1Pony's POV

I was completely nervous. Graduation was next week. Prom had been last week. I had taken Mary with me. Even though she's only sixteen, but I was aloud to take her. I had already got accepted to Yale. So it was this summer, than I was heading off. And since we live in New Haven, and Yale is in New Haven, I'll get to see Mary all the time.

Mary sat at the table playing with her food. She seemed jumpy and excited about something. Then the phone rang.

"I'll get it!" She jumped out of her chair, while shattering my ear drum. She picked up the phone, and nodded a few times. I tuned her out, knowing this was probably some big surprise present for my graduation. She smiled, and hung the phone up.

"Who was that?" I was completely teasing her. She knew that I knew that she was getting me a surprise present even though I asked her not too.

"No one." She blushed a little, and decided to eat her food. I shrugged, and went up to my room.

I lay on my bed, wondering what my brothers where doing. I only wondered this right before I accomplished something amazing for myself. Like my first kiss with Mary. When I got voted boy of the year during my senior year. Like when my friends, Mary, and I all piled into a limo, getting ready to go to prom. When I won a contest to read my poem in front of th whole school. I would wonder what they would of thought if they saw me now.

I sighed, and tried not to fight it. Soda had probably gotten a new girlfriend. He deserved it. Darry... maybe he changed. Maybe he was happy that he had Soda all to himself, and that I'm not there. But every time I thought of that, it pushed me harder to be the best. But right now, I wasn't getting ready to leave just yet. So I wallowed in my thoughts.

Two-bit probably is same old Two-bit. Probably picking up some blonde right now. That made me laugh. He was always like that. Johnny... I hoped he was okay. He was about twenty now, which meant that he could leave his parents place. Or maybe he moved in with my brothers.

Dally might miss me. He had started liking me more after he had gotten out of the hospital after getting shot, and after I had fainted. Steve I hoped was out of his dad's place, and living with my brothers. But why would he live with Darry? Maybe things got better after I left.

Then Mary came in. She didn't bother to knock any more. She had grown up. She didn't wear black all the time any more. She wore skirts and sweaters like normal girls. But she liked wearing mine or her older brothers' jeans better. She was sixteen and curvy, instead of thirteen and scrawny. Her hair had turned from blond to a natural light brown. She still didn't want us calling her Maeve though. But I called her that during serious moments.

"Hey, tomorrow, you're getting your present." She smiled at me, knowing that I was defiantly thinking about my brothers.

"Well, what is it?" I hoped to trick her into telling me.

"I'm not telling you!" She seemed exasperated from my stupid question. I smiled and followed her out to the living room.

She just seemed so happy. I knew I was defiantly going to be happy about whatever this present was.

Soda's POV

I had just finished calling Mary. She seemed sweet, and was dating Pony. Good choice for him. I started packing Josh's clothes, when he came bounding into the room, with Johnny following behind him.

The whole gang came to stay at my place, while we waited to leave and get on a plane. Darry wasn't going to bring his girlfriend, which surprised me. Those two where like paper and super glue. But this must be his way of saying that he was defiantly coming back. He missed Pony, but was mad at him too. Mostly because I had told Darry about our last conversation when he was fifteen.

Johnny, Two-bit, Dally, and Steve all seemed very excited to see Pony. Josh of course had no idea what was going on.

"Daddy, where are we going?" He tilted his head to the side like a confused puppy.

"We're going to visit your Uncle Ponyboy." Josh made a face when I said 'Ponyboy'.

"What kind of name is that?"

"A great name, so don't make fun of it." I tickled his stomach a little, and continued to pack his cloths while he sat on the floor reading some children's books.

When I was done with Josh's stuff, I had to pack mine. That took all of two minutes.

I walked out to the living room, and found everyone watching T.V. and seeming completely happy. They all had their bags parked right next to them so they could jump up and leave when we were ready to go.

You wouldn't of believed the excitement that was bouncing off the walls from everyone. We sat there for about an hour before we decided to leave. Josh asked questions about Pony the whole entire time in the car and while we were waiting for our plane to be called. Josh had gotten his chatterbox of a mouth from me.

Even on the plane, even though his ears popped, he talked. Johnny found it amusing, and so did Two-bit. Steve could only handle so much. And Dally, well you know Dally.

Mary had told me that she would be there to pick us up. She said that she would be wearing a blue sweater with a white skirt. I tried remembering that, so we would be able to find her.

After four hours on the plane we got off. I had to call Mary and tell her that we had to take an earlier plane, so she couldn't bring Pony. So right now it was almost midnight, and Josh was asleep in my lap. I picked him up and Darry grabbed our bags.

It was pretty easy to pick Mary out. She was the only one out of about twenty other people who looked sixteen, just like she said. She was a real looker. Dirty blond with gray eyes, and she was tiny, but she was good enough for Pony. At least he didn't get a girl like Angela.

"You must be Soda?" She stuck out her hand, which I shook, using my free hand while balancing Josh in the other.

She shook everyone's hands before leading us to the parking lot, where she had a big enough mustang to fit all of us. I kept Josh with me the whole time while I sat in the front next to Mary. The gang and I asked her plenty of questions about Pony. She was happy enough to answer them all. She seemed excited, enough though my stomach had a sinking feeling.

His graduation was next week. He had been voted Boy of the Year. He was a track star. She had just gone to prom with him. She seemed practically giddy when she talked about him. That made me smile. What made the gang happy was when she told us that Pony had gotten into Yale, one of the best colleges in the world. Plus she lived close to the college, so they could still be together while she finished up high school. She was a Sophomore. She had just turned sixteen in February. Pony had plenty of friends, and he had quit smoking, while needing having a drop of alcohol.

Why did that not surprise me?