Chapter 9

Anyone's POV

The next morning, Ponyboy's stomach felt better. It was still sore, but not as much as last night. Pony got out of bed and walked inth the kitchen to see that Sodapop and Darry were already up.

"Hey." Pony said. "Hey Pony." Darry said back and smiled, while Soda just gave him a small nod. Pony didn't know what to say, so he asked, "How was work?"

Darry smiled and told him about work while Soda just glared at him. Pony ignored Darry, who was still talking, and thought for a second. He needed to talk to Soda. He needed Soda to open up. Pony looked at the bedrooms, remembering the last time he had tried to talk to Soda.

Soda hit him last time, but Pony needed him to open up, so he was willing to try again.

When Darry was done talking, Pony said, "Hey Soda, can I talk to you for a second?"

Soda looked annoyed but followed Ponyboy into his bedroom. He shut the door behind him too. Pony sat on the bed, and Soda sat next to him.

"Soda, I know something happened to you, and don't tel me that it's nothing. I now that it's something. Please tell me what's wrong."

"No." Soda said angrily.

"Soda why can't you tell me? I can't help you if I don't know what's wrong."

Soda glared at him. "Maybe I don't want your help. Ever think of that?"

Pony's eyes watered as he looked at Soda, and asked, "Soda? Why do you hate me?"

Soda's eyes flashed between anger and sadness yet again. "I don't hate you Pony..." Soda said out of pure sadness. Soda looked away as a tear leaked from his eye.

"Then why are you doing this?"

Soda stood up suddenly. "Because."

"Because why?"

"You don't get it." Soda said, and started walking towards the door.

"Then tell me." Pony pleaded. He reached out and grabbed Soda's arm. Soda did what he did last time though. He whipped around and slapped Pony in the face again. Tears rolled down Soda's face as he opened the door and ran out of the room and out the front door.

Ponyboy got up and followed him.

Sodapop's POV

I ran to the DX. I'm not sure why though. Why was I hurting Pony? He didn't do anything to me... but that's when I realized that that was the reason why I was hurting him. He didn't fight back, and so it was easier for me to take my anger out on him. I felt so bad though.

I met my friends at the DX. They saw me, and my friend Greg asked, "Soda, you okay?"

I got my breath back and said, "I hit him. I hit Pony."

My other friend Jim smiled. "The runt deserved it. That ought to teach him to stay away."

"I didn't mean to though."

"Soda, if you don't be mean to him, he'll never learn to leave you alone. He has no right coming over here." I sighed and Greg said, "Hey, I've got an idea. Let's go to Buck's. Get out and live a little. Have a drink or two and have some fun."

"Guys, I really don't think I can. I'm not allowed to go over there."

Jim smirked. "No one will know."

The next thing I knew, we started walking over to Buck's.

Ponyboy's POV

I heard the entire conversation. Soda and his friends were going to Buck's. Soda knew he wasn't allowed to go there. I don't know why, but I followed. I saw them enter, and waited a few more minutes before entering myself. I was met by Buck though, and I knew that he was drunk.

"Hey kid, aren't you a little too young to be here?" He slurred.

"Come on Buck, let me in."

Buck sighed but ended up letting me in. I looked around the place. I was actually a bit nervous. There were people laughing, playing pool, drinking, and so on. I saw Soda and his group, so I just watched them, making sure that they didn't see me. They were drinking. Soda and a couple other ones were drunk.

I was watching them, in mid-thought, when I heard, "Ponyboy?!"

I jumped and turned around to see Two-bit there as well, looking at me and walking towards me.

"Hey Two-bit."

"What are you doing here?"

"Watching Soda."

He grabbed me by the arm and pulled me to the front door. "Kid, you know that you're not aloud to be here. If Darry found out that I let you stay, I'd get my head kicked in."

"But Soda's there."

Two-bit let go of my arm as we left Buck's place and looked at me sadly. "Kid, what happened between Soda? And... Just because he goes doesn't mean that you have to follow. I don't even know if he went in there. I didn't see him."

I sighed sadly, knowing that Two-bit was right.

He asked, "What happened to you? Why are you covered in cuts and bruises?"

"The cuts are from a drag race. The bruises are from Soda." I looked down sadly as Two-bit gasped.

"What happened at the drag race?"

"Well... I was in the passenger seat, and there were no seat belts for the passenger seat. Something on our car popped. We hit the wall and we just... Started doing flips. I was thrown from the car due to the seat belt situation. I landed on the road... The next thing I knew, I was in the hospital."

"Why would you enter that drag race Pony?"

"Soda told me too." I said sadly.

"Why would he tell you to?"

I shrugged. "He was drunk. He was mad. he wanted me to."

"And why did he beat you up like that?"

"Don't ask me." I told him, as my house came into view. "Two-bit? Are you going to tell Darry where I was?"

Two-bit looked at me with a sad look before nodding. "He needs to now where you were Pony. I'm sorry."

"Two-bit? Can you not tell Darry about Soda being there as well? I don't want Darry to know that Soda was there."

"Why not Pony?"

"Soda... Soda will blame me for getting in trouble."

Two-bit looked at me and said, "Darry won't let that happen."

"Two-bit," I said as I looked him in the eyes. "Darry might try to help me... but he can't see everything."

Two-bit looked at me with sad eyes again before saying, "Fine, but we'll hint that Soda was there. You tell Darry that Soda was there... And I'll say that he wasn't."

I nodded. I know that Two-bit doesn't want me to get hurt by Soda, but he doesn't want me to get in trouble either. He knocked on the front door and Darry answered. "Hey Pony. Hey Two-bit. What have you guys been up to?"

"Darry, there's something you need to know." Two-bit said.

"What is it?"

"I... I found Ponyboy at Bucks."

I looked down as Darry suddenly turned angry.

"Pony, what's wrong with you?! You know that your not allowed to go to Buck's! What were you doing there?!"

"I'm sorry Darry, but Soda went there, and I followed."

"Yeah well, Two-bit didn't find Soda did he. He found you, when you know full well that you shouldn't be there!"

"I'm sorry Darry, but Soda wa-"

"I don't care what Soda was doing. He probably wasn't even there. And if he was, Two-bit would have seen him."

Darry looked at Two-bit and Two-bit looked at me as I looked down at the ground. I knew that Two-bit was going to tell Darry that Soda wasn't there, but I know that he was only protecting me from Soda. Darry asked Two-bit, "Was Soda there?"

Two-bit looked at me at the same time that I looked at him. His eyes got a bit watery, as he said, "No Darry. Soda wasn't there."

I gave Two-bit a little nod, as if telling him that he did the right thing. He looked down though as Darry started hollering at me.

"See Ponyboy, I told you. Your grounged little buddy. You lied to me too, saying that Soda was there. Your grounded for two weeks. Go to your room and come out when I call you for supper."

I nodded sadly and went to my room, hearing Darry and Two-bit talking. Two-bit left and I laid on my bed, waiting for supper time.

Review for an update and tell me how I'm doing.