Updated August 14, 2020. This story is discontinued.
New Story is called a Motion of Space
"You know, you can talk to them. Right?" A young voice chimed in as he would be helping the already tense situation. "Stop acting so tense."
Ponyboy moved his shoulders and sat back in his chair, otherwise trying to ignore the comment and the fact that he'd actually tried to relax. He looked around, making sure that no one hear the same voice he'd heard, even though he knew no one would.
And when he saw that everyone kept on laughing and smacking each other in the head, Ponyboy shoved another mouthful of soup into his mouth. He kept his eyes trained ahead, because he could feel Johnny was staring at him. And strangely, he didn't like it, because it felt strange. It felt like if Ponyboy looked into Johnny's eyes, he would be able to read him like an open book. And Pony didn't want that.
Darry stopped stirring the soup, smiled and looked at Sodapop. "Geez Pony, if I knew you were this hungry, I would've made more. You like the soup?"
Pony nodded and swallowed another spoonful. It salty and metallic -it must've been the spoon. Or maybe if was when he bit his tongue to keep shut when he saw Dally waltzing in awhile back.
"You're going to make them suspicious. Just talk to them. They won't bite."
Ponyboy let his eyes wander to the source of the voice. It was Logan again. He'd appeared right after he'd gone downstairs, reassuring Pony that everything was going to be okay. But it wasn't going to be okay. It was never going to be okay.
"Ponyboy," Two-Bit began in a high pitched voice. "Did I tell you that your shiner is shining all over the place? You look like the sun, except well, you're blue."
He was trying to obviously be funny, but Pony didn't find it funny at all. He nodded numbly instead, and took another spoonful.
Darry glanced over at Ponyboy and frowned. "Ponyboy, does your head hurt?"
Ponyboy looked up and saw that everyone was staring at him earnestly. He avoided Dally and Johnny's eyes. letting his eyes wander to Logan, who was smiling like there was no tomorrow.
"Go on Pony, tell them," he said giddily. "Your head doesn't hurt."
"My head doesn't hurt." Ponyboy stated confidently.
Dally turned and looked in the direction where Pony had been staring, and everyone followed pursuit. Dally was the one who spoke up though, saying, "Whaddya doin' lookin' there all the time Pony? See a ghost?" He chuckled and nudged Two-Bit. "Or did the Soc's get you good in the head?"
Steve rolled his eyes and Soda smirked. Darry turned back and kept stirring. Two-Bit took another gulp of his drink and Johnny didn't do anything. Logan smiled again and Ponyboy kept his mouth in a tight line.
Dally stopped laughing suddenly and sat up in his seat. "What's your problem Pony? I was just joking." He looked bored and Pony was sure he said the wrong thing, he would get angry.
"I know," Pony nodded.
Johnny swept his eyes around the whole room, his eyes stopping on Pony, because he was concerned. Concussion maybe? He thought. But Dally rolled his eyes and slumped back in his chair. "Anyways," he ran his hand through his hair. "I have nothin' better to do." He turned, facing both Johnny and Ponyboy. "You guys, wanna watch a movie tonight?"
Pony, who had reached over to drink his lemonade, choked on his drink, and froze, catching everyone's attention, especially Dally's. Because Dally knew body language after spending so much time with criminals and what not. Dally pretended he didn't notice, but he did. And stopped what he had been doing -which was picking at his fingernails- and watched him, interested at his reactions.
Logan smiled as everyone watched Ponyboy in concern. "Hey kiddo, if you keep acting like that, they might put you in a mental hospital."
Ponyboy grimaced at the nickname, but otherwise he ignored it. He rubbed his mouth, noticing how bad he'd reacted. He should be more careful, or else Darry might worry. And he didn't want Darry to worry. But it was still Friday, he still had time. What time was it? He thought
"It's 7 o'clock, kiddo," Logan singsonged reading his thoughts. "The whole showdown starts around 1 am. You still have time."
Darry stared, puzzled at Ponyboy and was about to answer Dally first, but Pony cut in. He swallowed and caught his breath, "No. Um, sorry Dally, I have homework to do. Maybe another time." He tried to compose himself. Because Dally was Dally, and he could smell a lie from a mile. But Pony had gotten better at lying, so it wasn't really a problem.
Dally raised an eyebrow and Darry frowned. "Ponyboy, you can go if you want to," Darry said honestly and slowly. "You can go. Just take some pills and you can go."
"I thought that you finished all your homework," Sodapop added observantly. "That's why you went to the movie house."
Logan hopped off from the counter and sat in an empty chair across the room. "Uh oh, kiddo, your stories aren't adding up. You gotta think twice before you speak."
Steve snorted. "If he doesn't want to to, he doesn't want to go."
Everyone was staring at him and -could they see how much he'd changed? He hoped that they couldn't see his muscles, and point it out again. Pony wiped his brow were sweat had started to accumulate. He opened his mouth to say something but-
"Maybe he doesn't want to go because his head hurts," Johnny said quietly, coming to the rescue. He turned to Ponyboy. "Right?"
"That good ol' Johnny. He's saved you so many times. It's a shame he died." Logan cut in. "Did you even realize how many times he's helped you?"
Ponyboy clenched his jaw. "Yeah," he said, his voice laced with tension. "I just didn't want to say anything . . . " (Darry frowned again.) And to make it seem even more convincing, he added. "I didn't want to say anything to seem like a wimp . . . "
Two-Bit was looking at him. "Kid, you were jumped by some Soc's. If ya don't feel good, you don't hafta go anywhere. We get it."
Dally stood up abruptly, scraping the chair on the floor, which Darry ignored. "Well, you guys know where I'll be if any of you decided to join me."
"I'm busy," Darry said. "Or to say it honestly, tired. So I won't be joining you. I got to go to work early tomorrow."
"And he doesn't like movies, did you forget?" Logan quipped up as if Dally could hear him, which Pony prayed he could not.
Two-Bit yawned. "I guess I'll stop by, but I gotta take care of my sister." he shrugged. "Maybe this'll be the day and I meet the love of my life."
"Marcia maybe," Logan said, wiggling his eyebrows. "But only if, ya know, Johnny dies. And Dally too."
Pony's mouth went dry and he hurriedly filled his spoon with more soup.
Johnny frowned. "I thought you were with Kathy, Two-Bit."
"I like her, but I don't think I'm gonna marry her, if ya know what I mean." Two-Bit winked at Johnny and Johnny just frowned even more.
Steve shook his head to Dally's answer, and nodded towards Sodapop. "Sorry Dal, but me an' Soda are pickin' up Sandy and Evie for the game."
Dally nodded knowingly and looked at Johnny. But at the mention of Sandy's name Pony's stomach did about fifty somersaults. His eyes wandered to Logan, who shrugged.
"As far as I know, Sandy's still pregnant. I'm not telling you who the father is though." Logan shrugged. "Am I being of help or nah?"
Ponyboy ignored the comment, and agreed in his mind that Logan wasn't helping. He had never really helped, just commented on everything and made Pony anxious. But he had helped in bringing Dally and Johnny to life, and he had also helped everyone else go back to themselves . . .
"So Ponyboy," Dally said and watched Soda and Steve walk out the door. "I just wanted to confirm this, but are ya goin' or not?"
Ponyboy shook his head confidently. "No Dally, I'm not going,"
"Okay," Dally said, focusing his attention on Johnny. "Hey Johnnycake, you going?"
Logan sat up in his seat and watched as Johnny opened his mouth to answer and-
"No. Johnny's not going. I'm working with him on a project. It's due Monday."
Logan nodded his head up and down, impressed. "Wow, nice save Pony. You should lie every now and then, but hey aren't you lying enough as it is?"
Johnny looked at Ponyboy weirdly, but he didn't say anything, obviously knowing that if he did everything for a reason, like Dally.
o-o-o
When everyone left to go to do their own thing, Ponyboy silently ushered Johnny away from the other's ears.
For a second, he actually might say it. He actually is thinking that he's going to do it. He's going to tell Johnny about everything, right here and now. Finally someone to talk to. But he wouldn't tell Johnny about his death, about Bob's death, about Dally's death, about Sandy. Or the rumble. But then a thought strikes him. If he isn't going to tell Johnny anything then what's the point?
He opened his mouth, trying to ignore the way Johnny sent him a worried look. "Johnny, stay here tonight."
But Johnny doesn't respond to the comment. Instead he asked Pony about before. "Ponyboy," he began slowly. "Why did you give such a lame excuse to Dally. We don't got no project due Monday. So what's going on?"
The face the Johnny gave him, made Ponyboy sad. He didn't want to lie, but of course he had to. No one was going to believe him, not even Johnny, his best friend.
Logan was watching from a distance, no trace of humor in his features.
Pony smiled tightly. "I'm scared," he replied, lying. "I just wanted to talk."
Johnny's stern eyes suddenly loosen, and he just sighed. "I can't. I'm so sorry Pony, but my folks . . . if I'm not there soon . . . "
Logan watched the whole thing, he watched as Pony tried to nod through the whole thing. And Ponyboy doesn't know whether Johnny is lying, or if something in the timeline changed.
He didn't ask Logan, as Johnny walked out the door and into the night.
o-o-o
He began to write. He tried to remember, making a list of everything that had happened, writing everything down in his notebook. The one where he wrote everything. Basically his journal, which if Dally found out, he would call it a Diary. He hoped that Soda didn't find it, or Dally either. Because if they did, not only would they make fun of him, but they would question the events. And then they would tell everyone else in the gang.
1. Got out of school and went to movie house
2. Got jumped and cut below my jaw.
3. Went to drive in
4. Met cherry and had a fight with their boyfriends
5. Left and fell asleep at the lot
6. Darry-
Pony stopped writing then, and dropped his pencil, hearing the soft clink, as it fell onto his desk. He could still feel the lingering slap and burn on his cheek. He picked up his pencil again, and pushed the sick feeling away.
6. Darry hits me and I run out. Johnny joins me to walk to park where Soc's jump us. Johnny stabs Bob and we run to Dally.
7. We hop the train to windrixville and we go into church. We stay there for five days until Dally visits us
Ponyboy gulped, trying to steady his hand as he tried to write what happened next is difficulty, but he does it anyways.
8. We go out to lunch and when we come back there's a fire. Johnny and I run inside to save the kids
9. Johnny dies in the hospital after the rumble and Dally commits suicide.
Ponyboy gently dropped the pencil down on his desk and looked at his list. Suddenly, as he rereads the last two numbers, numbers eight and nine, he started to feel sick.
Maybe I'll go to Windrixville myself, Pony thought. I'll take a lighter and-
"Hey."
Pony, always so paranoid about everything lately, of course thinking that his brother has entered the room, slammed his notebook shut. He silenced himself and kept his eyes trained forward. His hand is clenching his pencil so hard, Pony thought that if he kept holding it like that, for a moment, it might've snapped.
"Kiddo, you need to control yourself. I can send you back in time, but I can't zap those feelings out of you."
Pony let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. "Next time, maybe you can give me a little warning okay?" He rubbed his cold hands over his arms. "What are you doing here? I thought you were leaving for the day."
"Yeah, I got bored and I decided to stop by." Logan shuffles to where Ponyboy is seated. "And I also thought that your ideas, or where your ideas were headed are stupid."
Ponyboy raised an eyebrow. "About destroying the church myself?"
"Yeah that. You know, it's not a good plan. You might get killed in the process." He winks at Pony. "Hint, hint. Foreshadowing."
Pony grabbed his notebook from his desk, and slipped it in between some of his books. He stood up, his frame rigid and tense.
"I'm going downstairs for some water," he mumbled so low, he was pretty sure Logn wouldn't hear, but he did.
"I'll accompany you."
o-o-o
When they get downstairs, nobody is in the house and Ponyboy is relieved. He has the house all to himself for three hours. He gave Logan a quick glance before he headed into the kitchen.
"You know Logan, I've tried all my options. Plan A, try to explain everything to the gang. But they wouldn't' believe me, so I didn't even try. Plan B, ask Johnny to stay here for the night, but he had to go home . . . . "
"Have you tried plan D, for dumbass?" Logan huffed, then chuckled. "It's a reference, I think . . . Ever heard of Supernatural?"
Pony was staring at him. "What? I didn't even make a plan C, where did you get plan D from?"
"You know, it's a tv show. The ghosts and stuff? Vampires?" he stopped talking and looked around, as if he'd forgotten where he was. His eyes finally settling on Pony, looking him up and down. "What year is this? 1960's? Oh, well anyways, it's a tv series. It doesn't come out until 2005."
Ponyboy was so confused. What was happening? "Okayyyy," he said and looked around. "But what else am I supposed to do?"
"Well obviously not that. You can change the past but some bad things can still happen."
"It's a good plan," Pony insisted. "I'll destroy the place where it all happened."
Logan was shifting on both of his feet. "What about Darry? What'll you tell everyone huh?" He was shaking his head, thinking, and scrunching up his eyes. "Kid, they're going to think the Soc's kidnapped ya, and then the rumble, which if you stay here won't happen, will happen."
Pony felt his heart drop, but then he blurted out, "But no one dies in the rumble," he countered. "Everyone just got banged up." He started to pace, opening drawers and pulling out spoons.
Logan sighed. "Ponyboy, what on earth are you doing? Maybe I should wipe your memory clean. Boy," he pointed at his head, "you got some problems."
"I can distract them," Ponyboy said as he pulled out the forks. "Make them think I'm okay, which I am, then they'll let me go out on my own."
"Kiddo, you're going to have to keep your voice down. If anyone in the gang comes home and finds you talking by yourself, they're going to put you under more supervision."
Pony's anger, which had only stared with a mere word, flared. "Can you be quiet for one second?" He hissed. "I just need some time to think. I don't know what I'm going to do!"
Logn pressed his lips together. "Well, don't' say I didn't warn you . . . " Logan's eyes looked past him, and then he disappeared all together.
Ponyboy just sighed, letting his anger run it's course. "Thank goodness," he said and then he turned around.
"What the hell was that?" An icy tone laced with concern hissed out. "What on earth were you doing?"
Ponyboy started to stutter. "I was just talking with myself, I-"
"Kid, stop it right now. You weren't talking by yourself. You were talking with someone. Who was it hm? Didn't' we tell you that we didn't want anyone in the house?"
"I called them." Pony said. "They didn't want to do a project and I got angry."
The other person raised their eyebrows. "Oh yeah?" He looked around. "Where's the phone."
Ponyboy flushed and rubbed his neck. "I was ranting to myself, Steve. This day is getting worse and worse . . . and now that everyone was gone I guess that I just needed to vent off."
Steve stared at him, eyeing him up. "I thought you were going crazy." He scoffed and looked down at the table. "You were setting the table?"
Pony moved across the room robotically. "Yeah," he said, his voice tight with anxiety. "I was . . . "
o-o-o
Pony made up his mind that evening. He knew what he would be doing. So even as he lay in bed, three more hours until two am, with Darry and Soda sleeping in the house, not worrying, because he hadn't gone with Johnny. And then, Ponyboy wondered about Johnny, wondered if he was cold, shivering in those newspapers.
He left around twelve, asking Logan if he would accompany him. Logan accepted reluctantly, but accepted none otherwise.
And so, Pony headed to the park. He hid up a tree, and waited for the Soc's.
Two hours . . . . one hour . . . . thirty minutes . . . . ten . . .
When he spotted them, he knew what he was going to do.
Perched up in another tree, Logan frowned, because he also knew what Ponyboy was going to do.