Katelyn's POV
The movie had been allright. It had Debbie Reynolds in it. She was pretty cool. Someday, I was gonna be a big shot actress like her. As we neared Pony's house I headed off towards my own home.
"Ain't you coming in for a while Katelyn?" Johnny asked me.
"No...I think I better get home." I said, even though most of the time no one cared where I was. Ever since Mom had died, Dad had immersed himself into his work and I hardly ever saw him. We were still living with his brother, Robert, who supposedly kept an eye on me when Dad worked late, but he never really did. I was mostly a bother to Uncle Robert, except when he wanted me to do something - like fix his dinner or clean the house. I didn't really think it was fair that I had to do ALL the work, but Dad said it was the least we could do to thank him for letting us stay at his house.
Pony's POV
"Aw Pony," Two-Bit said, pointing to our Ford truck. "Somebody's done ran off with your new car and left you this old piece of junk. How do ya like that?"
I gave him a lopsided grin. Actually, I was real glad to see that Rachel's car was gone. She probably wasn't too happy with me for leaving her like I did.
Inside, Soda and Steve were having one of their arm wrestling matches and Darry was
fixing supper. He walked out into the living room, wiping his hands on a towel. "So,
what did you guys do all day?"
"Well, I decided I'm gonna get me a dog." Two-Bit said mater-of-factly. "And we're gonna be..."
"TWO-BIT Shut up!" We all shouted at the same time.
He pretended to look hurt as he pushed Soda out of the way so he could have a change at arm wresting Steve.
"Was Rachel still here when you got back?" I asked Soda. He nodded but didn't say anything else so I continued, "What did she want?"
Darry was the one who answered me. "Nothing much, you know how she is."
I looked back at Soda, wanting him to fill in the details but he just shrugged and looked away. Darry must have told him not to tell me. "Why can't I know?"
"Because you don't need to know, allright? Just forget about it." Darry came and stopped a few feet in front of me. "And why did you leave her here by herself? What were you thinking?"
I just stared blankly at him. I didn't really understand what he was so upset about.
"How would you like to spend a whole day with her by yourself, Darry?" Soda came and put an arm around me. He always sticks up for me.
"Point taken." Darry said, as he returned to the kitchen. "Hey, who all's staying for supper?"
Steve landed Two-Bit's arm on the table and then jumped up, "I gotta go. I'm meeting Evie tonight."
"And I'm heading to Buck's." Dally replied. "See you later."
Two-Bit and Johnny didn't say anything, so we figured they were staying.
When you get five guys at a table, it can get pretty loud, especially when two of them are Soda and Two-Bit, but I wasn't paying much attention to the noise. I was trying to figure out what Rachel had wanted and why Darry had gotten so upset. It didn't make me feel too hot to have my brother snap at me, especially when the gang was there.
"Pony. Earth to Ponyboy." Two-Bit's voice pulled me back. Everyone was looking at me,
like they were waiting for an answer, only I hadn't heard the question. I met Two-Bit's
eyes and he cocked an eyebrow and looked down at my plate. I followed his gaze and
noticed that everyone else had finished eating but I'd barely touched my food. I still didn't
know what I was supposed to say so I just got up and started clearing the table.
"Ain't you gonna eat anything Ponyboy?" Darry asked. I just shook my head and kept working. Johnny offered to help me do the dishes. Soda and Two-Bit just sat at the table while Darry went to take out the trash.
"You seem kinda out of it Pony. What's going on?" Johnny's dark eyes were sincere. I knew he really wanted me to tell him what was wrong.
"I'm just tired." That was partly true.
Johnny raised his eyebrows, "After all that sleep? You getting sick or something?" I just shrugged so he continued. "Are you upset because Darry snapped at you?"
"A little." I felt bad because I knew that compared to what Johnny went through at his house, mine was like heaven. But Johnny was real good about understanding. He gave me one of his rare smiles and reached over with a dripping, soapy hand and tossled my hair.
As water slid down the side of my face I looked at Johnny, stunned. I expected something like that from Two-Bit or Soda, but not Johnny.
"Look real tuff there Pony," Johnny chuckled.
"Bet you would too." I said as I placed a handful of suds on top of his head.
Soda chose that moment to glance up from the table. "Two-Bit, look! Water fight"
They charged in and next thing I knew we were all dumping water and throwing suds
everywhere. Two-Bit picked up the bottle of dish soap and I grabbed a sponge from under
the sink and soaked it in water.
Darry's POV
I stood outside for a moment, breathing in the cool air. I knew Ponyboy was upset at me
because I wouldn't tell him why Rachel had been there, but I didn't want him to worry.
Sometimes doing the right thing felt so wrong.
I sighed and walked back inside and heard a ruckus coming from the kitchen. Then Two-Bit exclaimed,
"Ow, you got soap in my eye!"
"Well, you're getting it all over the floor."
I poked my head into the kitchen to see what was going on and was greeted by a very wet sponge landing on my face. I wiped my eyes on my sleeve. "I step out of the house for five minutes and look what happens." Everyone seemed oblivious to my comment so I just leaned against the door post and watched.
All four were dripping wet and water was everywhere. It looked like they were trying to
clean the kitchen rather than the dishes. Pony started to dump a cup of water on Johnny's
head, but Johnny reached for the sink sprayer and squirted him in the face. Soda charged
across the room at Two-Bit, dishcloth in hand. Two-Bit hopped up on the counter with a shout to get out of the
way. Soda tried to stop short of the counter but slipped and went flying backwards. He
grabbed hold of Two-Bit's leg on the way down and they both crashed to the floor,
bringing a pan of dirty water down on top of them.
A minute later when Soda pulled out the chocolate cake and smeared it on Pony's shirt I decided things were getting a little out of hand. I went outside and picked up the water hose and screwed on the sprayer before turning it on full blast and returning inside.
"You can't have cake without milk." Johnny said, pulling the milk out of the icebox.
Before he had a chance to get the lid off I blasted them with the hose.
"Ooo, that's COLD!" Pony yelped.
"Yeah, what'd ya do that for?" Soda questioned.
I stopped spraying. "Just thought y'all could use a rinse. Don't forget to do the dishes while you're cleaning the kitchen." I took the hose back outside and then sat down on the couch with the newspaper.