Pony's POV

We managed to heave the overly heavy chest outside, but that was as far as we got. Two-Bit and Katelyn's banter had Soda and I in stitches and we were laughing way too hard to be of any more assistance. We wouldn't get any assistance from Two-Bit either, who was mostly here for the kicks and not to do any real work. He'd carried a box or two, but mostly he'd just barked out orders and gotten in the way. And Steve had had to work, so that left Johnny. Johnny wasn't weak by any means, but he wasn't so strong that he and Darry could lift the chest by themselves. It had taken a collective effort by all four of us to get it this far.

Darry frowned at all of us and wiped beads of sweat from his forehead. "Hey Katelyn, what would your dad have done if we hadn't helped you load up all this stuff? Your uncle doesn't seem to be helping much."

Katelyn gave something between a smirk and a grunt. "Who knows."

Last night Katelyn's dad had rented a truck and informed her that she and her uncle were to get everything loaded up today so they could leave as soon as he got home from work. Since it was Saturday, we had all come over to give her a hand, which was a good thing. Shortly after we arrived, Katelyn's uncle had hopped in his own car and taken off. That guy was worthless and I could at least be glad of this: Katelyn wasn't going to be living with him anymore.

"Ponyboy, come on, quite laughing and help us out!" I turned my attention to Darry, who had somehow managed to get the day off. Why he was singling me out I didn't know, except that he always seemed to single me out. Things hadn't changed much between us.

I had to admit that my return home hadn't been quite what I was hoping. I wasn't expecting Darry to tackle me in a hug the way Soda had, but I was hoping he'd at least act happy about it. When I walked through the door he had only looked my way and said, "Glad you're home kid." I heard that tone many times before, when I'd get home from school and he had something he wanted to tell me, or something for me to do.

"That's just Darry." Soda had tried to tell me. But whatever. What Soda thought about me was more important anyways.

"Come on guys, this chest isn't going to move itself." He was getting exasperated, and Two-Bit was doing a wonderful job of mimicking him, which only provoked more laughter.

"Need a hand?" Jasper startled us as he stepped up onto the porch and grabbed the other side of the chest. With seemingly no effort, he and Darry carried it off the porch and lifted it into the truck.

"You must be Darry." Jasper held out his hand. I had been right, Darry was dwarfed next to him.

Darry seemed to be sizing the guy up as he gripped his hand. It wasn't every day a man like Jasper walked up and offered his assistance to strangers. Not in this neighborhood. "Have we met?"

"Pony told me quite a bit about you."

Darry shot me an inquisitive look and I gave a cocky grin back, pretending to act his superior.

Jasper turned around to Soda, "And you must be Soda Pop." The way he said it made it sound like two names instead of one.

Soda laughed good-naturedly. "That would be me. And you would be…."

Jasper looked over at me, a little puzzled. Ok, so I had forgotten to mention anything about him to my brothers. It just…I don't know, hadn't come up.

"That's Jasper!" Katelyn exclaimed, giving the big man a hug. I thought that was a little gutsy myself but she apparently didn't. "I can't believe you didn't tell your brothers about him."

"Yeah, what were you thinking Ponyboy?" Two-Bit added in.

I only rolled my eyes. "We met when I was at Rachel's." And that was the only explanation I cared to give for now. Maybe I would tell Soda more about him later. About how he knew Dally and all.

After a few minutes of casual talking, Jasper jutted his chin towards the house, "Who's that?"

Johnny stood, leaning against the side of the house with his hands shoved in his pockets. We had all pretty much forgotten that he was there. He was pretending not to hear us, but I knew he could.

"That's Johnny." I answered. Jasper frowned slightly and then a look of recognition came over his face and I wondered if he had heard Dally mention him.

"Hey, we still got quite a bit of work to do and it looks like it may start raining soon so we better get to it." Darry gave me a nudge and headed back for the house.

Once the truck was brimming, we took the load over to Katelyn's new house, and it was nice. I mean, really nice. It made their furniture look pretty lousy and I wondered why her dad hadn't just bought some new stuff. Seeing the house made what was happening really started to sink. Katelyn, one who was as much part of the gang as any of us, was moving to the WEST side.

As we returned to her uncle's house and loaded up the last of their things, the heavy, gray sky overhead began to match our mood, especially mine and Johnny's. Johnny was more quiet than ever, if that's possible, his eyes changing between pain and emptiness.

Jasper made a point of catching me alone and asked, "How're you doing Pony?" I could tell there was more to the question than just a casual greeting and I remembered what I had told him about Soda and Darry.

"I'm ok. Things are….they're ok." And I managed a weak smile.

Katelyn's dad got home and smiled approvingly at the truck. "Is this everything Kate?"

"Yes sir. We already took one load over."

"Good girl." The man worked way too much, and none of us liked where he was moving, but he was really a pretty nice guy. At least he had enough sense to want something better for Katelyn.

"Hey, I really appreciate you guys helping out like you did. I don't suppose Robert helped much huh?" He didn't wait for an answer. "I'm gonna go check and make sure we got everything and then we better be off, I'm already starting to feel some sprinkles."

Katelyn turned to all of us. "Yeah, I really appreciate it. But Jasper…how did you know I would be moving today?"

"I said I'd be checking in on you didn't I."

"Yeah but..."

Jasper held up his hand. He wasn't going to let us know how he found out, but that was ok. The nice thing was, he HAD found out. That meant he could find out other things too, and would know if Katelyn ever needed help.

She gave Jasper another quick hug and then followed suit with each of us. Coming to Johnny last. I could see the tears burning behind Johnny's eyes. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair! I wanted to shout the words. Jasper noticed my change in mood and placed a hand on my shoulder. It was as if he were reminding me, "If you're waiting for life to hand you a diamond on a silver platter, you're going to be disappointed."

"Hey," Katelyn exclaimed when she pulled away from Johnny. "Where's Two-Bit?"

"Who knows." Was the only answer any of us could give.

Katelyn's dad came back outside and climbed into the truck, "Ready Kate."

Ready or not, she was leaving. She opened the door, and then turned towards us again, her head high, "Goodbye you no-good hoodlums. If I see you at school and don't talk to you, well….." And with a slight grin and a wave, she slid into the truck and closed the door.

If any of us could make it, Katelyn could. It would be hard, but she would act her way through and come out all right.

"Hey Jasper…" I turned to face him but he was gone. Oh well, I had a feeling we would be seeing more of him from time to time and I was very glad for Katelyn's sake.

Just then Two-Bit came running up, a stray dog following behind. "Hey!" he shouted after the disappearing truck. "You didn't wait for me! I wanted to SHOW you something!"

"You shouldn't have disappeared like you did then." I quipped, feeling a splash of rain on my face.

Two-Bit stood still for once, with the dog standing by his side.

"Well, what do you know." Soda piped up, trying to lesson the tension, "Looks like Two-Bit got him a dog after all."

Two-Bit's face lit up. "Yep. And we're gonna be best buddies. I'm gonna teach him lots of tricks."

"Sure you are." Sarcasm cloaked Darry's voice.

"I AM. You just watch." And with that he turned towards the dog. "Mickey, sit." The dog merely wagged is tail happily. "Sit." Mickey began inching forward. "No, SIT" …..Stay." Mickey only inched faster. "STAY….Wait! Stop! Come! Get back here you stupid mutt!"

Even Johnny laughed as Two-Bit chased after Mickey and his words drifted back, "I HATE dogs!"

"Gonna be best buddies." Darry smirked.

Soda slapped Darry on the back, "Yeah, gonna teach him all kinds of neat tricks."

I looked over at my brothers, "Hey, don't make fun of them. They're gonna join the circus and be famous."

"Not with that act." Darry's words were muted by a clap of thunder. "Come on, let's get home."