Pony's POV

The hour and a half drive to Oklahoma City seemed more like five. Rachel attempted to start conversations with me several times before figuring out I wasn't interested in talking. Soda's face kept flashing in my mind. I had tried not to look at him, or Darry, for this very reason. But I had seen the tears in Soda's eyes, and even more, heard them in his voice.

"At least tell me why you're going." He'd pleaded with me. Man, I hated myself for not telling him, but I would have hated myself more if I had. We'd already been through court once, when Darry got legal custody of us, and it had been hell. There was no way I was going to drag Soda through that again.

"Don't…We love you Pony." I squeezed my eyes shut against his words. When I opened them, we were pulling up to Rachel's house.

It wasn't quite what I had imagined. It was fairly big and had a huge wrap-around porch and a meticulous lawn. The inside was fancy and neat to a pin, but it actually had a homey feel to it.

As I glanced around I noticed that Rachel had quite a few pictures out. Some were of her and Uncle Mark, but there were also a lot of her and Dad when they were younger. She even had a picture of my family - before I was born. Darry was probably five, which made Soda two.

I wondered why she had kept the pictures out all these years. Or maybe she had put them out for me. I shuddered at the thought.

"Your room will be up here." Rachel broke into my thoughts.

I followed her up the curved staircase to the room straight across from the stairs. No long hallway, and no big bed. Actually, the room wasn't much bigger than the one Soda and I shared.

We stood there awkwardly. "When can I start working?"

"Monday. If you want." Rachel paused and fiddled with the side of her skirt. "You don't have to work you know."

"Why else would I have come here?" My words were biting.

She looked hurt and her eyes trailed passed me to the dresser.

I followed her gaze to the dresser. On it sat a frame with the words "Family lasts Forever" across the top. The picture was one of her with Darry and Soda. She had caught them and was starting to tickle Darry. All three were laughing and their eyes were sparkling.

"Dinner will be ready in an hour. I expect you to be on time." Rachel's voice was rough again, but she still looked sad and hurt.

As she glided back down the steps I realized, for the first time, that Rachel had feelings too. Maybe I would be able to find the woman that Dad had known. The side of her that he had cared for so deeply.

Katelyn's POV

The mood at the Curtis house was much more muted than it normally was. Ponyboy's decision had left a thick blanket of tension. Darry and Soda sat at the table reading the paper. Since when Soda started reading the paper, I'm not sure. He was probably more lost in his thoughts than anything,

I was perched carefully on the arm of the couch. Johnny and Steve lounged with me in front of the TV, making occasional comments about what we were watching. Last night I had found them in the Lot and filled them in on what had happened. I hadn't seen Two-Bit, but I figured he'd be here before too long.

True to my prediction, Two-Bit made his entrance with a bang. As far as I knew, he still didn't have a clue about what went on yesterday. His grin proved my point.

"Keith Matthews, when are you going to learn to close that door right?" Darry snapped from across the room.

At the sound of his full name, Two-Bit threw his hands up innocently, "Whoa-hoa, what's got you all huffed out of shape?"

When no one answered him, he blew off the remark with a shrug. He must have thought he could find us something more interesting on TV because he started flipping through the channels without asking if anyone minded. "I uh, just saw ol' Dal around Shepherd's place. What happened to his eye? It's quite a shiner."

What happened yesterday wasn't really a subject any of us wanted to bring up around Soda or Darry. As he waited for a response he continued looking for something that caught his attention. After two rounds of browsing, he gave up and left some talk show blaring.

He turned around and faced us, "Y'all sure are a bunch of sour pickles tonight. Are you gonna tell me what I missed?"

"Dally made some smart remark and Soda lost it." Steve glanced sideways at Soda, trying to read his reaction. He just kept his head in the paper.

"You did that, Soda? You must have been madder than a swarm of wet hens."

I wondered if anyone else was catching Two-Bit's misquoted idioms. Ponyboy would have. He probably would have played along, so I decided I would give it a try. "Yeah, he was so mad he could have tackled a whole flock of Soc."

"Flock, Katelyn?" Two-Bit furrowed his eyebrows.

Ok, so maybe I wasn't as good at it as he and Pony were. "Would you prefer I call them a herd?"

He cocked his head to the side. "Pony oughta be in on this discussion. Where is the kid anyway?"

"He went off to live with that rich aunt of his." Steve's voice dripped with contempt. His initial reaction had been fairly similar to Dally's, but thankfully Soda hadn't been there to hear him.

"What?" Two-Bit frowned momentarily and then started laughing.. "Shoot, you almost had me there, but you can't fool me that easily. Pony wouldn't do something like that."

"Well he did. That's what you get for hiding all day."

Apparently he still didn't believe us. "What's this nut talking about Darry? Did Pony really go off with that no good…" He stopped himself short when Soda looked up. Two-Bit acted crazy and scatterbrained, but he thought pretty straight sometimes.

Darry looked over the top of the paper. "Don't get all uptight, we're going to get him this weekend."

I could hear the concern in Johnny's voice as he spoke up timidly, "You're letting him stay until the weekend?"

"I wanted to call him, but Darry thinks he may need to cool off and get things straightened out a little. Or something like that." Judging from the look Darry received, I figured Soda didn't much agree with his big brother. They had probably argued about it.

"He needs to clear his head, and besides, neither of us can exactly take the day off work and risk losing our jobs just to go get him." Darry always had logical answers for things. No wonder he usually won out over Soda or Pony.

Two-Bit rose and headed for the kitchen, probably to find some chocolate cake. "I hear Katelyn's gonna be joining him pretty soon."

I jerked my head up as my thoughts raced. Who had told him that? Or was he just teasing me again? Regardless, it rubbed me the wrong way.

"I'm not ever becoming a Soc. I just want to stay around here with y'all and I want things to go back to normal with me and my Dad, but nooooooooo, he wants to move to the west side." I spat out the words and the room grew silent. I watched as Two-Bit's face dropped. They must not have known. Well now they did so I might as well get it off my chest.

"But there's no way I'm moving there, even if my Dad does." I wrapped my arms tightly around my knees.

"When did you find out?" Johnny's voice was soft and his eyes were confused. I mentally kicked myself for not telling him sooner. I was going to tell him eventually….but certainly not like this.

"It doesn't matter. I'm not going with him." Since I was confessing, I might as well go all the way. "I'm thinking about running away"

"Oh sure you are." Steve half-heartedly patted my shoulder. "Hey Two-Bit, bring me some cake."

"I am. You just wait and see." My gaze wondered passed Steve and met with Johnny's.

"Where you going to run to?" The look on his face changed from confusion to pleading.

I hated seeing that look on his face, but at least he was taking me seriously. "I don't know yet."

"You can come stay with me. My mom wouldn't care, and my little sis would love it." Two-Bit returned with the cake and sat down with his back against the TV.

Steve reached for his piece, "Stupid, if she stayed around here, her dad would find her."

"Then I'll go somewhere far away. You just wait and see." I stated matter-of-factly.

Darry folded the newspaper. "And that's gonna get you what you want?"

"Well……" I thought about that for a minute. What could I say? He was right. In one sentence, Darry made me understand how foolish my idea had been.

"Well what?" Steve gave me a shove and I toppled to the floor.

That broke the tension and everyone burst out laughing. I stood up, intending to act upset, but who could when even Johnny was chuckling.