I followed this girl upstairs and most of the rooms had the doors closed. It wasn't nearly as loud up here and I was already relieved to not be surrounded by so many people. We walked down the hallway to the room at the end and the girl quickly shut the door.

This room didn't look like it belonged to anyone. There weren't posters on the wall or anything on the dresser. It was just a simple room with a bed and a few generic room furniture items. I knew that some people were so rich and had such big houses that they had bedrooms just for the idea of having guests.

It seemed weird to have a room just dedicated to the off chance you have a guest stay. If someone was to come visit and stay at our house they would probably stay in my room since I had the biggest bed. Not that anyone had ever come to stay besides the guys and they just slept on the couch.

I went over and sat on the edge of the bed because I was still feeling a little dizzy although with the door closed you could only barely make out the noise from downstairs. The girl walked past me and opened the window. A very cold breeze shot through the room and I felt like I could finally breathe again.

The girl came over and sat right next to me on the edge of the bed. I should have probably asked her what her name was, but I didn't want to talk. She seemed to have no problems talking though. She started asking me a million questions all of which I wasn't answering.

She asked me my name, how I ended up here, how old I was, if I had a way home, and each time I didn't answer she would sigh and just ask another question. She finally asked me if I could talk. I gave her a shocked look at that. Of course I could talk, but I only nodded at her instead of opening my mouth.

Finally she seemed annoyed that I wasn't answering her and said "look kid. I don't know what your deal is or if you're just dumb or something, but is there someone down there that I can get that will take you home? I need to know who brought you here so I can help get you out of here."

Now I was mad. Who was she calling dumb? Just because I didn't want to answer her millions of questions? My head was really hurting and I still felt dizzy and sick to my stomach. I hated this party, I hated this girl, I currently hated my brothers for ditching me, really I just hated this night. Finally I answered her.

"I came here with my stupid brothers. They brought me and then left me to go flirt with girls, but I was fine as I was. I don't need some girl I have never seen asking me a million questions. I don't need a babysitter. I can handle myself." I spat out with more venom then was probably necessary. She seemed taken aback for a second. Either from actually having me speak or from the attitude of my words I'm not sure but it took her a second to recover.

I was embarrassed by that and went back to looking at my hands in my lap. Finally she responded and in a very gentle voice said "ok well who are your brothers? Maybe I know them. Or what do they look like and I will go find them?"

But just then the door to the room burst open. I looked up and felt the blood rush out of my head. Standing in the doorway were Darry and Soda and they looked really mad. Probably because I left. Darry immediately started to yell "what on earth is going on here?!" yep. I was dead. He was going to kill me right here.

To my surprise the girl jumped up and started yelling back. I was so caught off guard that I didn't catch what she was actually yelling about. The yelling was making my head hurt even more too. I just wanted to go home and maybe now my brothers would actually take me home.

I tuned out the yelling and then must have zoned out for a second because next thing I knew Soda was at my side pulling me up off the bed saying it was time to go. The girl was gone from the room. Darry still looked mad, but at least he didn't look like he was going to kill me.

I saw Darry look at his watch and knew that we must be late based on his face. "Come on guys, we will talk about this later. We have to go now if we don't want to get caught" he said. Soda must have sensed the urgency in his voice because he tugged on my arm and we all started heading downstairs.

While going down the stairs we ran into Johnny and Dally. Dally grinned at me in a mischievous way and asked "how was it kid?"

How was what? I wanted to ask back. I don't know what he was talking about. I was about to ask just that but Darry grabbed my arm and pulled me the rest of the way down the stairs and through the crowd of people. I heard Dally laughing as we left.

Once we finally stepped outside it was getting even wilder out there. Not only was the weather getting worse and it was freezing, but there were even more kids around and everyone was a lot more drunk.

Darry just kept pulling me along. The ground was kind of slick. I saw two people slip trying to get back into the house after coming out for a smoke it looked like. Finally we made it to the truck and Darry ushered Soda and I in. I scooted to my designated spot in the middle and Darry very slowly started to drive away.

Once in the car I finally had access to a clock and saw that it was already after 11. Mom and Dad were going to kill us. There was no way we made it home first. I could feel the stress coming off of Darry. Soda also seemed tensed up, but less so. Soda wasn't really afraid of getting in trouble. He was used to it by now, and anyways if we got caught most of it would come down on Darry so I could see why he was extra stressed.

We didn't say anything most of the drive home. The truck slipped twice on the road, but Darry was able to keep us going both times and didn't swerve or panic. I panicked a little. I just wanted to make it home in one piece. I almost opened my mouth to say something about being careful, but knew that Darry needed to concentrate and would probably yell at me if I commented on his driving.

Out of nowhere Darry finally spoke up "Ponyboy you go to church the most. Say a prayer we beat Mom and Dad back or else we are all dead." I was caught off guard by the sudden voice and wasn't sure if Darry was serious or not. We didn't do much praying in our house, but this was getting serious. It was taking longer to get home then it should have because of the roads.

I decided it couldn't hurt. So in my head I just said 'God, please let us make it home before our parents. Amen' I wasn't sure if that was actually going to do anything, but I gave it a try.

We continued to stay silent driving home. Darry gripping the wheel and Soda bouncing his knee until finally the house came into view. We all let out a sigh of relief and Sodapop even gave a little whoop and punched the car roof when we noticed the car wasn't in the driveway yet. We had beat Mom and Dad home.

The second Darry put the car into park we all ran into the house. I can't believe it. We actually did it! If this is what sneaking out feels like I'm not sure if I want to continue doing it. That was too stressful and the party was not worth it at all. I hated being there. In the future I'm staying home.

Once inside, Darry spoke up "Ponyboy, Sodapop, you both need to get ready for bed and quick so we don't get caught when Mom and Dad get home. But I want to really quickly want to know what happened tonight"

Before I could even open my mouth Soda jumped in "I'd like to know as well cuz I told you to stay on the couch with Johnny" Now I was just getting mad. They left me. They are all mad at me for leaving, but everyone left me first. I didn't even want to be there anymore. This wasn't my fault. I wasn't going to take the blame for this. It wasn't my fault we cut it this close to Mom and Dad getting here.

My anger all boiled up and I was practically yelling "I was on the couch with Johnny but then I wasn't feeling very well. Johnny said something to me, I think about getting some water, but I'm not sure what because the noise was so loud I couldn't hear. Next thing I know he stood up and left. I just sat there when that girl came over and asked if I was alright and if I wanted to get some air and away from the noise and so she took me upstairs. She opened the window and I started to feel better and then she kept asking me all these questions but I didn't respond much to her. She kept asking me how I ended up at this party and I told her my dumb brothers brought me and then ditched me and that I didn't need no babysitter" I crossed my arms and tried to glare my brothers down to show I meant business.

Soda as usual tried to defuse the situation and stand up for himself and said "I didn't ditch you Pony. I left you with your best friend on the couch of a party. Don't be like that." he was right ditch isn't really the right word, but I still had every right to be mad. They did leave me for stupid girls.

Darry seemed more calm as he spoke again, but was still upset with me I could tell. "Ponyboy, why did you leave the couch if Soda said to stay? Why on earth would you go upstairs?" I was confused. Why did it matter that I went upstairs? He seemed the most concerned that I was upstairs but how is that any different then if I had gone outside?

Soda followed up "Pony do you know what happens in bedrooms at parties like these?" I had to think about that one. I didn't really think about it before, but I guess I do know what happens at parties. I had been in bull sessions before with the guys. Not very many because they still thought I was too young to hear that stuff, but I understood enough. I felt my face get hot with embarrassment.

"I wasn't going to do anything like that" I told them, but I more whispered it. They couldn't actually believe that I would have gone upstairs to do something like that? Oh my is that what Dally had thought when he asked me on the stairs? I felt myself get even more red.

Darry then knelt down and put his hands on my shoulder and spoke very clearly while looking me in the eye "Ponyboy we know you wouldn't want to, but that doesn't mean things don't happen especially at parties like this. If we bring you somewhere and tell you to stay put you need to stay put and trust us. We need to know where you are." I felt bad. I was scared by what Darry was saying. I didn't want to go to these parties anymore. I never wanted to talk to a girl again. I felt my face still hot and was worried I would start crying. Darry continued speaking "But it's ok. Everything's fine. Look we need to be in bed now before Mom and Dad get home" and with that he stood up.

Soda grabbed my arm before I could say anything so I just gave a nod and we both headed into the bathroom to brush our teeth. While in there Soda turned to me and said "I'm really sorry about tonight honey. We didn't mean to scare you. You should have seen Darry. He was just really worried. It was scary when we couldn't find you anywhere and then we heard you were upstairs and I think Darry just sorta lost it. We trust you though, we just want to protect you is all"

I just nodded at him while I continued to brush my teeth. I didn't mean to make anyone worry. I spit and finally said "I'm sorry Soda. I should have just stayed put. I didn't know. I don't think I really like parties. I don't want to go to another one for a bit I think." Soda just gave me a hug and whispered "that's ok. We love you kiddo" and then ruffled my head and pushed me towards my bedroom door.

I got in bed and was starting to fall asleep. The excitement of the night was really hitting me and I was crashing from the adrenaline high. Darry came in and sat on the edge of my bed. He patted my arm and said goodnight. As he stood up to leave I reached out and grabbed his wrist. "Thanks for finding me" and said before my eyes completely slipped closed and I fell into a welcome sleep.