I noticed that I forgot to put a disclaimer for chapter 1, so… here it is!

Disclaimer: I don't own The Outsiders; I was not born in like 1950.

Soda decided to take a walk to the park and back to clear his mind and try to cool off, but he was still mad when he returned. Steve, Dally, Johnny, and Two-Bit walked up. Dally and Johnny had just been hanging out when Steve and Two-Bit were laughing their heads off after Two-Bit was telling all the funny jokes that he could think of. It went something like this:

"Why did the policeman arrest the young cat?" Two-Bit asked.

"I don't know. Why?" Steve said.

"Because of the kitty litter!" Two-Bit laughed.

Anyway, they all saw the angry look on Soda's face as he was going past, and they all wanted to know what was making Soda so upset.

"What's goin' on, Soda?" Steve asked.

Soda looked at them and said, "Well, Darry yelled at Pony for his math grade, and it was only a B. The rest were all A's! I won't go into the rest of the details, but he was the one who made Pony run away again. Why can't he just lay off?" Soda said angrily.

"Calm down, Soda. I'm sure you'll be able to find the kid."

"The problem is, I have absolutely no idea where he's at." He paused for a minute, then went on saying, "Sometimes I want to run away too. Run away with Pony and get away from Darry for a while." Darry had stepped outside before, and heard all of that. His heart sank and he winced. The rest of the gang knew he was there and shot him a sympathetic look. They could tell that he felt bad. Darry didn't want to hear any more of the conversation and went back inside.

"You can't run away, Soda," Two-Bit said.

"Well, I won't. I'll just go look for Ponyboy and bring him back. I'll see you guys later." Then Soda left, and the gang headed into the Curtis house. Darry was sitting in the armchair.

"Hey, Superman," Steve said. Darry looked up.

"Hey."

"Uh, I'm sure Soda won't stay mad for too long. I don't think he's one to hold a grudge," Two-Bit said, seeing the pained look on Darry's face.

"I hope you're right about that."

"Well, Soda went looking for Pony, just to let you know," Dally said.

"Alright." The gang sensed that Darry probably wanted to be alone, and they decided that it was time to leave.

"See ya, Dar. Take it easy, okay?" Then all of them headed for the door, but Johnny stayed behind.

"You comin', Johnnycake?" Dally asked.

"Yeah, just a minute," Johnny answered. Dally shrugged and walked out the door, followed by Steve and Two-Bit. Johnny looked over at Darry and said, "Darry?'

"Yeah, Johnny?" It wasn't often that Darry and Johnny talked.

"I was just gonna tell you that you shouldn't feel too bad. Sure you messed up, but you're a good guy. Pony and Soda just don't know how good they have it. They're taking their lives for granted. You could've just stuck them in a boys' home and went to college, but you decided to take care of them instead. And at least you have a reason when you yell at Pony. My parents just beat me and yell for no reason. And you love your brothers and feel bad for messin' up. You're trying to be as good of a guardian as you could be. You're only twenty. Heck, sometimes I wish that I was your kid brother. I never really understood when Pony said that you couldn't stand him, and he thought you wished you could stick him in a boys' home."

"Really?" Darry was touched, but he winced a little at that last part.

"Yeah. Don't be too hard on yourself, alright, Dar? Workin' two jobs and havin' to take care of your brothers can't be too easy, and they really shouldn't be so hard on ya if you mess up once in a while." Darry was surprised. That was the most he'd ever heard Johnny say, and he never knew that Johnny thought any of that.

"Thanks," he said with a smile.

"Sure thing, Superman. Bye."

"Bye, Johnny." Then Johnny left. Darry felt a little bit better, but the smile slid right back off his face. He wasn't so sure that his brothers would forgive him so soon.

I always had an idea for Johnny having this talk with Darry, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. And the joke that Two-Bit said at the beginning of this chapter was from a joke book that I have, so no, I didn't make that up. What do you think? Review!