AN: Sorry I haven't been updating as much!

I've been suffering writers block on this story.

SO VERY SORRY…

Thanx to RachXO for getting me motivated to write the next chapter.

Ponyboy's POV

They transferred me to New York this morning. I was going to court in two days. That means I'm stuck in a jail cell for forty-eight hours! Ugh. At least I have a chance to prove myself innocent. Chris is gonna be my witness, and Charlie, too. It turns out that Charlie was outside of the bar, on break, when he saw the whole thing go down. That was lucky. I have only two witnesses, and I'm worried. What if I get life sentence in prison. I'm only fifteen! That's practically my whole life! I cant go to prison!

I keep telling myself I cant do anything, which is true. I feel so helpless, and I do NOT like feeling helpless. But what can I do about it? I'm so confused right now.

Darry isn't mad at me anymore, but Soda still is. I've apologized to Soda a thousand times, but he still is mad at me. I hate when Soda's mad at me. Soda barely ever is angry at me, and when he us, it makes me miserable. Well, Soda is not the kind of guy to get angry and when he is, everyone has a bad time.

I got in contact with my gang. They're gonna meet me at the court house. I never thought that the gang back home was gonna meet my gang in New York. I'm not sure how I feel about them meeting yet. I know Two-Bit is gonna love snatcher and Jay. They have a lot in common. Snatcher and Two-bit both have a talent at shoplifting, and Jay and Two-Bit both have the same kinda goofy behavior. Well, except Jay is more… smart.

Steve and Eric have something in common, too. They both hate me. Its nice to know, that wherever I go, I have someone there to hate me. Ugh. If Michael was still here, him and Darry would've had something in common. But mike's not here, so… Danny is kinda like Steve, too. They both are too cocky for they're own good. But Danny really likes me for some reason. I'm not sure who has something in common with Sodapop. I don't think anyone does. New York is not a place for people like Soda to live.

All in all, I don't think anyone would have a problem with my gang. They're hoods, but ain't we all? We are greasers and isn't that some kind of crime? At least, it is to socs. But in New York, socs live on the other side of the city. They don't mess with us, we're too dangerous. Socs. No-good lowlifes.

(2 days later. Court date.)

A cop walked on either side of me, through the long hallway. They lead me to a waiting room, and shoved me inside. I turned to face the cop, who incidentally, I knew the name of.

"Hey, John, watch it. I don't go pushin you around. Now do I?" I grinned at him.

He grinned back. Me and him know each other good by now. "Just doin my job, Runaway. And you have visitors!" he told me, pointing over my shoulder.

I turned back around to notice that my brothers, Steve, and Two-Bit had watched the whole scene. Steve had a smirk playing on his lips, and

Two-Bit was trying hard not to laugh. Darry and Soda looked at me confused.

I smiled. "Hey guys! Don't mind us. Me and John here were just having a friendly conversation, right John?" I looked over at john.

He looked at me funny. "Runaway, sometimes I think something is wrong with you."

Two-Bit cracked up, and Steve snickered. Darry and Soda were looking between the two of us. I grinned.

"Well, you can go now john. I think I'm okay alone." I say to John, the cop.

John looked at me like I was crazy. "Okay alone? Runaway, I know you, and you can never be trusted alone. Besides, I'm assigned to watch you. You can go now, Paul." he added to the other cop.

I stared at him, faking a knife to my heart. "I'm hurt. I'm a good boy, you know that!"

John grinned and shook his head. "You're a good boy? Oh yeah. Good boys mug people off the street and steal mustangs. Runaway, good boys don't have records!" John looked at me.

My brothers, along with Steve and Two-Bit looked at me shocked. I never told them about the mustang thing.

I shrugged. "Ya got me there." I muttered, defeated.

John laughed and went to stay in the corner of the room to watch me. I turned back to the gang. They were still looking at me shocked.

"What?" I asked.

Steve asked, "Ya stole a mustang? How'd ya manage that?"

I laughed. "Oh. I wanted to drive it, and it was parked in front of a grocery store. So I hot wired it, broke in, and drove. Man, that car was tuff!" I remembered how the engine revved, as I drove it. Good times.

Soda shook his head. "I wish I never showed ya how to do that." he murmured, referring to the hot wiring.

I shrugged it off. The memory brought bad ones with it. I heard a scurrying down the hall, and I turned around.

"Runaway!" my gang all yelled, and Chris tackled me. We rolled around on the floor for a couple minutes, before I landed on top of him.

"No fair! You always win!" Chris complained.

I smiled. "And ya always loose." I countered.

"So, this is yer gang?" Darry asked, suspicion in his gaze.

I helped Chris up and nodded. "Yup. This is Eric, Tony, Dean, Danny, Snatcher, Jay, and Chris." I introduced them.

Darry nodded.

"And they are?" Dean asked me.

"These two here are my older brothers, and that's Steve and Two-Bit, my friends." I introduced my gang to my other gang.

"I'm Darry, and this is Sodapop. We're Ponyboy's brothers." Darry presented themselves.

It was silent for a few minutes, until Two-Bit jumped in front of me and my gang.

"Hiya! I'm Two-Bit! Runaway's," Two-Bit winked at me, "hansom best buddy. I think ya'll are gonna love me!" Two-Bit smiled.

I had to laugh. "Two-Bit, yer as hansom as my ass."

My gang snickered, and Chris playfully punched my arm.

Two-Bit mocked his hurt. "Why would you say such hurtful words?"

I shook my head, but didn't say anything.

Jay walked up to me. "Boy, Runaway. You sure got us in some deep shit with snakes gang, and everyone on the street know about it." Jay told me.

I sighed, and ran a hand through my hair. "I know. What's everyone sayin about this mess?" I asked, curious to know how everyone reacted. I noticed my brothers watching me carefully.

"Everyone's like, 'Did ya hear what Runaway did to that Rickey boy?' or they're like, 'Runaways gang are such hoods.' that one makes me laugh. I mean, of course we're hoods! I mean, all gangs in New York are like that!" Jay exclaimed.

I took a quick glance at my brothers. They looked at me curiously. I looked back at my gang. "How is snakes gang handling this?" I asked. I wanted to get up to date with everything.

This time, Tony answered. "Snakes is pissed at us, and especially you. He said if he finds you, your dead meat."

"We'll see." is all I said. Darry and Soda looked at me stunned. I bet they were expecting me to freak out, or at least feel scared. But I didn't really feel threatened. At least, not yet.

Tony continued. "But, on the other hand, they agreed to stop taking our turf if we win in a rumble. That surprised us, but I think they were scared ya would kill one of them again." Tony trailed off then, but then suddenly said, "But your our leader, so its your say what we do. Call it on or call it off?" Tony asked.

All eyes were on me now. My gang, my brothers, and my friends. Even John the cop, in the corner, looked interested in my answer. Steve looked at me with, wait, was that respect? From Steve? Steve had a spark of respect in his eyes.

I pondered what Tony had said to me. A rumble for our turf? We cant back out of a fight, not my gang.

"Call it on." I told my gang.

My gang went nuts. They cheered and tackled one another. My brothers looked at my gang like they were crazy, which, I guess would be true. Two-Bit was grinning at me, and Steve was looking at me approvingly. I think Steve was actually accepting me. Wow. I didn't think Steve would ever like me.

My gang was getting too loud. I didn't want to make a bad impression on the judge so I stepped in.

"Hey! Everyone quiet down, or I'll kick yer ass!" I yelled.

Everyone immediately shut up. Darry and Soda looked at me astonished. Steve looked impressed. Two-Bit looked at me and mouthed the words 'wow'.

"Okay," I started again. "When we set the rumble up, I want it to be a fair one. Got it?" I said. Everyone nodded. So I continued, "But, we bring our blades anyways. Ya know snakes, always goin against the rules." I said.

Chris piped up. "Wait. What if ya get sent to prison?" he asked.

Everyone went silent. Nobody thought of that. I pondered it. I really didn't want to go to prison. But I had to answer.

"Then I'll make someone else leader and then its their problem." I told him.

"Who?" everyone asked at the same time.

I looked at them. "When the time comes, then I'll choose. But for now, you all are stuck with me." I said.

My gang looked unconvinced but they settled for that answer.

"So when is the trial starting?" Dean asked.

I looked at Darry for answers. "In about two hours." he told me.

I looked back at Dean. "What he said." I told him.

Dean nodded. "So what are we supposed to do? Just wait around? I'm bored." dean whined.

I rolled my eyes. "Why don't you guys go scope this place out? I bet they have a lot of tuff things to steal around here." I told my gang. They seemed satisfied with my answer. They nodded their heads and walked off. All except Chris.

"Ain't ya gonna go with em?" I asked him.

He shook his head. "Nah." was all he said.

I noticed John in the corner, and a thought came to mind. "Be careful! There's cops everywhere around here!" I called after the rest of my gang. They waved their hands to show they heard.

I now turned to my brothers. They looked at me like I grew two heads. "What?" I asked.

They shook their heads, and didn't say anything. We all sat down in the waiting room chairs. Two-Bit and Steve started talking to each other about who knows what, and my brothers, Chris, and I sat silently. We waited for the call that would indicate the trial was about to start.

I looked at the clock on the wall. An hour and thirty minutes until it starts. This was gonna be a long wait. Oh, how I hate anticipation…

AN: Wow! Long chapter! I hope ya'll liked it!

I think I'm finally over my writers block!

Sorry if there was any mistakes! I didn't bother checking.

WHOO-HOO! REVIEW! ;D