Chapter 5

"So Darry's gonna a throw us a going away party or something?" asked Steve while he was under the car. Sodapop couldn't do anything but shrug. He had no idea what Darry would do.

"Not sure. He just said he's gonna give us something to remember."

"I wonder how's he's gonna pull that off," mumbled Steve and Soda didn't seem to hear, instead he nearly yelled,

"What the hell?"

At that statement, Steve rolled from under the car and looked in the direction of the window. No one was there. Puzzled, Steve looked at his best friend.

"What are you talking about?"

Soda looked back at Steve and then the window.

"There was some guy just staring at us in the window. And when I turned around to him, he just ran off."

Steve got up and walked towards the window, his tool still handy. He looked out the window and didn't see a soul. He was puzzled once again.

"Are you sure you're not seeing things."

"I'm positive."

Steve just shook his head and threw his tool down near the rest of his utensils.

"C'mon. I'll get you a coke. Maybe that will get your head straight. Have you had that weed again?"

"You know I don't do that stuff," said Soda with a smile. And he followed Steve towards the front of the store.

Meanwhile, Ponyboy was walking home from school. The whole way he was thinking the same thing that Soda and Steve were thinking. How would Darry be able to pull this off? What exactly was he planning? The young man shook his head. Darry was smart, he wouldn't do anything ridiculous. And besides, he really should do this for Soda…and he guessed Steve.

As he approached his home, he noticed someone sitting on his porch. He froze. He knew it couldn't be that person. He squinted his eyes and noticed that it was Crystal, sitting on the porch reading a book. For a close second, he though it may have been Johnny.

Johnny Cade, an old friend of his who died last year, was abused constantly and it resulted in the Curtis household becoming his second home, if you would consider his parent's house a home at all.

Memories of Jay Mountain and the lot appeared into the teenager's mind. It had been a while since he thought of Johnny. And it really did help him heal when he had finished writing that theme.

'The theme!' Pony thought. The theme was one of the reasons that Crystal started talking to him. And he was supposed to meet her at lunch. Why did he stand her up like that! He walked to the porch, expecting her to cuss her out like Sylvia did to Steve when he forgot one of their dates. That wasn't the prettiest thing in the world.

As he walked closer to the porch, Crystal noticed his presence and surprisingly, greeted him with a smile.

"Hey, Ponyboy. I didn't see you at lunch."

"Yeah…I'm sorry about that. I left the school to have lunch with one of my friends."

"That's okay. Come here. Have a seat next to me."

Pony's stomach twisted. He almost froze, but his nervous system allowed him to take a seat next to Crystal on the porch. When he sat down, she stared at him with the same exact smile she had when she first greeted him. He stared at his shoe for a while and then looked at her. He was instantly drawn in to her eyes and he stuttered out,

"S-so. What book are you…reading?"

She giggled and closed the book, with her thumb used as a bookmark.

"A book my brother owns. It's called The Carpetbaggers. I don't quite understand it though."

"Y-yeah. I've tried to read it and I didn't understand it either. My brother told me not to read it either."

"Oh really. What's your favorite book?"

There was only one book that he really read with a lot of heart.

"Gone With the Wind."

"Really. I thought it was a good book. So tell me."

Pony looked at her. What did he have to tell her? Did he forget something else?

"Tell you what?"

"What were you so mad about this morning?"

"Oh um…Well you see… my brother…"

And with that, Ponyboy told every little detail he could remember about last night. Which seemed pretty simple with everything being played back in his head like film was going through his ears. They talked for hours. They started off on politics, and moved on to movies which eventually carried them to more books.

As they were talking, Soda was dropped off at the house by Steve. Ponyboy was so deep in the conversation that he didn't even notice the car approaching. Crystal however, cut her eyes every now and then. Ponyboy didn't seem to notice that either.

Steve and Soda sat in the car, looking at the two talking.

"Well look at this here. Your little brother's actually talking to girls."

"Shut-up, Steve," laughed Soda. "He's talked to girls before."

"Then why do you look so surprised?"

"Because he hasn't talked to a girl like that before. He didn't even look up when we drove up."

Steve just shook his head and leaned against the car window. Wondering how Soda could defend such a little, crazy, kid. Soda hopped out of the car and turned around to his best friend.

"Hey, I'll see you tomorrow at work."

"Alright."

Steve drove off and Soda walked past the two talking.

"Hey, Pony," he said as he walked past them and Pony barely said something back. Soda turned around and just smiled. His little brother seemed to be in love.