𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒕. ♡ 𝒋𝒐𝒉𝒏𝒏𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒅𝒆.

viii

fall of september 1965, beginning of the school year
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  "school sucks," jahanna groaned as dally was driving her, ponyboy, and johnny back from the first day of school. she tossed her book bag behind her and into the back seat of dally's car, nearly hitting ponyboy straight in the nose but did manage to hit his arm, jerking the pencil in his hand.

  "jay! you messed up my drawing!" ponyboy complained. dally couldn't help but laugh, almost driving a red light in the process.

  "dal!" wailed ponyboy when the abrupt stop made ponyboy's pencil make a detour once again.

  "my bad, picasso."

  "yeah, sorry 'bout that pony," jahanna intervened. "but anyway, can you really blame me? you best not tell me you actually like school, ponyboy?" jahanna inquired. ponyboy begrudgingly erased the error on his drawing. with a huff he replied,

  "i don't find it fun, but i surely do find it important."

  "bookworm..." johnny snickered from his seat at the car window.

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"guess who's back from hell— i mean, school!" jahanna announced as she walked in through the curtis household's door. ponyboy and johnny followed suit behind her, all of them dropping their bags off by the couch before greeting the eldest curtis brother in the kitchen.

"hey there kiddos, how was first day?" darry asked the three as he was making lunch. soda was out working at the dx that day. jahanna hopped up on the counter while the two other boys took a seat at the dining table.

"the worst, but besides that it was okay i guess," jahanna replied.

"mine was fine 'til dal messed up my drawing on the way here," ponyboy muttered with a salty tone.

"well that's what you get for drawing all the time, serves you right," darry teased the younger while passing out plates of pb&j sandwiches. johnny failed to keep in his chuckle at the remark when digging in.

"yeah, yeah," ponyboy lazily replied before taking a huge bite of his sandwich. darry then left to do some laundry or whatever. no one had barely swallowed a bite when dally came in yelling:

"glory, why does my car smell like a tasty cakes factory!"

"maybe 'cause you've been eatin' so many, have you ever stopped to consider that? huh, tucker?" jahanna hollered back as soon as she finished her bite with a laugh. dallas just gave her a light scoff before smirking and joining the rest in the kitchen.

"so who here would keep a bunch of cupcakes stuffed in their pockets and make my ride smell like a wad of icing?" dallas slowly asked to no anyone in particular. he stalked around, stopping at each of the persons as he spoke.

"would it be smartass we got over here?" he asked when stopping by jahanna, the two randomly having a sudden staring contest—jahanna holding a confused expression and dallas returning it with a smug one with his hands in his pockets. soon enough he backed off, leaving jahanna even more confused on the counter.

  "or was it good ol' picasso himself?" dally continued and snatched the pencil straight out of ponyboy's hands, holding it high above his head as ponyboy stood up and tried to retrieve it back. dallas eventually grew bored of the joke and tossed the pencil back onto the table. finally, he made his way behind where johnny was seated.

  "or... was it the damn greaser with 'cake' right in his name? huh, johnnycake, hand over the goods wouldya?" dally teased, trapping said boy in a headlock with a laugh. but before dally could touch even a single hair on the boy's head, he stepped back.

  "oh hell, johnny, i don't remember the last time you showered but i sure as hell remember your shampoo hadn't smelled that sweet!" dallas exclaimed. johnny's brows knitted together at the claim while ponyboy scooched his chair over and presumably took a whiff as well.

  "woah johnny, dally's right, where'd you get that cologne from? a bakery?" pony joined in, half-joking yet half-serious. "jay take a whiff!"

  "the fuck? no! why the hell would i go up and sniff johnny? you weirdos..." jahanna refused in disgust before finishing her after-school snack and rinsing her plate. the two boys continued interrogating johnny while the boy in question pondered on whatever the hell his pals could've been talking about. he traced back his entire morning for any signs of sugary delights or perhaps the scent of perfume one of the rich girls at school were wearing, although thinking of that possibility was difficult considering johnny barely batted an eyelash to any of the Socs.

  but suddenly it hit him,

  "i'm wearing the jacket trish borrowed after that night at the nightly double, she returned it to me 'bout a week ago when i stayed over hers."

  jahanna almost dropped her plate in the sink.

  "trish?! trishy? as in, so-soft-she-wouldn't-even-kill-a-fly trish? so-soft-she's-intimidated-by-pony trish? letting you stay at hers? WHEN?" jahanna rambled as she quickly dried off her hands and slipped into the seat next to johnny. the startled johnny stammered out in reply,

  "i said ab-about a week b-back—"

"HOW?" jahanna interrupted him, as she wasn't satisfied by the answer.

"well it was a-after the old man was hittin' me again. i r-ran out and i guess my feet just t-took me to hers—"

"HOW DID SHE EVEN OPEN THE DOOR FOR YOU? SHE'S AFRAID OF OUR MAILM—"

"shhh, we get, jay. let johnny talk, yeah?" dally hushed jahanna as he covered her mouth with his hand. suddenly he jumped back.

  "what the fuck jay! did you just lick my hand?" dally yelled in disgust as jahanna fell out of her seat laughing. dallas shook his head before turning back to johnny.  "glasses girl had to be askin' why you showed up, whaddya tell her?" dallas then asked, ignoring the ball of laughter that was currently jahanna.

"i told her i fell off my bike. she didn't question it at all. hell, she even patched me up, can you believe..." johnny confessed. jahanna had gotten back up from the kitchen floor and suddenly still managed to scoff while barely catching her breath,

"did ya really have to lie to her? she cares, yaknow?"

  johnny just shrugged, "i met her last month, how am i supposed to know..."

  "hmm..." was all jahanna had to say to that. "still though, can't believe my ears. she did that? oh, how am i even surprised? she's a little sucker i'll tell ya that now. she's gonna get herself into trouble in this town without even knowin' it, i can already see—"

  darry suddenly was hollering from across the house,

  "you three better get a move-on and start your homework!"