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Sodapop Curtis shot up and took in a deep breath. It was late at night and the moon shone brightly in the sky. He'd only been asleep for about twenty minutes and as he rubbed his eyes he could see the light streaming through from the sitting room. Darry didn't even bother to try and sleep. It had been three days since Pony and Johnny took off and although he told Soda to go to bed he knew his younger brother wasn't sleeping either. Soda wandered to where Darry was sitting. For a second he thought he saw Johnny on the couch but when he looked again there was no where there. Darry looked up at his brother, he knew he's been crying again his eyes were all red and puffy. That's why he never protested when Darry told him to get some sleep. Alone in his room he let the tears fall freely his whole body shook with the sobs and ached with loneliness. He missed Ponyboy and Johnny and Sandy.
"What'cha doing?" Soda asked Darry.
"Reading." Darry replied. Ask a stupid question, Darry had the paper in front of him.
"Anything about Pony or Johnny?"
"Yeah. They've got descriptions in it now. An article about Bob. They've got a picture of his parents too."
"Well they didn't interview us did they. Maybe if we were Socs they would've."
Darry sighed and nodded. It was true the paper was painting Johnny in a bad light, saying he had the knife and was ready to use it. Some guy called Randy said they'd only meant to scare Pony and Johnny, it was a prank that had gone wrong.
Soda scoffed at this notion. "They nearly killed our brother it says so there. They still call Johnny a murder."
Darry put the paper down and rubbed his tired eyes. He'd read and re read it about twenty times since that morning and the more he read it the angrier he got.
"Johnny should never have been scared into doing something like that." He said through clenched teeth. "Damn Socs"
Soda was taken aback by this although he felt exactly the same. Darry had never expressed such hate for them before. In fact he tried to stay out of their way and avoid fights if he could. Soda knew though that he enjoyed them once he was there.
Soda stared out the window now and sighed deeply. He was worried about his brother and his friend. He hoped he was okay, what if he was having nightmares again. Was it dark there. Pony wasn't great with darkness. Where was he?
He turned back to Darry his face serious now.
"Will they take him off us?" He asked so quietly that Darry barely heard him.
"I don't know baby. You should head back to bed."
Soda shook his head remembering the nightmare he'd had, now he had an idea what Pony went through.
"How are you doing?" Darry asked looking at his brother in such a way that it made Soda squirm. He didn't want Darry to know how much he was hurting, he had enough on his plate, but he had a feeling his older brother could see right through him.
"I'm okay."
He sat down now and sighed.
There was silence between them which was broken only when the door flew up and a figure staggered in. Soda jumped up and caught Steve as he fell in the door. He looked him up and down. Steve was bleeding from his nose and he could barely move.
"Socs?" Soda asked grateful for the distraction.
"No." Steve croaked weakly. "I was in bed."
Soda knew he meant his dad had attacked him while he was sleeping. This happened often usually Steve could run but not if had just woken up. Soda helped him to the couch where Steve lit a cigarette to steady himself. Darry came back with a cold cloth and held it to Steve's nose. He cussed as the pain ripped through him.
"Well the girls will be all over you at work tomorrow with sympathy."
"Ha like I get a look in with you there." Steve half grinned handing Soda a cigarette.
"I wish you wouldn't smoke them in the house." Darry sighed.
"Hey we could get jumped outside." Steve said.
Darry shot him a look that made him shut up quickly.
"I'll let you away with it now because you can't walk to the door let alone stand outside long enough to smoke a cigarette."
Steve grinned "Thanks Superman"
Darry had to smile himself.