Not—Part 9

Sodapop's POV

The train finally began to slow down. Which meant a stop at a station. Which meant we could get off the train. Which meant we could go home. Which meant Ponyboy would have to face Darry. Too many things coming from a simple train stop. Ponyboy had actually, incredibly, managed to fall asleep about a half hour earlier. That kid always could fall asleep like no one else. The problem was half the time he would wake up screaming from a nightmare, and it was then that he couldn't summon up his crazy sleeping abilities and fall back to dreamland. Thankfully, he didn't have one now. But as the train slowed even more, I nudged him and he woke almost instantly.

"Where are we, Soda?" Pony asked groggily. I rumpled his hair a little.

"On a train," I told him. "Remember? You were trying to run away?"

His face darkened as he recalled everything. Including the adoption secret, now uncovered. "Yeah," he muttered. "So what are we gonna do now?"

"Well, first we're going to get off this train, and then we'll figure out some way to head back to Tulsa," I answered, standing up, a bit wobbly at first since we were still moving.

"How are we gonna do that?" Ponyboy asked, yawning. "We don't even have a car."

"Sure, but…I dunno, we'll figure out some way to get back," I said stupidly, repeating myself. I really didn't know what else to say to my little brother.

I really still wasn't willing to accept the fact that a piece of paper could tell me that he wasn't my brother. I could only hope he felt the same way.

Finally the train slowed to a halt. I grinned, not even sure he could see it in the darkness. "Come on, let's go," I announced, and we jumped off the train.

Ponyboy and I ran behind the little train station. Now, I really had no idea of where to go from there, but I just decided to go with my gut, and I turned to my brother.

"Let's go inside, Pony," I told him. He looked at me incredulously.

"Are you crazy, Soda? Do you want them to find out that we hid in that train?" he demanded. A good point. But it was better than standing around in the increasingly chilly air. From this point on, it would take a leap of faith to get us back home.

Ponyboy's POV

I trust my brother. I really do. But honestly, sometimes he gets the craziest ideas, and I just have to come along for the ride. As if this day hadn't been weird and horrible enough, now he wanted to march into the building and practically announce that we'd sneaked onto the train and stowed away here. But I was too tired to argue…much.

So I just followed him inside—which was a lot warmer than behind the station, where we'd been before, let me tell you—and what do ya know, there's a girl behind the ticket counter. Soda shot me this smirk and headed up to the counter, leaning on it.

"Hey, we were wondering, what's the quickest way back to Tulsa?" he drawled, flashing her that grin of his. Charming to a fault.

But this girl wouldn't have any of it. She just gave him and me both a wary look, and replied dryly, "At this time? No trains going that way anytime soon."

"But we're stuck here!" I couldn't help blurting out.

"Not my problem," the girl answered unsympathetically.

"Look, do you at least have a phone I can use?" Soda said, giving up on flirting with her. Obviously she'd gotten her point across: don't mess with me. She hesitated, seeming to decide whether or not to allow us use of her precious telephone.

"I suppose so," she agreed finally, handing him the receiver. Soda gestured for me to come closer, so I did, as he dialled the number. It was so familiar to me I could just tell from the sound of how he dialled who he was calling without even looking at the numbers. Obviously, he was calling Darry to tell him to come pick us up.

But after a few moments he slammed the phone down. "No one's picking up!" Soda told me, after muttering a few curse words. That was how I could tell he was pretty frustrated. "Darry's probably out looking for us. I'll try calling Two-Bit in a second."

I knew I should've been upset that we were stuck here and Darry wasn't answering the phone, but I wasn't. Despite wanting to go home, I was still mad at my brother for never telling me the secret of my adoption. At least now I'd have a little more time to think over everything I'd learned that day. A little more time to put off facing my brother…if I could still think of him that way. Why was it so much easier for me to forgive Sodapop than Darry? Was it because Soda hadn't known either? Or was it just because I'd always been closer to him, and I wasn't being fair to Darry now?

Soda dialled another number, and I knew this time it was Two-Bit's. But this time someone picked up. Was it our buddy?

"Hello?" I heard Soda say into the receiver. "Mrs. Mathews? Is Two-Bit there?" She must've not recognized his voice immediately, because a minute later he said, "Oh, it's Soda. Sorry about the static, I'm kinda…far away right now."

I could just hear her worried voice asking where in the world he was. Apparently she did say something along those lines, 'cause the next thing my brother told her was, "Don't worry. We're both fine. Yeah, Ponyboy's here too. We're at a train station in…" he covered the receiver and quickly asked the girl behind the counter, "Where are we anyway?"

She raised her eyebrows sceptically and replied sarcastically, "Just about halfway to nowhere."

"Real helpful," Soda answered just as sarcastically. It was clear to me that this girl didn't trust us one iota, and she was not going to be any help to us in the near future. Soda returned to his phone conversation with Mrs. Mathews.

"Yeah, we're at the first stop the train makes heading west of Tulsa," Sodapop informed her, shooting the girl a dirty look as he said this. A moment later he hung up.

"Well, what did she say?" I asked almost immediately. Two-Bit's mom was a real nice person. I knew she would want to help us get home if she could.

"She said if Two-Bit or anybody else shows up she'll tell them where we are—or at least what direction we went in, since I wasn't exactly able to give her an exact location," Soda said pointedly, and the girl rolled her eyes.

So now there was nothing to do but wait and see who would help us go home.

Okay, it's official: I am the worst updater ever! It's just June, I swear. It's so busy! Hopefully there won't be such a lag between updates after this month. Anyway, if you're not too upset with me, please drop a review!