A/N- I know I have other stories to finish. But this was my very first story and I wanted to complete it first. Hope you like the story.
EVERYTHING IS IN PONYBOY'S P.O.V.
Disclaimer-
Pony: I call dibs.
Steve: Too late, smarty pants.
Two-Bit: Already doing it-
Darry: Sorry guys, but I think the strongest should do it. *Flexes muscles*
Soda: You mean the best-looking person does it. *Smirks*
Dally: Y'all are stupid. I'm doing it -
Johnny: PinkAmy does not own us, S.E. Hinton does. She only owns the plot.
*Nobody argued against Johnny*
Enjoy :)
The Second Pain
Bells went off, officially starting three weeks of winter vacation paradise. And of course, on days like this, everybody rushed out to get it started including me. But something, or someone, held me back.
"Ponyboy, can you come here please?" Mr. Symes, my English teacher, asked.
"Sure, may I ask why?"
"Well, I just wanted to say your theme was great. I also wanted to let you know that I showed it to the principal. Said he loved it too. I didn't think that theme deserved a C, let's be reasonable here, so your grade's up to an A."
"Really? Thanks Mr. Symes. I really appreciate it sir."
"Well you deserved it." He said. "Also, the principal said he would like to help publish it, thinking it was a real book when he read it at first. What do you think Ponyboy?"
"I think that's great sir."
"Well, I'll let the principal, you have a great winter break Ponyboy."
"And you too Mr. Symes." I replied. I left the school with a big grin. My essay, into a book? Oh man, what would Darry say.
Progress reports were out today, and of course he's expecting my English grade a C, but when he sees an A, and hears my essay having a chance of getting published a book, maybe then I'll finally be good enough for him. I'll hopefully make him proud. I'll have all A's, so it has to make him proud.
I ran up the steps and almost yanked the doors open. I looked around and saw that Darry was in the kitchen, sitting and reading the paper.
"Hey Pony, how was school." He called out.
"It was great."
"Uh, do you have your progress report?" He hesitated a little.
"Yeah." I said and handed it to him. He eyed me a little, probably noticing the suspicion I was trying to hide, then opened it.
The grin he showed told me he was proud, and that just made my smile break out. I finally managed to make Darry proud. I had to work my butt off, but it was worth it when I saw that rare grin that showed my older brother and not my guardian. Hopefully I could keep it up, but I'd want to enjoy now since I have it.
"Great job little buddy. I'm real proud. Why don't we celebrate a little when Soda gets off?" He asked, his smile showing. Oh how I missed that smile so much.
"I would love that Darry. Also, Mr. Symes said the principal is thinking of getting my essay published into a book. Can you believe that?" Darry stopped mashing the potatoes, looking a little shocked.
"A-Are you sure?" He asked carefully. Maybe he didn't believe it. No one's read my essay except for Mr. Symes and the principal apparently.
"That's what Mr. Symes said. I might actually have a chance at being a writer. Ain't that great?" I tried again.
"Yeah, that's pretty awesome. Let's see what happens." Darry said. He stared at me for a little while, but I didn't know why. I left, feeling a little uncomfortable.
I sat in my room, looking at a picture of the gang one month before everything happened. I smiled, knowing I made my buddies up there proud. I hurts still, knowing there not here, but I'm getting along better than before. And I'm actually making. I'm making it through life. Having as many downs as I've had, you can only go up now.
Then, I realized that I was actually happy since the whole incident happened. I had a good feeling in me. One that didn't have pain or sorrow behind it. A feeling I haven't had in a long while. And a feeling I hoped I would have more of. It's all I could really ask for.
Darry and I don't really fight much anymore ever since we made that promise with Soda. It's not that we don't fight at all, because we are too different not to fight, but we haven't had a big one in months, which is good. Only little misunderstandings.
I heard the door slam, knowing it was Sodapop and Steve coming in. I was gonna go greet them, but I heard them talking. And as expected, the subject was about me.
"Hey Soda. Come look at Pony's grades." Darry said in a monotone voice.
"Aw hell Darry, let him off the hook, he only had a week to make up all th-," Soda stopped, I guess looking at my progress report. "Hey, this is pretty good, better than yours, right brother?"
"Yeah, I don't think I could manage those grades. We got one little brainiac in the house."
"I know, too smart for us." Steve joined
"You got that right. Remember that essay Pony had to do?" That's when I knew Darry was gonna tell Soda about my essay.
"Yeah, he had a real hard time with that."
"Yeah, well Pony just told me right now. His essay in a book!" Darry said… shocked? Surprised? I couldn't really tell.
"What? Darry don't yank my chains here, really?" Sodapop asked in amazement. Only if I could see his face. The look would probably be priceless.
"Darry, are you serious?" Steve asked. I think his face was pretty priceless too.
"Yeah really. The only problem is I don't know what it's about. Do you guys?"
"No clue. Hell, knowing Ponyboy, it could probably be about plants growing. He's a good writer, I know that for sure. I'll talk to him about it though." And when Soda said that, I decided it was time to come out.
I was really hoping I could avoid saying what the essay was about, but if that book did publish, well it wouldn't be a secret anymore. Did there really have to be a downside to everything? Actually, the real question here would be: Is this even a downside? I mean, the whole gang knew what happened that week of the incident. So what was the big secret I wanted to hide?
My thoughts was the real secret. They knew what happened to me on the outside, but mentally was a whole different incident I didn't want anybody know, much less the gang.
I walked into the kitchen, making Darry and Soda snap their heads to me.
"Hey, there's my little horse boy brother. How was the last day of school for winter break?" Soda asked, a wide grin spread across his face.
"Awesome. Can't wait to start the vacation."
"Saw your progress report too. Seems we got the next Einstein in the family." Soda teased.
"I'm not that smart." I said nonchalantly.
"Well you are if you're getting a simple essay in a book." Steve shot at me.
"Yeah, that's pretty cool Pony. What was it about anyway?" Soda asked. I hesitated a little, but continued.
"Life." I answered simply. They all looked at me.
"Pony, I'm pretty sure there's more than that." Darry said
"Yeah, it's gonna be a book. I'm pretty sure there's more." Soda agreed.
"Really guys. I wrote it about Life." I wasn't lying, just not telling the whole truth. They apparently took it because they didn't push it anymore.
"Hello Curtis resident and the people who may be inside it" Two-Bit yelled, letting the screen door slam behind him. Darry really needs to check the hinges on those doors soon. One day someone's gonna rip the door off…
"You guys up for getting some ice cream?" Darry asked.
"Yeah." Everyone cheered. Heck, we sounded like a bunch of kids.
"Why the special treat superman?" Two- Bit asked
"Cause our little brainiac here deserves it." Darry answered. We all ran out and headed to the little ice cream parlor. It wasn't a long walk, but Darry really wanted to drive for some reason. After a few pleads and teases, he gave in on walking with us.
The walk was actually shorter than I remembered, but then again I was spacing out every now and then. We entered and went up to order. I was actually surprised the place wasn't packed.
"What do you want Pony?" Darry asked.
"Uh, Chocolate mint. Yeah, that sounds good." Darry looked at me with disgust. To me, chocolate mint was pretty good, but Darry hated the idea of the two flavors mixing.
After we got our stuff, we sat down in the booths. The gang made small talk, like always. Steve was with Soda, probably talking about chicks and cars, and Two-bit would join in once in a while. And if not, he and Darry would be talking about god knows what. And me, well I talked every now and then, but hardly. Nobody wanted to talk to a little kid, or what they thought was a little kid.
And every once in a while, we would just have this big random conversation and everybody would join in. Boy, I always loved those kind of conversations, and wished we had more of them.
Most of the time, I cherished these moments, even if I wasn't really in them. I don't like hanging with the gang sometimes, seeing the big age gap and because not a lot of them would want to hang out with me, but moments like these kept me hanging out with them. It made me believe that we can move on and still live a happy life, even if we lose people on the way.
I always wished moments like these could last forever, but no life is perfect like that. A person can dream though. And I'm pretty sure I can dream day and night.
"You ready to bust this place?" Soda said, waking me from my thoughts. I nodded. We dropped off Steve and Two-bit, then went home.
When we got home, Soda offered on making dinner. I'm not a big fan of Soda's dinners. They weren't burnt or undercooked or anything, it's just the coloring was always off. I mean, would you really want to eat purple pancakes. I guess the only thing I liked about Soda's food was it was never boring and was always extraordinary.
Soda ended up making blue spaghetti with green meatballs, purple mashed potatoes and red gravy. Sometimes, I wonder how and why he does it. But then again, it's Sodapop. You just never really know with him.
With an extraordinary meal like this, I thought we'd be more talkative, but it was actually quiet. A little too quiet for my liking too.
"So, any plans tomorrow?" I asked to no one in particular.
"I got work tomorrow. Same as usual." Darry said, looking real tired and disgusted with the answer he gave. Instantly I felt bad and regretted what I ask. He works too hard for a twenty year old. And I here had to remind him of that.
"C'mon Darry, there's always room to make tomorrow a better day. You never know what might happen." Soda said, trying to cheer Darry up, but Darry just gave a simple nod.
Darry then just dropped his fork on his plate and left to his room. I placed mines down and just put my head on the table. Why did I always have to pull Darry down? I bring him more stress than joy.
"Pony-"Soda tried, but I didn't give him the chance. I just went straight to the restroom and started getting ready for bed.
I looked in the mirror. I looked different than I did before mom and dad died. I didn't have a tired look all the time. And I had more happiness in my eyes. Now my eyes were just haunted with what I've seen from this world. What else did the world plan to throw at me? Not so much you can do now, right?
I got out and headed to my room. I slid under the covers next to Soda and faced towards the window. Instantly, out of habit, Soda threw his arm around me. I always felt safe when Soda's arm was around me. Like some shield or something, keeping me protected from the worlds harm.
"Pony?" Soda asked.
"Yeah?"
"Are you ok?" You couldn't miss the worry from his voice.
"Yeah, sure." I lied. I'm pretty sure if Soda was deaf, he would still somehow tell I was lying.
"Pony, please don't be mad or anything. Darry's just really stressed. Just understand."
"I do Soda, it's just. I don't know, never mind. We'll talk more in the morning, okay?" I said.
"Okay." Soda replied. He turned over towards the window and closed his eyes.
Soon enough, I heard his light breathing and I looked over to him. The moon's light reflected off of Soda's face. The moment looked picture perfect. I'm pretty sure Soda could be a model. I don't know how someone could stand being so handsome. Beats me, that's for sure.
I turned over and kept thinking. I didn't mean to Darry upset. But then again, I don't mean a lot of stuff I do, but I somehow manage to mess everything up. I've always wondered if Darry and I would get along. Be close like brothers should be. But we didn't dig each other. It seemed so impossible. And maybe it was.
A/N-Please review and tell me how it is. I always greatly appreciate them.
Whale, until next chapter,
Stay Gold XD.