It was Saturday morning and Darry was just about to start making breakfast when he realized what day it was. So he quickly ran upstairs and woke his little brothers up to get dressed.
"You two need to hurry and get up. The social worker's coming today." He said before he left the room to get ready himself.
The instant Ponyboy and Sodapop heard social worker they shot out of bed and began grooming themselves. They put on nice clothes, nice shoes, and combed their hair with no grease in it.
About 20 minutes after they were all done they heard a knock on the door. So they quickly walked into the living room and Darry opened the door.
"Hello Darrel." She said as he opened the door.
"Hello Ms. Sair. Please come in." Darry told her.
That was when the checkup started. Ms. Sair went through the whole house and checked every room as well as questioned each of the three boys.
She was about to leave when all of a sudden her eyes caught a dark mark near Ponyboy's arm.
"What is that?" She asked alarmed.
When they didn't answer immediately she grabbed him and pulled his sleeve up.
"Have you been hitting him?" She asked Darry.
"No ma'am. I'm not sure what that's from." Darry said honestly.
"I got knocked into the lockers at school. It was an accident." Pony quickly told her.
"Well that doesn't make it seem like your very safe to me." Ms. Sair said.
"It's nothing really." Soda spoke up.
"It doesn't seem like nothing to me. It makes me feel obligated to put him in a foster home." She spat out.
They then all got into a long argument and by the end of it Ms. Sair's decision was final.
"I'm coming back tomorrow to get you. Upon arrival you will be told where you're gonna be fostered." She said to Ponyboy.
"When can we take this to court?" Darry asked.
"The court room is pretty busy right now but I'm sure you can schedule a custody hearing in about two months." She said.
"Two months!" Soda exclaimed.
She just nodded as she walked out of the house and back to her car to leave.
Later on that day when Two-bit, Steve, Johnny, and Dally showed up they were pretty confused as to why the house was so quiet. They were even more confused when they heard crying.
That was when Darry came into the livingroom and told them what happend and what the social worker said.
That instantly put all of them out of their good moods. Dally had begun cussing up a storm as Two-bit just sat on the couch, for once at a loss for words. Steve didn't really know how to react. Johnny had silent tears falling down his face though.
After everything was said Soda and Pony came downstairs once Pony was done packing and sat up on the couch. They then cuddled up to each other, not wanting to let go at the moment knowing that After tomorrow they wouldn't see each other for two months.
So that was how the rest of the night was with the whole gang. They all slept over, wanting to be there to see Pony before he had to leave and go to whatever foster home the state put him in. They could wait the two months out though. They had no choice. At least they were going to be given a custody hearing. It could have been much worse.
Little did they all know how much worse it was going to get for the youngest in the gang.