Steve: Officially Done

Disclaimer: I have nothing to do with them…just the plot

Thanks to all those who reviewed: S.E. Fan (Thanks!), Burnin' Church Gal (Hope that computer gets fixed!), Soda-fan2603 (Sorry it took so long), Usagibuffy (Hmm…that's an idea. Thanks!), and Lil Chaos Angel (Of course! You didn't think I'd make him die did you?)

            The kid woke and he was okay except for a bad leg. I was so relieved that he was alive that I didn't bug him about where the hell he was until the morning. When the sun rose, I got up and started thinking of ways that we could maybe survive this after all. Looking up at the sky, I sighed feeling so assured that I wouldn't get into trouble with Sodapop for losing Ponyboy. The only other problem we had now was to actually get out of there alive!

            "Steve?" I heard the kid mumble, getting up.

            "Don't get up," I told him, "We can't have you moving your leg when it's hurt."

            "But we have to find someone to rescue us."

            "Don't worry about it. You rest and I'll do the searching."

            "But-"

            "I told you not to worry about it! God, don't you ever listen?!" the kid was pissing me off and I could see why Soda advised me never to go into a field with kids. They were so damn annoying! Okay, so maybe Ponyboy was 14 and he wasn't a kid, but he was pissing me off just the same.

            "Sorry, Steve," he muttered softly. I looked at him and I almost regretted all those times I yelled at him. He just looked so sad and resigned; almost tired, like he had already given up. I sighed, "It's okay kid, it's okay."

            "Do you think we'll get out of here soon? I miss Soda and Darry and Two-Bit…" he looked like he was on the verge of tears and for some reason that made me angry.

            "Look, I miss them too, but there isn't anything we can do about it until we find the way out of here," I told him through clenched teeth, trying my best to be nice.

            "Well if you hadn't started arguing with me, nothing would have happened!" WHAT?! I didn't start arguing with him! I was right and he knew it! That little bastard was blaming everything on me! Mr. High and mighty thought that just because his brother was Darry, I had to bow down to his every move.

            "I didn't start the fucking argument! What the hell are you BSing about now?! You're the one that didn't listen to me and I was right!" (A/N: okay I just wrote like…a whole page and a half of stuff and just as I was about to save it, the computer crashed! It was good too! I am sooo mad! Sorry if this next part isn't as good as I wanted it to be!)

            "Excuse me? You were right? Yeah right. There was no way in hell that you were right! When have you ever put any work in anything we've done this whole trip?!"

            "I put work in everything! It's you that screwed up!"

            "You were holding the compass the wrong way!"

            "Me? What about you holding the map wrong?!"

            "That wouldn't matter if we had actually attempted the other assignments! But you see, we didn't!"

            "Hey, if you hadn't spent all that time trying to be right, then we would have gotten everything done!"

            "I wasn't trying to be right! I was trying to pass without getting too many bruises from you!"

            "You gave me just as many and we didn't get anything accomplished and we're just stuck here like sitting ducks without anyone knowing where the hell we are! And to top that off, we didn't finish the assignment."

            "Well it doesn't matter anyway because we're both failing now aren't we?!"

            "It doesn't even matter that we're failing because we might not even make it out of here alive!" Ponyboy didn't respond and instead, laid back down into the snow, staring up at the sky. I plopped down into a sitting position next to him. I really was sorry for yelling at him, but I knew he wouldn't believe that. I didn't know what it was, the kid just really pissed me off; it wasn't even about his tagging along with me and Soda anymore. There was just something about him that made me angry, but I didn't know what it was. Maybe it was because of his brains and how smart he always was. Hell, I knew I couldn't get an A if my life depended on it. Maybe it was the way he just seemed so innocent all the time. Maybe it was the fact that everyone knew he would go far. Maybe it was that he was just a better person that I could ever be. Maybe it was the knowledge that Ponyboy Curtis wasn't really a greaser. Sure, he could act like one, but he was deep and sensitive and greasers aren't deep and sensitive; they're rough and mean. Maybe because of that, he would go far. And maybe I was just jealous.

            "Oh this is just great…just fucking great," Pony shouted suddenly, "Johnny and Dally said that we had to get along to get out of a mess and look at us!" As soon as he said those words, he clapped his hands over his mouth. I just sat there, staring at him, forgetting about how cold I was or how we'd never make it out alive.

            "What?" I said, softly, more gentle this time.

            "Nothing…It was just a stupid dream and didn't mean a thing. Really…"

            "Pony, I had the same dream."

            "You did?" he looked at me, surprised.

            "Yeah. Johnny and Dally were ghosts…"         

            "Yeah!"

            "And they just…floated into the room."

            "They told me something awful was going to happen and that we needed to work together to get out the mess. Together. I wonder what they…oh…" he trailed off, realizing what they meant. I still didn't get it.

            "What?"

            "This was the something awful that was going to happen. This is what we needed to work together on."

            "Oh…" I got it, but that meant we hadn't been listening to our friends. Suddenly I remembered that there was something Pony was supposed to tell me, "Um, Johnny and Dally told me that you needed to tell me something. Something important. About talking to them?" Pony looked startled.

            "Well yeah…I go to the lot everyday and I…I…talk to them. I know it sounds stupid, but in the dream they said that they heard me talking and that they wished everyone would hang-out at the lot more often."

            "But we're scared…"  

            "I was too, but it's not that bad. It's comforting, actually. I mean, you get all the tears out of you and stuff."

            "You know, kid…maybe we can get out of this." I decided.

            "Maybe you're right. Maybe we-" he cut himself off, eyes widening. I looked at him confused.

            "Pony, what's the…"

            "Steve, just don't turn around. Just freeze. Don't move." He sounded genuinely scared.

            "Wh-what's behind me?"

            "Just," he gulped, "Just don't move." I heard a snarl behind me and I naturally…turned around, but I really wish that I'd listened to Ponyboy.

*Uh-oh…I left you at another cliff hanger haven't I? Now I know I'm going to get yelled at…Oh well, it brings in the reviews. PLEASE REVIEW ANYWAY!!*