Here is Chapter 2 of Ponyboy's Nightmare. I would like to thank Julia for helping me with the grammar and such. Chapter 3 should be up in a day or so, with the rewrites I had to split the chapters because it was to long. Please R & R.
DARRY POV
I was fixing breakfast when Pony and Soda came in and sat at the table.
"Good morning Guys," I told them as I placed two glasses of chocolate milk on the table.
"Morning Darry," Soda mumbled. Pony didn't answer, but threw mw a small smile.
"Hello, anyone home?" Janet called from the front room. Soda rolled his eyes and took a gulp of milk. Pony stiffened his body and sighed. I immediately regretted telling Janet that she could just walk in anytime.
"In the kitchen," I yelled back as the phone rang and I went to answer it.
"Hello?" I said.
"Hey Darry," a small voice said. My mind reeled; even though I hadn't heard from her in a few weeks, I knew at once who it was. It was Bayleigh, my best friend and first love.
"Bayleigh, what's wrong? Are you crying?" I asked her quickly.
"I'm so scared, I'm alone now. My Dad…he died," she sobbed quietly into the phone. "Can you come to Austin?" she asked me.
"Bay, baby, don't cry. I'll be there as soon as I can, but it might take me a day to plan everything. Just hang on," I told her. "I'll call you later."
"Okay," she said.
"I'll be there Bay," we hung up and I turned to face my family.
"Who is Bayleigh?" Janet asked snidely.
"She's an old friend. Soda, I need to go to Austin. Will you and Pony be all right for a few days?" I asked my middle brother noticing that Two-Bit had arrived sometime earlier.
"Darry, why don't we see if Mom will let them stay with us? I'll call her and see. Soon it was all arranged, my family would stay with the Matthews until I got back. To say Janet was livid was an understatement.
"I don't want you to go," She yelled.
"Janet, Bayleigh is one of my closest friends and she needs my help," I said thinking about Bay. We had dated all through high school, then she moved to Austin to live with her Father. We decided to slow things down and stayed close friends. In fact it was Bayleigh who encouraged me to start dating again. It was Thursday so I would only have to miss a few days of work. I still had some of my savings left so we would be fine money wise. I talked to my boss and got three days off, and then I called our caseworker. Mrs. Jenkins understood and said as long as the boys were staying with a responsible adult, it was all right.
I called Bayleigh and told her I would leave tomorrow morning. I wanted to make sure Pony would be okay with me going. When Janet figured out that she couldn't change my mind, she offered to watch the boys.
"Darrel, I can keep an eye on your brothers for you," she offered sweetly.
Since her back was to them, she didn't see their reactions, but I did. Pony's face lost all color and Soda shook his head no.
"I appreciate the offer Janet, but they hardly know you and I don't think it would be a good idea," I said going to pack.
"I'm going home then," Janet snapped coldly. I told her good-bye and turned back to my family. Ponyboy was upset and got ready for bed without a protest.
"Why do you have to go Darry?" Pony asked sounding much longer than 12.
"Because Bayleigh is alone, Pony, she was here to help us through Mom and Dad's funerals, I can't let Bay go through that pain alone," I told him hoping he would understand.
"You'll be back won't you?" he asked looking like he was afraid of what my answer would be.
"Of course I'm coming back, and I'll call you while I'm there. It's only for a couple of days," Pony yawned and smiled at me.
"Good night Darry," he told me sleepily.
"Good night," after hugging him, I went to my room.
After my brothers were asleep, I sat around thinking again. Friday was an in-service day so Pony didn't have school, I could take him with me and I could have invited Janet to join me, but didn't. I finally realized that I wanted Bayleigh to myself; even though I knew she was hurting, I didn't want anyone else to take my attention away from her. Then I realized something else, I still had feelings for Bayleigh, deep feelings that were more than friendship. I fell asleep troubled by that thought.
We had breakfast with just the three of us, and then Janet showed up pouting. Twenty minutes later I was standing on the porch ready to go. I hugged my brother's tightly as Janet stood off to one side seething quietly.
"Tell Bayleigh we're sorry," Soda told me.
"I will," I drove off, waving one last time I pulled out of the drive. It was a good seven hour drive, but I wanted to get there as soon as possible as I didn't want Bay to spend the night alone. It was early evening when I pulled into her driveway and knocked on the door.
Bayleigh opened the door. Her eyes were red from crying, so was her nose, but she was still so beautiful to me. Bayleigh had shoulder length black hair, blue eyes, creamy white skin. She was 5'3 and average weight. She hugged me tightly for a long minute.
"Oh Darry," she cried. I didn't know who else to call."
"Bay, I'm here now. I'm so glad you called me," I felt her body shake as I held her close.
"Let's go in, it's chilly out here," I said leading her inside. It had been almost a year since we'd seen each other, but nothing had changed it was like we'd never been apart.
"Tell me what happened?" I said once we were sitting on the couch...
"The doctor said he died in his sleep. We'd been arguing because I wanted to come home to Tulsa and he didn't want me to," she looked into my eyes as tears once again overcame her, but she knew I would take care of her now. "I was coming home to you," she whispered.
I nodded and hugged her. "Bay, you know I will always love you, but there are others involved now, namely Janet and Bruce. We can talk about that later. How does a warm bubble bath sound? That should help you relax. Have you eaten," I asked, doubting she had.
Bayleigh shook her head no.
"Come on, I'll run you a bath and fix you some soup."
While fixing Bay some dinner, I called Soda to let them know I'd made it there. He was quiet only giving me quick yes or no answers to my questions or not answering at all.
"Sodapop, is something wrong? Where's Pony?" I asked.
"He's with Johnny and Dally. Darry, Janet said something to him and he got upset," he said.
"What did she say?" I asked him.
"I don't know, he wouldn't tell me, but he sat outside and didn't say anything for a long time. I don't want Janet around him anymore," Soda told me quietly.
We'll talk about it when I get home. It was probably a misunderstanding," we talked a few more minutes, and then I hung up and went to check on Bayleigh.
BAYLEIGH POV
While sitting at the table we talked.
"Tell me how Soda and Pony are? How did they handle meeting Janet? I know you were worried about it," I asked him even though we called each other every couple of days; we hadn't talked since the meeting.
"Soda seems fine with it. Ponyboy's having a hard time though. I don't think Janet likes kids and he can sense it," Darry explained.
"I'm sure things will work out if you want them to," I told him.
"That's just it Bay, I don't know if I'm with Janet because I want to be with her of because I don't want to be alone," I finished eating and stared at him. Leaning forward I softly pressed my lips to his. He kissed me back before pulling away.
"We can't Bay, not while there are other people we are committed to. Where's Bruce?" he asked me.
"I'm not seeing him anymore," I told him.
"Why not?" he asked softly.
"I want to come home," was my reply.
DARRY POV
"Bay, we both know where this can lead. We can't do that. As confused as I am right now I am still with Janet, I won't cheat on her. When you get everything taken care of here, come home. I don't know what will happen between us, but it will be nice to have my best friend around more," I told her.
"Yeah, I know you well enough to know that's what you would say," Bayleigh stood up. "We better go to bed, it's going to be a long day tomorrow," she lead me to the guestroom.
After breakfast the next morning, I called the Matthews hoping to talk to Ponyboy. Soda answered.
"Hey Soda," I said.
"Hey Darry, how's Bayleigh?" he asked.
"She's fine. How is everyone?" I asked him.
"Johnny's Dad beat him up again so Mrs. Matthews said he could stay here and keep Pony Company."
"Soda, I want to talk to Pony," I told him tersely.
There was a moment of silence. "He said he doesn't want to talk."
"Sodapop Patrick Curtis, put Ponyboy on the phone right now," I didn't raise my voice, but he knew I meant business. I could hear low voices in the background that sounded like they were arguing then Pony came on.
"Hello?" his small voice said.
"Hey Little Man, how are you doing?" I wanted to know because he sounded so down.
"All right, Johnny's Dad hurt him, so he's staying with us," he informed me.
"I heard. I'll be home tomorrow or the next day."
"To get Soda you mean?" I could tell my little brothers voice was thick with unshed tears.
"What?" I asked not believing what I had heard, and then Soda came back on.
"He just ran out, what did you say to him?"
"I told him that I would be home soon," I said confusion in my voice.
"I'll go talk to him. Bye," Soda told me.
"Bye Soda," I hung up worried about my youngest sibling. I should have stayed home or brought Pony with me.
"Is Pony all right?" Bayleigh asked me.
"I don't think so. Something is wrong, but he won't tell Soda what. I'll find out when I get home," I told her.
ANYONE POV
Pony and Johnny were outside when Janet pulled up, got out and walked over to them.
"Hey kids, when is Darry coming home?" she asked loudly.
"In a few days," Johnny answered for Pony.
"I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to the kid," Janet bit out.
"Go away," Pony told her.
"I'll leave when I get ready to." She told him. "You might want to watch that smart mouth before it gets smacked."
"I don't want to talk to you," Pony said hoping his voice didn't show how scared he was.
Janet's eyes narrowed and before they knew it, her hand shot out and Pony's cheek stung from the slap.
Soda was talking to Two-Bit and Steve when Pony called him.
"Sodapop," he hollered again.
Going outside they saw Janet was with the two boys and Johnny was standing in front of the younger boy, who was holding his cheek.
"What do you want?" Soda demanded walking up to them.
"I wanted to know when Darrel would be back," Janet said unkindly.
"In a few days, did you hit Pony?" Soda asked wrapping an arm around his brother.
"Of course not, why would you think that?" Janet fumed at them.
Pony pulled away and went inside, Johnny close behind him.
"Stay away from Pony. Darry will call you when he wants to talk to you," Soda snapped before the guys hurried in the house. Soda squatted down beside Pony, who was on the couch and moved his hand so he could look at the child's face. It was red.
"Tell me what happened?" Soda insisted.
"Nothing happened. Soda, don't go away and leave me," Soda enveloped the shaking boy in his arms.
"I'm not going anywhere. Darry will be home soon and we'll be together again," he promised.
When Ponyboy calmed down, Soda sent him to the movies with Two-Bit and Johnny then decided to call his older brother.
"Bayleigh, its Soda. Can I talk to Darry?" he asked calmly even though the teen felt anything but calm.
"Sure, hang on a second," she handed the phone to Darry. "It's your brother."
DARRY POV
"Hey Buddy, what's up?" I asked.
"Janet came by, I think she hit Pony, but neither he nor Johnny will tell me the truth. He's terrified that you are not coming back," Soda told me.
"Is he there now?"
"No, I let him go to the nightly double," he said.
"I'll be home tomorrow evening," I promised.
"I'll tell Ponyboy," Soda sounded relieved. I hung up and looked at Bayleigh, I didn't want to leave her, but my little brothers had to come first.
"I'm sorry Bay, I don't want to go, but Ponyboy needs me," I said wrapping my arms around her.
"I know. You should be with him and Soda," she said in a voice that trembled.
Somehow I got her through the funeral service and the sea of well-wishers. I held her while she cried that night and the next day at the lawyer's office. She was a wreck, not that I blame her, when my parents died I had to be strong for my little brothers. Bayleigh didn't have anyone to keep her from falling apart. Hearing Bay cry, my mind kept flashing back to another funeral and I relived it. All too soon it was time for me to go home.
"Thank you for coming, Darry," Bayleigh said at the car.
"You're welcome. Bay, if you need me, I'm only a phone call away," I reminded her.
"I know, let me know how it all works out," she told me. I smiled and drove off. On the drive home, I kept thinking about what to do. I wasn't at the point that I wanted to break up with Janet yet, but I had to protect my little brother.