Pony's P.o.V.

I don't know what's going on with Johnny, but he's starting to scare me. Every week he disappears for the rest of the day, without a good explanation to where he's going.

I don't think he's cheating; Johnny would never do that to me. Plus he's always the same when he comes back. But that could just mean that he's good at hiding stuff.

"Have y'all seen Johnny?" I asked, sighing.

Two-bit smiled cockily. "Yeah I've seen him before. He's got black hair and black eyes, right?"

I frowned. "Yeah, that's the one..."

"Look no more my baby brother, he's coming up the steps." Sodapop said while looking out their window.

Just a a second later the door open and in came my boyfriend. "Hey Ponyboy." He smiled.

I gave him an annoyed look, and stood up, going to my room. I didn't understand why he just couldn't tell me where he was going.

I didn't like the idea of him cheating on me, but what else am I supposed to think?

I threw myself on my bed and huffed. I knew that he would follow me up here, so I really don't know why I stormed away.

"Ponyboy?" I heard his voice outside my door. "Pony can I come in?"

I sighed and opened three door. "Yeah..."

"What's wrong baby?" He sat on the bed and pulled me close to him.

"I think you know what's wrong." I said coldly and turned to face him. But I finally got a look at his face and I gasped softly, forgetting that I was even mad. "Johnny what happened?"

The white of his eye was a hazy yellow color. I pulled down his eyelid lightly and he hissed. "Ow Pony, quit it!"

"I'm sorry..." I had noticed that part of the skin around his eye was discolored. "Johnny are you wearing...makeup?" His cheeks reddened and he quickly shook his head no. "You're lying," I began rubbing around his eye socket, and a dark brown color came off on my finger.

I looked at him, expecting an explanation.

He sighed. "I-It was my dad...I didn't want y-you to worry, so I stole some of my mommas make up and put it over my eye."

I didn't buy his story at all. He's never tried to cover up hid bruises from his parents once.

It suddenly occurred to me that every time he had to leave he always came back with a new bruise or cut. None had ever been this bad before. I had always assumed that it was from his parents, but now...

I nodded slowly. "Yeah...okay." Johnny looked a little relived. "Let me help you."

I walked to the bathroom and grabbed a washcloth. While I was running hot water over it I was thinking hard. What was Johnny hiding? Whatever it was it was hurting him, and bad.

I wrung out the rag and brought it back to Johnny, holding it over his hurt eye.

"Does it hurt?" I asked quietly.

"No baby. Looks worse than it feels, I promise." He sighed and held onto my hand that was fixing his eye. "Are you made at me?"

I shook my head. "No, not at all."

He nodded and then hugged me tightly. "Can we lay down?" He mumbled into my shoulder.

I nodded and we moved to the bed. He wrapped his arms around me and dug his face into my chest. I could feel his body start shaking, and I knew he was silently crying.

"Shh baby..." I ran my fingers through his hair. "You're alright...you're with me now you're alright."

He only cried harder. "P-Ponyboy I-I love y-you s-so much...a-and I'm s-sorry-"

"It's okay Johnny..." I kissed the top of his head. "It's alright."

I continued to stroke his hair until he fell asleep. He was scaring me so bad. Someone was hurting him, and I had to find out who. I rubbed his back and he winced in his sleep, causing me to freeze.

Slowly, I lifted up his shirt and nearly cried by what I saw. There were dozens of purple bruises littering his back. "Oh Johnny..." I whispered. "who's doing this to you?"

I knew it wasn't his dad like he said it was. I had never seen anything this bad that came from his parents.

Finally, I let the tears slip free and I snuggled back into him. My love was being beaten senseless. What I wondered is why he kept it to himself? Surely he knows that the gang wouldn't make fun of him for beating him up. We'd all do anything to protect him.

He knows that.

I kissed his cheek and brushed the hair out of his eyes one more time before sitting up and going downstairs.

Soda immediately noticed me. "Hey Ponyboy, come with me for a second."

I was confused, but I followed him into the kitchen. "What's going on?"
I asked once we sat down at the table.

"What's up with Johnny?" He asked, getting straight to the point.

My breath hitched some, and I tended up. "What are you talking about?"

"You know what I mean; why isn't he around anymore?" Soda gave me a sympathetic look.

"He ain't cheating if that's what you're getting at." I said sternly. "I know for a fact. Johnny loves me a lot."

My brother sighed. "Okay, but you can't blame me for worrying. You're my baby brother after all."

"I'm fine Soda," I insisted. "I promise."

"Alright I believe you." We both stood up. "You wanna go ask if if he wants to eat dinner?"

I thought about Johnny's bruised back and his poor eye and how exhausted he looked. "No," I finally answered. "he needs his sleep."

Soda shrugged and walked out. Whatever was going on with Johnny was serious, and unneeded to find out.

Finally wrote chapter 2! I have two ideas of who Johnny's abused is. Would y'all like it to be a greaser or a Soc?