Chapter 2

Ponyboy's POV

I woke up screaming. I was drenched in sweat and I was shaking. I was crying and screaming. I screamed for Soda and Darry, but nobody came. I screamed some more, and Darry ended up coming instead of Soda. "What are you doing in here?" He asked me and sat next to me on the bed. He wrapped his arms around me and cradled me to his chest while I continued to sob.

"Pony, why are you in here?" He asked while trying to calm me down.

"S-Soda didn't w-want me i-in his room n-no m-more." I sobbed into his chest. He hugged me a bit tighter and rested his chin on top of my head.

"I'll be right back. I'm going to go talk to him." I nodded and he set me on the bed while he got up and went into Soda's room. He came back a few minutes later and sat next to me again.

"Soda said that you told him that you wanted to sleep in here, and he said okay."

I shook my head and said quietly, "H-he's lying Dar. I hate i-it in h-here."

"Wanna sleep by me tonight?"

I nodded. I felt him shift a bit on the bed. Than I felt a strong pair of arms gently lift me up as he carried me to his room. He set me on his bed and I curled up under the blankets. He threw his arm over my chest the same way Soda used to, and pulled my back to his chest.

"Goodnight Pony."

"Goodnight Darry." I said, then fell asleep.

XXX

When I woke up, I heard voices. I opened my eyes and noticed that I was alone in the bed, and that the voices were coming from the kitchen. I realised that it was Darry and Soda, arguing.

"Did he lie to me or did you Soda?!"

"I didn't lie to you Darry!' I heard Soda yell.

"Well, I know that Pony hates sleeping in his room. I know that he wouldn't just choose to sleep in there!" Darry yelled back.

I got up and slowly crept out of the room and into the hallway, still listening to my brothers' conversation.

"Fine, you want the truth?! I don't want to share a room with him any more Darry! I'm too old for that now! I don't want or need him in my room!"

That hurt a lot.

I heard Darry gasp. "So you did lie to me. That's it Soda, you're grounded for a week. I'm disappointed in you Sodapop." I heard footsteps and knew that Darry had walked away from Soda. That's when I decided to come out. I walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table. Darry was now making breakfast.

I looked at Soda, and he looked back at me with sad eyes. Maybe Soda did feel bad. Maybe he did love me now.

"Hey Pony can I talk to you for a second?" Soda asked me and pointed to his room. I nodded and got up, following him into his room.

He closed the door behind me and turned to face me, only now his eyes burned with rage. Pure rage. Suddenly, I felt his hand come into contact with my face. I fell backwards but landed on his bed. I put my hand on the side of my face, hoping it wasn't red. That was the first time Soda had ever hit me.

"What is the matter with you?! I made plans with my friends, and you just had to get me grounded?!" He yelled, but not loud enough for Darry to hear.

"I didn't ground you, Darry did! And when you punched me, I covered for you! I didn't want you to get in trouble Soda! I'm really sorry." He looked at me again. "Yeah, well I did get in trouble, so you better be sorry."

He opened the door and went back into the kitchen, and I followed. Darry didn't notice my face which meant it probably wasn't that red.

After that incident, the rest of the day was pretty normal. I ate breakfast and went to school.

XXX

A week had gone by, and Soda was ungrounded. Other then that, it was a pretty normal day.

After school was over, I decided to go to the DX. I wanted to see what Soda was up to today with his 'friends' hoping it was nothing major. But when I saw them, I stopped and gasped.

It looked like they were doing drugs.

That was the final straw for me. I went over to them, ignoring the annoyed faces that the other teenagers gave me. When Soda saw me, he looked just as mad as he had when he hit me.

"Soda why are you doing this?!" I yelled at him."You gotta stop!"

Soda smirked at me. "Oh yeah? And why's that?"

"If you don't, I'll tell Darry!" I yelled.

He grabbed me harshly by the chin and forced me to look at him. "Don't you dare tell Darry! If you do, I'll do way more then just slap you." He growled, and with that, he walked back to his friends, ignoring the fact that I just stood there, staring at him in complete denial.

His friends noticed me. One said to me, "Beat it runt. No one wants you here." Another said, "Get lost. He doesn't need you anymore. He has us. He doesn't love you either." That gained some laughs. I was surprised to see that Soda wasn't laughing, but didn't look sorry either. Steve gave me a sad look. He wasn't laughing either.

My eyes got watery and I turned around. I made the decision that I was going to tell Darry what Soda was doing. Darry had to know. This was going too far. On my way home, I stopped at the park, and went by the fountain. I ran my hand through the water, and whispered, "I miss you guys. Johnny, Dally, why'd you have to die?"

I choked back a sob and said, "Why couldn't it have been me?" I stared at the water in the fountain, gleaming with the reflection of the sky.

"Nothing Gold Can Stay." I whispered, before walking home.