I woke up to the sound of some people talking. What's going on?

I looked across the room and saw Sodapop and that other kid, Ponyboy, talking.

"Hey, Soda." I said, laying weakly back on his pillow.

"Hey, bud. Ponyboy's going to stay with you to keep you company after I leave. Is that all right?"

"Sure. I don't care. I'm just glad I'm not in a room full of strangers."

"Okay, " Soda said. "If you're cool with it and feeling all right, I'll go to work. Take care, Darry." And with that, he left.

Ponboy sat down next to me. I looked at him intently.

"Do I know you? You look so familiar." I asked.

Ponyboy said, "Yeah. You know me." HIs eyes looked wet, but I wasn't sure if he was going to cry or not.

I fell asleep, and when I woke up, I was at another movie theater.

I was sitting next to Ponyboy, who was my "brother." I still didn't understand if this was a dream or not. It had the quality of a dream, but I had the strangest feeling of déjà vu.

We were watching some beach movie, and there were two other guys sitting with us. I looked at them, and vaguely remembered them as the ones who rescued Pony.

"Hey, Dallas," Pony said, "how long is the movie? I can't be late coming home, or Darry will get mad."

"I don't know, kid. I'll make sure you're home before bedtime." He grinned at Pony. So that was Dallas. So who was the other guy?

Two girls sat in front of us. One had red hair, and the other had short brown hair. They were good-looking girls.

Dallas started saying dirty things and embarrassing the girls. They tried not to show it, but they were failing.

When Dallas put his feet on one of their chairs, the red-head turned around and said, "Get your feet off my chair and shut your trap."

Dallas wasn't threatened. He kept on tormenting them and didn't leave until the red-head said, "Get lost, hood!"

The red-head glared at Pony. "Are you gonna start in on us now?" The other guy had run off by now.

"No." Pony said, shyly.

Her gaze softened. "You don't look the type. What's your name?"

Pony looked embarrassed when he said, "Ponyboy Curtis."

"That's an original and lovely name." She replied smiling at him.

"Yeah, I got a brother named Sodapop. It even says so on his birth certificate."

"My name's Sherri, but my friends call me Cherry because of my hair."

"I know. We go to the same school. You're a cheerleader." Same school? Ponyboy can't be old enough to go to high school, and Cherry sure isn't young enough to be in junior high.

"You don't look old enough to be going to high school." The dark girl said, as though reading my mind.

"I'm not." Pony said. He must be really smart, I mused.

"Your brother, Sodapop, he works in a gasoline station, right? A DX I think."

"Yeah, that's him."

"Soda's a doll. I should have known you were brothers. You look alike."

Pony smiled with pride.

They sat there, talking, when Dallas came back. The other guy, named Johnny, was back, too.

"Here I thought this might cool you off." Dallas said, handing a coke to Cherry. She threw it in his face and said, "Maybe that'll cool you off, greaser. When you learn to talk and act decent, I might cool off, too."

Dallas grinned evilly. "Fiery, huh? That's the way I like 'em."

Cherry shoved at him when he tried putting his arm around her. Johnny came to her rescue when he said, "Leave her alone, Dal."

Dallas stalked off and Cherry said, "Thank you, he had me scared to death."

"Sure didn't show it. Nobody talks to Dal like that." Johnny said.

"From what I saw, you do."

The girls asked them to sit up with them, and I joined in, though no one knew I was there. I thought I might be dead, but I guess I wasn't.

After the movie and Two-Bit, one of the guys who saved Pony, came, we started to go to Two-Bit's house to get his car. I walked with Pony and Cherry, while Two-Bit, Johnny, and Marcia, the dark-haired girl, walked together.

Cherry looked over at Pony and said, "So tell me about your oldest brother. You never seem to talk about him."

"What's to talk about?" Pony said. "He's big and handsome and likes to play football."

"I mean what's he like? I feel like I know Soda from the way you talk about him. Tell me about Darry. Is he wild and reckless like Soda? Dreamy like you?" Yeah, what's my story? I thought.

Pony's face reddened as he said, "He ain't like Sodapop and he sure ain't like me. He's hard as a rock, and about as human. He's got eyes like frozen ice. He thinks I'm a pain-in-the-neck. He likes Soda, but he can't stand me. I bet he wishes he could stick me in a home somewhere, but Soda won't let him."

I was taken aback. I never would have thought that was how I was. I must be a horrible person for my brother to say that about me. I was sick with shame. What kind of horrible brother was I?