I do not own The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, but I have been a fan since I read page one.
The POV of this story is no one in particular, but I tried phrasing certain parts how I think it would sound if Dally or Johnny was narrating it. I appreciate reviews and more chapters to come.
"Am I late? Is he here? Is he here?!" A frantic Sodapop asked running into the door.
"Soda you went to check the mail, you would have seen him if he was here." Darry chuckled turning the page of his newspaper.
"Yeah well, we do have a backdoor you know." Sodapop pouted sitting down next to Darry.
Darry turned the the page of the newspaper again.
"Your not even reading the damn paper!" Soda laughed taking the paper out of Darry's hands.
Darry rolled his eyes. "Look, I'm excited for Pony to come home too, but watching water doesn't make it boil faster."
"What the hell does cooking have to do with this Dar?" Soda laughed, slightly punching Darry.
"And this is why we are waiting for Pony to come home from college, not you." Darry smiled smugly at his joke.
"Hardy, har." Sodapop pretended to laugh. "I could have gone to college, but you know, they want you to finish high school or some bullshit like that."
"And thats why I graduated last year." Two-Bit seemed coming out of the kitchen with a beer.
"Yeah high school is tough, all seven years, right Two-Bit?" Soda laughed glancing out the window.
"Hush children." Darry ordered taking back his newspaper from Soda. It had been a year since they had last seen Pony. The kid had done real good and got a track scholarship down in Texas. Originally he was gonna come come last summer, but a dead engine in the truck Steve and Soda had fixed up for him said otherwise.
Not much had changed back in Tulsa. Although, Steve and Soda finally opened their own mechanic shop. It wasn't much, intact they just rented out a buddies's garage, but word of mouth got around about the handsome mechanic with the winning smile, it didn't take long to get some loyal customers (well rather un-loyal in this case) from the DX. .
Darry had met a girl. Her name was Chestnut, a name almost as unique as Darry. They called her, Chessy, for short. Darry had met her doing some construction work on her house. She was divorced from her distant and alcoholic husband, and had two kids. One was Emma, who was three. The other was Lacy, who was five. When Darry wasn't paying bills or doing work at the house, he was at Chessys.
Two-Bit had finally graduated. One year after Pony. I guess after Pony graduated he started to feel a bit out of place. He still lived with his mom, but he got a job back at the high school no less. He was now sweeping the halls he used to walk at night. In addition, he was also a part-time manager at the Bowling Plaza.
"Doing all this waiting is making me drink". Two-Bit stated taking a swig at his beer.
"Because its not like your a border-line alcoholic or anything." Soda laughed taking the newspaper out of Darry's hands and chucking it at Two-Bit.
"Really Soda?" Darry sighed taking a sip of his coffee.
"Thats Mr. Border-line alcoholic to you." Two-Bit wiggled his eyebrows laughing. "What do you think he looks like Dar?" He asked getting all series.
"I think he looks like a Ponyboy." Darry chuckled.
"Its been a year Darry. He could have a beard, be bald, a peg leg, a tattoo-" Two-Bit was cut off of Darry's mumble, "That kid better not have a tattoo."
"Your more worried about the tattoo then the peg leg Dar?" Soda laughed making a face.
"You know I was thinking about getting a tattoo. You know, Mickey Mouse or 'mom' or something."Two-Bit said turning serious .
"Hey shut up! He's here! He's here!." Soda yelled practically jumping off the couch.
Before Pony could knock the door opened. "Baby brother!" Soda yelled throwing his arms around Pony and quickly being joined by Two-Bit and then Darry.
"Yes, I missed you guys too!" Pony laughed "Mind letting me breathe though?" He laughed.
"Let me look at ya." Two-Bit ordered taking Pony aside. "Okay same red-brown hair, scrawny body-
"I'm not scrawny!"-Pony interjected.
"Same smart mouth, and look Dar no tattoos! Well, that at least we can see." Two-Bit laughed winking at Pony. "Your in the clear for now Pone."
"Why do they think I have a tattoo?" Pony asked glancing quizzically at Soda. Soda just shrugged and smiled.
"You bring home a girl Pone?" Two-Bit asked glancing out the window.
"No girls today. Sorry Two-Bit." Pony laughed running his hand through his hair.
"No tats or girls? Damn your doing college wrong. " Two-Bit laughed.
"Like you would know". Darry smiled sitting back down. "Pone, come tell us about college life." Darry patted the seat next to him. Pony put down his suitcase and walked over. Soda and Two-Bit joined in pulling up the surrounding chairs.
"All A's?" Darry asked dead serious.
"I'm trying Dar. I'm already in college though you know, just need to keep the scholarship." Pony laughed. His grades weren't bad, intact he had one of the higher GPA's that he knew of in his class. But, he just drove home all the way from Texas. He didn't feel like talking about grades.
"What about the track?" Darry continued.
"Like I said on the phone Dar, always in the top three placers." Pony beemed. He didn't feel bad bragging a little about the track. The college crowds cheering his name had gotten a little into his head.
"Whats Texas like Pone?" Soda asked smiling at his brother. He wished he could have visited, and promised himself that this next year he would find a way.
"Real nice, hot though." Pony answered truthfully.
The pone rang. "Sorry Pone". Darry said, "I gotta take this". He went into the other room to take the call.
Pony raised his eyebrow like he had learned from Two-Bit.
"Yup, girlfriend." Soda smiled. "He didn't want to tell you on the phone for some reason, you know how private Darry is." Soda laughed. Two-Bit joined in. "We didn't even know he was dating her until after six months. Speaking of, you got any little vixens back in Texas?"
Pony blushed. Some things never changed. Pony never really dated in high school, well except for one girl, but that didn't last very long. He just wasn't any good with girls. He had went on a few different dates in college, but nothing ever lasted too long. "Nah. Too busy studying."
Soda wiggeled his eyebrows. "Then I'm gonna be your wingman this summer Pone. We will find you a girl." Soda smiled siting down the Darry's empty seat
"But the real question is Pone have you gotten lai-" Two-Bit couldn't finish before Darry came back in the room. Pony still red in the face changed the attention to Darry. "You know Dar, you can just say I have to talk to my girlfriend."
Darry shrugged. "Don't worry she will be over sometime this week to meet you Pone."
"She's real nice Pone. Got some nice kids too. We get along real well." Two-Bit smiled nodding at Darry.
"Its because you act the same age." Darry shot back sitting down.
"Don't think we are done discussing this Pone." Two-Bit winked at Pony.
"Steve should be stopping by later." Soda informed Pony. "He wanted to see you but he took my shift since I wanted to be here."
"Did he really wanna see me?" Pony snorted. Pony and Steve were never on good terms, even after he stopped hanging out with Soda so much in high school, they never really bonded much.
"He does like you Pone. He just won't admit it." Soda said
"Alright, I better go unpack."Pony said getting up and walking to his old room that had since become's Two-Bit's and Steve's crashing room.
And with that the summer began. The whole gang was back together and in store for a summer they would never get.
Who would have thought that in the next three months that an unlikely friendship would form, a girl would steal the heart of one of the gang's, an engagement would take place, a Mickey Mouse tattoo would be given, and oh so much more.
