"Darry, it's Laura" Soda said handing me the phone, the next morning. I could tell by looking at him their conversation didn't go well. I doubted ours would either.

"Hey," I said nervously. Laura was our sister, she was younger than me and Soda, but older than Pony. She wasn't like us though, she was very stubborn and always did what she thought was right. I knew I wouldn't be able to control her like I did Soda and Pony, so that's why I send her to boarding school.

" Darry!Are you guys out of your mind. Can't believe you did this to me.Am I not part of the family? Pony's younger than me but you let him be there. First of all, you guys sent me to boarding school after mom and dad dies without my consent. And all this happened, Dally and Johnny died, Soda got married, now there's a problem between him and Pony, and none of you thought it was important to tellme anything?!" Laura was yelling so loud, I thought I'd turn deaf any second. I didn't blame her. If I was in her place I'd probably get mad at my brothers too, but we did it for her good. She took mom and dad's death the worst out of the four of us, we had to send her away. And if we continued to update her on the bad things happening to us, she'd probably die of shock.

" Laura, calm down. We didn't wanna tell you because we knew you'd be all worried and react the way you are right now. And-" She didn't even let me finish.

" Whatever, I'm coming home next week." With that, she hung up.

" Was she angry?" Soda asked, knowing the answer already.

" She said she'll be home next week." I informed. "Go get ready, I'll drop you off to work"

" No, that's ok. Steve said he's coming, so I'll leave with him." Soda said.

After Soda left , I was sitting watching t.v. in the living room, since I had the evening shift today. Well, to be accurate, the t.v. was on, but my attention was on other things. I was wondering if I should talk to Pony again or not. He still seemed the same, and now it was harder to believe that it only because of Soda slapping him. But what else could it possibly be?

"Darry, I'm going out for a bit" Sandy said.

"Ok, bye."

" Bye."

A bit later Pony also came. But he didn't talk to me. He was was wearing his shoes.

" You going outside?" I asked.

" What do you think?' He asked. I had nothing to say, I just watched as he got ready to leave.

"Bye" I yelled after him. He just slammed the door and left. He nevr even had that attitude when I yelled at him. I could understand that it was different when it came to Soda. But he never got mad at Soda if he had a problem with me, so why is he taking out Soda's anger on me now? And now that Soda was sorried, he should of had been over this, anyways.

As I was going home from work, I saw this girl walking in the streets as if she was lost. I got out of my car, and went up to her.

" Uh... excuse me ma'm ... it's pretty late and a girl walking alone like this is not safe. Do you need a ride or something?" I asked. It was very dark out, but I could see the girls face perfectly. I'd never seen a more gorgeous person in my life.

" Ride where?" She asked, not even glancing up at me. Huh?

" Uh.. obviously your house." I said.

" I have none." She replied, still looking the other direction. I knew it wouldn't be safe to leave a young girl out there at night, so I tried something else.

" Ummm... you want to come to my house?" I asked.

" Yeah, and going with this man all alone that I don't even know, at this time in the night, is safe?" She asked.

I felt embarrassed. I turned around, about to leave, as I felt a tug on my arm. I turned around to see that the girl was fainting.

Now I definitely couldn't leave her like this, so I just picked her up and took her home.

" Are you feeling better?", I asked her the next morning.

" Yeah, thanks" She said, smiling. She looked even more beautiful smiling.

" We're going to work, do you mind staying alone at home?" I asked.

" Not at all." She said smiling again. God! It was breathtaking.

" Dar' I need tell you something" Soda said, as I was driving.

"What?"

"Uh... Sandy's pregnant again." He said,

" Woah, you guys are really in a rush to be parents huh? Kool. Where is she though?" I asked.

" At her parent's house, she doesn't wanna come home for now." He explained.

"That's alright. She ahould stay wherever she feels comfortable ... but I'm kind of worried about Ponyboy" I said.

" It's all my fault." Soda sounded just as upset as he was happy a few minutes ago.

" No, I don't mean that, He's been acting wierd lately, and I'm sure it's not because of the thing between you and him. And guess what? Yesterday, I heard him talk on the phone, to some man, and he was asking the man to leave him alone, and he was happy the way his life is. Who could it possibly be? Huh?" I asked Soda.

" We should talk to him" He suggested.

Work was very tiring. Actually it was extra tiring because of how last night I didn't get enough sleep after bringing that girl home and making sure she was ok. By the time I went home, Soda was already there.

"Where's she?" I asked about the girl.

" Oh, Pony said she went outside." Soda answered.

After dinner Soda asked Pony to sit with us, since he was finally home around this time. The past few weeks he was never home. he'd go out early in the morning, even in the weekends, and come home really late. Usually after I fell asleep.

"Pony... I wanted to ask you somtehing." I said nervously. As soon as I said that, he looke pale.

" Yeah, what?" He asked.

" What's wrong. Don't tell me you're mad at Soda, cuz we know it's more than that. Let it out." I said. Pony started crying. Me and Soda were both surprised.

" You're not my ...bro..brothers" He said between sobs.

" What?" Soda asked standing up.

" You heard me", he yelled.

"Tell us clearly! What are you saying?" I went up to him.

" You know who I am? I'm Bob's brother. Mom and Dad, well...your parents adopted me. My real parents are Bob's parent. After his death, when they saw my picture on the newspaper, they came and talked to me. They want me back, because enow they don't have any son after Bob died. But I don't want them, Darr, I want you guys. I was never mad at Soda for what he did. It's just that that's the night I found out, so I was upset. Everytime I wasn't home I visited them. I even have a sister, Joanne. I said I'd coninue visiting them, but they want me parmanently. I don't want them. They gave me away that time." Pony was crying a lot. Then he just got up, and went to his room.