Disclaimer: YAY, I'M ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!! I don't own anything.... 'cept Ponyboy, hehe!!!!!!! Oh, and just to make it clear for you people out there....my friend own's Sodapop...and my other friend owns Dally...and my other friend owns Johnny. Yeah, I know tragic, for you.

Chapter 14

The greasers were all sitting around the living room when Pony, Dally and Johnny arrived. Everyone was too hurt to do anything and Steve was going on about his bruises and looking tough.

"Hey, hey Johnny" they all stood up and greeted the strong little puppy.

Johnny smiled, but Pony bit his lip.

Darry noticed his brother's behavior. "Hey, Pony. You okay?" All the greasers turned their heads to him

"Nikki's dead" Pony said

Everyone's eyes widened. Darry and Soda stood up and went next to him.

"Told her everything" Dally said sadly "Then she just died."

"She wanted me to tell you she loves you" Pony said turning towards Darry and Soda

A wave of guilt flooded through Darry and Soda's veins. They should've been there for her.

Two-Bit stood up and ran his hands through his hair. "Man"

A couple days later Darry, Soda and Pony were in court. They had to find out if Soda and Pony would be able to stay with Darry.

The whole morning passed. The case was for about eight hours.

Pony's hands were shaking. Darry and Soda were nervous too. They didn't wanna admit it yet, but they were gonna be down to two if the case didn't turn out good.

First Cherry was interviewed.

"Your name is Sherri?" one reporter asked

Cherry nodded

"But your nickname is Cherry" another said

"Yes" Cherry nodded again

"So what was the argument about?" asked one

"Well, my boyfriend showed up. And he was upset because he saw us walking with the greasers" Cherry said

Next they interviewed Pony, Randy and Johnny. Some asked questions about Nicole that Pony or Johnny didn't feel comfortable answering. They answered some and the interviews were long.

"I could've made it simpler for the fight not to have happened in the first place" Cherry said

Soda and Darry looked really nervous.

Time passed and everyone was getting antsy.

Finally the judge announced "Defendants not guilty"

Darry, Soda, Pony and Johnny beamed

"At this time I will place Ponyboy in the custody of his older brother Darrel. This court is adjourned."

After everyone left the Curtis boys joined in a group hug. "YEAH!"

On Monday Pony went back to school. He was playing with a bouncy ball walking outside when he saw Cherry. They stared at each other before she walked away with her friends.

He walked down the path when Mr. Symes, his English teacher called his name.

"Hey Ponyboy!"

I turned around. "Hi Mr. Symes"

"I wanna talk to you about your grades"

"Yeah, I know I'm doing lousy" Pony said

"Quite frankly you're flunking" Mr. Symes said "Listen, since you're in rough circumstances, if you can come up with a good semester theme I'll pass you with a C."

"Should it be a research paper or something?" he asked

"Personal experience" said Mr. Symes. He then walked away.

"Great" Pony said sarcastically "My first trip to the zoo."

That night the three boys were sitting around the table eating dinner.

"With your grades Pony" said Darry "We could put you through college with a scholarship. You're livin' in a vacuum, and you're gonna have to cut it out. And anytime you don't like the way I'm running things around here, you can just GET OUT, ALRIGHT?"

"YOU'D LIKE THAT WOULDN'T YOU?" Pony shouted "YOU THINK IT'S EASY LIVING AFTER YOU JUST LOST YOUR SISTER? Well, it's not that easy, is it Soda?"

"GOD DAMN, YOU GUYS, JUST LEAVE ME OUT OF IT!" Soda exploded, jumping out of his seat and running out of the house

Pony and Darry looked after him then ran out the door after him.

"You keep running and I'll stay right behind them!" said Darry

"Okay!" Pony replied

He started speeding up until he caught up to Soda and tackled him down.

"God damn it Ponyboy, you should've gone out for football instead of track." Sodapop said

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Ponyboy asked

"I don't know man" said Sodapop standing up "It's just like sometimes I have to get out. It's like I'm the middle man in a tug-of-war or something between you guys. I don't know, I can't take sides."

He sat back down again and looked at Pony. "Ponyboy" his voice was cracking "Darry could've put you in a boys' home and worked his way through college. He had to make a home for you and for Nikki. You don't wanna be like me anyway. Cause I'm happy working at a gas station, you wouldn't be happy doing something like that."

He then turned to Darry "Darry, you gotta stop yelling at him for every little thing he does man. He feels things different than you and it's hard because Nikki's gone and she always understood what he feels. Bad enough to be" he sniffled "To be the only one that has to listen to you. We're all we got left now. If we don't have each other then we ain't got nothing. And when you ain't got nothin' you end up like Nikki....she tried to be one of us and look where that ended up."

He started crying "Please...don't fight anymore...for me...for Nikki."

"Sure" Darry agreed "Sure, little buddy, we ain't gonna fight anymore."

They hugged it out.

"Ponyboy" Soda said

Pony joined them and they had another group hug. Pony was about to start crying.

"Now don't you start bawling too, Ponyboy" said Soda "One bawl-baby in the family's enough"

"I ain't cryin'" Pony said

"Let's go home. I'm cold" Soda said

They put their arms around each other and walked home, but started to run and race.

If only they knew that there was a small angel from above, who watched the scene with smiles.

Pony sat at his desk in his and Soda's room a couple of days later thinking about his semester theme and Nikki. He took the notebook Nikki left to him from his desk and opened to the first page.

There was a picture of the four Curtis kids stuck on the page. Nikki was smiling and in a giggle in the middle while Darry, Soda and Pony were kissing her cheeks and tickling her.

Pony smiled and turned to the next page. His breath caught in his throat. It was of their late parents. Their wedding picture was in the middle and the pictures of each of them were around it. The caption said 'Four Beautiful Miracles'

As he flipped through the rest he saw pictures of the greasers, pictures of fun times and personalized pages where it was all about every one boy. When he got to the last page there was a note. He looked closely and read.

Ponyboy

I wanted you to have this notebook in case I didn't make it. You guys knew how much I love you and would do anything to help. That's why I pushed Johnny out of the way of the burning roof. I wanted him to start a new future for himself and change his hard past.

I'm gonna miss you guys so much. You have no idea how scared I was when you ran off after Darry hit you. And when I heard about Johnny killing a Soc I was even more scared. I think I scared the other guys too because I couldn't and wouldn't dance. I just hope that you guys won't be like me if I die.

Don't give up your whole life for me. I believe you can achieve so much. The others would, but they're too busy fighting, getting drunk or arrested by the police. You and Johnny are the only real sensitive peacemakers. You two can make a huge difference.

Just remember that I haven't completely left. All you have to do is look at a sunset and know that I'm watching you and thinking about you. And when the wind blows and the sun shines, I know what you're feeling and whether you're having a good time. I love you guys.

Your sister, Nikki

Pony closed the notebook and placed it on the desk. A gentle breeze flew through his window and he smiled.

Then he had an idea for his theme. He grabbed a pencil and started writing.

Author's Note: AWW!!!!!!!!!!!! HEY! HEY! WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?!?!? GET BACK HERE!!!!!! GET YOUR BUTT IN THAT COMPUTER SEAT NOW BECAUSE!!!!!!

SUURPRIISE!!!!!!!!!-----