𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒕. ♡ 𝒋𝒐𝒉𝒏𝒏𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒅𝒆.

i

august 1965
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"glory, if any of you try to make a move on her you're dead meat, ya hear?" jahanna warned the seven boys as they walked. dallas winston held back a chuckle at his girl bossing his friends around. their shoes padded on the heated pavement under the mid-day summer sun as they turned another street corner. the boys didn't have any clue where exactly they were heading, they just trusted jahanna's guidance in the new territory. surprising however, since jahanna and dal had only been dating now for a few months. but the gang came around, and jahanna proved she could handle dallas and his nature, so that was pretty much enough for her to land in the gang's "okay" book.

  "why not, jay?" asked two-bit matthews, taking a swig of his beer while the group turned yet another corner. they came to a crosswalk where jahanna turned to them to answer two's question.

  "she's just... something. she's something, alright? a soft something i don't need y'all to make uncomfortable. she just moved into town a few months ago, also from up north like i did, and she's helpless in these streets. and it's enough having dally over her place—more than enough—but this many of you? yeah, no," with that she turned on her heel.

  "aw come on, jay, and what's that supposed to mean?" sodapop curtis, brother of ponyboy and darrel curtis, inquired from between his younger kid brother ponyboy and his best bud steve randle. jahanna gave a slight scoff,

  "have you ever met yourselves? you're bound to make anyone feel a bit... iffy," she stifled a snicker, "but besides that, it's because of... ya know."

  the boys had confused expressions painting their faces, until they saw how jahanna directed to her arm—more exactly its pigment. black. that was the label, anyway. whether it was tan, golden, caramel, chocolate... that was your label. and often those colors wondered if it wasn't pale, did your label itself even matter?

  they all let out "oooh"s—well, with the exception of johnny cade in the back, who had his eyes on the sidewalk the entire journey and didn't bat an eyelash to anything that was being said—and continued walking. after a short while, one of them, ponyboy curtis in this case, spoke up once again in complaint,

  "it's been an awful while we've been walking, jay. where'd you say your friend lived again?"

  "yeah, and are you sure it's safe for us to be here? i mean, with the folks here? are they okay with us?" then asked the eldest curtis brother, darrel.

  "oh hush, we're almost there. just a few more blocks. it's not even that deep into the 'hood, jeez," reassured the girl in question. "i should have never mentioned her and her chocolate cake in the first place last night," she muttered under her breath.

  and as promised, jahanna stopped the gang in front of a small house. its pale yellow paint and the delicate green car parked in its driveway glittered in the setting sun of the hour. a seemingly homemade wooden slate with the word "welcome" and some small flowers to accompany it was painted on and hung from the house's door. the hedges were neatly trimmed and the sound of metal pans was heard from the inside. its appearance made the gang curious. but without any chance for their minds to form a question out of the sweet-smelling summer air, or for steve to comment on the car, jahanna banged on the door, making the welcoming sign shutter as she did so.

  "trish! open up! i brought them over and you are not going to hide from dallas this time!" she hollered through the door. the gang was fairly taken aback at jahanna's greeting to her so aforementioned "friend", but soon after a voice yelled back,

  "jahanna! have mercy on my poor door! and calm your darn scrunchies woman! i'm coming, i'm coming, jeez..."

  jahanna turned to the boys,

  "let's get steve's cake and get this over with already."