Ponyboy's POV

It was a cold night. I could barely sleep. My window was cracked open a bit and the cool Tulsa air breezed in and stung my face. I pulled the blanket to cover my bare shoulders, my feet hung over the bed slightly. Sodapop was sound asleep by my side. His heavy arm was stretched on me, protecting me from the night. Something was going to happen, I had a bad feeling. I could hear Darry snoring from his favorite couch in the living room. Soda let out a grunt and rolled over. His arm went with him, I am venerable, alone. I watched the trees outside sway like they were dancing, having a party, maybe. I shut my eyes and tried to fake myself into sleeping. Cars drove passed my house, there motors were loud in the silence of the night. I opened one eye and shifted it towards the clock, 4:52 AM. I shivered and before I knew it, I drifted off to sleep.

"Pony," I felt a quick shake. "Pony!" Another shake.

"What? What is it?" I answered, startled.

"Get up, man. It's 12:30, I'm goin' to work and Darry wants to talk to you." It was Sodapop. I wouldn't budge, so he tickled me until I laughed my guts out I finally heaved myself out of my safe bed. I took my red shirt out of my dresser and pulled it onto my body. I walked into the kitchen to Darry reading the newspaper.

"Mornin'. Slept like a baby, I'll bet?" Darry said, sarcastically.

"Yeah, like a baby." I lied. I'm a pretty good liar. If I told Darry what really happened last night, he would've sent me straight to a hospital to run some tests.

"Want some breakfast? Soda made eggs."

"No, I'm not hungry. Sodapop said you wanted to talk to me 'bout something?"

"Oh yeah, what do you think of this?" He pointed to an article in his newspaper. I read it aloud.

"Kid hit by train at 4:30 this morning." I let the heading sink in. "Do they know who it was?" I asked, finally.

"Naw, not yet. They did say that the girl had red hair, that's about it." I felt a wave of emotions flow throughout my entire body, I stood there, frozen.

"Cherry." I mumbled. I could feel little beads of sweat forming on my hairline.

"What'd you say, Pony?" Darry looked up at me.

"Oh n-nothing. I'm gonna go make a few phone calls." I ran into the living room and picked up the phone. I dialed Dallas first.

"Hello?" He said, sounding cooler than ever.

"Hey, it's Ponyboy."

"Oh hey, Pony. What's goin' on?"

"Did you hear about that train accident this morning?"

"Did I hear about it? Man, I was there." I gulped and forced words out of my mouth, trying not to choke on my sentence.

"W-well, what happened?"

"Alright," his voice quieted down, "it was late and Two-Bit and me were on our way back from the city."

"What were you guys doin' in the city that late?"

"Egging Socs houses," he sounded proud, then went on, "anyway, we got to this one house, it was huge. Very Socy. We pulled out our carton of eggs and fired. It hit a window. All of a sudden, a girl came outside. We bolted, man. She ran after us, we thought we were done for. That broad was fast, I'll tell ya. We slowed down, thought we lost her. Naw, it was just really dark. It was cold out there, man. We were passing the railroad, we didn't exactly check to see if a train was coming, she was still following us. Put the puzzle together, Pon."

"Was it, Cherry?" I forced out. I covered my face with my hand and waited for the answer.

"Uh, I think. But I think she's fine. I mean it wasn't all that fast, the train was a little freight. It couldn't have…killed her." He was silent.

"Where is she?" I felt my voice raise. Why did I care so much about a Soc? Dally didn't answer.

"WHERE IS SHE?!" I hollered, "Sorry, I-I didn't mean it like that."

"I don't know, Pony. What's it to you, I mean, why do you care so much about her?"

"I don't know. It's weird, but last night…" He cut me off.

"What'd you do last night?"

"No, nothing like that," I felt my ears get hot, "I couldn't sleep. I kept looking out the window and shivering. I could, like, sense something was…wrong." I heard a chuckle from the other end of the phone.

"Your crazy, man." I stiffened.

"Whatever. I just know that something isn't right."

"Okay." I heard a hanging up noise and clicked the "off" button on my phone. There was a rap at the door. The first person that popped into my head was Cherry, I yelled "I got it" and walked over to the door tiredly.

"Hey Pony. Where's Sodapop? We got twenty minutes 'til work." It was Steve, he walked passed me like I wasn't there, eying the kitchen table. He located the eggs and dug in. Soda came around the corner and gave Steve a friendly punch on the shoulder and sat down next to him. He reached over Darry and grabbed the salt. He doesn't like pepper, at all. He grabbed a plate and pulled it toward him, plopped his fluffy eggs onto his plate and drowned it with salt. I stood in the living room, pacing the ground, thinking of what to do. She doesn't like you, I told myself. She is a Soc, I am a Greaser. I forced myself to smile and headed into the kitchen with the others.

"Pony, can you get me some water, man, chilled." I obeyed Soda, everyone does. I reached my arm into the refrigerator and searched around for bottled water, nothing. My arm felt wobbly, I had no control. My world was spinning, around and around, I was twirling rapidly. I could feel everyone's eyes on me, I couldn't see them though. I could feel the cold ground underneath me. Everything went dark.

"Pony? Ponyboy?" My vision came back into focus.

"Whoa. What happened?" I felt my self come off the ground. A strong arm was pulling me upward.

"You fainted. Are you sick or something, Pony?" Steve called from the table, his mouth was full and little bits of food were spewing everywhere. I nodded.

"Yeah, I guess…so."

"Get some sleep, kid. You don't want to be sick for Tuesday." Tuesday? What's on Tuesday?

"Why not?" I asked, confused. Everyone exchanged looks.

"I'm going to College. We are going to try to make Soda be your legal guardian until I graduate." Darry's words sounded like nails screeching down a chalk board. They suffocated me, wrapped around my neck, causing a squeal to immerge from my throat. I opened my mouth, no words came out.

"Pony?" Darry waved his hand in front of my face, snapping me out of my daze.

"You can't go! What if Soda can't be my guardian? What if I have to go to a boys' home? How are you going to pay for it?"

"Calm down. I…we…have known about this for awhile now. I told you about a month ago. You won't have to go to a boys' home, everything is going to be fine. An old friend is giving me the money. But that part you don't have to worry about."

"No." I folded my arms across my chest.

"You have no say in this. I'm going to college. That's the end of this conversation. Now, go lie down, get better. I have work soon, rest up. Have a nice day, see you around five." With that, he walked out the door and took my heart with him. Darry not living with us? I remember last year, when I wished I never knew Darry and that I would never see him again. That was last year, however. Soda was starring at me in horror. How could I have not wanted him to follow his dreams?
"That was harsh, man." He cleaned up his mess and placed his plate in the sink. Giving me the clean-this-up-while-I'm-gone look. I felt woozy again so I climbed into my safe bed and cuddled under the covers. Everything will be fine, I told myself, I never believe me, though.