"Soda? Did you realize that all of us have nicknames?"

"What do you mean?" Soda asked, swinging an arm around me.

"Well – Johnny was Johnnycake," I went on quickly, before I could over think the use of the past tense, "and Two-bit's Two-bit, and…"

"Two-bit ain't so much a nickname anymore," Soda replied, grinning. "I betcha that most people think he was born with it."

"I guess," I said. It was true, but didn't really support the point I was trying to make. "We called Dallas Dally, and Dal sometimes, though. And Darry's short for Darrel, and I'm Pony and you're Soda."

He nodded thoughtfully, brushing a hand over his golden hair. "Yeah. Well, not always though."

"I know, but sometimes, right?"

"Sometimes," he agreed.

"But Socs don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Give each other nicknames." It had been sitting on my mind for a while, and I thought Soda might get what I was talking about. "Well, Cherry did. Her real name was Sherry. She's not like them, though." I was really talking now, getting kind of excited about it. It matched with what Cherry had told me about the differences between Greasers and Socs. We were more familiar with each other.

"Well…" Soda cocked his head towards me. "They do though, don't they? That Soc, the one who Johnny killed – Bob - that's short for Robert."

I glanced down at the couch. "Yeah…"

"Hey Pony, sorry…" He rubbed my arm. "Didn't mean to –"

"It's fine," I interrupted. Just because I'd kind of gotten over the hurting part of Johnny's death, didn't mean I really wanted to talk about it. Even with Soda, I didn't like the way it made me feel so angry. If Johnny's hadn't killed Bob, you see, he wouldn't be dead himself.

"Anyway, whose that other Soc? The one who came over here when you were sick?"

"Randy," I answered, softly.

"That's short for Randall."

Okay, so maybe they had nicknames just like we did. Maybe that was better, then. "Then they're just like us. They have nicknames just like we do."

"Nah," Soda said. "Not real ones. Anyone can come up with those."

"Not like Two-bit," I said. So we were the same as the Socs, but different too. That's how it was, really, anyway.

"Yeah, that's way more tuff than just cutting off a couple of letters."

"Well, that's what people do when for our nicknames. Darry's too."

A broad grin swept Soda's face. "That's cause our names were already tuff. Not like Keith." He shuddered. That was kind of true; it was a Soc's name if I'd ever heard one.

"And Johnnycake," he continued to smile, "No Soc could come up with something like that."

"No," I frowned for a second, and then smiled too. No Soc could ever be like Johnny; that was for sure.

"What about Dally?" I asked. I liked the conversation now, it was kind of fun.

"What about him?"

"Would Socs come up with a nickname like it?"

Soda shrugged. "Well, it's an abbreviation for Dallas, so I guess so."

I nodded up and down. Dally was no Soc, but I guess his name wasn't so different from one. The more you thought about it, the more it sounded like a Socs. Winston – it sounded real important, like a businessman.

I was about to bring it up to Soda, when he stood up. "Listen Pony, I got to get to work, okay? I'll see you later."

"Bye." I would ask him about it later. It was kind of funny, the whole name thing. I couldn't tell whether or not it was something we had in common. It was strange, cause usually I'm real good at defining that sort of stuff.

I sighed, feeling tired. Things were getting to be like that. Indefinable, I mean. I wasn't so sure how things were any more. The Socs were human, I knew that now, but I still didn't know how similar they were to us. I guess I'll just try to figure it out.