Chapter 2: Making it Better

Definitely longer than Chapter 1 and better I think.

I do not own the Outsiders (sob) but I do own Jess, Bec, and any other character you don't know. I

In the morning, Soda made us pancakes and Darry slept in cause it was finally the weekend. After three too many pancakes, I went looking for my old school binder. It was red and tattered but it still held all the papers I was too lazy to clean out. 20 minutes later, I found what I was looking for. A small piece of paper located deep in the pocket. Written in small letters was Jess's name and number. I rewrote the number on a new piece of paper and shoved it in my pocket. When I came out, everybody was up and it was mine and Darry's turn to do the dishes. Every one and awhile, Darry would splash water on me and would start a water fight.

Strangely, I picked up 'Gone with the Wind' and stared at the cover for awhile. Everything about it reminded me of Johnny Cade. Man, I miss him. He was pretty much my brother. Not how Darry and Soda are but in a more spiritual life-force sort of way. Come to think of it, everyone in the gang is my brother. I forgot entirely about reading the book and let my mind wander into spiritual brothers and other things I'd never thought about. A sharp 'bang' made me jump and Darry stormed into the room. I looked to see if he'd broken the door when he came in, and got a look of 'im. Just by his face I could tell he was dangerously angry. He grabbed a beer that Two-Bit had left, lit a weed, and sat down, brooding.

Soda came in cautiously, "What's wrong, Darry?"

All he got in return was a sullen, "Nothing."

Soda looked at me helplessly, "You ok?" I squeaked out.

He was starting to get angrier, "No."

"Darry—" I started but was cut short,

"Did you do your homework?" Oh, crap my homework.

"N—Not yet." He stood up and yelled,

"Pony, you have to take school seriously. How do you expect to get into college with that attitude!"

I couldn't believe it, he was yelling at me again.

After what he promised…

"What if I don't want to go to college? Don't I get a freaking choice!"

I heard Soda plead beside me, "C'mon guys. Don't yell, please."

But Darry continued anyway, "What happens when you find out you don't wanna be a roofer or work on cars and no one else will take you because you didn't go to college?"

Soda was getting louder, "PLEASE, stop yelling. Both of you, stop!"

To my shock, Darry wheeled on him, "No! He needs to learn how important his schoolwork is! You're just as irresponsible as he is. Someone actually has to be mature around here sometime!" He just kept going. When he yelled at me, it bugged me but I was not going to let him yell at Soda. My fist clenched and I ran at him. I punched Darry as hard as I could in the stomach. Immediately, all the yelling stopped and everyone stared at me. I screamed with tears running down my face,

"Don't you yell at him! He's a better brother than you'll ever be!"

I saw Darry go pale as I ran out into the night.

I didn't know it was raining until the cold drops hit me. With my vision blurred I ran long and hard. There was rage in my throat and my feet were starting to hurt. My knees let out in a small patch of grass and I started to sob,

"He's never never never gonna change. Ever!" My fists pounded on the ground as I bawled. After awhile, I realized that I had no idea where I was. Wiping my tears away, I stood up and looked around to try and recognize something. But nothing was familiar. So I just let my feet plod along somewhere as long as I didn't end up at home. My eyes slid shut and I drifted off to sleep.

My wish had been granted. There was a nice warm bed under my back and I was definitely not back at my house. My head was throbbing something awful as I sat up and looked around. This was a nice room. It was really clean and white. Books were scattered across the floor. I got up and inspected the nearest one. There was a simple cover but I'd heard of it before. It was much more complicated than any book found at my house. My first guess was that I'd wandered off to Cherry Valance's house but I had no idea where that was. Outside the door, two people were talking but what they were saying was barely audible. I creaked the white door open slightly and the two of them looked at me,

"Hey, sleepy."

I can't believe it! I walked all the way to Jess's house on the south side of town while I was asleep. She and her friend were sitting at the coffee table sipping what I assumed was coffee. Her friend apologized,

"Sorry we didn't have any clothes that fit you."

Come to think of it, my pants didn't feel like jeans. Holy crap! They'd got me into sweat pants! Jess spoke up,

"The clothes you were wearing last night are drying in the bathroom and you can get them when I take you back."

My face soured. I didn't want to go home. Darry would probably yell at me again or worse, promise he wouldn't than do it again.

"Would you mind tellin' us what happened last night?"

It all came flooding back to me,

"What do you know?"

She sipped her coffee and replied,

"Know that lump on your head? That happened about two in the mornin'. I was sleeping when there was loud bang on my door. Somebody'd done a faceplant into the door and didn't even wake up."

I was surprised that I was that tired,

"Last thing I remember was falling asleep in the middle of nowhere."

The other girl stared at me, shocked,

"You walked here asleep? Without getting run over? I can't even get here on three cups of caff without my life being threatened."

Jess put down her cup,

"I'm sorry, Pony. This is my little sister, Becca. Becca this is my friend from school, Ponyboy Curtis."

Becca looked me up and down before smiling sweetly at me.

"Now, why were you in the middle of nowhere in the first place?"

So, I told her the whole story. She sat and stared at me between sips.

"Pony, I want to talk to you about this fight with Darry. But first, let's have some breakfast."

Becca asked me nicely,

"Eggs, waffles, or french toast?"

They reminded me how my stomach was rumbling,

"French toast and eggs, er, please."

They placed a grate steaming plate of toast and eggs in front of me and I dug in. Becca sat with me while I ate. She looked around 15 and had long pretty brown hair. Jess was ruffling through papers by the phone and she picked up a little yellow paper and dialed the number on the phone.

"Hello? Sodapop? Yes, it's me, Jess. I'm doin' ok, you? Oh, I'm sorry about that. But about that, Ponyboy's over here—Yes, he's completely fine. I'll bring him back in a little bit. How's Darry? Oh? That's too bad. Well, we'll see you soon, bye."

She looked at me accusingly.

"Your brothers are really worried about you."

Man, this french toast was good,

"Soda probably is."

Jess got surprisingly red,

"Darry hasn't said a word since you left. You really hurt him, Pony. I know you think he doesn't care about you but I know he does. Everything he does is for you and Sodapop even his four jobs. Yeah, I said four. Darry has to do the job of a mom, a dad, a big brother, and a roofer. You should be helping him out instead of making things harder for him. Doing this, keeping you guys above water, is harder than anything physical he could do. And every time you run away, it only gets harder on Darry. Running away doesn't solve anything anyway. Sometimes you just have to stand there and punch the wall."

I know Darry's trying and I don't want to make it hard on him but sometimes he just makes me so mad,

"I think I should go home, now."

Jess smiled happily at me as she grabber her keys and a switch.

"How do you know so much about Darry?"

A sly grin came over her face,

"I have some relations with Darry's situation."

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