Chapter Six

Tulsa

"Pony!" Soda yelled. "Pony, where are you?"

Soda had been looking for Ponyboy for the past half hour. Johnny's leaving had been hard on everyone, but it was hardest on Pony. Pony wasn't like everyone else, he was sensitive; things like this affected him more. He ran off when Johnny left, and now no one could find him. Everyone was worried about him, even Steve. They were all out looking for him.

"PONY!" Soda screamed. Soda was really worried about Pony. It wasn't safe at night on the East side, especially if you were alone. Soda knew that Pony would be alone. What if Pony was jumped? Pony was small, if there were a lot of Socs, he wouldn't be able to defend himself.

Soda had looked everywhere. He checked the vacant lot, the park, and all of Pony's friend's houses. Soda had looked there at least three times, and he still couldn't find Pony.

"Soda," he heard someone yell. He turned around. It was Darry.

"I guess you didn't find him yet either?" Darry asked.

"No," Soda said. "I looked everywhere: the park, the lot, and his friend's houses. He wasn't there. It's like he disappeared."

"I checked the library," Darry said. "He wasn't there either. The only thing that I can think of is that maybe he went to see a movie, but I don't know why he would have."

"I just hope he's Ok," Soda said.

"Me too," Darry replied.

Pony was hiding.

He'd been in Johnny's house for the past hour. He heard the gang walking up and down the street calling out his name. He knew they were worried about him, but Pony didn't want to face them.

For a while, Ponyboy had thought that maybe it was a joke. That Johnny and someone else, maybe Two-Bit had staged the whole thing. But then the gang started looking for him and Pony had watched from behind the curtains in Johnny's house. Pony had seen everyone but Johnny. That was when Pony realized it wasn't a joke.

"Pony!" he heard someone yell. Soda was standing outside of Johnny's house. Soda shook his head and then walked toward Johnny's house. Pony thought about hiding in another room, but he decided against it.

The door opened and Soda walked in. He saw Pony and ran over to him.

"Thank God," Soda said as he hugged Pony. "We thought you had been jumped and we had no idea where you were."

"Johnny's gone," Pony said softly.

"Yeah, I know," Soda said.

"I miss him," Pony said.

"We all do, buddy, but you need to come home," Soda said.

Pony shook his head.

"Darry made chocolate cake," Soda said.

"I'm not hungry," Pony said. "But I'll come home."

About an hour later, everyone was back at the Curtis house. Pony had been complaining that his head hurt, so he had gone to bed. Everyone else was sitting in the living room in silence. Two-Bit eventually broke the silence.

"It's not the same without Johnny," he said.

Everyone agreed. Then Soda said, "What'll we tell Dally? He gets out of the cooler in two weeks."

"I don't want to be the one to tell him," Two-Bit said. "Johnny was the only person he cared about. He'll be mad; probably will want to wring someone's neck or something."

"Maybe Pony should tell him," Steve said. "I think Johnny liked him and Dally the best."

"Maybe we should just leave town," Two-Bit said.

"We'll worry about it later," Darry said. "It's late and I'm tired. I have to work tomorrow."

Everyone nodded. Two-Bit left and Steve flopped down on the couch. Everyone was expecting Johnny to walk through the door, but he never did.

Soda woke up in the middle of the night to someone saying his name.

"Soda," Pony said. "Are you awake?"

"Yeah, I'm awake," Soda said sleepily. "What's wrong? Did you have a nightmare?"

"I miss Johnny," Pony said.

"I know," Soda said. "But you have to go back to sleep, I'm tired."

"Ok," Pony said sadly.

Pony stared out the window at the vacant lot. Looking at the lot made him miss Johnny. Pony rolled over so his back was to the lot and tried not to think about Johnny. He eventually fell asleep.