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Upon being woken up by Johnny in the vacant lot, Ponyboy ran home as fast as he possibly could, all well dreading what was waiting for him once he reached his house. Darry was sitting on the recliner in the front room and looked up from the newspaper he was reading for the eighth time. He looked up once he heard the front door open as Pony slowly made his way inside which immediately caused Darry to jump to his feet.

"Where the heck have you been?" He demanded. "Do you know what time it is?"

Pony shook his head wordlessly.

"Well, it's two in the morning, kiddo. Another hour and I would have had the police out after you. Where were you, Ponyboy? "Where in the almighty universe were you?"

"I fell asleep in the lot," Pony muttered while looking at the floor, knowing how stupid it sounded. He then slowly walking past his oldest brother while keeping his head down.

"You what!"

By this time Sodapop had woken up from Darry's shouting after falling asleep on the couch just a short while ago.

"Hey, Pony," he said while yawning. "Where you been?"

Darry however followed Ponyboy and stopped him from closing the bathroom door.

"I reckon it never occurred to you that your brothers might be worrying their heads off and afraid to call the police because something like that could get you two thrown in a boys' home so quick it'd make your head spin."

"Look, I said I didn't mean to," Pony then snapped, now feeling angry and frustrated as he pushed down tears in his eyes.

"I didn't mean to!" Darry's yelling echoed throughout the house. "I'm sorry, I didn't think! That's all I ever hear from you!"

Ponyboy could only stand there as Darry continued yelling at him for coming home late. Sodapop decided to try to calm the impending storm of emotions.

"Darry…" He pleaded.

Darry turned around and snapped at him.

"Shut up! I'm sick and tired of you always sticking up for him!"

Shocked by his words, Ponyboy made a demand of his own, sticking up for Soda the way he had always done for him.

"Don't you yell at him!"

After that, Darry spun around and struck Ponyboy out of anger. Ponyboy was propelled to the door by the impact. For a second no one in the room drew a breath. Darry looked down at his hand with his eyes widened and then looked back up at his youngest brother.

"Ponyboy-" He began.

But before he could say another word, Ponyboy turned around and bolted out the door.

"Pony I didn't mean to!" Darry yelled, ironically using the same words that his youngest brother had just used. But Ponyboy ignored him and kept running as fast as he could down the sidewalk. Ponyboy kept running until he was in a dark alley. Finally he stopped to catch his breath. Angry, Pony kicked a trashcan as tears of frustration came down his cheeks.

Darry always got on him about everything, he never yelled at Soda about nothing. It was then did he realize that he didn't hear the sound of footsteps or anyone shouting for him to stop or come back. Darry didn't even bother to come after him after he ran out. His oldest brother didn't like him, he had always thought it, no matter what Sodapop or Two-Bit said and tonight proved it.

Pony leaned back against the wall. He didn't know what to do. He didn't want to go home, but he didn't want to stay in the alley all night.

Finally, he decided to go back to the vacant lot to see Johnny. He was Ponyboy's best friend and he could talk to him about anything. Once he got there he saw that he was sleeping. Pony frowned but didn't want to wake him. He layed down next to Johnny and closed his eyes. After a few minutes, he too was sound asleep.

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Waking up a couple of hours later, Ponyboy slowly turned his head to look over at Johnny only to see that his best friend was gone. Sitting up, Pony tried to shake the sleepiness from himself, but winced as he had a little bit of a headache. He got up from the ground and headed home. Boy, was he going to hear it from Darry and Soda when he got back. Darry and him were probably going to end up fighting again, but he didn't want to think about it right now as his head was pounding while he made his way back to the house.

When he walked inside, he froze when he saw Darry was on the couch asleep. It caused him to let go of the screen door accidentally, causing it to slam. The noise caused Darry to jerk awake and he saw him.

Jumping up, he quickly went to hug Pony, but the younger boy pulled away. He hadn't forgotten what Darry had done to him last night. Darry looked hurt, but he had hurt Pony and this was pay back. All the same he stayed quiet.

Walking into the kitchen, Pony saw Sodapop, Two-Bit, and Steve all sitting around the table, eating breakfast and talking amongst themselves. Just like Darry had done, Sodapop jumped to his feet when he saw Pony and hugged him tightly. Ponyboy didn't pull away from him, though and couldn't help but grin. Soda just had that effect on him.

"Where did you go?" Soda asked. "We've been worried sick."

"Who's 'we'?" Pony asked, genuine surprise in his voice.

Sodapop gave him a sad look and glanced at Darry, who was standing behind them. Pony didn't turn to see him, but he knew he was standing there; he could feel it.

"Don't be like that, Pony," Soda said quietly.

"What's going on?" Two-Bit asked, as if he could sense the awkwardness between the brothers.

Ponyboy finally turned around to see Darry close to tears.

"Why shouldn't I be? He hit me last night!" Pony shouted. "Why shouldn't I act like that Soda, huh!"

Ponyboy turned back around to face Sodapop, and the rest of the gang. Soda didn't looked shocked since he had seen it but Two-Bit and Steve did. Darry had never laid a hand on him before last night. There was a long silence before someone broke it.

"You know I didn't mean to, Pony," Darry said quietly. There was sadness in his voice; hurt. It took all he had not to let any tears fall. "I'm sorry."

"You're sorry!" Pony shouted while spinning around to glare at him. "YOUR'RE SORRY!"

"Ponyboy, I didn't mean too." Darry began to plead for forgiveness. "I would never mean to hurt you or Sodapop, I just reacted."

Ponyboy was angry, not just about Darry hitting him, he was angry about everything. Maybe if it had just been a simple smack, Pony would have just let it go and forgiven Darry, but when it came to this subject he had so much more building deep within him.

"Oh really!" Pony snapped. "And how did you "just react" when Sodapop dropped out of school? Or when he gets parking tickets? Or when he got arrested? How did you react then? Did you yell at him? Or ground him? Or hit him? DID YOU!" Ponyboy was now screaming at the top of his lungs.

Darry looked down at the floor, he couldn't answer. Ponyboy then began to yell more. He just couldn't help it, he couldn't stop himself. Even if it might get him hit again, Pony continued to last out.

"I put up with all your crap, day in and day out! Nothing I ever do is good enough for you! What I do at school, what I do here! And every single night I have to listen Soda tell me that you don't mean it, and I'm sick of hearing it!"

Ponyboy was literally shaking with anger as he shouted at Darry. The others could only stare wide eyed at what was going on. They didn't even know Ponyboy right now. Darry could only stand there, not knowing how to respond. Pony breathed in deeply and pushed roughly past his oldest brother, stomping toward the front door. He looked back at Darry one final time.

"From now on, don't talk to me anymore. Leave me alone, and stay out of my life."

Pony then slammed the door behind him. No one could say anything as the most uncomfortable silence ever fill the air of the Curtis house. The next couple of minutes just went by in a haze as Steve took his plate to the sink, told Sodapop he would see him later and left the house.

However, Sodapop didn't even notice him as he was sitting at the dining table, still stunned over what had just happened mere minutes ago. In his whole life, he had never seen Ponyboy act that way he did. It was like a completely different person had come home. Darry had finished getting ready for work and walked back into the kitchen when Soda finally spoke.

"Darry...I'm sorry." Soda apologized.

His older brother turned to him.

"What for?" Darry asked, confused that he was apologizing.

"For Pony. He had no right to talk to you like that. I don't what's gotten into him. You know he isn't usually like that."

"You don't have to be sorry. It's not your fault." Darry sighed heavily. "It's hard for him. I understand that."

"But that's no reason for him to treat you like that."

"No, it isn't. But I don't care anymore. If he wants me to stay out of his life, that's fine." Darry tried to convince himself that he meant that, put he knew deep down that he didn't. Soda scratched his head, trying to think of a way to fix this situation. He hated having to play the role of peace-maker but the last thing he wanted was there to be any kind of estrangement between his two brothers.

"Darry…why don't you just take the day off?" He finally suggested. "Just wait for Pony to come home. Everyone will be calmer by then and we can work all of this out."

Darry shook his head.

"I don't want to stay home. It'll just cause more problems." He responded. "I don't want to deal with Pony again today. I'm too tired and he hates me."

Soda frowned.

"He doesn't hate you, Darry."

Darry didn't respond and just walked to the bathroom and started combing his hair. He splashed some water on his face and looked up in surprise to see that Two-Bit was standing there. He didn't even know he was still here as Two-Bit had remained as quiet as a church mouse during Pony's tirade.

"Darry..." Two-Bit began, "I need to tell you something about Pony."

The older boy sighed heavily as he just gave his friend a look. He was emotionally drained and didn't think he could hear anymore today. But, the older brother and guardian in him let Two-Bit continue.

"It was something he said last night. Pony thinks you hate him."

Darry's brows furrowed in confusion.

"When did he say that?"

"Last night. We were walking these girls back to their houses and when one of them asked what you were like he snapped. He said you couldn't stand him and thinks you would to put him in a home if Soda let you."

Darry continued to stare at him in disbelief.

"I know it may not be my place. I just thought you should know." Two-Bit finished.

He nodded a wordless thanks and closed the bathroom door, continuing to get ready for work. He then looked at himself in the mirror, the shocked look still etched on his face.

'Ponyboy thinks I want to put him in a home? Doesn't he realize I'm doing all of this so he doesn't have to be put in one?'