I'm not scared easily. Hell, if I've ever been scared in my life it was now. That knife slid it's way into Ponyboy's gut like butter, and until I'd beat those boys back into their souped up car and checked his pulse, I was certain he was dead. I'm glad he wasn't though.

About fifteen minutes of worrying my head off later, a rusted red truck pulled up to the side of the road where I was making sure Ponyboy didn't die, and who was driving it? None other than Sodapop Curtis. Maybe if he'd kept his head together he might have remembered to pick us up at the theater an hour before, and none of this would have happened, He explained to me as we piled Pony into the back seat that he'd gotten caught up with Cherry, and completely forgot. He'd assumed that Ponyboy's absence at his house was because he was reading or doing homework. And then he remembered we needed a ride.

It's been about half an hour and the ambulance that Soda called right when he got into his house still hadn't arrived. Darry was fussing over Pony like a maniac, and you could tell he was trying with all his might to stay cool. If my brother had forgotten to pick up my other brother, and the end result was a quite possible death for the latter, I'd be ripping out my hair and breaking anything or anyone I could find.

Soda knew he'd probably be chewed out once he and Darry were alone, and he was only being left alone now because of Ponyboy needed attention. He was chewing his fingernails down to nubs and there were tears making shining tracks on his cheeks, and I felt terrible for him. I remembered the first time that I met Pony, and how he said if he ever got in any trouble that he would be separated from Soda and Darry. Soda would be a eighteen in a month, so he had nothing to worry about. Pony was fifteen, and he could be sent off to a foster home because Soda had failed to participate in taking care of him. At least, he would be if he lived.

"It's alright, little buddy," Darry said quietly, his voice a mix of sadness, fear, and anger. I knew that after Pony's taken to the hospital and is finished with Soda, his main priority would be to find and loose all Hell on those Socs. I wanted to do that, too, regardless if my cousin was one of them and that I might as well be one, too. The only thing that a Soc and I had in common was money, and after spending a week with the gang, I knew I was a greaser at heart. This wasn't over. Not by a long shot.

Two-Bit ran through the door then, his grey eyes only reflecting light from the lamp on the table instead of their usual cheerfulness. Soda must have called him over, maybe to help comfort Pony. I knew how close Two-Bit and Pony were. Even though I had only been here a week, I think I knew as much about these five boys as I would had I grown up with them.

Steve came in a second later, and I assumed Soda must have called him, too. Either Soda thought that the whole gang should have been there, had things turned for worse, or Soda needed the assurance from his best friend that everything would be alright. I knew Steve didn't like Pony all too much.

Then a few seconds after that, the paramedics finally came in. In a matter of minutes Pony's limp body was loaded into the ambulance outside, while one of the men questioned about what had happened. Of course, I was the only one who could actually answer. Soda looked at me, his dancing brown eyes hard and sad, pleading me not to tell him it was all his fault. I looked back, silently promising him that.

What I told them was Pony and I had been walking home from the movies when we were jumped, and Pony was stabbed. Soda, curious as to where we were, had come out looking for us and found Pony and I on the street, Pony injured. I couldn't leave him, afraid that he could die, or that the Socs (I said the word venomously) could come back and finish him off. End story.

The paramedic exited the house and sirens blaired, gradually getting quieter as the ambulance drove down the street to the hospital.

"What were you thinking?" Darry growled at Soda. His voice was filled with anger, and he scolded Sodapop without actually yelling. He sounded dangerous, and even though I had seen plenty on the streets back home, I couldn't help but feel just a bit frightened. Now I knew what Pony meant when he said that getting yelled at by Darry was possibly one of the worst things to happen on a daily basis.

I could tell that Soda wasn't one to usually get yelled at, and his eyes were bright and wide and wet with tears, He looked out the window at the pavement running beneath the car as Darry drove to the hospital.

"I was dropping off Cherry, and. . ." Soda stopped and sighed.

"And. . .?" Darry briefly looked away from the road at Soda. The ice in his eyes could have melted from the fire blazing in them.

"I just forgot," Soda half-sobbed. I knew he was miserable, and I couldn't help but feel sorry for him although I thought he deserved whatever he was going to get for forgetting Pony and I. He knew it, too. Pony could die.

Darry almost slammed on the breaks, but didn't since we were in the middle of a highway. "You forgot? You sound like Ponyboy, Soda. What do you mean you "forgot"? How do you forget your own brother?"

"I was dropping Cherry off, and I was happy as hell, and I just forgot. I don't know. . ." Soda bit his lip and sighed. Darry glared at Soda for a moment, daring him to continue. Soda seemed to shrink into the car seat, his eyes wide as saucers. "She kissed me, and I just couldn't get my head together."

Now it was my turn to glare at Soda. My head was already mixed, what with Pony getting stabbed, and my parents rejecting me, and now here was Sodapop Curtis, saying the only reason Pony was stabbed was because he couldn't keep his shit together because my cousin kissed him. I could have wrung his neck then and there, but it's impossible to hurt Sodapop Curtis. I never thought the whole star-crossed lover deal was heartwarming, and I sure as Hell didn't think any different now. Right now, I could blow those stars to smithereens without breaking a sweat.

"Your brother could die, Soda," I snapped, my voice wavering with anger. It was hard to get angry at Soda. The scared, pleading look in his eyes almost made me want to hug him and tell him it was okay. Right now, however, I wouldn't mind ripping those eyes out and shoving them down his throat. If one thing mattered to me, it was family, and Soda had just about ruined his.

"Oh, don't I know it," Soda cried, pressing his forehead against the cold glass of the window.