Okay, thanks for the reviews. Especially iheartponyboy33 for the critique on Ponyboy. Just to let you know, no tears actually fell from Pony's eyes, it just shows his sensitivity for his friends, and hearing Orion scream like that is something I would imagine would get to him and cause his eyes to perhaps well up. In fact, that's something that I admire about Ponyboy. We're all entitled to our opinions though and I thank you for yours. Thanks everybody else for the encouraging reviews; it helps a lot and makes me want to write more.

CHAPTER 21:

The next time I woke up, I was nauseous and my stomach felt like there was a million pins and needles being prodded in and out of it. My breathing was irregular, like someone was sitting on me and I couldn't catch my breath right. The guys were all laying the room, passed out here and there. Dallas was seated on the arm of the couch with his head dropped onto his chest; his hand was still holding mine. Lifting my head up instantly reminded me of my nausea and I took off to the bathroom, tripping over half of the guys to get there. Sodapop was the only one that woke up to me puking, and he came into the bathroom with me and rubbed my back while I let everything up. When I was done, I sat with my back against the tub gasping for air. Soda flushed the toilet for me and comforted me, talking to me in a gentle, low voice until my breathing slowed a bit. By then, all the guys had woken up and were looking in on the scene going on in the bathroom.

"You're white as a ghost," Two-Bit said.

That kind of scared me a little bit. Johnny was the only one out of the gang who was darker than me, so by saying I was pale like that meant that I had lost a lot of color in my face. I lifted my shirt to look at my battle scar and almost threw up again, as my white bone was looking right back at me.

"This ain't too good," I said looking around the room.

And it wasn't. For the second time since I'd been in Tulsa, I had to go to the hospital. I'll spare you the gruesome details. Just know that I got a bunch of stitches and that I still hate hospitals; that about sums up the important stuff. Once I got the stitches, I was okay. Sure, it hurt, but it felt a lot better; I guess doctors aren't so bad after all. I took it easy the next couple of days by just hanging around the house. Knowing that I'd started a lot of shit with some girls this past week, I laid low since I really didn't need to be getting into any fights right now. I heard the door slam and saw Dally walk in. He bent down and gave me a small kiss before heading into the kitchen. Not exactly the most romantic kiss of my life, but at least Dal's looking at me again.

"You okay there?" Two-Bit said, walking through the door after what looked like a long night of partying.

"Yeah, I'm okay," I replied before walking outside and lighting a cigarette.

A lot was running through my mind. Frankie called me yesterday; he got a connection in the prison now, and says Pat looks a lot better. Hopefully that means he's taking a break from drinking. I have been; haven't touched a drop since I got stabbed, knowing that I was better off not making it a habit to drink like that when things upset me. I'm not trying to be my father, as much as it sometimes looks like it. By the time I was shook out of my thoughts by a car backfiring, I had smoked half a pack of cigarettes and Ponyboy and Soda were walking up the path.

"How you doing today?" Soda asked happily.

"I'm good," I replied, returning his smile; Soda has that effect on people.

We walked into the house and took a seat at the table where Emily was serving some breakfast up.

"You hungry y'all?" She asked us.

The Curtis' said yeah, while I shook my head no and decided on a cup of juice.

"You never eat no more," Two-Bit stated as he shoveled some hash browns in his mouth.

"The pills the doctor gave me make it so I don't wanna eat," I told him shrugging.

It was true; ever since I'd started taking the pain medication my appetite had gone right out the window. I've always been lean so I knew I was starting to look pretty skinny, what with my drinking last week and not feeling up to food and now these pills. Feeling everyone looking at me awkwardly, like they wanted to tell me to eat, I grabbed two pancakes and forced them down. I sighed, knowing that I needed to eat and keep my build or else I could get jumped, and if I'd lost I would just die of humiliation. You don't lose a fair fight where I come from; it's like asking to be disowned. Absentmindedly, I scratched at my stitches, which had been driving me crazy lately.

"Stop doin' that," Two-Bit demanded, "The doc said they'll get infected if you scratch 'em."

"They itch like mad, I'm going nuts," I responded.

"That's cause all you been doing is laying around the house. You, me, and these three knuckleheads here are gunna head out of town today and get your mind off of those stitches."

"And where are we gunna go?" I asked.

"Wherever the road takes us."

And that is how Two-Bit, Soda, Pony, Dally, and myself ended up driving down the highway at breakneck speeds having ourselves a good old time. We were headed away from Tulsa and Stillwater. Man, it felt good to get away from my problems for a while. Somehow, we ended up at a little bar in some small town, and the jukebox was playing pretty good music, so Soda and I got out on the dance floor and showed the people who were in there what we were made of. I forgot all about my problems as Soda and I laughed and danced while the rest of the guys whooped and hollered. When our legs finally got tired, Soda and I walked over to the bar and ordered two cokes; I gave Dally a kiss on the lips and he smiled and pulled me outside. He then proceeded to push me against a wall and kiss me furiously.

"Damn, I missed you," Dal told me breathlessly once we pulled away.

I smiled and fell onto his chest and felt his arms collapse gently around me, knowing exactly what he'd meant. We'd seen each other everyday, but we hadn't exactly been playing the part of girlfriend and boyfriend lately; it felt good to be in his arms. After a few minutes, Dal and I walked back to the bar, hand in hand, and cracked up laughing because Two-Bit was dancing in circles around Pony, whose ears were bright red and the kid looked like he wanted to die right there.

"Thatta boy Pony!" I shouted with laughter.

Ponyboy simply shook his head and pushed Two-Bit lightly away, going to the bar and trying his best to look serious, but the grin that appeared on his face let us all know he was having a good time. We hung around the bar for a while and explored the town a little bit before piling back into Two-Bit's car and heading back home. I was totally wiped out from our journey, since I hadn't been doing much. My side was throbbing a little bit, but it more annoying than painful. Still, right now it didn't matter much. Today was a real good day. Pony fell dead asleep in the car and Soda had to shake him for about two minutes before he woke up. Dally and I managed to get into my bed at Two-Bit's before the two of us fell asleep; Two-Bit didn't even make it to our room, he fell asleep right on the sofa.

"All of y'all wake up!" We heard Sarah's angry voice call the next morning.

My eyes popped open and I heard Dal curse under his breath. Sarah came storming into our room.

"What'd I tell you about not drinking when you were on those pills?" Sarah yelled.

Confusion spread across my face and I stared hard at her until she threw three empty wine bottles at me.

"Found these outside in the trash, care to explain?"

"It wasn't me."

No one believed me though. Well, Two-Bit did, but everyone assumed that we drank it together so it's not like he accounted for much. It's been me and him for the past few days. I packed up my stuff and left Sarah's and have been staying at Buck's with him, since he's good and mad at his mom. Sarah told me not to go, that we could work this out, but I told her if she didn't trust me, I probably shouldn't live there any more. Dallas won't look at me again, he screamed at me and said he thought I'd been sober and said that he's through with me. The rest of the gang won't look me in the eyes and think I'm just like my dad. Darry tried to talk some "sense" into me, but all I did was stand there, silently seething.

"Who the hell do they all think they are?" I asked Two-Bit as the two of us walked down the street to get away from the noisiness of Buck's for a little while.

Two-Bit merely let out a string of curse words and threw an arm around my shoulders.

"It's just you and me right now," He told me, "Look at us, we're a couple of outcasts. I have half a mind to take off and see what they'd do then."

We had done a lot of talking like that for the last two days. I knew Two-Bit would never leave, though; these are the guys he grew up with and he was famous around these parts. No one ever wants to start over. Trust me, I know that better than anybody.

"You stop feelin' guilty right now," He said, "I know you didn't drink it, so you didn't do nothing wrong."

"You're the only thing I got left here," I told him truthfully, "I really might head out of here so you can be with your friends."

This caused Two-Bit to stop walking.

"You can't leave, you're my best friend," He said simply.

I told him to stop being so stupid. That his family was worried about where he was and that he'd been friends with the gang his whole life and it would be stupid to ruin it, but Two-Bit just wouldn't hear any of it. It actually made me happy; Two-Bit may be a goofball and skip school too much, but he's loyal and the only one who trusts me completely. Things were just all a mess again. People say times are hard for everyone, but you try living life on the wrong side of the tracks for a while and see if you like how things go down. Ponyboy once told me how you can see the sunrise from both sides of town, but just because you're seeing the same sun doesn't mean that you're living in the same world.