2. The Drive In

Pony remembered the day of the funeral like it was yesterday…she remembered feeling numb as she'd put her only black dress on, and how she'd sat between her brothers in the familiar sanctuary. Soda had broken down beside her during the service, and Darry had sat grim-faced, staring off into nothing as he'd rested a hand on her shoulder. Although she'd felt the silent tears running down her cheeks, she'd been more stunned than anything. Her parents couldn't be dead…how could her parents be dead? What was she going to do? She'd heard Darry telling her that he'd get custody of her and Soda...but Darry was her big brother. How could he have custody of her?

She'd slipped away during the reception, not able to stand the sound of Darry accepting the condolences of their parents' friends, or the sight of the gang dressed in button down shirts, looking respectable for once as they sat around a table picking at the little sandwiches someone had brought. She'd started to step out onto the porch, needing to get some fresh air, when she'd heard two of her mom's friends talking around the corner.

"It's just a shame…those poor kids."

"Poor Darry," the other woman had agreed.

"I know. It's not right, him giving up everything like that. He was going to go to college! He'd have been the first one in his family to go."

"And Pony…it's different with Soda…but how can he be expected to raise a thirteen-year-old girl?"

An arm had wrapped around her then, and she'd jumped, turning and finding Keith looking solemn and a little angry in his black shirt. He'd started going by Two-Bit by then, and Pony and Susie were the only ones who still called him Keith except for his mom, even though Pony slipped up and called him by his nickname sometimes. That day, she hadn't been in the mood to talk to her best friend's big brother.

"Come on, Pone. Don't pay them any mind," he'd murmured, leading her away from the porch and back towards the reception hall where people were eating and talking to her brothers, but she hadn't wanted to eat or talk. She'd wanted to go outside! Hell, she'd wanted to run and run and keep running until she couldn't run anymore.

"They're right," she'd told him, trying to take a deep breath to calm down…to stop the tears still running down her cheeks. She'd pulled away from him, slipping out from under his arm. "It ain't fair to Darry. He shouldn't…"

"Don't go telling your big brother what he should and shouldn't do, kiddo. He knows what he's doing. Besides, he wouldn't send you away for nothing. He loves you too much."

Staring up at her ceiling, her book discarded at her side, Pony had to doubt Keith's words. Darry had given up everything to take care of her, sure, but she knew he regretted it…knew he wished he could get rid of her now. Why else would he act the way he did with her?

She'd been stuck in the house all day, cleaning or reading or watching TV, and she felt like she was going to lose it. Sitting up, she put the book on her desk, swinging her feet as she stared at her window. Soda and Steve were at the game with their girls. Who knew where the other guys were. She didn't know to talk to Susie without bringing up their fight, and besides, she probably didn't want to hear about Pony's issues…not when she was mad at her. Pony had never told her about how Darry felt about her…she couldn't bear to say it out loud for the shame of it. How bad did she have to be for her own brother to want to get rid of her?

So, she thought, it was time to make plans with her other friends.

Stepping out of her bedroom, she rounded the corner and found Darry at the kitchen table. "Can I go to the drive in?" she asked, not meeting her big brother's eyes when he glanced up at her. Lying was easier when she didn't look right at him.

"Who with?" he asked absently, flipping through the papers on the table. Bills, she realized, and almost regretted bugging him. But she couldn't spend the whole night in this house…not when Soda wasn't there. She was going to die if she had to stay locked in her room all night without even Susie to talk to on the phone, and she wasn't brave enough to sneak out the window.

"Janet and Lucy," she told him, using two of the fake names she'd been using since the beginning of the school year. Janet and Lucy, both girls from her advanced math class. Acquaintances. Middle class girls with families Darry wouldn't know. Girls she went to the movies with or who she went out with after school when Susie wasn't available or when she wanted some time to herself. It wasn't that people from school hated her or anything…she had plenty of acquaintances her own age, and the girls on the track team liked her just fine. But she didn't know anyone she could hang out with after school, or go to the movies with. People she could actually talk to.

He glanced up at her again, and for a second, she worried that he was suspicious, but he just nodded. "Yeah, since it ain't a school night. Just be home by eleven."

Part of her wanted to tell him that wasn't fair…that their parents had never been that strict about her curfew, and that Soda could stay out as late as he wanted. But the biggest part of her knew it was no use. Darry didn't listen, not ever. So she didn't try. Not anymore. At first she had…those first few months…and all he'd done was get on her about every little thing.

So she did her schoolwork and she made sure it was perfect. She did her best to avoid him. And she kept her mouth shut, living by the rule that if he never saw her, he couldn't get mad at her.

"They gonna walk with you?"

"Yeah, we're meeting at the corner store," she lied, grabbing her purse from her room. Stopping at the last minute and remembering the guys that had yelled at her on her way home the day before, she opened the drawer of her nightstand and pulled out the old pocketknife she'd swiped from Sodapop's room a month or two ago…back when she'd first started going out on her own. She hadn't been brave enough to carry it yet…girls didn't carry knives. But if she was going to go out alone, she needed to be able to protect herself.

She turned it over in her hand. Soda carried a switch now, so he hadn't even noticed it was missing. On the back, though, he'd carved his name. S Curtis. Sliding it into her back pocket, she threw her purse over her shoulder and headed out. "See you," she called, hurrying through the kitchen and out the front door.

"Call if you need a ride or anything," he answered absently as she was leaving the house, and she reached out, making sure the screen door didn't slam on her way out.

As soon as she stepped out of the house, she felt lighter, and she couldn't help her smile as she latched their front gate behind her. She was free! At least for the night. And so what, she thought, if she didn't have any friends to go to the movies with? She could go on her own, and she had a blade to protect herself! She was fourteen years old, and she could take care of herself, no matter what her brothers thought.

Pony went to the diner first, grabbing a milkshake and chatting with a couple of girls from the track team who were there with their guys. They were all older, of course, but most of them were nice. Their boyfriends were all spitting strawpapers at the waitresses and talking too loud, laughing and smoking, while the girls sat on barstools and gossiped…although Pony guessed the guys were gossiping too. For some reason, it wasn't called that when boys did it.

When she'd finished her milkshake, she hopped off her stool, waving to the girl she'd been talking to. "I'm meeting some friends at the movies. I'll see you at practice."

"Sure thing, Pony. See you around," she called, turning back to her friend, and Pony made her way through the diner, dodging waitresses and greasers alike, until she was able to slip out the front door.

After buying her ticket to the film despite not being sure what it was about, she walked through the parking lot, keeping an eye out for anybody she might know. Girls congregated around the cars and leaned into the windows, chatting with the guys, all of them laughing, and Pony wished Susie was with her. Still, she thought, at least she wasn't stuck in the house with Darry. She liked reading, but she'd been doing it all day and she was sick of it, and her only other option once he got home from work was to brave the living room and watch TV, but her brother would be in their dad's recliner, probably reading the paper or napping, so she'd ruled that out pretty fast.

Pony took a seat up front just as the movie was starting, but it wasn't long before her hopes for losing herself in a good movie were dashed. Sighing, she crossed her arms, shivering a little in the cold evening air. Cursing herself for forgetting a jacket, she scooted down in her seat, hoping no one decided to come up and talk to her. The movie was a bust…just a bunch of pretty girls singing and kissing their guys. She almost regretted blowing a night out with her fake friends on some beach movie about…well, she wasn't all that sure what it was about, but she was tired of it already. If she wanted to watch a bunch of older teenagers in love with each other, she could just look around her school hallway and save herself the nickel. Standing, she started to make her way to the bathroom, figuring she could at least get some popcorn and a Pepsi at the concession stand on her way back, when she froze.

Dallas Winston was sitting in the back with Johnny Cade, the former leaning forward in his seat and talking to a soc girl she immediately recognized as Cherry Valance and her friend Marcia, two cheerleaders from her school. She had a pretty good idea what he was saying to her, judging by the look on the older girl's face, and Johnny seemed to too, because he sat back with his arms crossed, looking uncomfortable.

And then their eyes met, dashing her hopes of slipping out without them seeing her.

Johnny's eyes widened, and he nudged Dally, muttering something she couldn't hear. And then Cherry spun around in her seat.

"Get lost, hood!" she screamed in his face, and although Pony didn't like Cherry, she had to smile a little at someone putting Dallas in his place.

Dally leaned back, looking irritated and like he might say something else, but then Johnny nudged him again.

"Dal…"

He looked at Johnny first, then followed his eyes to her, and immediately his expression changed from irritation to surprise, his face softening a little. She knew Darry and Soda's friends were different with her and Susie than they were with other girls…girls they didn't know. Girls like Cherry, who Pony had never liked much. She dated Bob Sheldon, who was a real jerk, and she couldn't help being jealous of how pretty she was with her stupid perfect red hair. She'd bet anything Cherry didn't get all her clothes at the secondhand store either, unlike Pony.

At least before, she'd had Mom to take her, and the two of them would make a whole day of it, getting ice cream sundaes after they were done shopping. This year before school had started, Darry had given her a couple of dollars to go herself to get new clothes, and every month he gave her a little money to spend, but she knew that was just because he didn't know how to ask her if he should buy pads or tampons, and she certainly wasn't about to bring it up.

Now Dallas crossed his arms, looking her up and down, and although she knew he was a dangerous guy, she wasn't scared. Pony had been about 11 the first time she'd met Dallas Winston. Soda had taken her to the arcade at the bowling alley, back before he'd gotten his first serious girlfriend and had let her come along sometimes when he went places. Dally had walked into the room, hands shoved in his pockets, cigarette in his mouth, and he'd reached out a hand to Soda, the two of them shaking hands and nodding to each other in the way all her brothers' friends did. He'd been different from Soda's other friends, though…his blond hair hadn't been greased back, and she remembered thinking he looked dangerous. Dangerous in a way that none of her brothers' other friends had looked. Plus he was the first one of Soda's friends to smoke. Soda would start pretty soon after, but Darry was always real serious about her not starting, insisting it would wreck her health and hurt her chances at a track scholarship.

Nowadays, she wasn't willing to do anything to jeopardize that.

Dally had looked her over, eyes narrowing as he'd looked between her and Soda, a little smirk growing on his face as he'd blown smoke in the air. "This your parole officer or what, man?" he'd asked, grinning for real when she'd rolled her eyes.

"This is our little sister, Pony," Soda had told him, throwing an arm around her shoulder.

"Sodapop and Pony, huh?" Dally had asked, chuckling, and she'd bristled.

"Yeah. What about it?" she'd snapped. She happened to like her name. There were tons of Carols and Marys and Lisas, but there wasn't another Pony in all of Tulsa. Maybe not even in the country. Or a Sodapop either.

Soda had tightened his arm around her, and Dallas had crossed his arms, looking impressed. "She digs okay, huh?"

"Sure she does. Pony, this is Dallas Winston. He's a buddy of ours."

Later she'd learn more…that he'd lived in New York, and that he was tougher than anyone she'd ever met, and that he had a rap sheet a mile long and was always getting locked up, and that although he'd never hurt her, it was best to stay on his good side. So now she nodded a hello, figuring that she could make her escape and head home.

"Hey, Pony," Johnny greeted, grinning at her, and she smiled back.

"Hi, Johnny." Out of all her brothers' friends, she liked Johnny the best. Him and Keith. Sometimes she'd run into Johnny in the library at school, and she'd sit with him and do homework or read or something. They'd see each other in the hallway too, and he was always nice to her. He was the easiest to talk to for sure. He was still real tough, though. Not too long ago, he'd gotten jumped by some socs at the abandoned lot by their house, and he still had a scary looking scar running across his face.

"What are you doing here?" Dallas asked, scanning the area for someone she could be with. Darry never asked about her made-up friends, and neither did Soda, but it was kind of a pain that the gang got around town so much cause they were always around to report back to Darry or Soda if she was somewhere she wasn't supposed to be.

"Watching a movie with some friends," she told him like it was the most obvious thing in the world…which, she thought, since they were at the drive in, it kind of was..

He gave the almost empty seating area around them a cursory glance, then turned back to her, smirking a little. "Yeah? What friends?"

She rolled her eyes, starting to pass, but he shot a hand out, catching her arm and pulling her to a stop. Cherry and Marcia glanced back, looking nervous, but Pony just huffed a little.

"Don't give me that look," he warned, but not mean. She was always wary of Dallas Winston, but she knew he wouldn't hurt her or anything. Even if he wanted to, Darry and Soda would kill him if he tried it, and she resented those girls for looking at them like that…like she might be in trouble. It wasn't like they'd help her if she was.

"I thought you were still locked up," she told him, making it real clear with her tone that she wished it were true.

He gave her a wolfish grin. Everybody was always real careful about what they said to Dally, but he never minded too much if she got smart with him. "Got out for good behavior."

She gave him a disbelieving once over, making Johnny laugh. "You?"

His lips twitched into a real grin. "Where are you going?"

"Bathroom. You wanna come?"

He shook his head, rolling his eyes, still grinning a little. "Don't get mouthy, kid. You really here with friends?"

"They left." It was a blatant lie, but he didn't call her out as she shivered a little, the wind blowing harder as it got later and the temperature dropped.

"Where's your coat, stupid?" he asked, sounding tired.

"I forgot it."

Dally huffed out a breath, but he didn't jump all over her like Darry would have. Instead, he let her go. "Come sit with us when you get back."

"I'm gonna head home." Pony didn't want to watch a movie with Darry and Soda's friends. She wished again that Susie was there…at least then they'd leave together. Maybe call Keith for a ride.

"Not by yourself, you ain't." He said it so matter of factly that she couldn't help glaring, cheeks getting hot when she realized the older girls must still be listening, even if they'd turned around. Dal followed her eyes but seemed to have lost interest in the rich girls. "We'll walk you home when the movie's over."

She sighed. "Fine," she muttered, walking off, cheeks still hot. Why the hell had she even come?

Because she hated being in that house…hated her brother always getting on her and trying so hard to be perfect so he didn't have anything to yell at her about. She hated how Soda watched her, worried but obviously not knowing what to say, or the reminders of her mom and dad scattered around everywhere. Hated knowing that Darry, who she'd been close to just a year ago, had given up his whole future instead of sending her to an orphanage or foster home or something. And he could have.

He still could.

Regardless, she was pretty sure he regretted not doing it when he had the chance.

She thought about it every time they fought…every time he told her she needed to get her head out of the clouds or that she read too much or when he'd tell her she couldn't go out somewhere and they got into it. She missed her brother…the one that had given her piggyback rides down the street and who had taught her to throw a punch, and who'd picked her up from a sleepover early one time when she'd called the house crying because the other girls had been so mean.

He'd only been about eighteen then, her eleven or twelve, and he'd come in the truck without telling mom and dad. He'd pulled her into his arms in the truck, holding her for a long time while she'd cried, and although she'd been so hurt and sad she could hardly stand it, she'd felt better with him there.

The next day, he'd taken her out for ice cream.

Wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, not about to start crying in public, she walked to the bathroom. It seemed further away than it was, out past all the cars. The bathrooms were attached to the back of the concessions building, but she had to walk all the way around the building in the dark to get to them, and there was only one weak security light on the wall between the two doors to illuminate the whole area.

Pony stepped inside, passing another girl on her way in. It felt too quiet, and once she'd used the bathroom and washed her hands, she hurried outside onto the gravel path, looking around the empty field out behind the building. She could still hear the movie, but distantly, and she shivered a little at the feeling of being so alone. When she and Susie went to the movies, or shopping, or anywhere, they always went to the bathroom together…it had been drilled into her from the time she was little, and now, she felt too exposed.

Ignoring the urge to pull out Soda's blade, Pony started to make her way back around the side of the building, then froze when someone rounded the corner…a guy. A tall guy. Not Dally…this guy was broader than any of her brothers' friends, almost Darry's size, and when he stepped into the circle of yellow light, she realized with a sinking feeling in her gut that it was Bob Sheldon.