Chapter 8

Darry POV

I took Pony from Steve's arms and put him on his bed. I gently pressed down on his ribs and felt relieved when I didn't feel any broken ones. I lifted up his shirt and started cleaning his wounds with the first aid kit. Steve stayed in the living room, but when I heard the front door open and close I stood up and went into the living room.

Soda was home.

"Hey Soda, how was work?" I knew that Soda had changed. He wasn't his happy self, but I didn't know why.

"Fine." He mumbled, and went into his room. I sighed and went back to fixing up Ponyboy. When I was done, I covered him up with his blanket and left the room.

"Steve, have you noticed that Soda is changing?" Steve nodded his head but told me that he didn't know why.

"That day in the hospital… Did Pony tell you anything about Soda hitting him?"

Steve froze for a second but then nodded.

"Soda told me that he didn't hit Pony and that Pony was making it up." I said.

Steve shook his head. "Pony said that Soda hit him when Soda was grounded."

I nodded. "I had a feeling that Soda was lying again. But I'm finding it hard to trust Ponyboy now too."

"Why?"

"Pony lied to me too."

"He did? About what?"

"He told me that he wasn't doing drugs when I caught him. There were some in his room. Soda caught him doing them."

Steve gasped a bit. "Darry? Ponyboy wasn't lying. He wasn't doing drugs… Soda was."

I stood up. "What?! Then why were their drugs in Pony's room?!"

Steve said quietly, "I bet Soda set him up."

"Then why did Ponyboy willingly take the blame?"

"He was probably scared that Soda would get mad at him or something."

I felt so bad. I had grounded Ponyboy for something that Sodapop did. I heard a weird noise come from Pony's room. Steve must have heard it too because he stood up. He started walking to Pony's room, but I stopped him.

"You go to Soda's room. I got Pony." He nodded then went into Soda's room. Soda was still in there.

I went into Pony's room. He was laying on his bed. His eyes were closed but there were tear tracks running down his face. He was silently crying.

"Pony?"

That startled him a bit and he looked at me. "Hey Dar."

"Pony what's wrong? Why are you crying?"

He cried a it more. "It hurts Dar."

"Something in specific or all of it?"

"All of it, but mainly my stomach."

I sat down on the bed next to him. "Want me to look at it?" He nodded. I gently lifted up his shirt and gasped. There was a deep gash that he got from the car accident. It had opened up, and some of the skin around it was bluish purple.

I gently pressed on some of the skin around it, and he yelped.

"I'm going to stitch it up. If it's worse by tomorrow, I'm taking you to a doctor."

He just nodded his head and closed his eyes. I grabbed the first aid kit and started stitching him up.

When I was done, Pony asked me if I could sleep with him tonight.

"Sure little buddy." I laid down next to him and waited a few minutes before I asked, "Hey Pony? Can I talk to you for a second?" I felt him nod his head.

"Did you do the drugs, or did Soda? This time I want the truth Pony." I felt him tense up a bit, as if scared of something.

"Pony, Soda can't hear us."

"S-Soda did them. Please don't yell at him Darry."

"Why not little buddy?"

"I-If you yell at him, he'll yell at me."

I thought about what he had said for a minute. How much went on between Pony and Soda that I didn't know about?

"Pony, what happened between you and Soda?"

Pony shrugged. "I guess that he just… Stopped loving me."

"Ponyboy, I'd doubt that he'd just stop loving you."

"Well, he acts like he doesn't love me."

"What does he do?"

Pony shrugged again. "He does a lot of stuff. Watch closely when he's around me. You'll see."

Pony sounded heartbroken. He was making me sad.

"Do you love him?"

Pony nodded. "With all of my heart."

After Pony said that, he fell asleep. I wrapped an arm around him and held him close. From now on, I'd keep an eye on him and Soda… Especially when they're together.