"Get up!" Darry hollered the next day, walking into his brothers rooms. "Up you two."

Sodapop groaned and slouched out of bed. Ponyboy simply yawned. "Soda, do me a favor and get him up." Darry said nodding towards Pony. "Yeah, ok." Soda said. Darry walked out to finish breakfast.

"Pony, wake up." Soda shook him. "leve sweep oda." Ponyboy said into his pillow. "What?" Soda asked with a chuckle. "I said lemme sleep, Soda." Ponyboy said lifting his head up and then dropping it back down in the pillow. Soda pulled Ponyboy up and out of bed.

This has been happening way to often. Pony thought as he found his balance and dashed for the shower before Soda could get to it. "Hey!" Soda yelled. "You little weasel."

"That's a new one." Darry murmured walking down the hallway.

"Well, he is. I got him up and he steals the shower." Soda said, stepping over magazines, books, clothing, and drawings to get to the closet on the other side of the room. He searched for his DX shirt and jeans. When he found them he pulled them out and put the clothing on the bed to change into later. "Hurry on up in there." Soda kicked the bathroom door.

"I'll be done in a minute. Have a little patience." Pony shouted over the running water. He came out a few minutes later dressed and his hair greased, smiling at Soda as he walked out to the kitchen. He grabbed some chocolate cake and sat down to eat. Darry was pouring himself a big mug of black coffee. "You know that stuff wouldn't taste as bad if you put five spoonfuls of sugar in it. Then it tastes kinda good."

"I think it tastes fine just the way it is and honestly I drink it more for energy than for enjoyment." Darry said. He watched his little brother and sipped his coffee. He wished he hadn't broken that promise he'd made to Sodapop. He wished he knew some better way of getting through to Ponyboy without all the fighting. They had ups and downs but the problem was they had more downs then ups and it got dysfunctional after a while. I gotta control my temper. Darry thought. It was so hard with everything that had happened recently. They'd promised Soda that they'd stop fighting. They'd promised him and they'd broken that promise.

Soda came loping into the kitchen about ten minutes later. "Your shirts inside out." Steve said, looking at Soda with an amused expression. Soda looked down at his sleeves and noticed that Steve was right. "Oops." He said, smiling and took it off, turning it the other way and threw it back on.

"How did you manage that?" Darry asked. "I ironed and put away all your clothes." Soda simply shrugged and took a sip of chocolate milk.

***

"I'll catch you later, Two-Bit." Ponyboy said, getting out of his friends car as they got to the school parking lot.

"Sure thing, kid." Two-Bit said getting out and heading towards the big building.

Ponyboy casually walked in the other direction, looking back to make sure Two-Bit was gone and then he dashed off down the street and away from the school. "Darry can keep me in at night but he can't stop me from going anywhere during the day. I'll show him." Pony said to himself out loud as he continued down the street and towards town. He couldn't let Two-Bit know or he'd let it slip to someone.

He thought about visiting Soda and Steve at the DX but then decided against it. Soda might make him go back to school. So he headed down the street, just walking a while until he figured the theatre was open when it got to be eleven so he headed to the drive in. He wasn't sure exactly what would be playing on a weekday at eleven a.m. but he thought he may as well check it out. There wasn't much else to do and this was better than sitting in class even if he did like school.

Oh boy, there was Darry's truck! Pony scurried behind a nearby store and stayed there until he couldn't hear the engine running. He then peeked out and saw that the coast was clear. Darry was probably going to another roofing job. If he saw Pony out of school he'd go ballistic. Ponyboy sighed relieved and continued to the theatre.

***

"How was school?" Darry asked that evening at super.

Ponyboy looked up at him and spoke quickly. "Fun. We um, had a history test. I got an A."

Darry smiled proudly. "Good job. What are you studying in history?"

"Uh. we're studying. The Civil War." Pony said suddenly thinking of something. He couldn't remember at the moment what they were really studying in class.

Sodapop eyed Ponyboy cautiously. He obviously could see right through him. Pony avoided eye contact and stared at his plate of food as he continued to eat his mashed potatoes. "I'm gonna go to bed." Pony said, standing up.

Darry and Soda looked at him surprised. "At eight-thirty?" Darry asked.

"Yeah, I'm tired." Pony said, stretching his arms out. I gotta get out of here before he asks me any more questions. Pony thought. I might run out of lies.

"If you say so but you and Soda need to do up the dishes first."

Crud, Pony thought. What's another lie? Think Pony think. "But my stomach hurts and I'm really tired. Can't I do tomorrow night's dishes. I'll do um by myself since Soda will be doing all of tonight's and he won't have to do any tomorrow."

"You feeling sick?" Darry asked.

"No, just kinda nauseous." Pony told him. Gosh I'm getting really good at this lying stuff. He thought to himself as Darry's face formed a concerned frown. Darry was falling for every bit of it. He aint never gonna know if I'm real careful about all this. I can get away with ditching for a week or two without him knowing. Pony thought.

Darry sighed. "All-right, go on to bed if you really don't feel well. I'll come in and give you some medicine in a minute."

"Oh, um. that's ok. I don't' need medicine. I'll be fine."

"Don't you want something to settle your stomach?"

"Nope, I'm ok. I think I'll feel much better if I just lie down. Goodnight." Ponyboy exited quickly and went into his room, plopping down on the bed. Ok so he wasn't sick but he was tired. At least that part wasn't a lie. He sighed, semi wishing he hadn't done all of that today but then he thought that there was no point in turning back now. He'd already accomplished it so why not do it again? He really did hate lying to his brothers and he knew Soda was aware that he was up to something. Better Soda than Darry though.