Beach Babe | The Outsiders | Johnny Cade

| Long | 36 |

      Working at the DX is infinitely better than school. Never a dull moment here. My favorite part was watching girls flirt with Soda and absolutely death glare me, I kept being overly nice to them and inserting myself into their flirting, for some odd reason it pissed them off. Annoying people is fun.

The day flew by. Especially when I went into the garage with Steve for a couple hours when he showed up after school, he taught me all about cars.... And I forgot most of it as soon as I went back inside. Only thing I remembered is that I need to come get my trucks oil changed and tires... rotated I think. What that means? No clue.

When work ended they walked me home and I told them to say hi to Johnny for me if I don't end up stopping by. They walked off and I stepped in the door.

Theo immediately cornered me "The hell do you mean you're dropping out?"

"I'm dropping out. I'm not smart, I don't care enough, I'm stressed as hell, and I wasn't going to college anyway." I say bluntly

"What would Rich say- what would dad say?"

"Well first off Rich would drop out too no questions asked, if Dad was here we wouldn't be here at all."

He opens his mouth to say something but nothing comes out. He scowls and walks away "Fair argument but I'm still mad!" He shouts from the top of the stairs

I walk into the kitchen and start to work on dinner, I'm making spaghetti tonight. As I'm half way done the front door opens. Who's here? I cautiously step out of the kitchen and just see the door wide open. I call out my brother's names but they both answer from their rooms. I quickly run to the door and close it and lock and deadbolt it. It was just a pressure release. Or wind. Right? Right.

I brush it off and go back to cooking, when I'm done I call out for my brothers and they come eat. They eat so much there's barely any left for me, I don't get it, they eat so much like they've never been fed but I make sure they eat at least two full meals a day. Boys.

I watched TV for a few hours just mindlessly. It was about passed out when August shook my shoulder.

"Stacy?" I looked up to see a very sad and somber looking August holding a hand behind his back

"Yes?" He looks on the verge of tears.

He pulls a bouquet from behind his back and hands it to me "I got you some flowers, I didn't know what you liked so I just got random ones. Theo took me. I'm really really sorry about Johnny. It's haunting me, I really hate that I did that and wanted to say that I'm sorry. I was just trying to fit in and I wanted to make them think I was cool but I'm just dumb. I'm sorry." He wipes his eyes

"Thank you for apologizing, but please, promise me you won't do anything like this ever again?"

"I promise." He sits down facing me "When you said never seeing them again..." this boy I swear-

I sigh "August they are criminals and terrible people. The only time you would ever be allowed to see them again is if I'm there too. Or if it's just a ride home."

"You're a criminal." I narrow my eyes at him

"This isn't about me. I'm trying to prevent you from ending up like me or worse alright?" Im so tense, I need a massage.

We sit in silence for a long while, He doesn't say anything and neither do I. I genuinely think August has permanently put a strain on our relationship. I hate it. I love him, but looking at him is hard right now. He hurt someone I care about so deeply for what? To prove himself? Fun? It's bullshit. He's a kid and he's hanging around people who are basically adults. Why did I ever let him hang out with those boys?