AN: I'm really sorry about not writing an Outsiders story lately. I've been on a Harry Potter kick and I've been super busy! But here's a story of what I believed happened after The Outsiders including Pony's cameo in That Was Then, This is Now!

Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders, the lovely and talented SE Hinton does :)

It was Monday and I was in my first period English class. My palms were shaking and I was sweating something fierce. Today was the day I was supposed to hand in my semester theme to Mr. Syme. I had stayed up and written from ten at night until three in the morning to finish that theme. I had let everything from the past few weeks fly out of my mind, through my pen and onto the notebook paper in front of me. I wrote and wrote until my hands cramped and I felt completely drained. I decided that the best place to end my theme was where I began, which was something like this: When I stepped out into the bright sunlight, from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home.

Now, class was ending and Mr. Syme was asking us to please leave our finished themes on his desk. I walked up to Mr. Syme's desk, my legs feeling like jello and feeling like I was going to lose my lunch. Still, I walked forward and placed my notebook on top of the other, much shorter themes on Mr. Syme's desk, refusing to lose my nerve. This was important, I had to share the story of what happened to us that week. I had to share it, for Bob, for Dallas and most importantly, for Johnny. I still missed Johnny and Dally something awful, but I wasn't as out of it as I had been. In fact, I felt pretty embarrassed about acting like a mental case over it. I mean, when my parents died, my grades didn't slip and I didn't pretend they were alive like I did with Johnny. Then again, maybe my heart couldn't stand losing anybody else and was just trying to protect me from the pain.

I left English, grabbed my math book from my locker, and headed off to face the rest of the day. School went by in a blur of activity and soon it was time to meet Two-Bit and Steve so we could head home. I got my homework together and I was almost out the door when I was tapped on the shoulder by someone familiar.

"Hi Ponyboy. It's nice to see you getting back to your old self again. Will I be seeing you at tryouts for next year's track team on Friday?"

"Hi Coach. Yeah, I'll be there. I just have to ask Darry first," I replied.

Coach Andrews shot me a grin, "I'm sure it'll be fine. I know that brother of yours. I'll see you Friday,"

"See you Friday, Coach," I smiled and waved at him as I walked out the door to meet my friends.

Two-Bit and Steve dropped me off at home since Steve had to work and Two-Bit had to watch his sister. I got my homework out of the way since I knew Darry'd ask if I got it done as soon as he walked in the door. I also got to work cleaning the house and fixing Darry's favourite for dinner: meatloaf, mashed potatoes and peas. He was a pretty predictable guy, if you know what I mean. I knew if I got on his good side, Darry would be more likely to let me try out for track. I was broken out of my thoughts by the phone ringing. I picked it up and it turned out to be Sodapop.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Pony,"

"Hey, Soda, what's up? Are you working late again?" I asked.

"Yep, I picked up four extra hours cause Bill that no good (he let out some dirty names after "good") called in "sick" again. I swear he's gonna lose his job here cause he barely ever shows up. Anyway, tell Darry I'll be back by nine, me and Steve are gonna work on the Thunderbird,"

The "Thunderbird" was the nickname Soda and Steve gave this old junker of a car they found in the junkyard a few weeks ago. They were convinced they could get it up and running again, but Darry and I weren't so sure.

"Alright, Soda, see ya later," I replied.

"See ya later, kiddo," he said, then he hung up.

As soon as Soda hung up, I ran into the kitchen to check the meatloaf I'd nearly forgotten about. Luckily, it wasn't burnt, and was actually done, so I turned on the oven to keep it warm. While I waited for Darry to get home, I mashed the potatoes and boiled the peas. I was just setting dinner on the table when I heard a familiar voice call,

"Ponyboy, Sodapop, I'm home!"

"Hey, Darry," I smiled as he walked into the kitchen. "How was work?"

"Long," Darry sighed. "I'm glad its over for today. You finish your homework, kid?"

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I knew Darry despised it and would tell me off for being rude and he was right.

"Yeah, I finished my homework," I answered. "I actually remembered to bring it home for a change,"

"Good and don't get mouthy," Darry replied. "Can I see it?"

I handed Darry my homework and he began his nightly ritual of looking over it before dinner. Darry always liked to go over my homework so he could catch any mistakes I made and point them out to me so I could fix them. He looked over everything slowly and carefully, then said,

"Not bad kid, not bad at all,"

I couldn't help but smile; it made me feel real good that my big brother approved of my answers.

"Do I need to fix anything?" I asked Darry.

"Just some algebra problems and you need to rewrite a few of your answers for your history homework. You accidentally switched the answers for questions c and d,"

"Oops," I sighed. "I'll get right on that Dar,"

"After dinner, ok, kiddo? I'm starving! Thanks for cooking by the way,"

"You're welcome," I smiled. "It's meatloaf, your favourite. Oh, Soda called, he said he's working late and then he and Steve are gonna work on the Thunderbird. He'll be home by nine,"

"He'd better be, it's a work night," Darry sighed.

We sat down silently and helped ourselves to some supper. It was just us tonight, which was nice for a change. I mean don't get me wrong I love Sodapop and I love my friends but it's nice not to have to fight for second helpings. We left a plate for Sodapop in the oven and I went to fix my homework. The history was easy to fix and I sighed at my own mistakes. The math was a little bit harder. I just couldn't figure out where I went wrong and kept getting the wrong answer no matter how many times I tried to fix it. I finally swallowed my pride and walked out to the living room to ask Darry for help. He was knee deep in bills as usual when I walked up to him. I cleared my throat and Darry looked up at me from the electric bill.

"Hey, kiddo, what's up?" he asked.

"I don't get this math, Dar," I sighed. "I just can't seem to get the right answer no matter how I hard I try,"

"Come here, Ponyboy," Darry beckoned me to the armchair. "What part of it's confusing you, kid?"

"Everything!" I yelled frustrated as I walked over to Darry. "I just don't get how to solve it! God, I'm so stupid!"

"Hey!" Darry grabbed my chin and turned me, surprisingly gently, to look at him. "Ponyboy Michael Curtis, you are not stupid."

"Yes, I am," I whine pitifully.

"No, you're not," Darry said firmly. "You're just a little confused right now,"

"I wish I wasn't," I ducked my head because if you want to know the truth, I was trying hard not to bawl, and failing miserably. "I wish I never got my head kicked or got sick in the first place,"

I felt Darry stroke his hand on my cheek and wipe away the tears leaking out of my eyes.

"I know, Pony, I know," he murmured gently, "It ain't your fault that that happened ok?"

"Yes, it is," I replied quietly. "If I hadn't come home late and run away, none of this would have happened, we wouldn't have lost anybody!"

And then I started bawling, right in front of Darry of all people. I couldn't help it; it just hit me hard all of a sudden that Johnny and Dallas really were gone and it was all my fault. Darry pulled me onto his lap and started rocking me and gently running his fingers through my hair.

"Shh, baby, shh," he consoled. "It's alright, Ponyboy, it ain't your fault, ok? If it's anybody's fault, it's mine. I never should have hit you that night. There ain't no excuse for it and if I had just controlled my temper, this whole mess would never have happened,"

"But Darry," I sobbed. "It ain't your fault. I came in late and I deserved it. I was acting like a baby over it."

"Pony, honey," Darry said gently, "it is my fault. Just because you came in late doesn't mean you deserved to be hit. Grounded maybe, but not hit; there is never an excuse to hit people, especially your family,"

I wiped my eyes and nose with the back of my sleeve. "But it still ain't your fault. I forgive you for hitting me, Darry. I know you didn't mean it. Those socs would have attacked Johnny and me another time if they didn't get us that night,"

"See, sometimes crappy stuff just happens and there ain't nothing we can do about it," Darry cracked one of his rare grins, "And thanks for forgiving me, little buddy. Now, let's see what we can do about that math huh?"

Darry sat with me and we worked on those math problems for well over an hour. I was surprised Darry didn't lose his patience with me. I guess years of helping Soda with his homework must have made him really patient about this stuff. When I finally finished the last problem without help, I turned to Darry and said,

"Thanks for helping me with this,"

"No problem, kiddo," Darry smiled, ruffling my hair. "You can always ask me for help with stuff like this,"

I scowled and fixed my hair. Then I remembered that I still had to ask Darry about track tryouts. Well, I thought, now's as good a time as any.

"Darry?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I go out for track on Friday?"

"I don't know, kiddo," Darry sighed, rubbing his temples. "You're still kinda confused from getting your head kicked and I don't want the injury getting worse,"

"Oh, come on Darry," I pleaded. "The tryouts are for next year's team, not this year's,"

"I still don't know if it's a good idea for you to be running," Darry replied uneasily.

"I won't overdo it and I'll even quit smoking," I bargained. "Please, Darry?"

I put on my best puppy dog face, batting my eyelashes at my big brother. If I wasn't so focused on getting what I wanted I might have laughed. It isn't everyday you see a tough hood making puppy dog eyes at his big brother.

"Well, alright," Darry conceded. "But, only if the doc says it ok and you quit smoking. I want your health to be in tip top shape if your gonna be running,"

"Oh, thank you, Darry, thank you!" I cried in delight and hugged the daylights out of my older brother.

"You're welcome, kid brother," Darry laughed. "Now get outta my hair, I've got bills to pay,"

I went to my room, grinning like a Chessy cat and wondered how in the world I was gonna quit smoking…

Will Ponyboy be able to quit smoking? Will his theme bring his grade up? Tune in next time to find out! Now, review, review, review! And don't forget to stay gold!