Beach Babe | The Outsiders | Johnny Cade

| Round Two | 33 |

I woke up Saturday morning with horrible pain in my side. I took more painkillers and grabbed the ice packs from the freezer. I went upstairs to my room and laid down with one pack on my ribs and the other on my head.

I slept all day Saturday and half of Sunday. I felt better but my head still hurt and my arm was sore. I think I woke up at some point yesterday to eat but I'm not too sure.

I carefully walked down the stairs and saw my brothers watching cartoons on the couch, I said hey and they said it back absent-mindedly clearly not caring I was awake.

      I went the kitchen and made myself a microwave  dinner and ate the whole thing very quickly. I went back upstairs and got dressed to go to the Curtis's, I missed everyone, but mostly Johnny.

I don't think my brothers even noticed me leave. I kept my pocket knife, out and open the whole way. The streets have felt less and less safe lately. 

    When I opened the door, the whole gang was there, and some others. Sandy was sitting in Soda's lap and there was some other girl leaning against the wall. Everyone looked at me and the girl against the wall glared.

"Why are you here?" I ask Sandy, she's got a big bruise on her cheek

"Round two." You've got to be fucking kidding me.

"You really want to go for round two when you look like that?" I say

"No. But she does." She gestures to the girl on the wall.

I smirk "Alright, let's go, the lot. Right now."

I see her expression change to concern "you think this is a good idea?" Steve asks me "Darry? You good with this?" He shrugs

"I beat her ass once, her friend couldn't be much worse." I hate to admit it, but I really love fighting. I get such a rush from fighting and I hate it. But I love it too.

I hold open the door "Well? Let's go!"

We reach the lot with the gang, me and Johnny talking to each other the whole way. We reach a spot suitable for fighting and the guys form a small semi circle around us.

The girl and me stand in front of each other waiting for one of us to hit first. When she doesn't hit in enough time I smile and punch her right in her face.

     She stumbles back and launches at me, she scratches my face and I feel the heat spread from her marks, guess I'm bleeding. I hit her again it the face, and she tackles me. She gets a few good punches in and I see stars for a moment. I hear various noises and shouts from the guys as the fight goes on. I shove her off me the flip her over so I'm the one over her. I punch her over, and over and over and over till she's crying.

     Sometimes I get a little carried away, I forget I'm not supposed to murder the person I'm fighting. I stand up and wipe the blood off my fist. I look down at the girl on the ground, crying and bloody. This better be it.

     I turn to face Sandy "Are you satisfied now?" I ask her. I must look utterly insane. She frantically nods and runs over to her friend. She half carries her friend away from the lot and to her car, she drives away and I can't help but laugh.

The guys stare at me dumbfounded "Holy shit Stacy!" Ponyboy exclaims

"I had no clue you could fight like that, where'd you learn to do that?" Dally asks

"My dad, he was a boxer." I touch my cheek and my hand comes away red.

"Let's get you back to the house so I can look at your cheek." Darry says

We walk back to the Curtis's and Darry looks at the claw marks. He pours Peroxide on it and I swear I almost passed out, luckily I don't need stitches.

"Stacy, your brother said you got into a lot of fights back in California, why?" Soda asks me from the kitchen

"People kept sayin' stuff about Rich, it pissed me off so I'd punch 'em. Plus it was fun" I feel like I'm going to pass out

Two-bit hands me a beer and sits down watching cartoons.

I stand up to make my way to the bathroom but my head is spinning and I can barely see my hands clearly. "Stacy? Stacy!"

I guess I passed out because I woke up to see the gangs concerned faces all around me. 

"Man you guys sure look ugly from down here." They laugh and step away from me.

"You fainted, are you okay?" Johnny asks me helping me up

My head is still pounding. "Yeah, I get horrible headaches after fights and sometimes it causes me to faint." I drink the beer Two gave me "how long was I out?"

"Ten-ish minuets." Steve says

"Cool." I sigh and move back to the couch. I lean back against the couch and close my eyes.

I fell asleep and got some fantastic sleep but woke up because my head fell. I guess I was out for awhile because the sun had set when I woke up and it was up and bright when I passed out. I barely got to wake up before I was asked another question.

"Hey Stace," I look over at two "Where'd you learn that one move." He does a punching motion with his hand "Where you get on top and just pound 'em into the dirt."

I sit up trying to remember, then smile when I do "Well, my dad told me if I'm worried or getting fatigued during a fight, to not give them a chance to react." I chuckle "I think the first time I ever did that move was on Jesse."

It stays quiet "I'm quite the mood killer huh?" I stand, and this time don't pass out. "I'll see you guys tomorrow" I stumble out the door and only get a few yards before Johnny catches up to me

I interlock my fingers with his "Guess the cats out of the bag huh?" I hold up our hands

"Maybe, I want to take you on a date before we tell everyone." He kisses my hand. Wowowowowowowo

The walk to my house is great. His hand feels perfect in mine, and knowing he wants to take me on a date makes me so.. so.. euphoric. When we make it to my door step he kisses me passionately before telling me goodnight and giving me one more goodbye kiss.

I walk in the house with the biggest brightest smile. My brothers are in the exact same spots they were when I left. August turns to greet me but does a double take when he sees me

"Whoa what the hell happened!" Him and Theo run over

"The bitch wanted Round Two. I won." I say with pride

They both sigh "Stacy please don't go back to your fighting phase." Theo pleads, that physically pains me

I hug him "I won't." I pull away and put my hand on my head "I think I have a concussion so I'm going to lie down, if I don't wake up it three days take me to the hospital."

I stumble up my stairs and take a quick shower. The borderline boiling water soothes my bruises and soreness. I step out and change into some sleepwear. I crawl into my bed and get the best sleep of my life.

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Thanks for reading!!

Word count : 1292