Thank you so much you guys for your reviews. They make my day. This chapter might be boring at the beginning, but I think it gets better.

The rest of the week went pretty uneventful. Me and Soda officially started dating. That was exciting. We went to school and got homework. Of course, Me, Pony, and Johnny were the only ones who actually did the homework. I was over at the Curtis' house all of the time. Everything was normal. Until Saturday. Around noon, I was walking back with Steve and Soda from the DX. We heard the scream from down the street.

"Pony!" Soda shouted and we took off in a dead run. Soda jumped over the fence and me and Steve ran around. Soda, Steve, Dally, Two-Bit, and I started beating on a red corvair full of socs. Steve got punched in the nose and it started bleeding while he was cursing the soc out. Dally grabbed a big branch and threw it at the car. It didn't even his the car. Didn't even come close. Soda and I ran over to where Darry was shaking Pony.

"Stop shaking me Darry. I'm fine." Pony told Darry. Darry stopped and shoved his hands into his pockets. We all went back to the Curtis'.

I'm goin to the nightly double. Anybody wanna come. Hunt some action?" Dally asked all of us.

"Can't. Me and Soda are taking Tali and Evie to the game." Steve said.

"Me and Pony will." Johnny spoke up. I kissed Soda and told him I'd meet him back here for the game. I went home and fixed myself up.

I got woken up by someone knocking on my door. I fell asleep on the couch after I got back from the game with Soda, Steve, and Evie. I got up and slowly opened the door. It was Soda. He was crying.

"What's wrong?" I asked, giving him a hug.

"It's Pony. He ran off. Darry hit him. They...got into a fight. He didn't mean to hit him..." Soda sobbed. Wow. Darry hit Pony.

"Ok. I'll come with you to go find him. Let me tell Paxton and Parker I'm leaving. Do you want them to come?" I asked.

"Sure. They can come if they want." Soda responded, distracted. I ran into Parker's room. Both brothers were there playing poker.
"Guys? I'm going with Soda to find Pony. Do you wanna come?" I asked. They both looked up at me.

"I'll stay with dad." Parker stated.

"I'll go with you guys. Make sure no one does nothing stupid." Paxton volunteered as he got up and threw a shirt on. We ran down the stairs and Soda was on the couch with his head in his hands. He looked up while Paxton jumped off the remaining steps.

"Okay. We'll first go to Two-Bit's, then we'll go to Steve's." Soda said, standing up and walking out the door. We got in Soda's Ford and drove to Two-Bit's. He opened the door.

"We got to go. Pony's missing." I told him before Soda could even open his mouth. It was about 3:30 in the morning.

"Ma! I'm going out!" he yelled.

"Okay! Come back some time!" came the reply from the back room. We drove past the Curtis' house and Steve and Dally's car were already there. Soda ran in and us after him. I looked around. Steve was already next to Soda, Dally was stalking the back of the room, Johnny was sitting next to Pony on the couch. Darry was looking over the two. The both looked pretty beat up. Pony worse than Johnny.

"I'm sorry...they were drowning Johnny...I didn't know...what to do. I had to save him." Pony was sobbing.

"It's okay. Lean back on the couch Pony." Darry maintained. He looked up at me and got up. Soda immediately replaced him, talking and sobbing with Pony. Darry came over and started filling me, Paxton, and Two-Bit in.

"They went to the park after he ran out. Socs came and got them. They almost drowned Johnny. Pony tried to get up, but two of them started to kick him. He's got broken ribs for sure. The socs stopped because they thought he had passed out and went over to Johnny. Pony grabbed Johnny's blade that fell out and stabbed the closest one." he explained. I gasped. Poor Ponyboy. He killed someone. Pony killed someone.

"It's the fuzz. We can still hide them." Dally hissed.

"We are not hiding him." I snapped. Darry opened the door.

"Hello officers." Darry spoke. I was standing by the couch by the door.

"Are you Darrel Curtis?" one of the officers asked. Darry nodded.

"Are Ponyboy Curtis and Jonathan Cade here?" the other officer asked. He nodded again and led them to the couch. Johnny stood up and Pony, who was half unconscious managed to sit up.

"Ponyboy Curtis. Jonathan Cade. You are under arrest for the murder of Robert Sheldon. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you do or say can and will be used against you in the court of law." one cop said, as the other pulled out handcuffs. They cuffed Johnny and took him to the car. The other cop went to cuff Pony.

"No! Stop! He has broken ribs. You don't have to cuff him. He won't fight ya!" we all started to yell at the cop. He didn't listen and cuffed him anyways. Pony winced, but didn't complain. Paxton tried to tried to take a swing at the guy, but Dally, Darry, and Steve held him back. As they walked over to the door, Pony collapsed.

"Pony!" everybody shouted. Darry pushed everybody out of the way, including the cop. "He's barely breathing!" Darry hissed. The cop was already on the pone ordering an ambulance. "Come on baby. Keep breathing for all of us." Darry pleaded. Darry was coddling Pony's head. Pony was unconscious, but you could hear him wheezing, trying to breathe. Soda was sobbing into my arms and Paxton was bear hugging both of us. Why was the ambulance taking so long? Steve, Two-Bit, and Dally were pacing the back of the room. I looked at Two-Bit. His laughing eyes were now a hurricane.

"I'm gonna...I'm gonna go to the station, see how Johnny's holding up." Dally stammered as he left. The ambulance finally got there and the paramedics loaded Pony onto a stretcher. Darry went in the ambulance with Pony who already had an oxygen mask on. Paxton drove me, Soda, Steve, and Two-Bit to the hospital. We were in no condition to drive. Once we got into the car Soda broke down. He was sobbing so hard he couldn't breathe. He was gasping and he didn't care who was watching him break.

"Sodam baby, it'll be okay. He's strong. He's tuff." I coaxed, rubbing his back and hugging him. Steve was on the other side of Soda and Two-Bit was in the front with Paxton.

"Hey. Your brothers so pig-headed stubborn..." Steve was interrupted by Soda's fist connecting with his jaw.

"Soda!" I barked, crawling over Soda and next to Steve. Steve was holding a cupped hand over his mouth, blood seeping through.

"You ever call him a tag-along or stubborn again and I swear it, you'll be wishing all you had was a bloody mouth." Soda threatened. He turned away and looked out the window. All was quiet in the front seat. Even Two-Bit wasn't laughing. Two-Bit is always laughing.

"Let me see." I instructed Steve. He opened his mouth and blood poured out. He cupped his hand back over it.

"I'm sorry." Soda choked. "I'm sorry...I hit you...I know you were...tryin' to say...something nice." Soda sobbed. Steve muffled an it's okay and then we were at the hospital. We all ran to the waiting room. Paxton ran to the bathroom to get paper towel for Steve to shove in his mouth.

"Darr?" Soda asked.

"They, um...took him into surgery as soon as we got here...he stopped breathing twice...in the ambulance." Darry choked on a sob. With that, Darry "Superman" Curtis broke. He started bawling into his hands, standing in the middle of the waiting room. Me and Soda ran over and hugged him. He was crying into Soda's shoulder. He didn't cry when their parents died last year at the funeral. I remember Soda saying that. Steve, Two-Bit, and Paxton came and hugged us all. Ah, a big Greaser hug.

"I'm gonna go fill Parker and Dad in on what happened. Don't do anything stupid." Paxton warned. He left and we broke the hug and sat in the waiting room chairs. Dally and Johnny came in a short while later.

"They dropped the charges. Called it self-defense after they saw what happened to Pony. Randy and Cherry came and told their story about how the socs were drunk and lookin to start a fight." Dally hissed.

"How's Pony?" Johnny asked.

"He's still in surgery. No doctors have even come out to talk to us." Soda choked. Johnny nodded and as he went to sit down, a doctor came out.

"Family of Ponyboy Curtis?" he asked. All seven of us stood up.

"I'll only talk to immediate family." the doctor stated.

"They are." Darry answered int the best, not broken voice he could muster.

"Pony?" Soda squeaked.

"He's alive. He has three broken ribs. He had to have surgery to repair a crushed lung. He's in room six. He's on an oxygen mask and was running a high fever, so we have him on liquids. He's asleep right now, but I'll let you guys go in. I've already told the night nurses that you'll be staying through the night." the doctor concluded. He left and we walked down the hall into Pony's room.