The smell of cake wafted from the kitchen and filled Ponyboy's lungs as he sat up on the bed, rubbing his eye with the back of his hand. His head hurt and he wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep, but Darry had already called him out for breakfast. Last night was simply crazy, and the sad thing was that Pony couldn't remember any of it except for Cinder White. He had to go to school tomorrow, so he was going to dress up in his nicest clothes, and hopefully be able to find her. Possibility was that she was some exchange student or something cool like that; foreign children were always cool.

"Pony!" Darry shouted from the kitchen. "Get your butt out here, breakfast is gonna get cold!"

"Coming!" Ponyboy threw the covers over to the side and dashed out of his room, only to run straight into Soda. Ponyboy toppled over and landed smack into the ground. Rubbing the side of his butt, he looked up at Soda who had burst into laughter, "Where were you last night?"

Sodapop gripped onto his hand and pulled him up, grinning, "Here. Where were you?"

"I was here. Which means you weren't."

"Yeah I was. Geesh, Pony. We were here all night. Don't you remember?"

"I don't remember anything. Can you draw me a picture?" Ponyboy took a seat ion the couch and crossed his legs in the formation of a pre-schooler. Had he really forgotten EVERYTHING that happened last night?

Sodapop took a seat next to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulder, "Well, let's see. You headed off to bed pretty early, then Roy showed up a few hours later, we let him in and you had a spazz attack before dashing out of the house with him. We tried to get you to wear your jacket, but you threw a fit so Roy had to drag you outside. What happened out there ain't none of my business but you came home shiverin' and smellin' like alcohol. Next thing I know is that you're shoutin' at me to get out of the room and slammin' doors in my face." Soda shook his head at the end and shrugged, jumping off of the couch and into the kitchen to help Darry finish up breakfast.

Pony's head started throbbing and the room began to blur. None of that had really happened, had it? Had he even met that girl? Right now would be a good moment to have a dog named Toto and Aunt named Em so he could wake up and say that they ain't in Kansas no more. Dang, Dorothy, I sure know how you felt when you were surrounded by all them munchkins. A hand, his hand, searched his face and wiped away the sweat that began to form on his forehead. Mickey mouse blared on the tv and the couch cushions had never felt softer. He pushed his head as far back against the fabric as he could and closed his eyes, waiting for his brothers to return to the room. Of course, they appeared only moments later and plopped down on the couch, causing Pony's head to throb even worse. Oh how he wished that the sweet bliss of death would over come him at this very moment and take all his pain away. Soda snuggled up to Pony and tried to convince him to eat while Darry sat near the arm rest and kept to himself by silently glaring at Soda in order to get him to shut up.

"I ain't hungry."

Soda whined, "But, honey, it's your favorite! Chocolate cake with an egg and bacon wrap. Come on, tel me you ain't hungry." Soda tried wafting the smells of the food up Pony's nose before the kid brother took off into his room. A bicker broke out between Soda and Darry, but Ponyboy barely payed any attention; he didn't really care.

Taking a seat at his desk, Pony pulled out his sketch book and began drawing. The image of his perfect girl was still embedded in his head and he wanted to jot it down quickly as possible. Once he had gotten over being a writer, Pony had taken up art classes and began visiting some public museums. Art was such a well known way to express one's feelings that he couldn't just pass up the opportunity to get his opinion out there. Besides, in today's society, an artist makes almost twice the pay that a writer does, considering all the cartoons that are being put into production. Then again, writing and drawing go hand in hand. But the real reason was that Pony needed some extra curricular activities to fill up his school schedule in high school; they offered so little interesting ones. It seemed to have come in handy though, because by the next 10 minutes he had a perfectly shaded portion of her eye done. Then the next eye. Then the mouth. After an hour past he had at least 60 details drawn, 10 minutes spent on each. He had decided not to draw her hair, because with all the shading and smudging techniques he was using his hands were already dirty as it was.

"Pony." Soda called from outside the door and leaned against it. Pony could tell because it creaked like it was dying. Without warning, Soda walked in and shoved his fists in his pockets, looking innocently at his kid brother. "Listen, kid, I'm really-" His sentence trailed off whenever he saw the picture Pony had been drawing. All there was to it was eyes, a nose, and her lips, even though she was perfection, there was no need to stare. "Geez, Pony..W-Who is that?" Soda took a step forward and grabbed the book, admiring it.

"Just some girl."

"Do you know 'er?"

"I met her last night."

"So, is that why you were out so late?" Soda hovered his finger over the paper for a moment before setting the picture down on the bed. Ponyboy had never seen him appreciate art so much, or even glance at anything relevant for so long. It probably had something to do with the fact that she was hot, and a girl; every guy digged a sweet looking girl.

"Nah. W only met for a few minutes, she avoided me most of that time anyways."

Soda grinned and picked up the picture again, "Got rejected, huh?"

"It's not like that." Ponyboy looked down shyly and began fiddling with his fingers. Was it like that? Certainly not. He didn't even know her name; had he known her name, now, that would've been a different story. Then he would have made a move and everything, that is, if he actually had the nerve.

"Then what's it like?"

"She's just a girl."

"That you're drawin' pictures of?"

"Jealous?"

"Not one bit. But, I do think that you're fallin', kid. And I think you're fallin' real hard, too."

"I ain't fallin' for nobody."

"Ponyboy's in love!" Soda began doing this odd little dance with a teasing smirk spread across his face.

"Oh you're gonna get it, Curtis." Ponyboy pounded a fist against the palm of his hand as a warning, when Soda continued to dance and chant, he lept out of the chair and jumped on Soda's back. Normally Soda could of held him up, but with him being 16 now, Soda immediately fell to the floor and yelped in surprise. The two tussled on the ground until Darry came in and pulled them apart. Ponyboy's face was flushed and Soda was grinning like the idiot that he was.

"What the hell is goin' on in here? I can't leave you two alone for one second!"

"He started it!" Soda shot an accusing finger at Ponyboy and Pony couldn't help but smile. A laugh broke out between the two as Darry wrapped his strong arms around the both of them. Good thing Soda hadn't told Darry about the girl; that'd be a whole 'other sex talk that Pony would have to go through. Damn how he hated those. Instead, the three went into the living room and sat down on the couch; Darry snuggled to his arm rest, Soda shoving cake down his throat, and Pony daydreaming as usual.