Johnny's point of view

To say that I was terrified for tonight would be an understatement. I'd been in tones of rumbles before, but this will be my first since my back has gotten better. Also, me and Ponyboy have recently started dating which is amazing, but I'm so worried about him getting hurt tonight by some stupid Soc.

This was going to be a bigger fight then usual. Tim Sheppard's outfit recently slashed the tires of five Mustangs parked in front of the high school, turns out they divided up to belong to 6 different Soc outfits, all of which wanted pay back. Dallas got our gang mixed up in it obviously, as well as The Brumbly Boys and one of the meaner downtown groups. We all knew there was a good chance we'd lose, but none of us mentioned it.

"Dally, this fight's really gunna be rough tonight, ain't it?" Steve said shuffling cards on the Curtis' dinning room table.

"Oh Stevie, you a little scared?" Soda mocked, giving a fake pouty face.

"Shut up Soda." He mumbled.

"Well to answer your question bud, its gunna get wild tonight for sure!" Two-Bit basically yelled opening a beer bottle between his teeth.

Darry came out from the bathroom in a tight white t-shirt, showing off his muscles. He walked over to where me and Ponyboy where sitting on the couch, his arm around my neck.

"Listen Pony, I don't know if you should be in the rumble tonight. I've heard some of the Socs be pulling blades."

"Oh come on Darry, I'll be fine! I got Johnny here to protect me." He smiled and kissed my cheek.

Darry shrugged, which I guess meant Ponyboy could go. To be honest, I wished he wouldn't, I couldn't stand seeing him get hurt.

We all left the house at around 7:30pm, everyone was all riled up and jumpy; they get like this before rumbles. I wasn't so excited though, I was just wishing for all this to be over and that Tim had never pissed of them Socs in the first place.

We got to the lot and the rest of our side had already shown up. I was scared still. A lot of them had blades and some chains and pipes.

"Thirty-one." Ponyboy whispered to me. I knew that he meant we have thirty-one guys on our side, which was pretty good considering just one of them could take on three Socs. Except me.

"Pony, I'm scared..." I said quietly. He looked at me with sympathy and squeezed my shoulder.

"You'll be fine Johnnycakes, I'll protect you." He smiled.

"That's what I'm afraid of. I don't want to see you get hurt Pon." I drifted off,

"Don't worry your pretty little head," he kissed my cheek subtly, "I'll be careful. Promise."

I sighed and smiled. "Okay."

The headlights of Mustangs and Corvettes poked through the trees, I could hear the drivers yelling and passengers cheering. Cold sweat dripped from my forehead.

The Socs came running out from their cars yelling and swinging around baseball bats, pipes and chains. I counted them and they had 4 people less then us. This wasn't going to be easy but our odds of winning where higher than I thought.

The fight started without any hesitation, once the first Soc hit Steve, we all went nuts. I grabbed a hold of the biggest one there as Pony helped me. I jumped onto his back and held my arms tightly around his neck. I wasn't big but it was enough to slow him down so Ponyboy could kick his shins and punch his stomach.

The guy stopped focusing on getting me off him and swung around hitting Pony as hard as he could, knocking him to the ground.

I went wild. Without thinking I grabbed tuffs of his hair and ripped them out, he started punching my arms and back. That hurt a lot, but I took one arm off his neck and punched him as hard as I could in the gut. He doubled over and I jumped off him, running to Pony.

"Hey! Hey are you okay?" I asked frantically, helping him stand up.

"Yeah I'm good!" His nose was bleeding and there was a big red spot on the side of his cheek.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard a gun go off. Everyone stopped. Tim Shepherd was holding a small pistol high in the air with a wild look in his eyes.

"Let's finish this once and for all you bastard!" He yelled at one of the Socs holding a switchblade. Tim pointed the gun at him and some of our side and theirs left. Dallas was trying to talk to Tim and take the gun away, but he wouldn't budge. Instead he punched Dally and pointed the gun at his head. Darry ran over and Pulled Dallas away. Tim looked back to the Soc when another one of them yelled.

"Nobody move!" He too had a gun, and pointed it at Tim. I didn't dare try to run, I knew one of them would shoot me on the stop. They were nuts.

Ponyboy slowly started walking towards them with a hand out, I grabbed him by the shoulder trying to tell him to stop. He didn't.

"Guys, guys please just put the guns down okay? Come on. The fuzz will show if anyone hears a heater go off." Tim spat in Pony's direction.

"Shut the fuck up Ponyboy Curtis!" I looked over to see both Darry and Sodapop had left. It was just me Pony, Dallas and Tim. Along with the two other Socs.

"Ponyboy Curtis? Is that who you are?" The guy with the gun said. "You where one of the greasers that killed Bob." He said bitterly and pointed the gun at Ponyboy. I screamed and ran in front of him, I heard the gun fire and I instantly felt the bullet go into my stomach.

"Johnny!" I heard Ponyboy yell as I fell to the ground. He started shaking me but I couldn't get a hold of myself. Instead everything around me went dark as I felt blood spilling through my fingers. Maybe this is it, I'm finally getting what I deserve.