Darry's POV

"Its been a week since he's been gone. I don't think he's in Tulsa. Or Oklahoma for that matter." Tim was saying. "The kids smart. I got my gang all over the city, keeping an eye out for 'im. But they all say they don't see any sign of him."

I nodded my head and glanced at Soda, who was sitting on the couch looking miserable. "Thanks, Tim. We appreciate the help."

"Any time Curtis." Tim said goodbye and left.

I looked at Soda. "Soda…" I was lost for words. Not in Oklahoma? Where could he be? "I think we should just wait till he's ready to come back."

Soda looked at me shocked. "What? How could we do that! That could be years from now! We don't know when he'll be back! I want Ponyboy back! I want to be there when he goes on his first date or when he first shaves or when he gets his license or when he graduates or when he has his nightmares or when he's sad or when he's-" I cut him off.

"I know Soda. But there's not much we could do! We have no clue where the hell he went!"

Soda looked kind of hurt by my yelling. "I'm sorry Soda. I'm just as lost as ya are. I want him back too. But he promised he'd come back when he's ready. Hopefully that's soon." I reassure him.

"Yeah. I know. I hope he's okay." He says quietly.

"I hope so too Soda. I hope so too."

Ponyboy's POV

Its been a week since I've joined the gang. The gang has been showing me how to survive in New York. You mug people for their money and belongings, shoplift, hustle pool, and fight snakes gang whenever we see them on our turf.

The number one rule in our gang is to always carry a blade. If you walk down the street alone without a blade, well, it wont be pretty.

Michael says I'm doing pretty good. I found out that I'm a natural at pool. I'm good at lying, so I guess hustling pool is kind of my thing. I'm also good at shoplifting. I could walk in any kind of store and come out with a bunch of crap. Its real easy. I just blend into the background, try to look as casual as possible, walk around the store slowly, and just put things in my pocket when the cashier ain't looking.

Right now, Michael, Chris, Dean, and I are mugging some guy, that just came out of a jewelry shop, for a nice ring, that was probably meant as a gift for his wife. Chris, Michael, and Dean, were beating the guy up, while I grabbed the ring. We ran off once we beat him unconscious and dragged him into an empty alley.

I studied the ring after we were a block away. The ring sure was gorgeous! It was gold, with one huge diamond in the middle.

"This thing will be worth a fortune!" I exclaimed.

"Shh! We don't want snakes gang to know we have this. I ain't gonna loose this thing just because I couldn't keep a fourteen year olds trap shut." Michael glared at me.

I shrugged. "Sorry. Forgo t." I said, even though I didn't care.

I found out I liked fighting in the past week living in New York. It was a way to let loose all the anger I felt. When I felt angry, but didn't feel like fighting, then I go get drunk. I only feel angry when I think about Johnny, Dallas or my parents. The world took them away from me. I don't hate the world though. I know its your life, and you have to make it happy, the world cant do that for you. The world gives you more than a few things to live for, you just have to find them.

I was starting to get lost in my thought. I was thinking about home. About Darry and Soda and the gang. What are they doing now? Are they worried about me? How is Darry and Soda taking this? I immediately felt guilty. I ran off, and they must be worried sick about me. Another member of the gang, gone. I mentally kicked myself. stupid! I thought. this might help me, but it wont help them! I felt anger rising, and I knew I needed somewhere to cool off.

"Hey Chris, want to head down to the bar with me?" I asked him. Chris and I have become pretty close friends. We hit it off right away after I agreed to join the gang. Its probably because were the same age.

He nodded. "Sure."

I handed the ring to Michael, and headed down the street with Chris on my heels. The bar is down town on the corner where our neighborhood connects. We walked a couple blocks in silence.

Then, "So your mad?" Chris asks.

"Yeah." Chris can read me like a book.

We have a lot in common. We both like to read, we both fight and drink to get rid of our anger, and we both dont have a full family.

He understood me, when I told him my story. It was hard to explain, since I wasn't exactly sure how to put it in words. I didn't really understand why I chose New York to start a new life in. I know it has something to do with Dally, but I'm not entirely sure what. All I know is that I can get tough in New York. And I need to get more tough. Chris understands. Although he says I seem pretty tough already.

We reached the bar, and we both ordered whiskey. This past week, I've drunk more than I have in my whole fourteen years of living. Chris got me started on it. I never had anything stronger than a beer before. And you can bet Darry got on my case about it. After he gave me a long lecture on how drinking will ruin your life, and grounding me for a week, I never went near beer again. It tasted like shit anyway. Just thinking about my big brother brought my mood down again.

Gulping down almost half the bottle of whiskey, like the pro I am, I looked around the room for something to spark my interest. I spotted the pool table, but wasn't really in the right mood to hustle or play. So I sat at the booth with Chris, yapping to me about some dare that him and Jay were involved in.

"So Jay and I ain't gonna go down that street for a whole week cuz…" I tuned him out and started taking light sips of my whiskey.

Whiskey always calms me down right away. I love whiskey a lot now. I started liking beer too. Its kind of weird. The first time I drank beer was about a year ago…

-flash back

I sat on the couch, and started watching TV with Two-Bit. Two-Bit was sitting on the floor with a huge piece of chocolate cake and a beer, watching an episode of Mickey Mouse.

A commercial came on and Two-Bit noticed me sitting there for the first time.

"Hiya, Pone! Wanna play truth or dare?" he asked looking at me excitingly.

I looked at him with an amused expression. Not one day goes by with out Two-Bit causing some sort of trouble, and I always get a good laugh about it. Well, usually anyways.

"Sure." I answered, knowing I might regret this if he decides to go extreme.

He looked at me with a mischievous grin. "Truth or dare?"

I always go for dares. There more fun. "Dare."

He smiled widely now, and held up his half empty beer bottle. "I Dare ya to drink the rest of my beer."

I looked at him like he was crazy. "Do ya want Darry to strangle ya? Because it sure looks that way to me." He knew what Darry thought of alcohol. And he knew that Darry would kill me or Soda if we even touched the stuff.

"C'mon kid. I wont tell! It'll be our little secret. Its only half the bottle anyways!" he reasoned.

I looked at him doubtfully, but I was a little curious, so I agreed. I took my first sip and recoiled my tongue instantly. I made a disgusted face, but swallowed the bitter tasting liquid.

Two-Bit laughed. "C'mon, Pone! Chug!"

I drank the rest of the beer down as fast as I could. It tasted terrible! How can Two-Bit drink that stuff every minute of the day? I set the bottle down on the coffee table.

"Okay Two-Bit. I drank it. Ya better not tell anyone or we'll both be skinned alive by Darry." I told him.

He nodded in agreement. "I wont tell a living soul, Ponyboy. Ya can count on me!"

That night at dinner, Two-Bit let it spill that earlier I drank some beer. Darry was furious. I really regretted ever agreeing to drink that beer with Two-Bit. I should've known Two-Bit wasn't too great at holding on to secrets. Darry made me promise to not drink any beer again. And ever since that dreadful evening, I never played truth or dare with Two-Bit again…

I sighed. So much for that promise. I understand now why Two-Bit drinks, and I like it too. I felt awful for braking that promise to not drink beer. He'll get over it. a voice said in my head. I had to agree with it. Drinking helped me relax and the more I did it the better I felt.

I finished the rest of my whiskey and ordered a small bottle of Jack Daniels, so I would have something to drink later if we didn't have anything to eat for dinner again.

I slipped the small bottle in the back pocket of my jeans, and headed outside with Chris behind me. We were passing the parking lot, when we spotted snake and a couple of his hoods, along with Mike (Michael) and Dean, crouching over something on the ground.

We exchanged looks and quickly headed over there. When we got closer, I noticed that the thing Mike and Dean were crouching over was a body… and the ground underneath it was turning a dark red color, fast.

AN: Sorry I haven't been updating every night! I've been pretty busy! I will try to update more often! The next chapter should be very interesting, so stick around! Review!