Congratulations to BumbleBee456 for winning my challenge on my store 'The 4400'! I hope you like your one-shot!

Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders.

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Darry was walking towards his room, yawning. Today his job felt long and it exhausted him.

Most of the gang was over – per usual – so the house was loud.The only people that were not in the living room was him, Johnny, Dally, and Ponyboy, who was probably doing homework in his room. Darry was walking past Soda's and Ponyboy's room when a voice caught his attention.

"You have to bury the body!" He heard Ponyboy proclaim. Darry scrunched his eyebrows together and moved closer to the door.

Is someone else in there? Darry thought. Wait, burry the body? What's going on in there?

"Bury him laterally! Not horizontally!"

Is there a murderer in that room? Why is Ponyboy helping them? Darry reached for the door knob, his hand touched the cool surface.

"What's wrong Darry? Your face is pale."

Darry spun around quickly to see Soda standing behind him. Darry shushed Soda, motioning his closer to the door. Soda pressed his ear to the door.

"What? What?!" Ponyboy exclaimed. "No – No – No – No – No!"

More silence.

"You left behind that big clue! They're going to figure out you killed them!"

Soda pushed off of the door, eyes wide. He did not believe what he just heard. Ponyboy helping someone get away with murder? That doesn't seem right. Why would he do that? Especially if he knew that they would get caught. If the murderer gets caught, Ponyboy would get in trouble for helping a criminal.

"What's he doing? Is he helping someone kill another?" Soda asked, knowing the answer already.

Darry looked him dead in the eye. "What does it sound like?"

"What do we do?"

"Oh – my – gosh! Are you stupid? You should have buried him six feet under a dead animal corpse! When they dig it up, they would think it was a false positive!" Ponyboy said with a loud groan after it.

"We have to open the door…" Soda mumbled, reaching for the door handle. Darry nodded in agreement. Soda twisted the knob and pushed the door open. Instead of two people in the room, only Ponyboy resided. Ponyboy was sitting on his bed, a book in hand. He was eyeing his older brothers curiously.

"Can I help you?" He asked, putting a bookmarker in his book and closing it. He placed the paperback on his lap.

"Where are they?" Darry asked, frantically, after seeing no one else was in the room.

"They?"

"Yes, they! Soda, check under the bed. I'll check the closet."

Soda dove to the floor and Darry to the closet, opening the door. Only to find nothing. Soda only found dust under the bed. He stood up, shaking his head at Darry. "Nothing."

"What… are you doing?" Ponyboy asked.

"Who were you talking too?" Darry demanded.

"What? I wasn't–"

"We know, Pony. No need to hide anything from us."

"Hide?"

"Ponyboy, where are they? We can help you."

"What? Wait! Hold on!" Ponyboy stood up, shushing the next words that were about to come out of Darry's lips. "What are you talking about? I wasn't talking to anybody."

"We heard you talking to someone."

"Talking to someone?"

Ponyboy closed his mouth in thought, his hands were open wide as if the hands were saying, "what the actual fuck". Then Ponyboy erupted into laughter. For minutes, he laughed, tears forming in his eyes. His hands were clutched at his sides. "You…You… You actually… thought that… someone was in here?" Ponyboy asked between laughter.

"Yes! Someone you were helping get away with murder," Soda said.

This caused more laughter to come from Ponyboy. "Wow. No one was in here." He picked up the book from off the bed, presenting it. "I was reading a book."

"Just…reading…?" Darry asked, bewildered.

"Just reading."

"Then why were you talking?"

Ponyboy looked at Darry and Soda seriously, smile dropped in a thin line. "I read books so hard."

"Well… continue your book, I guess. Sorry for disturbing you?" Soda said, turning around and walked out the door – Darry in tow. Once the door shut behind them, Darry turned his attention to Soda.

"How did he know so much about getting away with murder?" He asked. Soda laughed nervously, patting a hand on Darry's back.

"There are some things about are kid brother that I don't really want to know."

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That's it. That somehow was a hard topic to write about so this is really short. Hehe. Well I hope this was to your liking, especially BumbleBee456. I hope you like it.