The Divided-Johnny Cade

06

The three of them stepped into the Curtis house. Johnny and Katherine were behind Ponyboy as he led them into the home. A jumbled mix of welcomes was blasted at them as they entered. "Pony!" Soda exclaimed, slightly mumbling as his face was still stuffed with food. "Who'd ya bring?" He said gleefully. He jumped up and walked over to Katherine, inspecting her. "Oh i recognize you! Steve fixed your car the other day and you got picked up by Two-bit!" Soda grinned and Katherine grinned back, although she also had a confused look. Soda continued on and went to wrap his arms around Ponyboy and give him a big bear hug. Steve raised his eyebrows and gave Johnny and Ponyboy a suspicious stare. "What's she doing here?" he questioned as he still kept two-bit in a head lock. "I was waitin for Pony in the lot," Johnny began. "and i ran into her. We decided to invite her, nothin much." Johnny gave a small shrug and went to sit down on the couch. Katherine followed as Steve was still eyeing her, she couldn't tell what way he was eyeing her. Was it out of suspicion or attraction? She couldn't tell.

Two-bit wrestled his way out of the headlock and stood up to sit down right next to Johnny. "How are ya Kat?" Johnny let out a slight giggle at the nickname. "Oh quit that gigglin, Johnnycakes." Katherine giggled that time. Johnny gave Two-bit a look out of the corner of his eye, but that only fueled Two-bit's fire. "Johnnycakes and Kat, has a nice ring to it." Katherine blushed and avoided making eye contact with any of the boys, who were all laughing. Besides Ponyboy, who scoffed and walked over to the kitchen. Johnny shook his head with disappointment and looked shyly at Katherine. His sweet brown eyes made her heart flutter. She instantly looked away, but the feeling was still there.

Steve looked at Katherine and started to tease, "Ya know.." He said with mischief in his eyes. "Two-bit here really likes blondes. Ya better watch out." Two-bit kicked him a bit, but couldn't help but laugh along with him. "Oh shut yer trap Randle." He kicked Steve. Katherine smiled nervously. "You're scarin the poor gal." Steve rolled his eyes.

Katherine directed her eyes towards all the boys. Looking at all of them. She admired them. Not in a weird way, but she just admired them. She knew that each of them had their own individual lives and most likely big problems. She very much appreciated them for letting her into their home. She was very obviously a soc girl, she'd seen greaser girls, and they were nothing like her. Still, even with the gratitude she felt, she thought about it again and started rethinking. They weren't really accepting, they just saw a hot girl and went with it. Why would a group of lousy guys turn down an opportunity to have a sophisticated soc girl in their midst? And then she thought again. They were good guys. Sure, they probably had their fair share of imperfections, everyone does. And maybe their imperfections were more prominent than the west-side guys she was used to, but they were still good. Katherine looked beyond the greasy hair, denim and beat up clothes. They were people. And she was crushed that the other socs couldn't really see that. 'Maybe Cherry does..' she thought. 'hopefully.'

Katherine looked at Johnny again. She found it hard to imagine him being an asshole. For the other guys, it was believable, but for him, no. Something about Johnny just gave off a good vibe. It was definitely mostly in the face. He had kind eyes and always had just a numb expression, but at the same time it was a sweet expression. She didn't know. She couldn't quite put her finger on it. It nagged at her as she sat there in silence, left with her thoughts and confusions. Why did Johnny have generally such a numb expression? What made him that way? Was he so broken he just stopped feeling things? Katherine hoped not, he didn't deserve anything that cruel.

Katherine kinda felt like she was becoming numb. Her dad had started getting drunk more frequently ever since her mom passed. Alcohol was his new wife, and he loved her more than anything. He would cling onto beer bottles like they were his newborn babies. Meanwhile, he'd scold and hit his real baby. In general, socs had always been kinda numb. Their money replaced their feelings. Yet, Katherine had always considered herself to be more sensitive than the crowd that surrounded her. Her cracks were growing as she was slowly becoming more and more broken. She shuddered, she didn't want to be numb. She wanted to feel things, but she couldn't really find anything that made her. Her friends were all emotionless, and her boyfriend didn't even really love her. Who would cure her?