Change can be good

Summary: Ponyboy goes off to college with a scholarship but what happens in College?

Disclaimer: I don't own the outsiders. I only own Malvina(Mally), Jason, Jamie, and Maddie. I also own Katie, Kayla, Sam, and Nancy.

Chapter 4:

Sodapop POV:

It was hard with Ponyboy off in college; the gang just wasn't the same. It was even harder when he couldn't come home for Christmas, but we'd survived and it only encouraged me, Darry, and even the rest of the gang, to work harder to raise some money so that Pony could come for the summer.

"I wonder if he'll bring his girl, Jamie." Two-Bit said while we were at the airport waiting for Pony to show up. We all wanted to meet his girlfriend, except for Johnny for some reason, and we all wanted him to meet our ladies, therefore we brought them over.

"I hardly doubt it." Johnny said.

"Why have you been so resistant towards Ponyboy and Jamie?" I finally asked the question that had been on everyone's mind for weeks.

"She broke up with him." He blurted out.

"What? When?" Darry asked the next question.

"she broke up with him a few weeks before Christmas, apparently she felt home sick and confused or something and she just needed to go back home to L.A." he informed us. "But you didn't hear from me."

"poor Pone. Why didn't we know about this?" I asked.

"Cause he didn't really want to talk about it, he just needed to tell someone, so when we called him at Christmas he told me." Johnny said.

"Wow, I guess we should have figured it. I mean he doesn't talk about her anymore, that's kinda a big clue." Dally spoke up.

"But you guys can't let on that you know. Just let him come out and tell ya. Until then act like ya don't know." Johnny said, and everyone mumbled a 'fine' or 'alright'.

"Hey, you know who'd be perfect for Pony?" Sylvia asked all of a sudden.

"Who?" Dally asked.

"Angela Shepard." Sylvia said. Darry had a look that had 'no way' written all over it.

"No way!" he finally said.

"Why not Dar? She's not that bad a person, she's his age, and she's pretty cute." Two-Bit defended, apparently he thought they'd make a good match too.

"Why not just let Ponyboy choose his next girlfriend?" I said, and everyone dropped it. It wasn't too long after that, that Ponyboys plane landed.

Ponyboy POV:

I was a little nervous about seeing the gang again. I still hadn't told them about my run in with the 'Tigers' and Johnny was the only one that knew about Jamie. My plane landed and it took a way until I finally got into the airport, but when I did I saw the whole gang waiting for me with their girlfriends.

"Hey guys!" I said when I finally reached them. I was embraced by hugs from Johnny, Soda, and Darry, Dally, Steve, and Two-Bit just gave me a pat on the back though.

"So how's college?" Soda asked. They had decided to take me to a restaurant after leaving the airport.

"It's fun. I mean it's a little hard being so far from Tulsa all the time, but it's definitely fun." I told them, I felt bad that Darry had to miss out on his opportunity to go to college because of me.

"Ya? How's your dormie roommate?" Soda asked.

"he's cool, he's from Florida, so he wasn't so much into going to the dorm parties at first but after I talked him into going to a few, he was became a party animal. There's not one dorm party that we haven't been to." I told them.

"Ya? So are they as good as Buck's parties? Or Tim's?" Dally asked.

"Oh ya. They're 10 times better, they're 10 times wilder even. It's pretty hard to keep sober when you're there." I told them and I could see that Darry was about to give me hard talk about it so I quickly added… "But I've managed to stay sober at most of them."

"You usually take that girl of yours, what's her name Jamie?" Two-Bit asked. Oh boy, I thought here it comes, the dreaded truth.

"Uh… no, not really."

"Why not?"

"We kinda broke up." I told them, and I could tell by their expressions that they already knew. "So when did Johnny tell y'all?" I asked.

"Not too long ago." Steve said.

"You know Ponyboy, you outta try askin Angie Shepard out. She's a real babe, and you two would be really cute together." Sylvia told me.

"Really?" I asked.

"Ya, she's just like you. A total party animal!" Two-Bit joked.

"So how are you doing with the school work?" Darry asked. Leave it to Darry to ask that question.

"It's alright. It's no too hard, but it's definitely harder than high school." I told them.

"Have you had any problems with any gangs?" Johnny asked me.

"Oh, ya. Thanks for reminding me Johnny! I almost forgot. Dal, I had a little run in with your friends the 'Tigers'." I told him. He had, had a smile on his face, but it disappeared pretty quickly when I said that. Everyone saw this and Soda and Darry started to get worried.

"They didn't hurt ya too bad did they? I mean I haven't seen them for years but if they're anything like they used to be, they're like 10 socs with switchblades against one greaser." Dally made everyone worry even more.

"Nah," I said with a smile on my face. "Being a greaser came through for me, for once."

"What do you mean?" Soda asked.

"They saw the amount of hair grease in my hair and asked me where I was from. I told them East Tulsa, and they went on to ask me if I knew Dallas Winston and Tim Shepard. I told them I outta seeing as I practically grew up with them, and they set me free." I laughed.

"See, I knew that knowing me would help ya out once in your life." Dally smirked.

"So who's that babe, Maddie or somethin, that you've mentioned a couple of times?" Two-Bit asked.

"oh, she's just a friend. She's in a lot of my classes."

"why not ask her out?" Steve asked.

"cause she's dating my roommate, Jason. Plus, she's not really my type."

"hey, if she's a girl, then she's your type." Dally said and Sylvia smacked him on the back of the head.

We all got our food and kept talking while we ate. Most of the questions were thrown towards me, but I got a few in. I had a few questions for the girls in the gang's lives. I found out that Steve and Evie had gotten married, Two-Bit and Sam were married, and that Soda and Katie, and Darry and Kayla were engaged but hadn't gotten married yet cause 'it didn't feel right without me'.

"come on, let's head home. I'm sure you're tired from your trip, and it's getting pretty late." Darry said before we left the restaurant.

Here's another chapter. I hope y'all like it. Chapter 5 should be up soon enough, but please R&R in the meantime.:)