Chapter Two

The next day, after they went to see the movie with Dallas, Ponyboy, Bobby, and Johnny walked to the vacant lot and looked at the stars for a couple of hours. Bobby always looked at the stars at night and she knew about a lot of cool constellations. She would sometimes show Pony and Johnny when they were hanging out at night. They were lying on the grass. Bobby had her head on Pony's shoulder and she was pointing at the bunches of tiny lights. "There is the big dipper," she said pointing up at the sky, "And there is the little one."

"I can't see anything," Johnny said.

"I see it," Pony said, "There is the handle and there is the bowl part."

"Show us another one," Johnny asked.

Bobby smiled and twisted her head, looking for another constellation. "There," she said pointing to the left of them, "is a mama bear and her cub."

"No way there are bears up there." Johnny said incredulously.

"Sure there are look. There is the head. And the body behind it. And you can see the baby right below it."

"How do you see all of these?" Pony asked.

"Whenever I can't sleep I just look at the stars and try to make different shapes." she said with a sigh, "And if I am lucky I can see a shooting star."

"I've never seen a shooting star." Johnny said.

"I have," Pony whispered, "Me, Darry and Soda used to go out to the country with our parents. There are so many more star there than there are here."

He closed his eyes, thinking about the times his family had gone to the country. He thought about all the stars and thought about how much Bobby would like it there. It was quiet and there were no lights to block out the pin pricks of light in the sky. Suddenly someone shook his shoulder. "Pony!" she shouted, "Pony wake up!"

"What?" he shouted bolting upright.

He looked around and saw that Bobby was the one shaking him. Johnny was sitting up looking around too. "What time is it?" Pony asked.

"I don't kow, I fell asleep too." Bobby said, "You better get home before Darry call the cops on you."

Pony cussed under his breath and jumped up. "You coming Johnny?" he asked.

"No, my parents are fighting. I think I'll stay all night out here."

"Alright but if you guys get cold, you come on over to my place." he said.

"Sure." Bobby said.

Pony leaned down and gave her a quick kiss goodnight and ran off toward his house. He peeked in the window and saw Soda asleep on the couch. Darry was sitting on the chair reading the paper. Pony sighed, resigning himself to his fate. He opened the door and Darry stood up, throwing the paper on the ground. "Where the heck have you been?" he shouted, "Do you know what time it is?"

Pony shrugged. "It is two o'clock in the morning." Darry growled.

All the yelling had woken up Soda and he rubbed his eyes sleepily. "Hey Ponyboy, where you been?" he asked quietly.

"I fell asleep in the lot." Pony said walking to the bathroom.

"I was talking to Bobby and Johnny and I fell asleep in the lot. I didn't mean to."

"What were you thinking?" Darry shouted, "I told you to start using your head. And I can't even call the cops on you because you two would be thrown in boys home so fast it would make your head spin."

Soda stood up and walked over to the stairs. "Give him a break Darry," he said.

Darry rounded on Soda. "And I am sick and tired of you always sticking up for him!" he shouted.

"Don't you yell at him!" Pony shouted back.

Darry spun around and smacked Pony so hard he flew back against the door. They were all frozen for what felt like an eternity. "Pony..." Darry started.

Pony spun around, wrenched open the door and ran out into the night. He could hear his brothers calling him but he didn't turn around. He just kept running. He finally made it to the lot where he found Johnny asleep and Bobby still staring at the stars. She looked up when Pony ran up to them. "Come on," he said breathlessly, "We're running away."

Bobby shook Johnny awake and they all ran fo about a mile before they stopped. Pony looked like he was about to cry. "You got a cigarette Johnny, I'm scared to death." he choked out.

Johnny held out a weed. Pony took it and lit it with shaky hands. "Pony what happened?" Bobby said, putting a hand around his shoulder.

"Darry hit me!" he muttered, "I swear we used to get along fine before Mom and Dad died now he can't stand me."

Bobby leaned her head on Pony's shoulder. "It will be alright Pony," she said, "Don't worry."

Pony took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. "Let's walk to the park," he said, "Maybe I'll cool down by then."

"Okay," Johnny said, looking relieved.

They walked down to the park and climbed onto the monkey bars. They sat up there for a while. But after a few minutes Bobby saw something come into her peripheral vision. "Oh no," she moaned, "Look."

The boys looked up and saw a blue mustang. "This is our territory." Pony said, "What are they doing here."

Johnny was breathing heavily and his eyes were wide. "Johnny?" Bobby asked.

"T-those," he stammered, "are the guys that jumped me."

Bobby's temper flared. "This is the fight I have been waiting for."

"Are you kidding?" Pony said, "We can't take them. Maybe if we had Dally or Two-Bit but not by ourselves."

"So do you want to split?" Bobby asked, trying to calm herself down.

"It's too late," Pony whispered as the Socs walked toward them.

"Hey would you look at this greaser group." one of them said.

His friends laughed. The three greasers jumped down from the monkey bars and watched the Socs carefully. They stopped a few feet away. "Hey you know what a greaser is?" the guy in front said, "White trash with long, greasy hair."

Bobby took a step forward, but Ponyboy grabbed her arm and held her back. She sighed and stepped back. "You know what a Soc is?" Pony asked, "White trash with mustangs and madras." Then to emphasize his point, he spit in the Soc's face.

The three greasers ran as fast as they could away from the Socs. But they weren't fast enough. Two of them grabbed Ponyboy and one each grabbed Johnny and Bobby. Bobby heard them beating up on Johnny and she tried to get away but the Soc just threw her on the ground and started kicking her. He kicked her hard in the gut and knocked the air out of her. Then he picked her up and started punching her over and over in the face. She heard people shouting and the sound of water splashing but she was starting to pass out. She saw spots of color blinking in front of her eyes. Finally she collapsed on the ground. "And stay down!" the Soc yelled.

He went off to join the others who were beating Ponyboy. Bobby fought to stay awake. She looked over and saw Johnny reach into his back pocket and pull out the switchblade he had carried ever since he had been jumped. He stood up and walked slowly over to the Socs who had Pony. They were dunking poor Ponyboy's head in the fountain. He came up each time gasping for air. Bobby's eyes widened. These drunk Socs were going to drown him! She pushed herself to her feet and ran over to them, screaming "Pony!"

Suddenly all the Socs scattered and ran back to their mustang. "He's crazy!" they shouted, "That greaser is crazy!"

They left Pony on the side of the fountain soaking wet but alive. He was breathing heavily. Bobby ran over to him. "Pony," she sighed when she saw that he was okay.

He looked at her, his eyes fluttered and he fell asleep. Bobby looked at Johnny and was surprised to see one of the Socs was still there. Then she saw the look on Johnny's face. "What's wrong Johnny?" she asked.

He looked at her, his face white with terror. "I killed him." he breathed.

Bobby glanced back at the Soc and saw the pool of blood growing bigger around him. The smell of the blood ran up Bobby's nose and her vision swam. "Johnny," she whispered and she lay her head down on Ponyboy's chest and fell asleep.