A/N: I'm sorry this took so damn long! I totally underestimated school. (And I'm doing this instead of homework.) And I've recently been really sick, so I haven't felt much like typing. Those are my excuses, not that you're interested! On with the chapter!

Thanks so much for everyone reviewing! I love you guys!

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Ponyboy jumped out of the car and ran after Soda, towards the scuffle that was turning into a fully fledged fight.

"COME ON!" Curly screamed wildly, standing up on top of a dustbin and almost inviting the other boys to tackle him. "Come and get it, you dirty rotten –"

Someone slammed their shoulder into the dustbin, making Curly trip and land on the sidewalk. He got straight back up and ran at the kid who did it, a young looking guy who seemed almost scared to fight Curly back. Soc-in-training, Pony supposed.

In fact, they were all young looking. Pony was having very little trouble fighting the two that had rushed him as he approached, and even Soda, who had almost no experience in a fist fight and had been coughing his guts up minutes before, had an easy job. He was almost a foot taller than the kid, who was actually one of the largest in the group, and Pony saw the young Soc's attitude go from infallible to almost non-existent in a matter of seconds. Soda decked him easily and ran towards the larger of the two having a go at Pony.

Curly had his foot on one's neck, more as a symbol of power than anything else. That was Curly for you – he was the most territorial person Pony had ever met, including Tim. They weren't in Shepard territory now, but as far as Curly was concerned, Shepard territory and greaser territory were basically the same thing.

Pony ducked a punch easily. "What are you, twelve?" he cried, grabbing a hand that seemed to be trying to claw at his face.

"CHEAT!" the kid screamed. "You greasers are all cheaters! You cheater greasers!"

"Look, kid, beating you in a fight ain't cheating," Pony said, almost laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of the situation. "Y'all just stink."

The younger boy ripped his hand free and tried to kick out. Ponyboy dodged, and the kid was swiftly pushed to the ground by Sodapop. Realizing they were vastly outmatched, the boys started running, screaming obscenities they probably didn't know the meaning of. "What was that about?" Pony asked Curly.

Curly kicked at the stray lid of a bottle of Pepsi. "Said we cheated at the rumble," he mumbled, looking at the ground almost as though he were ashamed. "Dunno why. They weren't even there!" Curly was taking everything a bit too personally.

"I never met them," said Ponyboy quietly, looking off in the direction they left in.

"Probably because they're still at junior high," Curly scoffed. "Bet even my sister could've taken them alone."

"What d'you mean, even? Angela's plenty good; I wouldn't want to fight her."

Curly smiled nastily. "I know. She ain't anywhere close to as good as me." He stretched his arms up in the air, groaning with satisfaction at how it felt. "He okay?"

"Who?" Pony followed Curly's gaze to the car, where Soda was leaning against the door with his head buried into his arm. He sighed. "You want a ride, Curly?"

Curly seemed to lose what little interest he had in Soda's wellbeing and return to the cool but selfish kid Pony knew and – despite Darry's best intentions – liked. "Oh, Lord yes. I hitched here."

Ponyboy didn't ask why. "You wanna drive?" He held out the key enticingly. If Curly were anything like his brother, and Pony knew he was, he'd jump at the opportunity to show off.

Sure enough, Curly grabbed the key and ran off, Pony not far behind him. He wished now that Soda hadn't fought, but after that last outburst… It had hurt Pony greatly. He missed his mother desperately, and he loved Soda so much that hearing something negative about their mother come from his lips was unthinkable. What was worse was that Soda had said that Pony being like his mother was a bad thing… it was all so confusing! Pony resolved to just get home, wait until Soda was better, then find out what was bothering him so much. Pony knew Soda well enough to know this hadn't just come out of nowhere.

Soda let Pony climb into the middle before getting in himself and leaning back against the window; Pony knew he was trying to sleep again. He wasn't coughing like he was before, but there was a certain noise and speed of his breaths that made Pony nervous.

"So yeah, we were all in this guy's store, and Tim's swiped probably around half his merchandise already, no exaggeration, and he still notices nothing. Then Jake pulls a knife, you know, just to see how he'll react, and he pulls a heater on us. We got out pretty quick, but he didn't notice the stuff…"

Pony ignored Curly, still trying to listen to Soda breathe. He was pretty sure he was asleep now, and he wasn't certain whether or not that was a good thing.

"So if you ever need a new can opener, or frying pan - yeah we got that too, can you believe it? – you know where to go." Curly took his hands off the wheel briefly as he fiddled around in his pockets.

"What the hell are you doing?" Pony asked, a little harshly.

Curly put his elbows on top of the wheel, sticking a smoke in his mouth and flicking the lighter. Pony slapped it out of his mouth. "What are you doing? You can have one too, if you want…"

Yeah, I want, cried Pony's brain. "You ain't smoking in here!"

Curly stared at him before his eyes slid momentarily to Sodapop. "Oh, come on, he ain't smoking it!"

"Look, you can put it away or get out of the car!" Pony said firmly.

Curly stared straight ahead for a minute before he started to laugh. He always did have an odd sense of humour, and honestly, that was what Pony really liked about him. "Why'd you hitch here?" Pony asked.

Curly shrugged. "Partly 'cause I have friends. Mostly 'cause I felt like it."

Typical Curly. He'd always had this "I can do whatever I want" streak, even though he couldn't. Sure, he might go around stealing things and pulling knives on unsuspecting shopkeepers, but he could never betray his gang. Partially because he'd never want to, but partially because Tim would kill him – figuratively speaking, of course.

Soda shifted in his sleep and gave a strange snuffly sound that was almost a cough, but didn't quite make it. Pony turned back to Curly. "Can't we go any faster?" he asked.

Curly rolled his eyes. "Well, why didn't you say so?"

And with that, Curly sped down the streets with reckless abandon, laughing at the glares he received from children playing on the sidewalk and women tending their gardens. Pony's nervousness from when he and Soda had driven returned in full, and he tried to remind himself that this was a lot slower than Soda had been driving when he had taken him drag racing.

But we hadn't been surrounded by children and corners then, Pony thought.

"Are you sure you can drive this thing?" he asked, almost hesitant to be even a minor distraction.

"Are you kidding?" Pony regretted asking the question when Curly purposely screeched the tires going around a bend. Soda coughed in his sleep again, but didn't make any more noise than that.

Wait a minute… no more noise? Heart beating wildly, Pony put his hand on Soda's chest, waiting a few moments. Nothing. No movement.

Oh no. Not again. No, Pony wouldn't let this happen again. "Soda, WAKE UP!" he yelled, shaking his brother with perhaps a touch too much violence. He knew what Soda could sleep through.

Soda's eyes snapped open, and they clouded with slight panic as he realized he couldn't breathe. He grabbed Pony's hand and started to cough.

"Jesus, how can one person make so much noise?" Curly muttered. Pony glared at him, and he laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. "I'm only joking."

In Pony's opinion, Curly sometimes tried too hard to be his brother. He'd never say it to his face, and it was only rarely he saw this side of him, but right now he was showing it.

"We're here," Curly said, parking half in the driveway and half in Mrs Mathews' front lawn. "I'll walk from here. Thanks for the ride… I think."

Despite himself, Pony smiled as Curly loped away. As the member of a tightly knit gang who liked to think of himself as a bit of a writer, Ponyboy liked talking to people outside his group purely for the joy of understanding them. Darry didn't understand anyone that wasn't exactly like him, and Sodapop understood everyone that came in his path with no effort at all, but there was a certain quality in trying to understand and really thinking about other people that Ponyboy was pretty sure was his gift alone.

"Wait here," he muttered to Soda, running inside the house. It had been a while since he had gone running purely for pleasure. He'd have to do that later, once he was sure Soda was okay.

"Why the hell are you going through my stuff, Ponyboy Curtis?" Darry roared from doorway to the lounge where Pony was kneeling, hand deep in the bag Darry kept beside his bed.

Pony sat up, a sudden, unwelcome but perhaps valid idea in his mind. "Sodapop's inhaler's empty. Can you get him another one? He's in the car." Pony knew that Soda had probably been half delirious when he grabbed his hand, and before that he had wanted nothing to do with him. Pony didn't know why his brother had suddenly decided to hate him, but his words had been fairly clear. Once he was feeling better, he would not want anything to do with his little brother.

Pony swallowed the lump in his throat. Darry was going through his bag, muttering things that weren't exactly complimentary about the person sitting only a foot away from him. "I didn't park the car!" Pony cried indignantly. "It was Curly!"
"And what the hell were you doing with Curly Shepard?" Darry yelled. "You were supposed to be on a driving lesson… if I find out Soda's having an attack because you two went to some… some bar or something with loads of smoke in the air you will be very sorry."

"You're just grumpy because you feel left out!" Pony screamed.

Darry stared at him incredulously. "What? What's there to be left out of? I already damn well know how to drive! I taught Soda to drive, not the other way round!"

"You're jealous because Soda's spending time with me, ain't you? We get to do all these great things together and you can't – you don't even want to be part of my life, do you?"

That was it. The truth was out. Pony watched Darry carefully, looking for any indication that what he said was true. He did feel a little like that, like Darry was just shoving him off with Sodapop to do everything, but his feelings weren't quite set in concrete yet. He was bluffing, trying to see what Darry's reaction would be.

Darry looked down at his hands momentarily before he stood – he might as well have been eight feet tall for how Pony was feeling at that moment. "I'm going to help Soda. Then you and me are going to have a talk."

Pony stewed while Darry was gone, feeling much like he used to about his family. He had thought Darry and he were getting along better, but he couldn't even be bothered to pick them up when Pony had asked, and the way he had just yelled at him spoke volumes. Even Soda was angry with him.

He sat down heavily on the couch, putting his head in his hands and exhaling heavily. He wasn't sure what he had done, but whatever it was, he'd try to fix. He hadn't sat in that interrogation chair for that long only to lose his family to some stupid mistake he couldn't even remember.

"Soda's going to sit in the car for a bit."

Ponyboy jumped; he hadn't heard Darry come in. "What's bothering you, Pony?" the eldest Curtis continued. "That ain't like you."

Pony glanced sidelong up at Darry. "Soda got real mad at me before. I dunno why…"

Darry sat down heavily, sighing. "That ain't got nothing to do with you and me, though. What's up with you? Talk to me."

"You just kept getting mad at us this morning," Pony said lamely, knowing it wasn't the whole reason. Talking to Darry was still quite intimidating.

Darry shook his head in hopelessness, looking down at the ground. "I had no sleep, you had no sleep, and you and I both know Soda never washed the dishes like he was supposed to. I had to do it, like I always do. Of course I was getting mad at you! But that's still no reason to say what you said, Ponyboy."

"I know," said Pony in a small voice.

"Then what?"

"Like I said," Pony continued after a pause, "you don't want to be a part of my life."

"That's crazy Pony –"

"Well, maybe it ain't!" Pony cried. "Maybe that's how I see it. You work so hard that you never have time to relax and do stuff with us."

Darry put his head in his hands. "Maybe you're too young to understand," he said slowly. "I have to do those things. You heard what the judge said; if I don't get enough money Soda's going to a foster home."

Pony looked down, trying to hide from Darry that his eyes were suddenly wet with tears. "That's another thing. You never have any thoughts just about me. It seems like all you care about –" He stopped. He couldn't say it.

"Ponyboy." Darry put his hand on Pony's shoulder, but the youngest Curtis jerked away. "Tell me." Ponyboy said nothing. "Pony, how am I supposed to change anything about myself if I can't find out what part you don't like? Because I'll do it. I'll change."

"All you care about is Soda!" Pony cried suddenly. "There, you happy? All you care about is Soda."

"D'you think I'm making excuses?" Darry asked desperately. "Soda will be sent to a foster home, Pony, you heard him say it!"

Pony was shaking his head silently, still looking down. "You don't get it," he muttered. "I don't want Soda to go to a foster home. I want you to think of something other than that." He looked slowly up at Darry, taking in his bewildered expression. Darry said nothing, and Ponyboy knew he couldn't do what he had asked. He didn't know how to think of anyone but Soda. "Forget it," he mumbled brokenly. If he were back home, he would get up now and go back to his room. But he wasn't home. He didn't have a home. He knew home was where the heart was, but right then he wanted the type of home with walls and closed doors. He didn't want to put up with Darry or Soda at this point.

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A/N: Aw, Ponyboy needs a hug! To hug Ponyboy, click that big green button down there. You know, the one that says "Review". C'mon, I am doing this for free!