Disclaimer: Upsettingly, I do not own The Outsiders nor do I make a profit from S.E. Hinton's work fabulous work. S.E. Hinton is the only true owner of The Outsiders. Nor do I own Hound Dog by Elvis Presley or Ain't to Proud to Beg by I-have-no-idea-who wrote-that-song.

A/N: I have many people to thank for helping me in the process of writing this story, but few people personally PMed and reviewed me. I want to thank Night-Willows personallyfor PMing me and supporting me. I have many people who helped me and you all will be mentioned and thanked for your helpful reviews at the end of my story.

Darry's POV

The ride home was unnaturally silent for a group of teenage boys. Ponyboy had barely reacted when I told him, it was like he expected the terrible news. I didn't know if that was good or bad. Bad, I think. Experience told me he was just bottling all of his feelings.

I turned up the radio and Elvis Presley's Hound Dog was on. It was one of Ponyboy's favorite Elvis song.

I smiled as I started to sing off bearable off pitch. Ponyboy's face lit up and Soda was fighting a smirk as I sang loudly and obnoxiously.

You ain't nothing but a hound dog,

Cryin' all the time,

You ain't nothin' but a hound dog,

Cryin' all the time

When they said you was high class,

Ponyboy started to sing with me. Now, I can't carry a tune in a bucket and neither can Sodapop. But, Ponyboy had a deep, smooth voice that has a bit of a twang in it when he sang that sounded real good. He got his musical talent from mom and lucky for everyone's ears Ponyboy's signing soon started to drowned me out.

Well, that was just a lie,

When they said you was high classed,

Well, that was just a lie,

You ain't ever caught a rabbit,

And you ain't no friend of mine.

We all started to laugh after the ding was over and the song was changed to Ain't to Proud to Beg.

Ponyboy, for the first time since the car accident, he had a big and genuine smile on his face.

I decided right there that I wasn't giving up. Many people were told that they were going to die of cancer but they lived for years. Ponyboy could be one of those people, right?

Ponyboy's POV

You know that feeling you get when you've received too much bad news that you just shut down. I'm just floating, I know what going on, but I can't feel a thing, but I can't feel anything. I'm weak, but I'm numb beyond belief. It's the only thing keeping me sane for now. I'll process all the heartache later.

I heard Darry singing one of my favorite songs, Hound Dog by Elvis Presley. I loved it because it was so random and hilarious. I started to sing along with him. Most people said I had a really great voice, but I wasn't so sure. I mean, it was alright I guess, better than my brothers but nothing compared to my mom.

I smiled wide as we all started singing. When it was over and the sing changed, I was still smiling. Because, maybe, even in all of this big mess, things might eventually be okay again. But I knew that was wistful thinking because nothing would be the same with my brothers or the gang if I died, or if anyone else in the gang was lost, things would never be the same ever again.

A/N: I'm so sorry this is short, just under 700 words. It's just a short little leading chapter that I wanted to post before I went to bed tonight. Next chapter will start all the angst that comes with that depressing news like that.

Preview: The gang's reactions!