Ch 2:

"If you don't stand for something, you will fall for everything."

~Malcolm X

Ponyboy's P.O.V

The next day everyone bummed around our house. The gang was arguing whether or not Soda should participate in the rodeo. We had all split sides. Dally, Two-Bit, and Soda thought that Soda should ride, and Darry and Steve thought that he shouldn't. I was caught in between, but I mostly didn't want to get in the middle of it all.

Miniature fights broke out, but only little fist fights. Usually the two would just slug each other for a moment and then collapse laughing. No one fought with Dally or Darry though. I was watching Mickey Mouse with Two-Bit around noon when Soda suddenly jumped into the den, yelping and laughing. A sullen looking Darry followed. Soda was screaming about something but I couldn't understand him.

"What? Soda calm down!" Finally Soda caught his breath and explained.

"I'm riding! In the rodeo!" He punched Darry in the stomach and leapt around me.

"I can't see the TV!" Two-Bit complained at Soda shook his butt at us, standing directly in front of the television. Dally strolled into the room, smirking.

"Sodapop get your ass out of my face." Two-Bit tripped Soda, and Soda went sprawling. Chuckling, he leapt to his feet and high fived Dallas.

"You think that red head… um the broad…" Dally was never good at remembering names.

"Cherry." I supplied. Dallas snapped his fingers, nodding energetically.

"Do you guys think that Cherry will be barrel racing?" He asked. I could tell that he was trying to look casual as he sat down next to me.

"She goes to everyone anyway. Why wouldn't she?" Soda said, grinning in Darry's direction. Darry pouted.

"I don't know. So you are saddle bronc riding?" Dally asked. Soda nodded, still smiling like there was no tomorrow. It warmed my heart to see how Soda was so happy to finally be around horses again. I could tell it had been driving him crazy not to be.

"I'm bull riding. I'm going to own those Socs." Dally grinned triumphantly.

"Aren't you jockeying?" Two-Bit asked. He still had his eyes glued to the television. I don't know why a guy like Two-Bit would like cartoons so much, it beat me.

"Buck didn't say anything about it; I don't think the rest of the Slash J is going anyway." Dallas and Soda got lost in rodeo talk, and it didn't make sense to me so I stopped trying to listen. Darry was still in a funk, I could hear him throwing things around the kitchen. I hoped he was making cake. Just then the doorbell rang.

"I got it!" I leapt to my feet and flung open the door, expecting a solicitor or one of the Shepherd boys. I didn't expect who it was though. I blinked in surprise.

"Oh, hey Cherry." I said. She looked good, like usual. Her red hair was partially pulled back into a ponytail, but some curly strands hung in her face. She was wearing a green tank top, denim shorts, and sandals.

"Hey Ponyboy. Sorry to drop in like this…" She smiled softly, her emerald eyes twinkling.

"No problem. What's up?" I leaned against the door frame; I wish I had time to put on decent clothes. I was only wearing old sweats with no shirt. Cherry didn't seem to mind.

"I just was bored; my parents went out of town. I wanted to visit Dallas. I heard he just got out of jail." My heart sunk. She was here to see Dallas? I was a little shocked, as well as hurt.

"Uh yeah. Come in." I stepped aside. I felt awkward, letting a Soc walk into my small rundown house. But Cherry was indifferent. She looked around with interest, but nothing more. I led her to the living room, where Darry had changed the channel to football. The guys all whooped as someone scored a touchdown, and Cherry flinched. Soda looked up at me and Cherry.

"Hey!" He shot her a dazzling smile. She smiled back. Dallas craned his head around to see who was there.

"Why hello redhead." He smirked at her. I could feel Cherry stiffen next to me. She must have forgotten how rude Dally could be. She ignored him and turned to me.

"What game are yall watching?"

Dally's P.O.V

Okay, watching Cherry flirt with Pony like that was killing me. I hadn't really felt anything for anyone ever since Sylvia and the kid… but I was definitely feeling something now. Jealously? I have never been jealous of anyone. I guess I had been surprising myself lately though. She was REALLY sweet talking Pony though, even more then Sylvia had done to other guys behind my back. Right now she was running her fingers through his hair, and part of me wanted to beat the shit out of Pony. The other part of me longed for her to be doing that to me. I was really growing soft.

It took all of my strength to pretend like I was alright. Especially when I wasn't. I could tell everyone was being careful around me, they knew that I could blow any second. Who knows what they were saying about me behind my back. They knew that I wasn't afraid to press a knife to my own throat. I nearly got away with it to, if Ponyboy hadn't tackled me like that. We both were feeling the same thing I was just ready to go to more violent measures about it.

Dallas Winston, the tough one. That's what I used to be known as. The hood who got arrested at ten. The hood that didn't care about anyone but himself. I wonder what they would think if they could hear me now. For once, I hoped it was something good. Something like they would think about Ponyboy. Just a misunderstood kid. But no one would ever look at me that way.

Pony kept glancing at me real nervously. He should be. Even if I was going soft, he still knew that I could beat the snot out of him. He did have things that he could hold against me thought, like my idiotic little episode at the jail. And last night. Great. Now I couldn't even focus on the fucking game, I was too caught up in all this shit. I barely even noticed when the broad tapped me on the shoulder. I rolled me eyes up toward her.

"Can we talk?" About what? I didn't even try to crack an insult at her; I just followed her out onto the Curtis's back deck. I remembered the last time I had talked to her, about her being our spy. I thought we had put our first meeting behind us then, but by the way she pursed her lips at me now, I knew we hadn't.

"Yeah?" I asked. I lit a cigarette, letting it calm me. I offered one to her, but she shook her head in disgust.

"I just wanted to make peace." I frowned at her quizzically. Now she wasn't even making sense.

"Let's just put all this crap behind us. The first time we met, the past week, everything." She looked at me, pleading with her big green eyes. I shrugged, making a smoke ring. I noticed how she used the word 'crap'. I would have used something way mouthier, but that was Cherry. I admired her for that.

"So you're saying that you want to… be friends?" I cocked one eyebrow, trying to look cool. But really I was a nervous wreck. My head and heart were pounding. Would this look bad from the kid's point of view? Making peace with the kids who had caused his death? I still couldn't even bring myself to say his name, that's how pathetic I am. Cherry nodded, biting her lip.

"I would understand why you would hate me. Really. But I don't want to go through that." Hmm, not bad, not bad. I would have sufficed with just that, but she went on.

"I know that you were close to that kid. And I'm sorry. I really am. I was close to Bob. But the thing is, the Socs and the Greasers are even."

"Even? We'll never be even." I snapped. She shouldn't mention him like he was just someone unimportant. Like he was just a piece in their games. No one should ever talk about Johnny like that.

I felt myself go white the second I thought his name. My breath caught in my throat and I couldn't breathe. Cherry looked at me like I was crazy, but I couldn't care less. My breath came back in gasps, I felt myself quivering all over.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean it—"Cherry started, tears clouding her eyes. I shook my head. I was panting, trying to gain control. Even though I was upset, I didn't want to hurt the Soc. I knew I would regret it if I did, and that's one thing I didn't need. Another regret. I blinked really hard to keep back the rush of tears that always seemed to follow me now. I couldn't run away from them. I couldn't run away from the fact that he was gone.

"I'm fine. I can't talk about that." I closed my eyes and shook my head vigorously. I felt something touching my arm, and my knee-jerk reaction was to slap it away. But I opened my eyes first. Cherry had her hand resting on my forearm, her expression was concerned. I realized how close she was to me; I could smell her sweet breath on my face. My cigarette dropped out of my mouth in shock, and she yelped and jumped back. The cigarette had nearly hit her sandaled feet.

"Sorry." I mumbled. Another apology. I really was changing.

"It's fine." Cherry was breathing fast, looking at me as if I was bathed in new light. I stomped out the cigarette and tossed it in the trash. She stared at me for a moment before dropping her gaze politely. Not that I had minded.

"I better go. Thanks."She said quietly. I nodded absentmindedly. She stepped toward me and gently wrapped me in a hug. My heart sped up again. I put my hands on her waist hesitantly. She buried her head in my shoulder and we stayed like this for a brief moment. Then she pulled away. I would have said goodbye, but I could only watch her walk back into the house in appall. I followed her in like a zombie; I was stiff legged and stunned. Cherry was saying goodbye to Ponyboy and Soda. I sat down on the couch.

"What did the princess want?" Two-Bit asked. I stared at the TV, but I wasn't really seeing anything.

"Don't call her that." I muttered. Two-Bit chuckled and said something about me going soft, but I didn't have the strength to defend myself. After Cherry left, I couldn't stand it. I needed to be by myself.

"I'll catch yall later." I grumbled, heading out the back door quickly. I didn't know what to say if they asked about what Cherry and I had talked about, so I just avoided the scenario in the first place. That's what I did now, I avoided things instead of running to them full force like I used to. Not even that helped though, I still couldn't stand that someone like me was still living while Johnny wasn't.

Ponyboy's P.O.V.

The rest of the day turned out alright. Cherry sat and watched TV with us. I and she talked a lot, mostly just about school and stuff that didn't matter. She would smile at me and laugh a lot. I felt pleased by the attention, but I couldn't just ignore the death glares that Dally was giving me. I tried to shoot him some apologetic ones, but he would always stare stonily at the TV before I could. Did Dally like Cherry? That seemed strange to me, before this entire mess I had always thought that Dallas didn't care about anyone. I realized that he loved Johnny, but I was pretty sure that he had never actually fallen in love with a girl before. Not that I knew of.

The guys just watched TV all day. It was weird to think that after something so big had happened that everyone could just go back to their daily routines. It seemed like a normal Friday almost, except for the fact that Cherry was here and Johnny wasn't. At one point Cherry got up from her place next to me and asked Dally if they could talk. Then they went outside. They were out there for a long time. I found myself glancing at the door more than often. I guess I was worried about Cherry. Dally had been in a different mood lately. Most of the time he would act normal, but there was still that dull look in his eyes. He could blow any second, at just the mention of something small and unimportant. He was getting to be really sensitive.

Finally Cherry came through the door, looking as she usually did. She gave me a smile and told me that she had to go. As we were saying our goodbyes, Dally came back in. He looked blank, worried. He didn't look at any of us, just sat down on the couch like nothing had happened. I could tell something did though. Something big. At least for him.

He left the house at one point, and all the gang was anxious about that. I guess we were still afraid of losing him. He was still unpredictable, and we most certainly did not want a replay of how close he had came to getting shot that one night. Even Soda lost his excited grin, and glanced at the door even more than the rest of us. When Darry got home from the gym he offered to take everyone to a drive in place to get food, which was an offer I couldn't resist.

We all hopped in Two-Bit's car, Darry at the wheel. The boys were all joking around, but it didn't feel right without Dally or Johnny. I wish we would see Dally walking on the side of road; I seemed to be the only one who was still tense about him going out on his own. He was still so unstable…

"Ponyboy!" Soda snapped in my face. I came out of my trance.

"Huh?"

"What are you eating?" I just realized I didn't really have an appetite. I told him I wanted a Pepsi. I leaned my head against the door window. I couldn't get my mind off of Johnny Cade. I wish he would somehow tell Dally to not give up. Lord knows I can't.

"Pony you alright?" I was surprised to see that Steve was looking at me in a concerned way. Steve didn't like me or care about me, so I supposed Soda put him up to it.

"Aren't you guys worried about Dally?" I stared at all of them. Two-Bit had half of his sandwich hanging out of his mouth, Steve had both eyebrows raised, Soda had accidently lifted his straw out of his soft drink, and Darry had his head turned around like an owl to look at me.

"Of course we are." Soda said slowly. "We just figured he could take care of himself." I rolled my eyes.

"I ain't stupid, I know he can take care of himself. He's just been unpredictable lately. What if he does something crazy?" Everyone was quiet, and then Two-Bit said something totally off topic. I sighed and turned my head back toward the window. There was no use trying to get them to listen. If only Johnny was here, he used to always listen.

The next chapters the rodeo, so get ready Hope you guys liked it, I think this chapter was a lot better than the first. Please review! Tell me if I got any facts wrong, you have complaints, concerns, and predictions. Anything! Thanks to those who had read and reviewed.

~Lots of love,

Alaina