Johnny's Girl

Switch Blade

It was Saturday evening, and I had locked myself in my room, because I knew my dad was drinking. I heard a knock on the front door and my heart sank. I hope they turn around, or my dad passes out before he can answer the door. I heard my dad talking, faintly, to someone outside. Then I heard him screaming something, gibberish mostly. Then a loud crash. I unlocked my door and peeked my head around the corner. My dad blacked out on the floor, and Johnny was standing outside. He looked terrified, looking down at my father. His mouth was open, and he was staring at the floor that had shattered glass all over it. Then I remembered-- he had never met my dad before. I never really talk about my dad or my home life with anyone--even the guys.

"Hey, Johnny," I whispered.

His head whipped up to look at me. "I--I don't know what happened. I was just standing here, and he--he passed out or something--I don't know," Johnny stuttered.

"It's okay," I said, "he just drank too much... again. So what's up?"

"Uh--I just wanted to see if you wanted to see a movie."

"Yeah, sure let's go!" I said, running towards Johnny.

"O--Okay," Johnny stuttered, still staring at my father.

We walked over to the drive-in and sat down next to Ponyboy and Two-Bit. Ponyboy was still all cut up from getting beat up a few weeks ago. He swore he was feeling better, but I doubted that.

During the middle of the movie, Johnny grabbed my hand. We held hands for the rest of the movie, but Two-Bit went to get a Coke, and we let go, just in case he saw.

"Hey, do y'all wanna go to the lot?" Two-Bit asked once the movie was finished.

"Yeah sure," Johnny said.

"Yeah," Ponyboy and I agreed together.

We walked around the corner, and down to the lot. We were about to pass Two-Bit's house, but his mother was yelling for him to come home. "Hey, I gotta go, man. I'll see y'all later though!" Two-Bit called, running towards his house.

"Bye!" We called.

We kept walking towards the lot, and we heard a red mustang behind us. "Oh no," Ponyboy whispered, "that's the car that beat me up the other day."

The car sped up and stopped right in front of where we were walking. 2 Socs got out of the front seat--I had never seen them before, but Ponyboy shuddered when they got out of the car. "What are you hoods doin' over here?" One of the Socs asked.

"You're in our turf. You guys shouldn't be over here," I said, boldly.

"Oh no! What are we doing over here? We shouldn't be here!" The other Soc said, sarcastically.

"Oh, hey," One of the Socs said, looking at Ponyboy, "I remember you."

Ponyboy gulped.

"Hey, leave him alone," I demanded.

The Socs laughed. "I'll do whatever I want, hood."

"Hey. Leave them alone. Leave me alone. Now hop in your little rich-boy car and get outta here!" I shouted.

"What are you going to do, little girl?" A Soc said, walking towards me.

"Oh, right. I'm a girl, so I can't fight, right? I'm an object. I can't do anything for myself. You can tell me what to do, right?" I asked, sarcastically.

"I said... what are you going to do, grease?" The Soc repeated.

"That's it," I mumbled. I grabbed the switch blade from my back pocket. I ejected the blade and tackled the Soc. I sat on top of him and held the blade up to his neck. "I'm going to say this one more time. You leave me alone. You leave my friends alone. You ever come near a girl, and you'll never wear a hat again."

"Okay, okay. Just get off of me," the Soc said, having trouble breathing.

I got off of him, but I kept the switch blade pointed at him. I glared at the other Soc. "You leave us alone, too."

"Okay," the Soc agreed.

"Let's go," I said to Johnny and Ponyboy. We turned around and walked home.