Okay, I'm starting a new story, and I don't really know the whole story yet, but I'm thinking it will be wonderful! I hope you like this chapter! I also think you should review after you read it!

Chapter 1

Johnny's POV

I walked in through the front door, catching it when the spring set off, trying to gently close it. I didn't want to wake my dad up. I hated it when I woke my dad up. Usually if he was drunk and I woke him up, I only got three or four slams in the stomach. That's not so bad. Sometimes I get it worse. I don't know why they always take it out on me. Ever since what happened to Joey. Man do I miss Joey. I wish he was here, like Soda is for Pony. I wish he would come back. I've missed my big brother ever since the day he ran out of this house two years ago. I was fourteen then, and he was fifteen. I wish I could just know where he was, at least. I knew I could never leave. I'm too close with the gang. They're like the brother that I need. He was never close with the guys. I'm not sure why. They were always nice to him, but he was just different. We were close, though. After one of us got beat, we would go to his room and cry. Or we would read comic books of Spiderman. I always loved Spiderman as a kid. We would try to collect all the magazines. Our parents started beating us when I was about seven. I'm not sure why. They are just drunks who don't care about the children they had. It hurts to know that my parents don't care about me, and my brother is gone. We usually all forget I had a brother, and no one mentions it. Nobody knows that sometimes I end up crying myself to sleep, and I don't want them to either. They think I'm a sissy anyways. I wish I had someone like Soda to comfort me at those times. Times after my parents have whipped me a good one. Times like when I get jumped by the Socs. The guys do as best as they could, but its just not the same as your own blood. I was sitting on my bed thinking now. Thinking of what I could do for the rest of the night, or where I would go. If my dad woke up, I would leave to go to the Curtis's. Not like they care if I'm here or not. My house was so quiet, that when my door slowly opened, I almost fell off my bed. It was my mother. Bad, but not as bad as my father.

"Jonathan!" she said in a hoarse whisper. "What do you think you are doing? Get up you lazy good for nothing" she went on with every bad name under the sun. "You gotta clean up the house. What are you seriously good for? You're so scrawny. You don't do anything right. You mess everything up. Always. I just can't stand you." She trailed off and turned out the door. I was going out. I couldn't handle all this. I stomped off my bed and out my door. Bad idea. I heard my dad make a snorting noise on the couch and wake up. Oh man did I have it coming. I had to split before he noticed I was there. I quietly walked to the door, hoping he wouldn't see me as he sat up on the couch. I opened the door, and he said

"Jonathan Get back here" he was still drunk, somehow. Even after he had been sleeping all day. I just ignored him and headed for the Curtis house.

Soda's POV

Johnny Cade came walking through our house around 7:00. He looked kind of sad, but I didn't really notice, since I was really into the game of poker me and Steve were currently in. He has won three games out of four so far. I couldn't let him win this last one. I was so determined. I saw out of the corner of my eye that Pony set down a thick book and looked at Johnny and heard a quiet conversation between them. I guess they got along so good since they were both quiet. I resumed my poker game. I was losing again. That's impossible. I dropped a card and went under the table to get it and I looked across and saw that Steve had a stash of cards under his leg. I sat up real fast, almost hitting my head on the table and screamed,

"Steve you cheater!" he gave me a puzzled look and I yelled back, "Look under your leg, don't play stupid!" he pretended to look curious and ducked down and said,

"Oh what do you know! How in the world did those get there?" he started to smile, but I jumped across the table, knocking him off his chair and onto the floor. In seconds we were rolling across the living room floor, fighting each other. It was real fun. Steve is my best buddy. Then Darry walked in the door.

Darry's POV

I walked through the front door after work to find Soda and Steve wrestling each other on the floor. I saw the cards scattered in the kitchen and the furniture turned upside down, and I assumed one of them was getting the other for cheating. My back was killing me, and I wanted Soda to give me a back rub. His were the best. But sometimes they would put me to sleep, which once in a while was a good thing. I went to the kitchen and somebody had already made dinner. I had come home a few hours late, and they know that if I'm not home by 7:30 that I wasn't going to be home till later. It was 9 now and I was starving. I grabbed two hamburgers out of the pan and almost shoved them down my throat. I got a glass of chocolate milk out of the fridge and swallowed it in a matter of seconds. I was hoping Soda and Steve had compromised a little bit because I really needed that back rub right about now.

"Hey Soda?" I called from the kitchen, and saw that Steve was about to spit on Soda's face.

"Ah! No! Don't!" he yelled, and pushed Steve off of his small body. He literally jumped up and ran to the kitchen doorway.

"Yeess, Darrel?" he said in a funny voice. This made me chuckle a little.

"Soda, I need a back rub. I had to haul so many bundles today. My back is literally killing me." He looked at me and then looked at Steve.

"Yeah sure, Dar. Hold on a sec." he walked to Steve and said, "Hey Steve, I'm gonna give Darry a back rub, alright? See ya at work tomorrow. I was already in my room and Soda came in and sat on my bed.

Pony's POV

Soda walked down the hallway, leaving me, Johnny, and Steve in the room. He looked at me and said,

"See ya later kids. Don't stay up too late now." he laughed a little and walked out the door. I didn't really care for Steve, as he didn't care for me much. I wish he would see that I wasn't just a little kid, that I was at least fourteen, not four. Oh well, I have my own friends, like Johnny. But poor Johnny, his parents were so mean to him. I don't even know why. Why does life have to be so cruel? I had nice, loving parents, and they died. But Johnny has mean, abusive parents, and his are alive and functional. I just don't understand it and it makes me mad to think about it. I was getting kind of tired, and I didn't know if Johnny was going to stay the night or not. It was a school night, well Sunday, and Darry didn't like me staying up late on school nights. He just sat there, looking around with his puppy-dog sad looking eyes. I felt so bad for Johnny. Why did he get stuck with such a bad life? He wasn't even that bad of a kid. Some things just don't make sense to me.

Johnny's POV

I wish I could've stayed the night at Pony's, but I didn't figure that Darry would let him, since we both have school tomorrow. I didn't want to go home. I never wanted to go home. And my home didn't want me either. It was where I had to be. I looked at Pony and said,

"Ok, Pony. I'm gonna head home. See ya round." I waved a hand and opened the door.

"Bye, Johnny" I shut the door and headed down the street. I didn't notice until I was almost in my driveway that there was an ambulance in my driveway. I silently wondered what was going on. I went up to the door, and some police man stopped me. I pushed my way through and said,

"I live here. What's going on?" I tried to be as loud as I could, since I was naturally a quiet kid. The police guy, who I found out later was named Dave that my mother was in the ambulance. This hardly took a toll on me. My mother didn't care about me, and I had no need to love her. I always wish she would care for me, and I always did my best not to make her mad, but it just happened. I wish we could be a family like the Curtis family, and all get along. I wish I had a loving mother and a loving father, who loved each other and loved me. I went up to Dave and asked him,

"What happened to my mother?" he looked me straight in the face and said,

"I'm sorry, your father, he…" he got quieter, like telling a secret "well he hurt her somehow. We thought she was dead. Your neighbor called us." Again, this didn't phase me. I wasn't exactly sure of how I should feel.

"So…" I looked around. I saw an ambulance and two cop cars. That was kind of weird. Sometimes the fuzz didn't even bother showing up here. "Uh, what's gonna happen to my folks?"

"Well, your dad's going to be in jail, that's for sure. You're mom will be in the hospital for a while, and if she comes home, you'll live with her. I'm sorry, son." I didn't know what to do then.

"Where's my dad now?" he pointed to a cop car, and I casually walked over there. I walked up to the window, and it rolled down to reveal the face of my father.

Johnny's Dad's POV

I rolled down the window of the car to see my son's face. He had sure grown up. I remember the days when we would all walk down to the ice cream place and I would buy ice cream for the whole family. Now look at my life. I promised I would never be like my own father, drunk, always yelling. I guess I'm just as bad, maybe worse. And look at my wife. She might be dead because of me. I don't know why I do these things, it just happens. It just does. I can't really explain it when I do it, either. I just get a flash of anger, and I take it out on my family. Well, somewhat of a family. My oldest son walked out on our family around 2 years ago, and my younger son is never home. My wife is in the back of an ambulance because of me. This is all my fault. I looked into my son's face. He looked so scared, so little.

"Hey, son." He just blankly looked at me, like I was going to get out of the car at any moment and pounce on him. What kind of father was I?

"Why?" was all he said, and I didn't know what answer to give him.

"Listen here" I said a little forceful, and he jumped. Poor kid. I was miserable as a kid, and I promised I wouldn't let my own kids end up that way. I needed a beer right then. "while I'm gone, you listen to your mother, and be a good kid, got it?" he looked at me and then looked at the ground.

"Yeah, like you care." Then he looked up at me and said a little louder, "Like you care about me, or my mother. Like you care where I'm going to be in a few years. You could care less if I became the president of the United States, or if I was dead tomorrow. You couldn't care less." He walked away, and I felt so bad. I didn't mean to be the father I promised I never would be. Deep down I loved my children, but it never showed. I continually hit Johnny and beat him up, and yelled at my wife. I could still see Johnny walking down the road, and I didn't even yell after him.

Okay, a little rough? What do you think? Does the POV change too much? I have a story planned, though. So review!