Chapter 4.
disclaimer:I still don't own. Never have, and I probably never will.
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The next day I found myself waking up later than usual, but was glad I didn't have to go to school. The day was rather boring, but it felt good to relax. I was the only one in the house for a change, seeing as everyone was either at work, or school, or something along those lines.
By the mid afternoon, I was bored of watching tv, and I decided to look around. I decided to go rummage through the attic. When I got into the attic I stepped over many recent boxes. A lot of them had things of our parents. A lot of them weren't useful to anybody but our family.
A big box in the corner caught my eye. It had me and Pony's name on it. I opened the box gently, and pulled a few things out. A lot of the stuff were old baby clothes, toys, and a few home movies.
I knew it was getting late, and that Darry or Soda would be home soon. Darry didn't like me or Pony going into the attic alone. Mainly because it was dusty,dirty,and one part had a loose floorboard. Grabbing a few things, I went back to the living room and tried to set up my dad's old movie projector. I failed, as it was all too heavy for me to put up, so I left the projector alone, and moved onto looking at the photo albums, and baby books.
It wasn't all that exciting, but it was enough to make the time past. I was finished looking at Soda's and moved onto Pony's. I don't remember exactly when Soda got home, but when he did I saw that he was crying. Soda didn't cry much, so I knew something was the matter.
"Soda?" I asked, a bit worried. " Sodapop? You okay?"
Soda just shook his head, and stared at the tear stained paper. At first, I thought it was about Ponyboy, but I knew if something bad happened to Pony, Darry would have been home by now.
"What happened?" I was trying to think of everything that could possibly happen. Nothing seemed to fit Soda's reaction.
"It's Sandy." Then I understood. Soda was attached to Sandy like a leech was to bad blood. He loved her, but I always knew that I shouldn't trust her all the way. I didn't really like Sandy. We had a bad start off, and an even more rocky road. She was nice an all, but was just too much of a greaser girl. I knew Soda wanted to marry her, and I knew Sandy didn't want to commit at all. Not this young.
"What'd she do?" I saw Soda's blinking back the tears.
"She's movin to Florida. She's pregnant, and I might not be the father."
"Sandy's a bitch. Don't worry Soda, you'll recover. There are plenty of girls who'd want a guy like you." I could tell he didn't believe me.
I didn't know what love felt like. I've only had one crush, which I'm not sure is even a crush. I wished I could get someone as easy as Soda, or Darry could. Heck, Pony could probably pick up a girl, if he had an interest in them.
"Did you love her, Soda?" I asked a dumb question, I already knew the answer too.
"Yea."
"What's it like?"
"it's real nice."
"Hey Soda? How do you know when you like someone?"
He shrugged. " It's hard to explain. You just do. It's an indescribable feeling. Why? Is there a boy you like? Don't tell me. It's Justin. Right?"
I shook my head. " Justin's..not. He's..um..He's Just my best friend. No more, no less. Soda?"
"Yea?"
"Can I ask you something. It's about a friend. Of um..Justin. Yea, Justin's friend. Would you be mad if she happened, to fall for other girls? And not boys?"
"It wouldn't bother me. I don't even know who she is. But some chicks, just fall for other chicks. There's always going to be that one girl, who just won't swing the same way the others do. It's not my kind of lifestyle, but that doesn't mean its wrong. Why do you ask?"
"Oh no reason. Just wondering"
"Okay, What's PonPon doing out of the attic?" Soda asked staring at my old stuffed horse I got for my first birthday. I've kept it up in the attic ever since my parents died. I named it after Pony, or at least tried to. It used to be really hard for me to say Pony's name when I was little. It always came out 'PonPone'. My parents thought it was really cute of me trying to pronounce my brothers name, and that it was even more cute of me to name my toy after my brother. PonPon was one of my necessity's up till my parents died. Then we put him in the attic, and he hasn't been out since today.
"I dunno. I just felt like it."
"There has to be a reason. You wouldn't go get some old baby stuff for no reason. You miss him don't you?"
I nodded. " Of course. I've never been apart from him for more than three days. And even then, He wasn't far from home."
" I know, we all miss him. But Dallas's gonna go find him and Johnny soon."
"And Soda? Don't mention that thing to Darry will you?"
Soda raised an eye at me, and just nodded.
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Justin came over later that night, and gave me my makeup work, and the 'gossip' I missed at school.
"Whats goin on between you and Dani?" he asked me, as I was finishing my math work.
"Were just friends. I can have another best friend can't I?"
Justin nodded "But, like seriously you were acting weird around her."
"Were just friends. No more. No less."
I was glad when the conversation was interrupted, by Darry telling Justin to go home.
"Does that kid always have to be here?Doesn't he have his own family?"
I could tell Darry was mad at something. Most likely a hard day at work. But still, Pony's friends were always here. Then again, I knew what Darry meant. Justin was over a lot. He didn't have a rough home life either. He just would come.
"Yea, but my best friend can be here as much as he likes. You don't get angry at Johnny, or Dally, or even Tim Shepard sleeping here. But when my friends come, you get into your little hissy fit about it." I didn't even know what I was saying anymore. All I could hear were words coming out of my mouth, and they were uncontrollable. I could see Darry getting angry, but at the same time trying to control his anger.
"Misty." Darry said, giving me a warning. " I'd suggest you go to bed."
"Why? Because you said so?" I didn't know why I was saying what I was, but I was.
"That and because it's late."
"Well I'm not gonna. Your not the boss of me." I was pissing Darry off. I knew it. I was almost making myself mad at me.
"Yea I am. By the state of Oklahoma, I am legally your guardian. If you don't like it here, then you can just get out."
"Fine then. I will." Walking out the front door, I was on my way to somewhere. I didn't know where, but all I know is that I got as far as the front yard, before falling asleep.
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I tried running away once. I only got to the bush in my back yard.
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