🌷Kimmy🌷

THE park was only two blocks away from the Curtis house, with a fountain in the middle and a small swimming pool for little kids. The pool was empty this season but the fountain was still up and running. The tall elm trees made the park spooky, and it would have been a good greaser hangout, but Kimmy's gang preferred the vacant lot, and Tim Shepard's outfit liked the alleys down by the train tracks, so the park was left to lovers and little kids.

No one was there at two thirty in the morning, and it was a good place to cool off, if it wasn't cold. Johnny snapped up his jean jacket and flipped up the collar and Kimmy stuffed her hands in her sweater pockets. "Ain't you about to freeze to death, Pony?" Kimmy asked her brother, because all he had on was Soda's old navy sweatshirt with the sleeves cut off. "You ain't a'woofin," Ponyboy replied, rubbing his bare arms between drags on his cigarette.

Out of the corner of her eye, Kimmy saw a blue Mustang and started to run faster to the nearest playground structure. "Kimmy, wait for us!" She heard Ponyboy behind her. "There's a Mustang behind us!" Kimmy yelled as she climbed on the playground structure. "It's the Socs!" Johnny and Ponyboy followed the younger girl up.

Johnny's hand went to his pocket where he kept his switchblade. Kimmy could smell the whiskey and English Leather from here, and felt like throwing up. She wished that Darry and Soda were looking for her and Ponyboy. They could handle the Socs easily. But no one was around and Kimmy knew that they were gonna have to fight it out by themselves.

It was Randy and Bob and three other Socs, and they recognized the Greasers. "Hey, whatta ya know?" Bob said a little unsteadily. "Are these the greasers that tried to pick up our women?" They're drunk. Kimmy thought. Really, really drunk. "You're outa your territory, man." Johnny warned in a low voice. "You better watch it, pal."

"No, you better watch it." Randy said. It was at that moment the Greasers came down from the playground structure. "You know what a greaser is?" Bob asked. "White trash with long greasey hair." He poured his whiskey at Ponyboy and his buddies started laughing.

Pony thought for a minute before saying, "You know what a Soc is?" "What?" Bob replied. "White trash with Mustangs and madras." And then spit at them.

Things went wrong immediately.

The Socs grabbed Ponyboy and shoved his face into the fountain, the others started to beat up the other two. They should know better! Kimmy thought as she shielded herself. If they were sober, they wouldn't even hit a kid! Right???? Just then, she heard screams and running feet and then there was silence. After two heartbeats, Kimmy looked up and saw this sight.

Ponyboy's unconscious body, Johnny sitting below the fountain, switchblade out and covered with blood...and Bob the Soc's body, a pool of crimson blood poured out from it. Kimmy didn't ask any questions, all she did was mutter "Bloody hell." before going to Johnny and sat down next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder. He tensed up before realizing who was there next to him, then relaxed, his breath still coming out in nervous gasps.

When Ponyboy came to, the first thing Johnny said was, "I killed him." Ponyboy looked over at Bob's bloody corpse. "I killed that boy." "Johnny, I think I'm gonna be sick." The other boy said. "Go ahead, man." Johnny said in a steady voice. "We won't look at you." Ponyboy went over to the merry go round and closed his eyes.

"You really killed him, huh, Johnny?"

There was an awful silence.

"Yeah." Johnny said before bending down and wiping his blade in the grass. "I had to. They were drowning you, Pony. They might have killed you. And they had a blade...they were gonna beat me and Kimmy up..." Kimmy sat down next to her shivering brother, clutching his arm. She can be very clingy when she's scared. "Like..."— Ponyboy swallowed— "like they did before?"

Johnny was quiet for a moment. "Yeah. Like they did before." He started to tell them what happened. "They ran when I stabbed him. They all ran..." "Johnny!" Ponyboy nearly screamed. "What are we gonna do? They put you in the electric chair for killing people!" He stared shaking. "I'm scared, Johnny. What are we gonna do?" Kimmy just rocked herself back and forth as her brother was panicking.

Johnny jumped up and dragged Pony up by his sweatshirt and started shaking him. "Calm down, Ponyboy. Get ahold of yourself." "Okay." Pony said a bit later. "I'm okay now." "What do we do now?" Kimmy asked. Johnny looked around, slapping his pockets nervously. "We gotta get outta here. Get somewhere. Run away. The police'll be here soon. We'll need money. And maybe a gun. And a plan."

"Okay, so...money, maybe a heater, and a plan. Where in Heaven's name do we find these things?" Kimmy muttered to herself as she started to think. "Dally." Johnny said with finality. "Dally'll get us outta here." "Where can we find him?" Ponyboy asked the others.

"I suppose Buck Merril's place." Kimmy answered. "There's a party over there this evening, Dal said something about it this afternoon." Buck Merril was Dallas's rodeo partner. He was the one that got Dally the job as a jockey for the Slash J. Ponyboy and Kimmy were under strict orders from both Darry and Soda not to be within two miles of Buck's place, which was okay with both of them.

"Let's bloody go!" As Ponyboy and Johnny led the way, Kimmy raced after them before realizing this: "Hey guys, I just said my first curse word!"

☀️Time Skip☀️

Buck answered the door when the boys and Kimmy knocked. A roar of cheap music came with him. The sound of Hank Williams, clinking glasses, female giggling and rough laughter. Buck glared down at them. "Whatta ya want?" "Dallas!" Johnny gulped. "We gotta see Dally." "He's busy." Buck snapped. "Tell him it's Ponyboy, Kimmy and Johnny, man." Johnny commanded.

He glared at him for a few moments before shutting the door. The boys and Kimmy moved over to the window, where they saw Buck getting Dally, before getting back to the door. He appeared, only wearing a pair of low cut blue jeans, scratching the hair on his chest.
Thankfully, he was sober. "Okay, kids, whatta ya need me for?"

As Johnny told him the story, Kimmy started to wonder, what did Henry see in Dallas? She knew that the boys hated one another since grade school and that hatred carried on even after Kimmy met Amy. Even if Henry did love Dallas, there was nothing about this tough hood that a guy like Henry Golding could like about. Towheaded and shifty eyed, Dallas Winston was anything but handsome.

Dally didn't bat an eye when Johnny told him what happened, he only grinned and said "Good for you" when Johnny told him how he knifed the Soc. "We figured you could get us out of anyone could. I'm sorry we got you away from the party." "Oh shoot kid-" Dal glanced over his shoulder- "I was in the bedroom."

Kimmy instantly turned bright red, remembering what usually happened in the bedroom at Buck's parties. "Glory, Kimmy, your face can get red." Dally said, messing up her hair. "It wasn't anything like that. I was asleep or tryin' to be, with all this racket. Me and Shepard had a run-in and I cracked some ribs. I just needed a place to lay over, man." Thank heaven. Kimmy thought, looking up at the starry sky. "Tim sure can pack a punch. He won't be able to see outta one eye for a week."

He looked at the trio and sighed. "Well, wait a sec and I'll see what I can do about this mess." He took a good look at Ponyboy. "Pony, you went." Kimmy nodded as her brother agreed through chattering teeth. "Glory!" Dally opened the screen door and pulled Ponyboy in, motioning for the other two to follow. "You'll die of pneumonia before the cops ever get to you, man."

They followed Dallas up the stairs, before finding themselves in an empty bedroom. "Get that sweat shirt off." He threw a towel at Ponyboy. "Dry off and wait here. At least Johnny's got his jeans jacket. You ought to know better than to run away in just a sweat shirt, and a wet one at that. Don't you ever use your head?" He sounded so much like Darry that Pony stared at him. He didn't notice, and left the three of them sitting on the bed.

Johnny lay back on it. "Man, I wish I had a weed right now." Dallas appeared after a minute, carefully shutting the door behind him. "Here" He handed them a gun and a roll of bills. "The gun's loaded. For Pete's sake, Johnny, don't point the thing at me. Here's fifty bucks. That's all I could get out of Merril tonight, he's blowin' his loot from that last race." "Kimmy, do Darry and Sodapop know about this?"

When she shook her head, Dallas sighed. "Boy howdy. I ain't itchin' to be the one to tell Darry and get my head busted." "Then don't tell him," Kimmy said. "Here!" Dally handed Ponyboy a shirt about sixty million sizes too big. "It's Buck's-- you an' him ain't exactly the same size, but it's dry." He handed his worn brown leather jacket with the yellow sheep's-wool lining.

"It'll get cold where you're going, but you can't risk being loaded down with blankets." Pony started buttoning up the shirt. "Hop the three-fifteen freight to Windrixville," Dally instructed. "There's an old abandoned church on top of Jay Mountain. There's a pump in back so don't worry about water. Buy a week's supply of food as soon as you get there-- this morning, before the story gets out, and then don't so much as stick your noses out the door. I'll be up there as soon as I think it's clear. Man, I thought New York was the only place I could get mixed up in a murder rap."

At the mention of the word murder, Johnny made a small noise in his throat and shuddered. Dallas walked them back to the door, turning off the porch light before anyone could step out. "Git goin'!" Dally messed up Johnny's hair. "Take care kid." He said softly. "Thanks." The trio said, and ran off.

☀️Time Skip☀️

They crouched in the weeds near the railroad tracks, listening for the train to come. It slowed to a screeching halt. "Now." Johnny whispered. They ran and pulled themselves into an open boxcar, Kimmy needing a bit of help since she was shorter. They pressed against the side, trying to hold their breaths as the railroad workers walked up and down outside. One of them poked his head in, and the trio froze. Luckily, he didn't see them.

The train started to move. "The first stop'll be Windrixville." Johnny said, laying the gun down gingerly before shaking his head. "I don't know why he gave me this. I could never shoot anyone." Kimmy yawned and laid on Johnny's shoulder, pulling herself into her cardigan sweater.

☀️Time Skip☀️

Kimmy was hardly awake when she, Ponyboy and Johnny jumped off the train. "Blast it, Ponyboy." Johnny was rubbing his legs. "You must have put my legs to sleep. I can't even stand up. I barely got off that train."

"I'm sorry. Why didn't you wake me up?"

"That's okay. I didn't want to wake you up until I had to."

"Now how do we find Jay Mountain?" Kimmy asked, rubbing her eyes. "Go ask someone. The story won't be in the paper yet. Maybe Ponyboy can make like a farm boy taking a walk or something." Ponyboy looked down at his appearance. "Do I look like a farm boy to you?" "I'll have to stay here," Johnny said, rubbing his legs. "You go down the road and ask the first person you see where Jay Mountain is." At this point, Kimmy had zoned out of the conversation.

☀️Time Skip☀️

They climbed up the road to the church. Kimmy still felt sleepy, and was almost asleep walking for the entire forty five minutes it took to get to the church. They climbed through the back window to get in. Kimmy didn't think it was that bad. It was a small church, very spooky and filled with spider webs.

Kimmy had seen the inside of a church before. She and Ponyboy used to go all the time, even after they lost their parents. Sometimes, she would see the Goldings and wave at Amy, or maybe she saw one of her and Amy's friends, like Dawson Barkley or Abigail Morgan, and wave to them instead. Then one Sunday, Ponyboy talked Soda into coming with him with Johnny and Kimmy. He didn't want to come unless Steve did, and Two-Bit decided he might as well come too. Dally was sleeping off a hangover, and Darry was working.

Kimmy was glad Dallas didn't come, it would have been a worser experience if he had come. Whenever Kimmy and the boys went, they usually sat in the back, trying to get something out of the sermon and avoiding the people, because Pony and Johnny weren't dressed so sharp most of the time. No one minded, and they really liked to go.

But that day... well, Soda can't sit still long enough to enjoy a movie, much less a sermon. It wasn't long before he and Steve and Two-Bit were throwing paper wads at each other and clowning around, and finally Steve dropped a hymn book with a bang— on accident, of course.

Everyone in the place turned around to look at them, and August Morgan, one of George's friends, and Abigail's brother, slap his forehead as if saying 'You've got to be joking.' Two-Bit waved at them- yes, waved! and Kimmy crawled under the pews, face bright red. She was still red when Abigail told Amy what happened and neither she nor Johnny and Ponyboy haven't been to church since.

She laid down on the floor, which was stone, and hard. Johnny and Pony were stretched out beside her. She started to say something to them, fell asleep before she could get the words out of her mouth. The boys didn't notice. They were asleep, too.

Author Speaks:

How I feel after finally finishing a chapter:

How I feel realizing that I have to write another one after this and I'm tired:

I won't be updating much tomorrow bc I'm on a road trip to OKLAHOMA!!!! We're gonna see the Curtis house the next day and I'll post pics on my miscellaneous book! Next chapter will be set one day after Bob's murder, and we introduce ourselves to Kimmy and Amy's friends.

☀️Stay Gold! ☀️