Chapter One: Party's are only the start of it.

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Pony's P.O.V.

I sat up, peeling my face off of the plastic covered couch I was using as a bed. I felt sick. Half climbing, half falling off the couch I stumbled around humps of people passed out on the floor in a blind attempt to find a bathroom. My eyes, which were hardly of use since yellow stars danced before them searched the floor for any sign of my friend Mark, this was his buddies house, he should know where the bathroom was. My attempts were in vain and I felt my stomach give a violent lurch and tasted musty beer flavored bile rise up my throat. I tried to find a way to turn that I wouldn't puke on somebody, and ended up retching in an artificial tree. My legs wobbled, and I felt as if all my energy was gone. I sunk to the ground, now nothing more than another drunken heap among many.

'What've I gotten myself into,' I thought miserably, swearing to never drink again, 'Darry's going to kill me.'

I wondered vaguely how I'd even gotten here; the past events of the day were long distant in my clouded memory. I now understood why alcoholics drank to find comfort; this stuff wouldn't let you remember anything except the basics. My eyes began to slowly drift close and I gave into the comforting lure of sleep, not looking forward to the next morning.

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Darry's P.O.V.

I stared at the news paper, acting to be interested in it, when really my entire focus was on the front door. The scene seemed all too familure and it seemed the last time an event like this happend, the end result was the death of my two friends. I looked at the clock for the twentieth time in the passed five minutes; it was four-thirty in the morning. There was a worried nagging in my chest that wouldn't leave me alone, Pony had gone out with Mark at six o'clock, he was too be home at ten, what could make him six hours late?

I heard a loud yawn from the other couch and my gaze turned to my middle aged brother, was now sitting up, and looking at me with curiosity and hope evident in his chocolate eyes.

"Pony home yet?"

I shook my head and watched the hope slowly fade away from his eyes. I sighed and set the paper down on the coffee table, finally deciding to take control of this situation.

"Hey, little buddy, will you be okay here if I take a drive over to Mark's too see if he's there?"

Soda nodded and lay back down on the couch, he looked exhausted.

"Alright, I'll be back soon."

Grabbing my coat off of the rack I pulled in on and jogged into our ford, it was a chilly night.

'Please let him be there,' I silently wished as I put the keys in the ignition and drove off.

The drive to Mark's house wasn't that long; he only lived a few blocks away. I parked in his driveway and rang the doorbell. After a few minutes of waiting, nobody answered, so I rang it again. This time I heard a muffled 'I'm coming' from somewhere in the house. Soon after the door was opened by a very drunk looking Mark, and I knew this didn't look good.

"Hey Darry!" Mark slurred excitedly smiling as if I was his best friend on the planet, "what you want at this time a' night?"

"My brother," I said bluntly, "where is he?"

"Who, uh, Ponyboy?" Mark looked utterly confused.

"Yes, Mark, Ponyboy. He was with you earlier, where is he?" I was beginning to loose my patience. It was early, I'd gotten no sleep, and now some drunken kid couldn't seem to tell me where my brother was.

"Uh, Trevor's? I don't know. We went to some party and I just left. Completely forgot about the kid."

I clenched my fists and used everything that was inside of me not to belt this kid across the face. I took a few calming gulps of air and spoke, "where was this party at?" through tightly clenched teeth.

"Trevor's."

"Who the hell is Trevor?" Mark took a few steps backwards; I guess I must have scared him. Good.

"My friend, uh, you want his address or somethin', cause' listen, if you keep yellin' your gonna wake up my momma and then I'll--"

"Give me the address."

Mark disappeared into the house and re immerged a few minutes later with an address scribbled down on a napkin. I turned abruptly and stormed off toward the car. When I found that damn kid brother of mine he was gonna get it good.

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Ponyboy's P.O.V.

"Ponyboy Michael Curtis!"

I groaned and pressed my face into the soft carpeting. My head was pounding, and I wished whoever was yelling for somebody named Ponyboy would stop. Suddenly my eyes snapped open and I bolted up, that was my name. I was half afraid too see who was calling me, considering I didn't know anybody in this house except Mark, and he didn't know my middle name.

I felt somebody grasp my arm tight enough to make me wince and yank me to my feet, "Let's go." they hissed in my ear.

Turning my head I met the face of my oldest brother, and I wished he'd lighten his grip a bit'. I didn't feel well as it was. "I don't feel so good, Dar."

He began dragging me toward the door, obviously showing no sympathy for me, "yeah, well you're drunk. What do ya' expect?"

Oh yeah, that's right. I was drunk. I quickly decided that I didn't want to go with Darry and I struggled to get away, but in my drunken state I was putting up a useless fight. I was shoved into the front seat of our car and Darry slammed the door so hard a slight crack began to form on the window. Getting in beside me he looked at me, his eyes furious with rage.

"What the hell were you thinking!"

I shook out of pure fear and started backing away from him, but quicker then lightning he had me around my wrist and was squeezing so hard I felt he would break it.

"I..I don't know," I stumbled over my words, half out of fear and half out of the loss of the ability to speak from drinking.

Darry regarded me with a blank stared, "you don't know? You don't know?"

I shook my head and closed my eyes, everything was spinning and I felt as if I'd be sick any minute. I noticed Darry had his jaw clenched and his free hand was balled into a tight fist. I half wondered if he was going to hit me, but no, he did something much worse.

"Well I don't know what the hell you was thinkin' brother," he muttered with disgust in me that made me want to crawl into a hole and die, "but you just better be glad mom and dad ain't around to see you like this."

At that moment I didn't think it was possible to feel any worse. Darry seemed unaffected by his words and stepped on the gas so abruptly the car lurched forward, before speeding off down the street. By this time tears were slowly rolling down my cheeks, and my stomach was extremely unsteady.

I watched as the trees whizzed by our car and wished we'd get home quickly, I didn't think my stomach would hold out much longer. I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on not getting sick, but thinking about getting sick only made it worst.

"Darry," I whimpered and noticed that when he looked at me his eyes held no sympathy, "I think I'm gunna be sick."

My older brother let out a long sigh and pulled over to the side of the road, just in time for me to fling open the door and fall to my knees outside, pukeing onto the ground beneath me.

"Darry," I gasped in a moment of peace before getting sick again, "I'm never gonna drink again."

I was surprised to feel his hand on my back, rubbing in small circles, "that's good to hear buddy."

I gasped in a breath of air, "Are you mad?"

"Yeah, little buddy; I am kind of disappointed in you."

I was sick again and felt Darry's hand run through my hair, "you really think," I took a gulp of air, "mom and dad would be," I coughed, struggling to breath, "mad."

"Honey," Darry paused, choosing his next words carefully, "I think mom and dad wouldn't like what you did, but, they'd forgive you."

It amazed me how quickly he could turn from furious guardian to caring older brother and for some reason unknown Darry's words made me cry and I looked up at him, "I'm sorry."

"I know," I hadn't been sick for a few minutes now and Darry reached out and hauled me up, holding me to his chest, "just don't do anything like that again, alright?"

I dropped my head onto his shoulder, exhaustion suddenly hitting me without a warning, and I nodded, "promise."

Darry carried me back to the car and reentered it, sitting me on his lap. I wasn't asleep, but I had no strength left, not even the strength to unwrap my arms from around Darry's neck. He shifted me so I was leaning against his right shoulder and began driving home once more.

Authors Note: Well guys, this chapter has taken me awhile to get started. I don't think this will be the best chapter of this story, but I honestly tried. I want to thank my friend Natasha for reading this for me and helping me think of some things.

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-Honeydew