Chapter 3: A Day Out

The gang decided to explore the city a little bit. Steve had to calm down Two-Bit because he couldn't afford to buy a Mickey Mouse lunch box. Darry met back up with Mary at the park. She was on her lunch break. Everyone decided to sit around there for a while. Darry was talking to Mary, while everyone else ran around the park.

Steve came up with the idea for a race. Bad idea. Ponyboy smoked all of them. After a while of running, Ponyboy found out he had left the other guys. He sat down on a bench to rest for a moment. He was thinking about Johnny and Dally. He had pretty much gotten over that. Man, what would Johnny and Dally be doing if they were here. Johnny would probably be sitting there with him, while Dally would be reminiscing about New York.

"Is anyone sitting here?"

Someone broke into Pony's thoughts and he looked up. The kid was around fifteen or sixteen with dirty blonde hair. He had on a black t-shirt and blue jeans. Ponyboy answered him.

"No. You can sit here."

The kid sat down beside him and introduced himself.

"My name's Jason Williams. What's yours?"

"Ponyboy Curtis."

"Ponyboy! Are you serious? That's cool."

"Yeah. My dad was pretty cool. I have a brother named Sodapop."

"Your parents must have been real cool guys. Where are they at?"

"They're dead."

"Oh."

Jason looked a little sad.

"Sorry," he said.

"It's okay. I'm kinda over it now. I'm not mad at you. You didn't know."

"I kinda know how you feel," started Jason. "My uncle was shot to death. Over some stupid money. I live with my mom though. My uncle was like a father figure to me."

"What happened to your dad?"

"He left my mom to raise me and disappeared. So she turned to her brother then."

The two boys started talking. Jason seemed to really know the city a lot. He told Ponyboy about the best place to eat, best hangouts, and a lot of other cool things about the city.

Ponyboy then noticed the other guys looking around the park. They must have been looking for him.

"I gotta go."

"Okay. If you get the chance, can you meet me around the bar down the street from here around 8. We can hang out then."

"Alright. See you later."

Pony got up and ran towards the guys. Soda noticed him first.

"Where you been?"

"Just sat down for a while. You guys were too far behind."

Two-Bit spoke up then.

"Well, Steve slowed us up."

"What are you talking about!" protested Steve. "You tripped over your own feet and ran into Sodapop!"

Soda then broke in laughing.

"Yeah, and you were laughing so hard, you didn't see where you were going. You ran right into a tree!"

Everyone laughed and Steve just put his hands into his pocket.

"Let's go find Darry," suggested Ponyboy and they all walked towards the front of the park.

Darry was already walking towards them when they reached him.

"So, how did it go with the chick?" said Two-Bit raising his eyebrow.

"She'll talk to me later on at the hotel."

"Awwwwwwwwwww," said Soda and Steve together.

Ponyboy laughed and Darry just blushed.

They went on looking around in the city.