The three of us decided to ride the bus home since that was the fastest way back. I was feeling a little better after waking up but I was still a little drowsy. Ponyboy, on the other hand, was looking a little pale and I know it just wasn't from me passing out earlier.

Two-Bit left us sitting on the bus stop bench while he went to the drugstore to buy some cigarettes. "Pony, are you okay?" I asked, looking at my brother with a concerned look on my face, "You're really pale."

Two-Bit comes back a few minutes later puts a hand on Pony's forehead, noticing that he was pale too. "I'm okay guys." he said, looking at the both of us. "Are you sure? You're awfully hot." Two-Bit said.

"Yeah, I'll take some aspirin when we get home." Pony said, rubbing his face a bit with his eyes shut. "Don't tell Darry about this. We already made the promise to not tell Darry on you, Bex. So don't you tell on me." Pony said. "Alright. But both of you know that Darry'll skin me if you two are sick and fight anyway." Two-Bit said reluctantly.

"Two-Bit, I said I'm feeling better, okay?" I argued, standing up from the bench. "Yeah, keep your trap shut and he won't find anything out." Pony said a bit angrily. The bus then pulls up in front of us.

"You two know somethin'?" Two-Bit said as we got on the bus, "Both of you thought you got away with murder, living with your older brother and all, but Darry's stricter with you guys than your folks, ain't he?"

"Yeah... But they already raised two kids before Bex and I. Darry hasn't." Pony said. "You know that Darry isn't a Soc because of us." Two-Bit inquired. "We know." I said, letting my head lean back against the seat.

Pony and I have known that for the longest time. All of us keep Darry from being a Soc. Darry's too smart to be a greaser.

Pony was mostly silent the entire ride. From what I could see, he was feeling sick in his stomach. He was feeling the same kind of helplessness that we both felt the night Darry hollered at us for being at the lot.

He's not the only one to have this grim feeling that something was gonna happen.
"Tonight- I don't like it one bit." Pony said. "You and me both. I can feel as if something is gonna happen." I add, swallowing hard.

"I never knew you two to play chicken in a rumble before. Not even since you two were just little kids. Even you, Bex. You are never one to back out of a rumble." Two-Bit said, pretending not to understand.

Two-Bit always knew how to get underneath our skin. "We ain't chicken, Two-Bit Matthews, and you know it." Pony angrily said. "We've got Curtis blood in us, don't we?" I added, feeling just as mad.

Two-Bit didn't say anything so Pony carried on: "We got this awful feeling that something's gonna happen." "I'll tell you two what's gonna happen. We're gonna stomp the Socs' guts, that's what." Two-Bit said. He understood what Ponyboy said but pretended not to.

Two-Bit'll never change and I doubt he ever will. Soda would understand and we would've figured it out together, but Two-Bit isn't Soda. The three of us was quite aways from the hospital, the sun was starting to set.

We make it to a hill where we saw a few little kids playing and shouting amongst one another. I couldn't help but smile at them. The way they played together reminded me so much of our gang, we were the same way.

"Check that out." I say as I watched them kids. "Tough little kids, huh?" Ponyboy comments. "Yeah, they're gonna be future greasers." Two-Bit chuckled.

I saw Cherry Valance sitting in her Corvette by the lot. Her hair was hanging down, letting it blow in the gentle wind. Her car was tuff, a tuff corvette.

"Hi, Ponyboy. Hi, Bexley." she said, "Hi, Two-Bit." I remember Dally telling us that she had come by the lot during the week while Johnny, Ponyboy, and I were in Windrixville. "What's up with big times?" Two-Bit asked.

She shrugged her shoulders and said, "No weapons. They'll play your way. It's a fair deal." "You sure?" Two-Bit asked. She nodded, "Randy told me. He knows for sure."

Two-Bit thanked her and headed home. "Ponyboy, Bexley, hang on. I want to talk to you guys." Cherry said. Pony and I stopped and went back to her car.

"How's Johnny?" she asked. "He's not doing too good, Cherry. Are you going up there to see him?" I answer, having a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Cherry shook her head at us, "No. I couldn't."

"Why not?" Pony demanded. She couldn't even stop by to check on him. It was her boyfriend that started all of this.

"I couldn't." she said in a quiet, desperate voice, "He killed Bob. Maybe Bob asked for it. But I couldn't ever look at the person who killed him. You two only saw his bad side. He had a sweet and friendly side. He wasn't just any boy, had something that made him different. Made people follow him. Do you guys know what I mean?"

Pony and I knew what she meant. She saw the same thing in Dally, afraid of loving him. She wouldn't go see Johnny because he had killed Bob.

I remembered that I had kissed Johnny, making me feeling more angrier than I should. Because of that, I started to develp certain feelings for Johnny. But of course I couldn't tell Cherry that; she didn't need to know.

"Well that's okay. We don't want you to go and see him anyway. We don't need your damn charity." I spat sharply, feeling defensive over Johnny. "Yeah, you're a traitor to your own kind. Don't you ever feel sorry for us. Don't you ever try to give us handouts and feel high and mighty about it." Pony said just as sharply.

Just as we started walking away, Cherry shouted, "Ponyboy! Bexley!" We both stopped and turned to look at Cherry. She had tears in her eyes, making us feel guilty.

"I wasn't trying to give you guys charity. I only wanted to help. Look, I liked you two from the start... the way we talked. Wouldn't either of you try to help me if you thought you could?" Cherry continued.

Pony and I both knew that we would. We exchange glances for a moment. "Can you see the sunset real good from the West Side?" I asked, hands in my jean jacket pockets.

"Real good." she blinked, startled before smiled. "You can see it good from the East Side too." Pony quietly says.

"Thanks Ponyboy and Bexley. You two dig okay." Cherry said, smiling through her tears. That's when Pony and I went on home to get ready for the rumble.