Soda's POV..mmm Soda….

I spent the night tossing and turning, completely worried about Ponyboy. What did he mean by 'he was punished' and he "doesn't want to remember?" I was so confused by what could have happened. After what seemed like hours I finally shut my eyes and went to sleep.

The next morning I woke up and got ready for work, man I really didn't want to go to work today, I want to figure out what happened with Pony! Obviously though I had to go to work or else we wont bring in enough income to keep Pony with us. "Life is really confusing sometimes" I said quietly to myself as I walked to the DX.

Ponyboy's POV

I woke up in the bed the next morning, "I guess Soda must have carried me to the bed from the couch" I thought to myself. I got up and looked in the kitchen for breakfast, Darry and Soda had already left for work and Two-Bit and Steve won't get here for a while longer. I took out some eggs and looked for a pan to cool them in. I saw the pan on top of the stove, my hand reached out to grab it before a chilling memory scrambled into my head. I thought of all the times Ma'am had used a pan to me….a shiver at the memory as my hand started to shake and my legs became weak as I feel to the floor with a loud crash. My whole body started to shake at the horrid memories as tears ran down my face, I tried to wipe them away, I didn't want anyone coming home and seeing me like this, but no matter how many times I pushed them away, they kept falling. I heard someone coming up the front steps so I quickly placed the pan on the counter top and ran to the bedroom. There I got ready for a shower; at least the shower will make it less obvious that I was crying. I hate it when I show emotion like that, I thought I decided to block all of it out….maybe I'm not being strong enough.

Soda POV

I don't know what it was but I really felt like I should come back on my lunch break today to see Pony, I must find out what's wrong with him, its like he's on the wrong side of the tracks of his life, ya dig?

Over the next few days Ponyboy has been acting even colder than usual, I mean like stone cold, ice cold, he just glares and if it was hard to get that kid to smile before, man now it's impossible. I don't know what to do anymore! Sometimes I wish that dad and mom could have stayed around for even just one more year so that they could have been able to raise us a little more so that the world wouldn't be so confusing to us. I mentally kicked myself---mom and dad won't come back and they never will…our family is slowly breaking apart.

Ponyboy's point of view

I came home today throwing my homework onto the sofa, not caring about where it laid.. I wasn't gonna do my homework anyways. Worst case scenario I can just repeat the year over next year and I'll be the same age as everyone else again. No biggie. My math test fell out of my backpack, the big red "F" clear and visible for the world to see. I didn't care how I did in school anymore. I don't care about grades anymore therefore I don't try and I got an F, but I don't care, it's just a stupid letter, besides I'll be a greaser my whole life, there's no getting around that so why try in school if its just a time filler until I'm old enough to get a job?

Sodapop's Point of View… Soda-pop Soda-pop hey Soda Soda Pop! (anyone else know that song?)

I came home, and threw off my shoes. I heard Ponyboy talking on the phone with someone as I sat down on the couch. I turned on the T.V to see Ponyboy's school bag on the couch so I placed it on the floor so I could stretch my feet out. One of the papers fell out so I reached down to place it back in the backpack. I turned over the paper to see the clearly visible "F" on his math test. I stared at the paper completely shocked that Ponyboy received an F, I don't think he has ever received anything below a C+ before. "What are you doing?" Said a cold voice from the hallway, I looked up to see Ponyboy glaring at me. "I'm looking at your Failed Math test.. Ponyboy what's going on? You're usually so good at math!" I continued to stare at his test. "What does it matter what I'm good at or not, not like anything's ever gonna change for the better" he remarked bitterly as he walked away. I got off of the couch and was determined to get to the bottom of this, "Ponyboy, wait!" I called but he continued to walk away, "Ponyboy, don't ignore me or walk away from when I'm talking to you, this is important Ponyboy!" "No it's not important" he shouted at me as he slammed the bedroom door in my face. I heard the front door open and knew Darry was home….this was going to be a long night.

Darry's POV

As soon as I closed the door to my truck I heard Ponyboy yelling at Soda. I walked up the steps and opened the door. As soon as I entered the house I could feel the tension. Soda came up to me and placed a piece of paper in front of me, "he doesn't care! HE DOESN'T CARE!" Soda was obviously furious but I didn't understand. I looked at the paper and realized that it was Ponyboy's math exam and that he failed. Disappointment filled me; he used to care so much about school, now he can't even bother to pass. "Darry, what are we going to do?" Soda pleaded to me. "I'm not sure exactly how to handle this Soda, but I'm gonna let him cool off before I talk to him, or else it's gonna be a BIG fight." I made dinner unsure of what I was going to say to Pony. When dinner was ready I called Soda and Pony to the table. They both came but looked angry as ever, it was so rare for Soda to be mad at Ponyboy, I guess Soda just has so much hope that Pony can get out of this kind of life.

Dinner was silent, no one talked, all you could hear was the clatter of knives and forks. I started clearing the plates and began cleaning, usually it would be Soda and Pony's job to clean the dishes because I cooked but I didn't think that was such a hot idea to do that with them fighting this way. Soda was by my side asking what I was going to do. "Ponyboy" I called "can you please come in the kitchen for a second." Pony came in only a second later.

Ponyboy's POV (its about to get really good!)

Darry called me into the kitchen. I leaned against the cupboard door looking at them, "ya?" I asked bitterly. "What's this about your math test?" Darry asked me as he continued to wash the dishes. "Nothing, what does it matter" I replied. "Pony it matters a lot, you need good grades to go to a good college" Darry began. "Why would I want to do something like that?" I replied coldly. Darry stopped what he was doing. "Because if you don't your family will be worse off than we are" he replied as he rinsed and dried the dishes. "Like that's possible" I replied sharply as I began to walk away. "PONYBOY!" Shouted Darry as he turned around still holding onto the pan that was just drying. "DON'T YOU EVER SAY ANYTHING LIKE THAT AGAIN! MOM AND DAD WORKED SO HARD TO PROVIDE FOR US, DON'T YOU DARE GO AROUND SAYIN STUFF LIKE THAT!" Darry hollered at me, but I wasn't looking at him, my eyes were stained to the pan in his hand, as images flashed into my head of all the time ma'am screamed at me with that pan in her hand. "PONYBOY MICHAEL CURTIS!" Darry hollered at me as I didn't answer. The name Michael played over and over in my head as horrid memories rushed through me as ma'am hollered "DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME MICHAEL?" was the first thing she said to me after she first hit me… my strength left me as I slid to the fall in a heap crying into my arms hysterically. I placed my hands on my head as a habit to when ma'am hurt me, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" I cried harder than I ever have in my life, I just didn't know exactly what I was sorry for at the moment because I couldn't think, all I knew was that when I did something to piss of ma'am it was an instinct to say how sorry I was while she hurt me. "Don't hurt me, please don't hurt me!" I cried harder into my hands as I felt eyes on me. I felt Soda's hand rest upon my hand as I flinched. "Ponyboy?" He asked cautiously, "don't hurt me" I continued to say over and over again as I cried. "Ponyboy, we would never hurt you! Who has ever hurt you?" He asked so carefully. I tried to say something but I couldn't stop crying. Soda pulled into his arms tightly, as I said ever so quietly "ma'am".