Answer: Johnny felt Dally was like an older brother to him.
Explanation:
Dally always kept Johnny away from trouble, and Johnny was scared of certain things, so he thought of Dally as a hero because Dally protected him and cared for him because he didnt want him to be mean and shallow like Dally was.
I looked it up and got 2 answers out of three possibilities
a. nonstandard usage
b. conversational speech
c. slang
some people said a while others said c