I instantly came awake at the mention of her name.

"Cherry? The Soc?" Johnny and Ponyboy asked at the same time.

"More like Cherry the bitch." I said. "Yeah she comes along in that ol' Sting Ray she's got. We were all about to jump her but then Two-Bit says, 'no let's see what she wants.' I could've beat the tar out of her, but you know, you gotta respect Two-Bit."

Then Dally adds, "She said she felt like the whole mess was her fault, which it is, and that she'd keep up with what was cumin' off the Socs rumble and would testify that the Socs were drunk and that you fought back in self-defense." He gave a grim laugh. "Man, that little gal sure does hate me. I offered to take her to the Dingo for a Coke and she said, 'No thank you, and told me where I could go in very polite terms."

"My God, Dally," I said. "You'd go for any girl that's good-lookin'. No wonder Sylvia cheated on you. She probably wanted to find a way to break up with you without making it look desperate."

"Man, what do you know?"

"A lot more than you."

"Stupid bitch, come here." He grabbed me by the arms and pulled me toward him. I hit him but he had a pretty strong grip on me. He leaned over to kiss me, and I really wanted to, but I couldn't.

"Leave her alone, Dally," I heard Johnny say. That was the second time I had heard Johnny talk to Dally like that, but the first time he had been messing with Cherry. He let me go.

"Yeah, Dally, leave me alone," I said and stuck my tongue out at him.

He called me a bitch, but I left it at that.

By that time I was really tired. I leaned on the door, and before I knew it I was fast asleep.

When I woke up I could her Dally cussing out loud. I didn't know who though. I was completely lost, but then I figured that we were on Jay Mountain. I saw that the church was on fire, and Johnny and Ponyboy were running toward it.

"What the hell? Where the hell are they goin'?"

"My God! How the hell did this happen? Were you asleep?"

"Yeah."

"Come on. Let's go get 'em."

"What the hell are you? Crazy? I ain't going in there, and there's no way you're making me."

"Suit yourself." And with that he left.

"What!? You're leaving me here all by myself!?" I can't stand being alone. He knew that. So, I decided I might as well go too.

We ran to the church and saw a big crowd. I saw Ponyboy and Johnny going inside the church and thought, "What the hell are they doing?"

"Jesus Christ! How stupid can they be?" I heard Dally say. Then he ran toward the church, but didn't go in. Then I saw that Johnny and Ponyboy were taking some children out of the church. I noticed that the roof was about to collapse. Ponyboy got out, and his jacket was on fire. Dally slapped him on the back and he passed out. Then the roof collapsed.

"Oh my God! Where's Johnny!?" I was panicking. I was shaking with fear that he might not come out all right. I was scared half to death. My heart was beating really fast and my breathing was very hard. I saw Dally pull Johnny out. He wasn't moving. Was he dead? What happened? I was confused. I heard the sound of a few ambulances, but only in the distance. Then I heard someone saying, "Hello? Are you going with your friends?"

"Huh? Oh um, yeah." I climbed in the ambulance where Dally was. I was still kind of lost, and couldn't believe what was happening. I didn't know if Johnny was dead, or if Ponyboy would be okay.

We finally got to the hospital. They took Dally and Johnny into a hospital room, but they let Ponyboy go.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey. Come on let's go in. Maybe they'll tell us how they are later."

"Yeah."

"And besides your brothers will probably be here soon." We walked inside and sat in the waiting room. There was some guy sitting next to us too. I recognized him as the teacher that had been at the church.

I was feeling like crap, so I got a cigarette, handed Ponyboy one, and lit it.

"You shouldn't be smoking," the guy said.

"Who are you to tell me what I can and can't do?" I said.

"How come?" Ponyboy asked.

" Why uh, uh, you're too young, and you young lady should respect your elders."

"Whatever," I said and kept on smoking.

It had been quite a while since we had been in the hospital. The teacher came in and said, "There are some people here to see you. Claim to be your brothers."

Ponyboy and I jumped up and saw Sodapop coming through the door. Ponyboy ran to him and gave him a big hug. Then Soda said, "Oh, Ponyboy, your hair.your tuff, tuff hair."

Then Darry came through the door and he said, "Ponyboy." Then for what seemed like forever, everyone just stood there. Then Ponyboy screamed, "Darry!" He went and hugged him for a long time. "Darry, I'm so sorry."

"Oh, Pony, I thought we'd lost you.like we did Mom and Dad." Darry said through sobs.

It was wonderful seeing them together. I know how hard it had been on Darry not having Ponyboy around. He loved Pony and didn't want to lose him. He didn't want to lose any of us.