Chapter Five

Soda POV

Two-bit called both me and Darry at work. When I got home, he was still sitting against the wall shaking with Two-bit and Darry doing their best to calm him down. When they saw me, relief flooded both of their faces. They said they'd been trying to calm him down for half an hour. I got him to in less than ten minutes. I'm not bragging, I just can do it. I don't understand it, either.

"Eat, Pony."

He took a bite of his sandwich.

"When are they gonna be back?"

"I don't know. Probably soon."

Darry and Two-bit had gone to Social Services to talk to someone in charge. I'd never seen Darry so pissed. I was pretty pissed myself. Ponyboy went to go take a nap. Finally around 4:00, they came home. Pony was still sleeping.

"We had a pretty interesting meeting."

Darry said this with a smug look. I smirked.

"What happened?"

"Oh, well the guy we talked to called Mrs. Young in after we told him what happened. You should have seen her face when she saw us sitting there. He told her she shouldn't have been giving us such a hard time."

Two-bit spoke up next.

"She tried to justify herself because of the neighborhood and Pony's past, saying she felt sorry for him and all that bs. Then, the guy asked her if she was aware of Pony's most recent diagnosis."

I cocked an eyebrow.

"The depression?"

Darry nodded.

"They guy saw it in Pony's records. She had no idea, which means she hadn't even looked at his records since her last visit. We have a new social worker, now. I met her, she seemed nice."

"Let's hope she stays that way."

We both ended up having the next day off. Pony was in the living room while we were in the kitchen getting lunch ready. We heard someone knock on the door.

"Could you get that, Ponyboy?"

"Sure, Dar!"

Pony POV

"Sure, Dar!"

It was a man. He smiled at me.

"Hi, Ponyboy. I'm Mr. Wright."

Darry came up behind me.

"Darrel, I need to talk to him alone. It's to update Mrs. Young's records."

Darry nodded and invited him in. We settled in the kitchen.

"We'll be on the front porch if you need us."

We watched him walk outside and shut the door. The look on Soda's face was awful. The guy cleared his throat.

"Now, Ponyboy. I need to ask you some questions. Let's start off with your side about what happened the other day."

I told him what happened. When I was done, he was satisfied.

"Sorry about the surprise visit. We have to do that if something like this happens to make sure the guardian isn't making up the story. If they don't know we're coming, they can't tell you what to say."

I nod, mutely.

"Next thing to discuss, how do you like living here?"

"I wouldn't wanna be anywhere else."

"And why is that?"

I scowled.

"Those are my brothers. I love them, and they do so much for me. I mean, come on. Soda quit school and got a job so I wouldn't have to."

He smiled.

"Have they ever hit you? Abused you?"

"No and no. They'd never touch me like that."

"You can be honest with me."

I slammed my hands on the table.

"Are you kidding me?!"

I stood up and started backing into the wall. I felt like everything was closing in. I heard my voice crack as I spoke.

"This... This is such bullshit. If you had no problems with my parents raising me in this neighborhood, then what is your damn problem with my brothers doing it?!"

He frowned.

"I won't live without them. Did you hear me? They're... They're all I have, and if I don't have them, then..."

He cut me off.

"I didn't ask you that because I was suspicious of them."

I eyed him.

"Really? Cause that's all Mrs. Young ever did."

He sighed, stood up, and walked over to me.

"Because we reassigned you a social worker, I have to ask these questions. It's policy."

I slid down to the floor.

"Don't worry, Ponyboy. I won't be your social worker, but I'll manage all of your paperwork. I can tell your good here. Just the fact that your brothers are paying extra money for your new medical condition was enough for me to know that, but seeing you like this makes me realize it even more. The woman I assigned you, she's not like Mrs. Young. Mrs. Young assumes anyone from this type of neighborhood isn't happy, but I've come to find out it's about the people you live with, not where you live. Some of the richest people are the most awful."

I took a deep breath.

"Okay. What else do you need to know?"

He finished asking the questions and closed his binder.

"Alright, I have everything I need for Mrs. Thomson. No surprise visits for a while."

He smiled at me. I tried to.

"I'm sorry for everything you've been through. I know it's been hard."

I felt my body go tense. He exchanged a few words with Darry and left. He looked at me.

"You okay, Pone?"

I nodded. Sodapop eyed Darry and came to my side. I was wondering what was going on between them these days. They seemed pretty tense around each other, and that'd never happened before.

"Kiddo, let's make some cake."

I raised and eyebrow at the randomness of it, but nodded. We made a chocolate cake and had a blast making it. I hadn't remembered laughing that much in a long time.

"Glory, you two can make a mess!"

We both turned to see Steve and Two-bit.

"You guys look hilarious!"

They both busted out laughing. Soda looked at me and grinned. He grabbed some extra cake mix and threw it at them, nailing Two-bit. I did the same and nailed Steve.

"Now you've done it, you little brat!"

Before we knew it, there was a full blown battle going on. Us against them.

"Good grief, what're you guys doing?!"

We all stopped to see Darry standing there. At first, we all tensed until we saw he was trying not to smile.

"Clean this up. All of you."

Two-bit's mouth dropped open.

"But, me and Steve didn't make the mess!"

"You've made enough messes that I've had to pick up before. Don't argue with me. Keith."

"Hey!"

It took us two hours to clean up the mess, but I didn't care. We even somehow managed to make that fun.

"Thanks."

I said that to Soda as he was walking out of the bathroom freshly showered.

"For what, kiddo?"

"I've had more fun today than I've had in a long time."

He smiled, shook his head, and went to change.

Darry POV

I didn't usually stay up late, but I decided to wait up for Soda. I needed to talk to him but he went out. Pony'd been asleep for a while now. Finally, I heard a truck pull up and drive off.

"Hey."

He looked surprised.

"Hey, Darry. What're you doing up?"

"I, uh... Wanted to talk to you."

He sat on the couch.

"What's up?"

I shifted uncomfortably.

"Thanks. For today. I... I didn't realize I hadn't heard him laugh in a long time until I heard him today. How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"I don't know. You always seem to know exactly what to do with him."

This time, he shifted uncomfortably. Although, he could've been just getting antsy since he can't sit still.

"I don't know. I've just... I've always been able to."

"Yeah... You have."

"It's not a big deal. In fact, it bugs the hell out of Steve, and Two-bit can't stand it because him and Pony have gotten closer since..."

He looked sad for a second, but shook it off.

"It's fine, Darry. He'll get better. We'll get better. It'll all work out."