I woke up to find Soda propped up on his elbow, staring down at me. "Morning Pony, how did you sleep?" he asked cautiously. I could tell by his tone that he was dying to know about last night, but didn't want to be rude and ask right away.

"Fine, and I know that you want to know what happened last night and so does everyone else, but none of ya'll are gonna believe me." I mumbled, looking away from him. I saw him nod out of the corner of my eye.

"Listen Pone, I promise I won't laugh at you. You can tell me." He smiled, as he started to get dressed.

"Well you know that I went home and left the party, and I was just walking down the street when I thought someone was following me. I turned around and saw a person but didn't think much of it, but then I kept walking and they were closer. Then suddenly I turned around again and the guy punched me in the face, and then I blacked out. I think he was gonna kidnap me or something I don't know, but when I woke up I was in the same place and he was gone!" I finished, looking up at my brother to see his reaction. To my surprise his face was ridden with anger, and he grabbed my hand, pulling me into the kitchen.

"Darry!" he yelled, sitting me down at the table. Darry walked in and my eyes flickered between the two of them in fear. "Darry do you want to know why our little brother didn't come home until very late?" He whispered through gritted teeth. For a second Darry almost looked scared as he nodded silently, Soda was rarely this angry." He was gonna get jumped! Or kidnapped!" Soda burst out, slamming his fist down on the table.

Darry whirled around to face me. "Pony is this true?!" he asked, and I nodded as I sighed with relief at the fact Soda wasn't mad at me. "How dare they…" I heard him mutter and he glanced over at Soda.

"It's not a big deal! I've gotten jumped before.." I said quietly.

"But not almost kidnapped!" Soda countered, staring out the window and slowly calming down. I shrugged.

"You don't know that… It could have just been a prank," I said, and both of them sighed at the same time.

"Pone, people don't just play pranks like that. You're lucky that you're sitting here in our kitchen, and you should be very thankful for whatever made that person leave." Darry said. "Now, lets go ahead and get you to school, c'mon I bet Johnny's waiting!" I could tell he was trying to act cheerful, but underneath he was really stressed and worried. I nodded and changed quickly without eating any breakfast, pondering what he had said. My thoughts flashed back to a few nights ago when Johnny and I had gotten jumped, and something had made all the Socs run off. It made me wonder what it was, and why I had been saved again. Could it have been the same thing that saved me last night?

I could barely concentrate at school, I couldn't think straight about anything. Finally the day was over though, and I almost forgot to wait for Johnny on the way home. I stopped outside of the school and waited for him, and finally he rounded the corner and I jumped up. "Hi Johnny.. how was school?" I asked, and he just shrugged.

"It was alright. Nothing good or bad, just a normal day." He responded quietly, and I knew that was just about all I was going to get out of him. We walked back home in silence, but it was a peaceful silence. It was something normal for us.

"You wanna come in?" I asked him when we arrived at my house.

"Naw, I don't want Darry getting upset, I know he likes you to get your homework done." He turned around as he said this and shrugged his jean jacket onto his shoulders.

"Alright, well I'll see you later!" I called, then turned and went inside. The house was still empty, but I didn't mind. I decided that I would try and make myself useful for once, so I sat down and began my homework. I tried to be as neat as possible, and finally finished. I laid it out on the coffee table for Darry to check when he got home, and then opened up the pantry to see what we had. I pulled out some soup, it was pretty hard to screw that up. I glanced at the clock and saw that both of them would be home in the next half hour, so I went ahead and put the soup on the stove.

While it was cooking I set the table and sat down to wait for them, smiling at the feeling of being productive. I heard the front door open a minute later, and looked up, expecting to see Darry or Soda. I was surprised to see that it was Dally.

"Hey Pony," was all he said, and stretched out across the couch. I glanced across the room at him, wondering if I should ask if he needed help or something. He typically only came here after a fight or if he wanted some food, but I knew it would be stupid to ask if he didn't need anything.

"Uhm.. do you need anything Dal?" I asked in a quiet voice.

"Why the fuck would I need anything? The only thing I need is sleep, so you better shut your damn mouth since you're the reason I was up all night." He spat, and rolled over, shutting his eyes. I just sighed and rolled my eyes, knowing he could be harsh at times. It wasn't anything new. I just stood up and walked to the kitchen, pouring the soup into three bowls, not bothering to make one for Dally. A few minutes later the door opened, and I looked up, sure it was my brothers this time. I couldn't have been more wrong.