Hey here's chapter two!! Thanks for all the reviews!

Disclaimer: I do not own the outsiders!! Only the people I make up in this story!

Pony's POV:

"Hey, Johnny can I come in?" I needed someone to talk to, and Johnny was the only one.

"Yea, sure, what's up?" he opened the door so that I could walk in.

"I…I'm sorry to bother you, you weren't sleepin' were you?"

"No, Pone, what's wrong?" I could tell he already knew; his eyes were clouded with grief.

I tried to hold back the tears, I didn't want to lose my reputation as a greaser, but I guess I wasn't as strong as I thought I was. 'Cause the next thing I knew I was holdin' onto Johnny as if I was about to lose him next.

"I…I can't take it Johnny. D-Darry's gone and I might lose S-Soda next. We're the only ones left in the gang and…and," something closed my throat up and I couldn't speak anymore. Johnny just stood there rubbing my back trying to comfort me.

"I know Pone, I miss 'em too," he held on tighter to the back of my shirt.

We stood in the middle of his room for a minute or two more. After we let go we both kinda stood there not knowing what to say next.

I mean what was there to say. People we loved were dead, killed, and they were never coming back.

Darry…Darry was gone, yeah we fought, but that didn't mean anything. Honestly, I think fighting brought us closer together; it may not have seemed like it to Soda, because we were constantly pulling him in with us. The truth of the matter is…he's gone. I would never have the delicious meals he would cook up for us again. What I would miss most though, would be the yelling…yes, the yelling. Without it I probably wouldn't be the smart kid I am today. Without the yelling I wouldn't have the chance to get out of the poor life of a greaser.

When Darry yelled at me he was just showing me how much he loved me, how much he cared.

I looked over at Johnny, I felt bad for him too. The only family he had was shortened to only two. Who knows how long that would last, what with social services and all. He could be taken away from the only real family he had left.

Man, the pain and guilt he must be feeling right now. I mean, it wasn't some stranger who, you know, but his own father. The man a boy is supposed to look up to and go to for advice was the one who really tore his life in two.

I can't even imagine what would happen to him if he got sent off to another family. He'd probably go crazy, or have major homesickness, or worse…

That's why Soda had to win us back. I would work; I would get a job to help Soda, just to have us together.

One thing is for sure though, not one of us are going to be the same after this.

"Whatchya thinkin' about Pone?" Johnny turned away from the window to face me. His face was tear streaked.

"Just about where were gunna go after this. Hoping Soda can win us back. Darry…"

"Oh, hey Pone, I…I'm real sorry. I should've just stayed away and…" I couldn't believe he was saying this.

"No, Johnny, no, it's not your fault, you didn't know this was gunna happened. If ya would've stayed home, I mean who knows what could've happened. You might be…"

I think I went too far. Johnny closed his eyes and took a deep breath. You could tell he was trying not to think about what could have happened if he did stayed away from us. This was a mess, a mess that would take years for us to clean up.

"Sorry," I stood up and walked over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. He flinched at my touch and looked over at me.

"No Pone, I'm tired of running away from my problems. I…I wanna talk about it. I want to push it outta my mind and you're the only one I want to talk to about it," he looked at me with a serious look.

He wasn't kidding; Johnny really wanted to talk about it. Right then is when I felt the bond between me and him grow. Of all the people in the world, he wanted to talk to me about it. Honestly, I was scared. What secrets would I find out about him? What am I going to say to him when he's done telling me everything? Am I going to look at him differently afterwards?

"Are you sure you want to talk about it?"

"I've never been more sure about anything, please Pony," he looked at me with his dark, puppy eyes. He took a deep breath and we sat down on the bed.

That night Johnny and I shared everything with each other. If we were going to be fighting to stay together, we both needed to know everything. We agreed that we would tell Soda everything too, as soon as we could.

We both had to stay strong for each other and for Soda's sake.

Breakfast the next day:

"What is that?" Johnny picked up something that looked like meat and something green mixed in.

"I have no idea. I'm getting an apple and muffin; I wouldn't even touch that with a thirty foot pole."

We walked to the back table where Eddie was sitting.

"Hey, guys so how'd ya sleep? Man, I need to like ask for a new bed or something. My bed has springs sticking up through it, there might be bed bugs too," we looked at each other before answering.

"Fine…"

"That's good, so ready for meeting today?"

"Meeting?" as far as I knew, the only meetings were meals, classes, and activities.

"You know, the meeting…" he made two quotes in the air with his fingers.

He looked back and forth between me and Johnny. He huffed and rolled his eyes.

"Ugh…the group discussion where we sit in a circle and spill out our guts to strangers."

We looked at each other and our faces fell. This was going to be interesting.

The Meeting:

We actually didn't have to participate in the first one, so we sat in the library, but the next week we had to.

We were the last ones in; the room was fairly quiet except for the kids who knew each other. Most of the kids looked comfortable in the ugly, orange chairs. Then there were those who still looked nervous about sharing personal information to strangers.

"Welcome Pony and Johnny, okay guys let's get started," the speaker was a short, plump woman with a bun on top of her head, her name was Ms. Maple. Her voice was light and sincere, but that didn't make this any easier.

"Well, let's start with Eddie…Eddie do you have anything to share with us?"

Everyone looked over at Eddie, who sat up straight when his name was called, "Well…um…I really miss the ranch back home. Specially Midnight, my horse, she was the only one who I considered 'family or friend'. No one else payed much attention to me; well up until I turned 13; before that they cared. They all thought I was trouble, but I wasn't…"

"Well, there has to be a reason for them thinking you're a troubled child. What did you do that made them think you were bad, if anything?"

Eddie kinda just stared at her with a blank expression. At that he slumped into his chair, and shook his head.

"I don't know." He crossed his arms and looked down at his shoes.

Apparently, we were done listening to Eddie's feelings. Next was me, and I felt the knot in my stomach get tighter.

"Pony…" she waited 'till the snickers went away, "Pony, what about you? Do you have anything to share?" she looked at me with a small smile that made her look so motherly.

"Um…I don't know, I really don't know what to say," honestly I didn't feel like talking.

"Well, tell us about where you grew up?" the past tense made me shiver, Tulsa was going to be my home, and Soda and Johnny were gunna be there too.

"Uh, okay…" I decided to tell them about the soc and greaser thing, that was easy, "We had three different classes, and that's who you were. The upper class people were called 'Socials' or socs for short. Then there's the usual middle class, and finally, what Johnny and I are considered, 'greasers'."

I looked over at Johnny and I saw an odd expression on his face. It was amusement and hate, and his small smirk made me chuckle a little. Considering what happened to greasers it was beyond me why we were laughing.

Everyone looked at us like we were crazy; we probably were, considering we didn't know why we were laughing.

"So, you and Johnny were considered 'greasers'. Were your other friends considered 'greasers'?"

Johnny and I looked at each other; we really didn't want to talk about our friends. Maybe someday, but not now, not in front of all these other people, because we wouldn't be able to handle it.

"Well…" Ms. Maple gave us an inquiring look.

"I really don't…" I started saying how we weren't ready to talk, but I was then interrupted by one of the group members.

"They probably don't want to talk about it because it was the Johnny kid's abusive father who did it all. He doesn't want to admit that it was Johnny's fault," I looked over and saw the kid who tripped Johnny that one day at football. He had a sneer on his face, like he hit the nail right on the head, which he half did. Wait, how did he find out?

"You…you told?" I was brought out of my moment of pure hatred, and turn to see two dark eyes staring at me with confusion.

He whispered that part so no one would hear, "No Johnny, why would I tell anyone?"

"Well then how did he find out? You're the only one I told Pone, and the door was closed, so how?" he said this last statement a little louder and now everyone was watching us. The look he gave me was one of pure disgust.

I would never, ever, do that to a friend, especially Johnny. He stood up and walked around his chair towards the door. He turned around and faced me, with his voice shaking, he stated one thing.

"I thought you were my friend."

With that he turned and left without another word. Then I felt something between us pull and break, our tight bond. I had a feeling that without that bond we weren't going to be together in the end.

Okay, so I got into the drama a little early, but its part of the plot!! Sorry if Johnny seems a little OOC, I don't really think he would blame Pony, but yea never know!

Hope you enjoyed it!

Reviews please and thank you!