Disclaimers: Sadly, I do not own any of the members of The Outsiders. They belong to S.E. Hinton.
I do, however, own the characters that you don't recognize.
I'm not sure if I'll do this for any other characters; leave me a review telling me if you'd like to see Two-Bit's, Steve's, and Cherry's 'Where Are They Now?'.
Where Are They Now?
Ponyboy Curtis 34 - After Johnny Cade's death, Ponyboy became very reclusive. Slowly, he let his life adjust without his two old friends, Johnny and Dallas. He started putting everything he had into his schoolwork, which benefited him greatly. Throughout high school, he dealt with gang violence less and less. He detached himself from the gang, excluding Darry and Sodapop. He stopped taking part in rumbles and fighting, and started becoming a model student. He had few friends; he tried not to become too attached to people, because in his mind, actually caring about someone was almost a weakness. What Dally had told him played in his mind frequently - "Get tough like me, and you don't get hurt"
That's what Ponyboy did, but in a different way. He drew himself away from everyone and everything that could hurt him. He dealt with emotional issues all through high school, becoming depressed and nearly suicidal. However, all his hard work and good grades paid off - at eighteen, he was given a scholarship to NYU, where he chose to study psychology. Now, at thirty-four, he has become a family man. He met his wife - Alison Grunlin - at NYU, and they slowly fell in love. As Ponyboy started to let down his walls and started to let Alison get to know him, they both knew there was a strong connection. After dating all through college, Pony proposed to her. They now live in Oklahoma City with three children - Jonathan (lovingly nicknamed Johnny), Kaila, and Dallas. Gang violence is not a part of his children's lives.
Ponyboy became a psychologist for teenagers, working in a juvenile correction facility. He helped teenagers that had gotten into deep trouble with the law, and he tried to help them turn their lives around. Every kid he helped, he could feel Johnny grinning at him from somewhere. Pony had stayed gold - and he was helping keep other people gold. In a way, he felt that he was helping Dally. He saw a young Dally in every kid that he helped. He liked the feeling.
Pony ended up staying in touch with each member of the gang, despite how detached he had become to them. They started a tradition; Greasers Annual Family Reunion. Some chapters just never close, Ponyboy had eventually decided.
Sodapop Curtis 37 - After dropping out of high school, Sodapop realized that there wasn't much he could do with his life. He ended up going back to high school shortly after turning seventeen, and managed to graduate with a high school diploma just before turning ninteen. He continued working at the DX as he went through high school, working any hours he could manage. Darrel encouraged him, and Sodapop knew he was proud that he had decided to go back to school.
At age twenty, as Ponyboy was getting ready to go to NYU, Soda enrolled himself into a community college in Tulsa. He started going by his middle name, Patrick. He took classes in social work, and eventually became a social worker, working with underprivilaged children.
At age twenty-five, he met and married a girl named Ellie Brice. Ellie had an infant daughter, Samantha, from a previous boyfriend. The boyfriend had run out on her after finding out that she was pregnant. Soda legally adopted Samantha, becoming her father. When Soda was twenty-seven, Ellie gave birth to beautiful baby boy. Soda picked the name; Darrel Michael.
Soda and family now live in Albany, New York, where Ellie originally grew up.
Darrel Curtis 40 - Sadly, Darrel never fulfilled his hopes of getting an education. Shortly after Ponyboy left for college, Sodapop started renting a (cheap) apartment, with Steve Randle as his roommate. No longer needed to be a guardian, Darry wasn't sure what he wanted to do with his life. He decided to get out of Tulsa - he also hoped that when Soda was through at the community college, he would follow in suit. Darry moved out to Oklahoma City, where he ended up becoming a trucker for Grandly Gravel.
A few months into his job, he met his boss's niece, Sara Anderson. Sara had just finished her education at Arizona State University, and had decided to move back to her hometown (Oklahoma City). Until she could find a job, she stayed with my boss, working as a "fill-in-secretary" in his office. Darry started spending more and more time with her, quickly falling in love with her free spirited personality. She admitted to being "something of a hippie" back in her teenage years, which Darry found humorous. After knowing each other for a year and a half, Darry asked if she would marry him. She said yes. Soon, however, she landed a job in New York City as a prosecutor with a big law firm. They moved to New York, and Darry started searching for a job there.
Soon, the couple found that Sara could not give birth - resulting in the adoption of two little girls, Leah (five-years-old), and Jasmine (six-years-old). Sara's job brought in enough money, so Darry became a stay-at-home father. This was the arrangement for four years.
Then things started crashing down - Sara was diagnosed with breast cancer. Though she came close to death quite a few times, she survived the three-year battle with the disease. When the cancer finally appeared to be gone, Sara was too weak to go back to working. She didn't have the fight in her anymore, and she became a stay-at-home mom. However, Darry could not find a job that would pay for their city home - they found themselves moving back to Oklahoma City, where Sara's uncle gave Darry his old job back.
Darry now lives ten minutes from Ponyboy, and their families are very close. Things weren't easy, but life wasn't bad. For once, Darry was pretty satisfied with how things were turning out.