Read Online The Outsiders by SE Hinton - Free Book Online

the satisfaction of knowing it.
    It was Randy and Bob and three other Socs, and they recognized us. I knew Johnny recognized them; he was watching the moonlight glint off Bob’s rings with huge eyes.
    “Hey, whatta ya know?” Bob said a little unsteadily, “here’s the little greasers that picked up our girls. Hey, greasers.”
    “You’re outa your territory,” Johnny warned in a low voice. “You’d better watch it.”
    Randy swore at us and they stepped in closer. Bob was eyeing Johnny. “Nup, pal, yer the ones who’d better watch it. Next time you want a broad, pick up yer own kind—dirt.”
    I was getting mad. I was hating them enough to lose my head.
    “You know what a greaser is?” Bob asked. “White trash with long hair.”
    I felt the blood draining from my face. I’ve been cussed out and sworn at, but nothing ever hit me like that did. Johnnycake made a kind of gasp and his eyes were smoldering.
    “You know what a Soc is?” I said, my voice shaking with rage. “White trash with Mustangs and madras.” And then, because I couldn’t think of anything bad enough to call them, I spit at them.
    Bob shook his head, smiling slowly. “You could use a bath, greaser. And a good working over. And we’ve got all night to do it. Give the kid a bath, David.”
    I ducked and tried to run for it, but the Soc caught myarm and twisted it behind my back, and shoved my face into the fountain. I fought, but the hand at the back of my neck was strong and I had to hold my breath. I’m dying, I thought, and wondered what was happening to Johnny. I couldn’t hold my breath any longer. I fought again desperately but only sucked in water. I’m drowning, I thought, they’ve gone too far . . . A red haze filled my mind and I slowly relaxed.
    The next thing I knew I was lying on the pavement beside the fountain, coughing water and gasping. I lay there weakly, breathing in air and spitting out water. The wind blasted through my soaked sweat shirt and dripping hair. My teeth chattered unceasingly and I couldn’t stop them. I finally pushed myself up and leaned back against the fountain, the water running down my face. Then I saw Johnny.
    He was sitting next to me, one elbow on his knee, and staring straight ahead. He was a strange greenish-white, and his eyes were huger than I’d ever seen them.
    “I killed him,” he said slowly. “I killed that boy.”
    Bob, the handsome Soc, was lying there in the moonlight, doubled up and still. A dark pool was growing from him, spreading slowly over the blue-white cement. I looked at Johnny’s hand. He was clutching his switchblade, and it was dark to the hilt. My stomach gave a violent jump and my blood turned icy.
    “Johnny,” I managed to say, fighting the dizziness, “I think I’m gonna be sick.”
    “Go ahead,” he said in the same steady voice. “I won’t look at you.”
    I turned my head and was quietly sick for a minute.Then I leaned back and closed my eyes so I wouldn’t see Bob lying there.
    This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening. This can’t be . . .
    “You really killed him, huh, Johnny?”
    “Yeah.” His voice quavered slightly. “I had to. They were drowning you, Pony. They might have killed you. And they had a blade . . . they were gonna beat me up. . . .”
    “Like . . .”—I swallowed—“like they did before?”
    Johnny was quiet for a minute. “Yeah,” he said, “like they did before.”
    Johnny told me what had happened: “They ran when I stabbed him. They all ran . . .”
    A panic was rising in me as I listened to Johnny’s quiet voice go on and on. “Johnny!” I nearly screamed. “What are we gonna do? They put you in the electric chair for killing people!” I was shaking. I want a cigarette. I want a cigarette. I want a cigarette. We had smoked our last pack. “I’m scared, Johnny. What are we gonna do?”
    Johnny jumped up and dragged me up by my sweat shirt. He shook me. “Calm down, Ponyboy.