Disclaimer- Me no own The Outsiders.

Authors Notes- I know, there hasn't been any real excitement in the last two chapters, but there will be in this one. Oh, and I forgot Steve was still in school, so...just bear with me! And one more mistake that a reviewer, IAmOnlyMe (thanks for reviewing!) caught... Pony is still a freshman so he takes Algebra I and Language Arts I.

The Third Chapter

Ponyboy POV

After countless lectures on the most boring stuff imaginable and endless worksheets, school was finally over. The day dragged on and on and on until I wasn't sure I could take much more learning. I made my way to my locker and put my books away. I think my teachers made a mistake...None of them assigned any homework. I sighed. I would have a hard time explaining that to Darry.

Two-Bit was waiting in the student parking lot for me, like always. I still, to this day, haven't figured out how he made it out of the building so fast. But he's always there, clicking his tongue and tapping the steering wheel impatiently. As soon as I jumped in, Two-Bit started up the car and sped off, just not fast enough for the teachers to yell at us.

"No blondes, today, Two-Bit?" I yelled over the screeching tires. "Nah. All the good ones were taken." He replied and grinned good-naturedly. I laughed. Two-Bit usually had a broad or two in the car when I made it over to the student parking lot. It annoyed the heck out of Darry because, with Two-Bit dropping of the girls and all, I was late getting home. "You coulda made it home quicker if you'd walked." He'd complained, but Two-Bit would tell him why I was late and I didn't get grounded.

We made it home without getting stopped by the fuzz, which was good since two-Bit was doing almost eighty, which would explain why we made it home in record time. I saw Darry's truck in the driveway and remembered that him and Soda got done early from work. I hopped out of Two-Bits hunk-of-junk and headed up the front steps to the porch,

I grabbed the mail, which Darry and Soda had forgotten to retrieve. I opened the door to find Darry reading the paper and Soda watching TV. I threw the mail on the couch, which was unoccupied.

"Steve gone already?" I asked nobody in particular.

"Didn't get off yet." Soda answered.

"Okay."

I sat down on the couch, followed by Two-Bit after he had gotten a beer from the fridge. Darry picked up the mail and threw and envelope to Soda. Soda didn't acknowledge it and just kept watching his show, something about Dracula or Frankenstein, or something like that. It was a movie, actually, I think.

"Pony...any homework?" Darry asked.

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"None of my teachers assigned any."

"Okay." Darry went back to the paper and I went back to watching the movie. The movie was nearing the end, so I didn't get what was going on. I wasn't sure how Soda did, either, because he just got off work, but he seemed engrossed in the movie.

The end credits rolled across the screen. Soda turned his attention to the envelope lying on the floor. It looked pretty official, so I was hoping it wasn't something bad. He ripped open the envelope and started scanning the pasty white paper. His smile quickly vanished.

"It's a draft letter."