Chapter 1

I was drenched in a cold sweat, trembling under Soda's arm. I begged myself to stop shaking so badly. I had one of those dreams…the one I can't ever remember. But I still felt scared outta my mind and I wished I knew why.

Next to me, Soda was dead to the world. I reached out to him, shaking his arm. "Hey Soda," I whispered to him. "Hey Soda, wake up."

He opened an eye and looked at me drowsily. "You okay, Ponyboy?" He yawned.

I just shook my head and wriggled closer to him. He stroked my hair and gave my shoulder a shake. "Hey, what's wrong Pony? Did you have a nightmare or somethin'?"

I nodded. "Yeah…" Soda stared at me with his dark brown eyes.

"Just a nightmare?" He asked me.

"Yeah Soda, just a nightmare…" I said. Why did I wake him up? I didn't want him to get all worried and bothered if I told him I had one of those dreams again.

"A regular ol' nightmare Pony?" He pressed. He didn't believe me, then.

"Yeah Soda. I shouldn't have woke you up, I'm sorry," I said. "Go back to sleep, I'll be okay." He gave a little sigh.

"If your sure…" He was out like a light.

I pulled the blanket up over my head, too afraid to go to sleep. But eventually, darkness overtook me.

…………………………

When I woke up, I was sprawled out on the bed, Soda gone. I glanced at the clock. It was nine. Usually it was Soda who was the last one up, and Darry was the first. I came around somewheres in the middle. But it seemed Soda beat me to it. I sat up and noticed that Soda's sleeping clothes lying all on the floor. Gosh, he was a slob.

I pulled on some jeans and a T-shirt and started to the kitchen when I heard Soda and Darry having a conversation in low voices. I pressed my ear up against the door silently.

"…I know he had one-a them dreams Darry. He wouldn't tell me, but I know he did." Soda said urgently.

Darry sighed. "The last one he had was right after he came home a month ago from the hospital…when Johnny was…"

Had it really only been a month? Had Dally and Johnny only been dead a month? It felt like I hadn't seen them in a whole year. Not just a month.

I opened the door and walked into the kitchen. Soda was leaning against the counter in his blue jeans and shirt while Darry, also dressed for work, cracked eggs in a frying pan. They both stopped muttering and looked up at me.

Soda grinned at me. "Hey Ponyboy! Decide to join the living, did you?"

I had to smile. "I did, and unfortunately for me, you're the first thing I have to look at when I waked up." I retorted.

Soda did a mock-supermodel pose. "Aww, you know I'm beautiful!" I was about to reply when Darry shoveled eggs onto three plates.

"Why don't you both shuddup and eat."

"Yay!" Soda yelped and attacked his eggs with his fork. I just snorted and took the plate Darry was handing to me. Darry grabbed his own plate and looked at me. "Ponyboy, will you be okay by yourself today, while me and Soda are working?" He asked uncertainly.

Please don't bring the whole dream thing up. "Yeah, Darry, I'll be okay. You really ought to stop worrying so much or you'll be gray before your twenty-one." I told him. He grinned on of his rare grins.

"I've got plenty to worry about with you, kiddo," he said. "Trust me, I'm expectin' them gray's any day now." He finished his coffee and set his plate and mug in the sink. "Alright then. Make sure you wash up these dishes and maybe neaten your room up a bit," he said. "And get a start on your homework too. I'll check your math when I get home."

I nodded. Darry had been getting on my case with my homework since…Well, it was annoying at times but it sure did help. My grades were looking up and I was catching up in school. He pulled on his jacket as Soda yanked on his shoes. "And stay outta trouble. If Two-bit shows up--don't let him make a mess of the place. If he does, you'll be cleaning it up," he added.

"Alright, Darry." I assured him. He did this everyday. You'd think that after all this time I would've learned by now to 'stay outta trouble'. I sighed. After all the troubles I've gotten myself into, I guess couldn't blame him for being a bit paranoid.

He walked out of the door after grabbing the car keys. Soda snatched his jacket, and grabbed me, smacking two sloppy kisses on my face. Gross…

"Be a good boy, Pony!" he squealed, and with that, he skipped right on outta the house, slamming the screen door shut behind him. I could hear him singing "Joy to the World" outside before the car screeched out of the driveway, and I thought: what a bizarre seventeen-year-old. Then the whole house was quiet.

…………………………

I was doing my homework like a good little boy, when I gazed at the clock. It was near five. Darry and Soda'd be home soon. I made my way around the house making sure that I did the chores Darry asked of me. There was a knock at the door. Two-Bit had already stopped through and tormented me on his way to get some booze, so I figured it wasn't him. I peered out the door cautiously before opening it.

"Randy!"

I let out a hiss.

He was bleeding. Awfully bad too.

SUMMARY

Set after S.E. Hinton's "The Outsiders". One month after Johnny and Dally's deaths, things start to look up for Ponyboy Curtis. But when Randy shows up on his door step, bloody and bruised, he warns Pony that the battle between the Greasers and the Socs is not nearly over. All over town there are Socs lurking in the shadows, poised and ready to seek revenge for Bob Sheldon. Can Pony handle these enraged Socs, maintain peace with his family, and withstand the betrayal of someone he thought to be an ally?