This chapter moves pretty fast, but I've got to move the plot forward or else this story will end up being incredibly long. I hope it doesn't feel too rushed!

"The world is no longer safe," Two-Bit said.

He put Amy on the floor, and she immediately started crawling away. Pony laughed, and Two-Bit smiled a big smile. It was no secret that he was proud of her.

"Gotta keep a close eye on her now," he said. "Everything she sees goes in her mouth. I turned my back for two seconds yesterday, and she'd grabbed my lighter. Thought she would choke to death."

After a few more seconds of watching Amy, Two-Bit turned to Pony. "So why'd you ask me to come over? Something wrong?"

Pony shook his head. "Not exactly. I've been letting Steve stay here at night. He comes in real late and leaves real early. It's been about a week and a half now."

Two-Bit stared at him in disbelief.

"I make sure that I go to bed after Darry so I can leave the door unlocked," Pony continued. "He's always gone before we wake up in the morning."

"So Darry doesn't know?" Two-Bit asked.

Pony shook his head. "I don't think so. He hasn't said anything about it."

"Well, have you and Steve talked at all?"

Pony nodded. "Yeah. About the war and Sodapop, mostly. He's kind of incoherent sometimes. It's like he's not all there."

"What do you think Darry will do when he finds out?"

"I'm gonna keep him in the dark for as long as I can," Pony said. "He wouldn't want him here."

Amy crawled back to the couch and sat down at Two-Bit's feet. She looked at him intently until he picked her up.

"He's still using the heroin?" Two-Bit asked.

"Yeah. Some nights he even shoots up in our living room. Darry would flip if he knew. If the social worker finds out, I'll be sent to a boys' home for sure."

"Why the sudden change of heart?" Two-Bit asked.

Pony shrugged, "I don't know. I really don't. Because it's what Sodapop would have wanted, I guess."

"Would it be weird if I said I'm proud of you?"

"Yes."

"Well, that's too damn bad. I'm proud of you, kid."

Pony rolled his eyes. But, secretly, he was proud of himself too.

XXX

Pony finally cornered Charlie in the alley behind the bookstore.

"Something wrong?" he asked. "Did I do something?"

Charlie was normally friendly to him. They'd even hung out outside of work a few times. But for the past week he hadn't been acting like himself. At first Pony thought that he was just mad because school was starting soon. Everyone was dreading it, and it was a recurring topic of their break room conversations. But then Pony noticed that Charlie was being exceptionally cold to him. He had done something to upset him, but he didn't know what it was.

Charlie finished off the last of the Coke he'd been drinking. He threw the bottle down the alley. It hit the ground and shattered into a million little pieces. He looked up at Pony, and he noticed that he didn't look angry. He looked sad.

"I see how she looks at you," Charlie said.

"What?" Pony asked.

"Leslie," Charlie said. He lit a cigarette. "It's not like it's any big secret. I know, Tom knows, I think even Josh knows."

"What? What do you all know? What the hell are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb. You know just as well as any of us that Leslie likes you."

Pony felt his eyes getting big. "She does?"

Charlie stared at him, and his expression softened a little. "You really are clueless, aren't you?"

"Guess I must be."

Charlie sunk down on the pavement, and Pony sat down next to him.

"She wants you, not me," he said. He sighed a long, shaking sigh. "Dammit." He was dangerously close to crying.

"Hey," Pony said. He tentatively put an arm around Charlie's shoulders. "It'll be OK."

"Easy for you to say," he said. "You're the one she wants."

"I'm sure it won't last," Pony said. "Shoot, Charlie, I'm almost four years younger than her. I don't even think we can legally date. My brother will need to sign a form or something."

Charlie smiled a little. "Yeah. I guess you're right."

Pony would have said anything to cheer Charlie up, but he couldn't deny the fact that what he'd said made him excited. Leslie had been haunting his dreams since his birthday, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get her out of his head. He knew he was starting to fall for her.

"Ready to go back in?" Pony asked after a few minutes.

Charlie nodded and stood up. "Thanks, man."

"Any time."

XXX

Pony sighed and slammed his book shut. He couldn't concentrate on it. All he could think about was what Charlie had said about Leslie. His thoughts were racing and running around in circles. At first he thought he was going crazy, but then he realized it was something much worse.

Darry looked up. "You OK?"

"I think I'm in love," Pony said. He realized how silly he sounded, but he didn't care.

"What?" Darry asked.

"This girl at work. We talk all the time, and she's majoring in English, and her brother ran away from the draft, and she kissed me on my birthday when she was drunk. But Charlie, this guy I work with, really likes her so I don't want to take her away from him. But today Charlie told me that she likes me. I don't even care about what he wants any more. She's all I think about and I'm really starting to fall for her."

Pony buried his face in his hands. "I just don't know what to do."

He heard Darry get out of his chair and walk into the kitchen. A minute later, he was back in the living room and dangling a beer in front of Pony's face.

"You know I'm not eighteen," Pony said.

Darry sat down next to him and opened both of the bottles. "Yeah, I know. But I let Sodapop drink every now and then when he was your age, and it seems like you could use a drink. Just don't expect this to turn into a habit.

Pony took a sip of the beer and made a face. He didn't know how anyone could stand it. But the second sip went down easier, and the third even easier.

"So you really like her, huh?" Darry asked.

Pony nodded.

Darry smiled and shook his head a little.

"What?" Pony asked.

"You're all grown up," he said.

"Don't feel like I am. If I was, then I would know what to do."

Darry put an arm around his shoulders and pulled him into a hug. "I'll tell you whatever you wanna know."

Pony snorted. "Well, that's pretty much everything."

"I've got tomorrow off," Darry said. "So lucky for you, we've got all night."

Pony took another sip of his beer. It wasn't bad, but he would prefer cigarettes any day. "Good. I'm gonna need it."

Feel free to call me out if Darry (or any of the other characters) are OOC. Darry is really hard for me to write, so I'm a little nervous about the last scene in this chapter.

Reviews are always lovely :D