A/N: WHOOT! My writers block is finally over! Thanks everyone who reviewed; this story should rock all of y'all's socks! I put me in this story only without my real name; those of you who know me well enough will know who it is! Oh, and since the whole summary for this story didn't show up like it was supposed to, I'll put it here.

SUMMARY: When Darry is given the chance to go to college for free, Soda and Ponyboy freely volunteer to go live with their soc grandparents in Pennsylvania for however long it takes Darry to graduate. Ponyboy and Sodapop are quickly happy that they got away from the stresses of the grease vs. soc battles, but they soon discover that where soc's are, greasers are sure to follow. (Johnny and Dally ARE dead in this story... Sorry!)

animalsare4real: Thanks much!

babyface9119: Thank you! I made it a small town outside of Allentown Pennsylvania because that's where I grew up. Now I live in Philadelphia, but I grew up right outside of Allentown and that's where I know best!

blame it on the government: Yeah, that's alright, but I can't e-mail ya because my computer is being so evil! Sorry :(

CHAPTER 3: Planes Are Evil!!!

Ponyboy's Point of View

The plane ride was nine hours long and I was surprised Soda survived through it; he kept on fidgeting and woke me up to talk to me because he didn't know what else to do. I had read and slept most of the way but I had to stop to talk to Soda of course and answer question after stupid question and I almost had an image of my hands around Soda's throat, shutting him up but I just dealt with it.

We drove from the airport in a city called Philadelphia that was even bigger than Philadelphia and the drive was about another three hours just to reach Allentown where Soda, me and our driver, Mr. Emmerson, bought us a couple of bottle of pop and some chips which was alright with me seeing as how I hadn't eaten breakfast that morning because we only had time to say good-bye to the gang before zooming off with our bags to the airport.

After we had eaten, we drove out of Allentown and into more of a countryish landscape. After about thirty miles of driving we pulled into a neighborhood with a bunch of fancy houses lined up and a big lake at the bottom of the hill that the houses rested on. The sight was beautiful but I couldn't help but feel bad about the whole thing. I just wished things could go back to the way things used to be...

Mom would be baking us a chocolate cake and Darry and dad would be passing a football around in the back yard while Steve and Sodapop would be wrestling each other in the living room. Two-Bit would be cracking up at Mickey Mouse and Dally, Johnny and I would be hanging around in the kitchen, talking now and then.

But I knew that things couldn't go back to the way they were because mom, dad, Johnny and Dally were all dead and Sodapop and I were hundreds of miles away from Two-Bit, Steve and Darry, so we would have to make the best of what we had; at least I had Sodapop.

"You both remind me so much of your father." that was grandma Banks saying that and it definitely didn't sound like a compliment; she was glaring down at us and looking at the grease in our hair. I was surprised that grandma and pappy were my mothers parents; they looked nothing alike. Grandma's eyes would appear soft and caring to a stranger, but she was glaring at us with cold and shrewd eyes, full of hatred. And pappy Banks looked just plain old mean; he was tall, lean and shrewd eyed.

"Thanks..." Soda said even though he noticed the coldness of her tone. But we wouldn't let that get us down; we were proud to be Curtis' and nothing she said would change that. "You don't look like our mother though." Sodapop commented in a tone I hadn't recognized from him before and it definitely didn't sound pleasant.

"Well, I would hope not!" pappy said with a cruel smile on his face as he pulled our luggage into the house. "Your mother was a traitor to her family and her kind when she married that greasy slime-ball..." I had the need to punch that old bastard in the face but I resisted the temptation by remembering that this was the only place we had to live.

"Yeah, well, we're ten times as greasy as our father. Maybe you'll want us to leave so that we don't scuff up your perfect sheets and pillows?" Soda said entering the house with me by his side. I smiled up at him with admiration; he had said about what I had been dying to say.

"Well, believe me, I wouldn't have let you two come here if we didn't need someone of Eva's kind to keep her out of trouble." grandma Banks was saying and Sodapop and I looked at one another with curiosity.

"Who the heck is Eva?" I asked, cocking one eyebrow like Two-Bit had showed me last week after long and tedious practice in front of the mirror.

"Eva Winston. Your parents were her godparents and due to the fact that we were your mothers parents we are in charge of her for a year before we can ship her off to a new foster home. She's nothing but trouble; you'll know her brother Dallas of course. Their father was friends with your own father." grandma Banks was saying and I nodded my head although I never knew that my father was friend with Mr. Winston or that Dally had a sister, but nobody knew a lot about Dally; he tended to keep to himself.

"Wait," Sodapop said turning to me, "Since when did Dally have a sister and how the hell did we end up in this situation?" I gave him a look that clearly said that I had no clue what the hell he was talking about and he explained, "I mean, I only agreed to come here to escape hoods and trouble and the whole social against greaser thing and to forget the thing with Dally and Johnny and now we've been landed back into this situation? My god, there's no escape..."

I didn't realize how right he was then, but he was; boy was he ever...