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Chapter Four

Ponyboy POV

I barely heard the knock on the door over the TV and the radio. Steve and Soda's wrestling didn't help matters much. I got up from my seat on the couch and made my way over to the door. "You hear the door, Pony?" Soda asked. "Yeah." I answered. "Wonder who it could be. Hope it's not some old guy from the state." Soda said, voicing my thoughts. I nodded and opened the door.

On the porch stood a carbon copy of Soda, right down to the freckle on his nose and the color of his eyes. I looked quizzically at the person. "Could you wait just a sec.?" I asked the Soda duplicate to make sure Soda was inside and not playing a joke on me. Wasn't I talking to Soda just seconds earlier? Sure enough, there he was, back to wrestling Steve on the floor.

"Soda? There's a person who looks exactly like you at the door." I said. Soda grinned. "Is their really?" He asked. He jumped up and looked out the window at the person. "Would you look at that?" He said in awe. "Darry!" Soda yelled. "Yeah, Little Buddy?" I heard him yell from his room. "There's a guy who looks exactly like me at the door!" Soda yelled.

Ten seconds later Darry had torn through the hallway and into the living room and now was peering through the window at the Soda look-a-like. Darry opened the door. "Hi." The Soda copy said. "Hi. I'm Darry Curtis. Won't you come in?" Darry said, professionally. "Darry," Soda hissed. "You said never to let strangers in the house!" Soda said. Two-Bit and Steve laughed. They stopped when the Soda duplicate stepped inside.

Nobody said anything, just grinned weirdly. I bet they all thought Soda was playing a practical joke or something. I wouldn't put Soda past this... Soda always said he wanted a twin...But when I looked over at Soda he was just as stupefied as the rest of us. We were all thinking the same thing: Who is this guy and why does he look exactly like Soda?

Soda's "twin" looked embarrassed. He seemed to forget his manners as he shifted from foot and kept his eyes glued to the ground, sort of like I do when I'm embarrassed. Steve and Two-Bit watched his feet and seemed to think the same thing. Almost as though we were sending Darry and Soda telepathic messages, a look of realization spread across their faces. But what did this mean?

Darry cleared his throat. "Um...What can I help you with?" He said, breaking the eerie, uneasy silence. The Soda

Look-a-like looked up even more embarrassed, and his ears reddened. Another look of realization spread across, I think, everyone's faces.

"Oh...sorry. This must be strange to you. Let me explain." The Soda copy said. Darry nodded and we all waited for him to go on, egging him to begin again and tell us what this was all about with nods. "Um...well, my name is Larkin Cutis. I'm Soda's twin."

The uneasy silence spread across the room. This time Steve broke the silence. "You're kidding, right?" The Soda copy- Larkin- shook his head. "I just found out about it all today." Larkin said. Darry snapped out of his shocked daze and went off in search of something. Soda went to help, both of them whispering quietly to each other, almost under their breaths. I couldn't make out a word.

The uneasy silence descended, and this time wasn't broken until Darry and Soda returned. "It's true. I found his birth certificate."

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