know they did all that stuff. I remember her telling me which ones were talking down to her. There wasn't much I could do except reassure her and tell her to ignore them. It didn't work.

"Damn socs ain't worth it," Dally says.

"Yeah, JT. They think they're the best, you know? You just gotta ignore 'em," Johnny adds.

"Well I hate to ask, but do y'all have homework?" Darry asks, the responsible side of him showing.

"No! Finally! A miracle!" JT says exaggeratively. Everyone smiles or laughs at her dramatic acts.

"I bet tomorrow we'll have plenty," I tell her. She looks at me with a playful angry stare.

"Then I'm skipping. You can go by yourself. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to sleep. My feet hurt like hell, and I'm tired." She rolls over and actually tries to go to sleep. She won't be able to with all the noise about to erupt in this house.

I go outside and sit with Johnny on the porch steps. We begin talking about the day, and I begin considering telling him my confessions for JT. Then I remember our promise to tell nobody about us. I hate to hide it from him, but he's my best friend. Maybe the time will come to tell everyone. Until then, I can live with secretly loving her.