So new chapter. I promise I'm not going to let it go six months before I update this again. That was awful to do to you all. It might be six weeks, but that would be the most I let this go un-updated. Enjoy and tell me what you think!

Cherry's POV

Ponyboy met me in the same spot a couple of days later. He had been absent for those few days, and I had every intention of finding out what.

"Ponyboy, why were you absent?" I asked him.

"I was…sick," he replied, but I could tell he was lying.

"Are you sure that you were just sick?" I asked him. He nodded, but kept staring at the floor. I sighed and saw I had no choice but to continue my story.

"We all went to the funeral, but Dad couldn't come. His commander said that military personnel can't just drop everything and go in the case of a family emergency. He was mad, but told us that as soon as he could, he'd come home and stay for as long as possible. He didn't get to come home until his overseas time was up, but when he did, he spent all the time he could with us. Mom got pregnant again, and they were ecstatic.

"The twins that you met the other day were born nine months later. They were healthy and no more unfortunate events occurred that caused one of them to die a horrible death. Dad didn't get sent back overseas for several more years," I finished.

"Wow, that's horrible. I mean, you've had so much horrible stuff happen to you in your life time. It's worse than everything that's happened to me," Ponyboy replied.

"That's not all of it, but it's no where near as tragic to what happened to you and your brothers. I mean, you guys lost your parents and then two of your best friends who were as close as brothers. I only lost a brother. I still have both of my parents."

Pony was quiet after that. I could tell he was thinking, but I didn't know what.

"Ponyboy?" I asked quietly. "Are you okay?"

"Huh?" he asked, jumping. I had clearly startled him. "Oh, I'm fine. I was just thinking. I shouldn't do that as much, Darry says that I'm gonna get hit by a car or something if I daydream like that when I'm walking, but I keep doing it."

"Pony, why were you absent yesterday?" I asked. I didn't think that anything could go wrong at their house, but I just wanted to be sure.

"I was sick, I already told you. I had a cold and Darry didn't want to take me to the doctor's so he just told me to stay home with Two-Bit. Two-Bit happened to be suffering from a hang-over so he came over and we were sick together. I'm telling the truth, I wouldn't lie about being sick."

I was about to say something about maybe he was sick because he never ate, but the bell rang. He jumped up, waved to me, and got lost in the tide of students once more.

Ponyboy POV

I had to get out of there. Cherry kept pressuring me, and I couldn't take it. Yeah, we were good friends and she was one of the few who I could talk to openly, but I couldn't tell her the real reason I had missed school for three days. It was hard to even think about it, let alone talk about it.

Don't get me wrong, I really had been sick. It was almost like I perfectly planned it, but I didn't. It was a coincidental thing that I got sick. I would have been excused anyways, considering the day, but it worked in my favor that I was sick.

I walked home from school that day. Two-Bit was 'sick' again and Steve didn't have a seventh period so he left early to go to work. I usually rode home with Two-Bit but when I could walk I enjoyed it.

I opened the front door to find Two-Bit sleeping on the couch. He had a bowl by his side, which I avoided because I already knew what was in it. I tried to close the door as quietly as possible, but he must have been sleeping lightly because he still woke up.

"Huh? Who's there?" he asked, startled.

"It's just Ponyboy," I replied. "Why aren't you ever any use when a real burglar is breaking in?"

"Shoot, kid, you've never had a real burglar break in. If you had, the whole neighborhood would've heard about it," he said, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. He looked down at the floor and saw the bowl. He walked it to the bathroom and dumped it in the toilet.

'At least he didn't dump it in the kitchen sink,' I thought.

"Hey, kid, have you been to the cemetery yet?" he asked.

"No, Darry and Soda won't take me. They said that it should be something we do together. And they think we should wait till the weekend. I don't know…" my voice wandered off as Soda walked through the door.

"Hey Pone, hey Two-Bit!" my brother exclaimed. He stripped his shoes and socks off and went to his room to change. I went into the kitchen to start supper. Darry would be home soon and he'd want his dinner.

The whole time I was cooking, I couldn't stop thinking about what Cherry had told me. 'It perfectly fits. She told me that it's rough all over. She's got it rough, all right,' I thought.