AN: You don't get another chapter till I get at least three reviews.


I woke up to muffled voices, my ears catching whispers like "what'd they do?" or I'd hear mine or Pony's name. When my eyes opened, everything just seemed to be one big mesh of colors. It all became clear before I sat up and looked around, tired. For a second I couldn't remember what had happened, but then my body regained all feeling and I felt like I'd been hit by a truck. I moaned a bit and ran a hand through my hair.

Soft snores came from the sleeping boy next to me and I smiled faintly, his tree-bark-brown hair a mess, probably like mine.

"Darry, what happens if the judge doesn't side with us?" Steve asked bitterly.

"It's not the judge, it's the jury, man."

His voice was like music to my ears, in fact, I think my ears perked at his voice, like a puppies. I threw the covers that had somehow found their way on top of me off and scrambled out into the dining room. That was where the table was and that was where we had all of our discussions.

"Hey, Johnny!" Dally said with surprise, standing up so fast that his chair knocked over with a loud thud. I ran to him and gave him a hug, despite how strange it was for me. Being in his arms always seemed to make it better, at least for now.

"Dally, what are we going to do?" I asked him, my voice muffled from my head being buried in his chest.

"You're gonna tell the cops what you did and exactly what happened." He said, his voice strained with something that I couldn't identify. I looked up at him, my eyes must have been big and round, I could see them almost perfectly in Dally's deep blue eyes.

"C'mon, Johnny, don't look at me like that." His voice came out gruffly and I looked away, withdrawing myself from the hug that I was still in.

"Sorry, Dallas." I mumbled, my eyes casted towards the floor. His hand ruffled my hair like it was another normal night, like I hadn't killed someone...

I had to stop dwelling on that. There was no point; it would only get me worked up again and that wasn't going to accomplish anything.

"Hey," Dally took me by the shirt sleeve and dragged me into another room. He looked like he was on edge, which I guess we all were. "I'm not sure about you talking to the cops… jail ain't gonna be good for you, kid."

I watched him curiously, seeing an emotion in his eyes that wasn't usual for Dallas Winston. It looked like a blend of worry, caring… it confused me a little. "I won't get in as much trouble if I just go straight to the cops, Dal. You know that." He sighed and looked away; I could tell that he was frustrated.

"Fine, kid. Just…" He didn't finish his sentence, giving me one last look before turning and walking out of the room.

I followed him out to see that everyone was sitting in the living room, the TV now playing Mickey Mouse. As usual, we all sat down to watch it.

Ponyboy came out of the room after at least an hour of watching Mickey on the TV. He looked real tired and I felt bad. If I hadn't been so weak… maybe if I hadn't stabbed Bob… well, this wouldn't have happened. Then Pony wouldn't have been dragged into this.

"Hey, Pony." Darry said gently, a concerned look in his eyes. Ponyboy looked to his older brother, a small smile on his face. "It's eight..." he said quietly, glancing at the window. We all did the same to see that the sun was up now, and soon it would be time to go and confess what we had done. The thought sent shivers down my spine.

The entire room was tense, the air thick as everyone glanced at each other, worry etched onto their faces.

I got up and walked into Pony's room where he followed me and got out a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, tossing them at my chest. "Here," a smile crept onto my face. He really was my best friend.

"Thanks, man." Ponyboy just shrugged as he went about getting dressed in his usual attire.

"You know that you need a coat, right?" Darry asked, as his gaze fell upon us from the doorway. Ponyboy looked over to him and he nodded, his eyes rolling. Darry left the doorway to head into the boys' room, most likely to get us jackets. That's when it happened.

The door flung open and slammed into the wall, making us all jump. Police officers shouted for all of us to hold up our hands as they entered the house. With my shirt half-way on, I raised them, and it fell messily onto my skin. I looked to Ponyboy; my face must have been contorted with a deep fear that was running through me.

"Put your hands behind you." The one nearest me barked. Once I had done so, they cuffed me and shoved me roughly towards the door. My eyes found his blue ones and I could see the anguish in his face.

"Move it!" The officer shouted at me as he shoved his foot into my back, causing me to stumble and gasp out as my face hit the floor. The cop didn't have time to think before Dallas punched him in the jaw.

"Don't you hurt him!"

"Hey!" Another officer shouted as he drew his gun and pointed it at him while I was pulled to my feet. Dally put his hands up and they had him cuffed, too, and soon Ponyboy was with us.

"You want your rights read?" A slick black-haired one asked us, raising an eyebrow.

"Fuck you." Dally's voice was low and seemed to drip poison. That got us a shove from behind and we were soon out of the house and into the back of the police van.

"Dally, why'd you do that? " I asked, my voice probably sounding scared, and I wanted to cry, but I knew I couldn't. Not in front of him.

"I can't let you go to the cooler alone, kid." he said gruffly, not looking at me. Ponyboy was sitting in a corner, his shoulders softly shaking, his un-greased hair falling in his eyes. Pony wasn't afraid to cry in front of the over-bearing man that sat in front of me... so why was I?

"I can handle myself." I said looking away from him, my eyes seeming to burn. A tear fell lose from my eye and I tried to wipe it away, but my arms were behind my back and I couldn't.

"C'mon, Johnny, don't cry..." he said, attempting to comfort me, albeit awkwardly.

The doors of the back opened up and we were roughly yanked out of the vehicle, Dally trying to stop them from handling Pony and I roughly. His attempts failed as he got hit in the back of the head with a night-stick, whilst my eyes widened in horror for his safety.

We were led through a long hallway, with blank, white walls and floors. It reminded me of a hospital, and that thought made me shiver.

"You boys are gettin' your hair cut." the cop that was holding me sneered. I cringed at the thought as we were led into the room that as same as the hallway, only there were three chairs for the barber to cut hair in. The barber was sitting at a desk, reading a magazine.

"Three in, today, Phil?" He asked, as if he was surprised.

"You ain't touching my hair with those things." Dally said with a lethal expression on his face.

"Yeah, yeah." Dally was the first to go. He was shoved into the chair, or rather, he was wrestled into the chair, and then his hands and feet were cuffed. Every time the guy came at him with the scissors he would thrash, making it impossible for the Barber.

"Hey, you're getting that mop of yours cut whether you like it or not, so it's either you do this quietly, or we get more restraints." The barber was inches from Dally's face, and all of a sudden rage flared inside me. I didn't want anyone that close to him. Ever.

"I'd rather choke to death by restraints than let you cut an inch off my hair." Dally said to the barber, then he spit in his face. The barber wiped his face and then called for more restraints. It broke my heart to see Dally like this, his face contorted with rage, and his eyes staring me down. I was as helpless as he was. After moments of cuffing and chains clanking, Dally's hair was getting snipped off. I cringed every time I saw a lock of hair get snipped off. It was horrible, all of his tuff hair… gone.

Dally was taken out of the restraints. Which took a few minutes, and led to the bench that me and Pony were sitting on. Dallas Winston looked… defeated. Something I never thought possible. He was shoved down and a firm hand grasped my upper arm, drawing me roughly from my seat. I winced as I was thrown into the chair and cuffed in.

"You're not gonna struggle like he did, are you?" the barber asked me. I shook my head, and the noise that came from Dally was like a dying animal.

"Johnny… Johnny, why would you give up like that?!" Dally's voice was broken, like his last hope had been snuffed out, you could see it in his eyes too. I couldn't look at him, I couldn't even answer him. All I did was let silent tears sweep down my cheeks. I was out of the chair in five minutes and back in my seat between Pony and Dally. Pony's turn came and that left me alone with Dally, who was now staring at me like I had cut his hair myself.

"It's just hair..." I said finally, while Pony was still in the chair, his hair was the longest out of all of ours, so it'd take longer.

Dally just looked at me for a few more minutes and then shook his head as if he was coming out of a trance.

"But you let them win."

"It's better than getting beat up." I mumbled to the floor, I didn't have the courage to look at Dally anymore. I didn't deserve to drink in his face with every second I had. Not anymore, not after what I had just put him through.

When Ponyboy was done with his hair, we were picked up and taken to our cell. Thankfully, we all got a cell with each other. At least we wouldn't be alone at night. We got our bright, orange jump-suits and our regular clothes taken away from us.

"Alright, boys, back into your cell. You've got paper and pens in your cell so you can write to your family but that's all the contact that you get, you can ask them to send you things, but we only allow books, cards, and if you're lucky, spinning tops through, so if they send any weapons or food or anything like that through, you won't get it." The warden explained to us, he wasn't as mean, or rough as the other cops were, he was actually decent; he didn't make me feel like a worthless piece of crap.

We turned around and stuck our hand out of the cell bars to get un cuffed and once we were we all went to lay down on the beds, for me it seemed to be the right thing to do.

Pony took the bed in the corner, and Dally took the one on top of me. I could see that Dally wasn't doing anything particular and Ponyboy was crying again. I felt so horrible; it was like it was hollowing my stomach out. I got off my bed and sat on Pony's, and put my hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him down.

"Pony, what's the matter?" I asked him.

"Oh, you mean other than the fact that we're in jail?" he asked, his voice like razors. I cringed and my eye-brows knitted together.

"There has to be something else."

"Soda and I are gonna get put into a boy's home." he said bitterly. The realization hit me hard; I had gotten the brothers separated, in just one action. Their family would be destroyed again, but the only difference was that it was my fault.

"C'mon Pony, you can't seriously believe that." I said, trying to force reassurance into my voice, but it wouldn't work if I didn't believe it myself. Ponyboy glared at me, and shook his head.

"Yeah, I can, it's what Darry's been telling me all my life, 'Don't get into any trouble with the cops. You'll get put into a boy's home.'" Pony's voice broke on the last word and he was crying again.

"I don't want to." he sobbed into the little cot that he had. I swallowed and hugged him.

"Pony, don't worry, we won't let that happen, you and Soda getting taken away from Darry is like chocolate cake without the Coke, or really for Two-Bit, without the beer. It just doesn't work." I said, trying to use the simile as a joke. It worked because I was awarded a smile by the younger boy.

Dally was off his bed and with Pony after that, rubbing his back. "Yeah, kid, don't worry. You won't get taken away, I'd kill someone before I'd let that happen." he said with that small crooked line of a smile.

"Dally, you'd kill someone for a sandwich." I said sarcastically, the now short haired blonde looked at me with those blue eyes and gave a small chuckle.

"Yeah, you're right…"

"I know I'm right." Dally knocked me on the side of my head.

"Don't get cocky, kid." he said to me, his eyes a light with amusement. I laughed at that and looked at Pony to make sure that he was okay. He smiled at me, as if to clear me from my duties and I walked back to my bed, climbing into it, and rolling over towards the wall. My eyes shut, and the last sounds that I heard were the crinkling of the metal chains as Dally clamored into his bed, and we all fell fast asleep.