I looked at my watch and saw the time. It was just after 10:30. We needed to go. Now. Where were my brothers? I scanned the room. I saw Sodapop up against the wall making out with Sandy. That girl was going to be trouble I could tell. But what was Soda doing? He was on Pony duty right now.

I walked over and broke them apart by grabbing Sodas shoulder. He looked up at me like he was about to fight and then realized who I was. "What Dar? I'm kinda busy" he still was holding Sandy and clearly wanted to get back to what he was doing. "Time to go. Where's Ponyboy?" He rolled his eyes and pointed in the direction of the couches in the corner "I left him right over there with Johnny. He's fine. I'll meet you outside in 5 minutes k?" And then he turned back to Sandy. I looked where he pointed, but there wasn't anyone on the couch right now, well there was, but they were doing things that there's no way Ponyboy would be doing, especially in a crowded room.

I grabbed Soda again and this time whipped him fully around. I pointed his head in the direction he had left our brother "he's not there Soda" Sodapop made a noise and then lend in and whispered something in Sandy's ear. She gave a girlish giggle and then a quick kiss and walked away. This kid I swear.

Soda turned back towards me "well he's gotta be around here somewhere. Maybe they just went to get a drink?" I just stared at him. Yeah him getting a drink at a place like this would be just what we needed. Everything here was spiked. We told him when we came not to drink anything we didn't hand him so he better not have. "You better hope we find him and fast. We're going to be late"

With that Soda and I started checking the rooms as we walked around. There were kids everywhere and it was so loud. We saw Steve with some dark haired girl basically eating each others faces. Soda went over to ask if Steve had seen Ponyboy, but the way Steve looked there's no way he was keeping tabs on our brother.

I found Two-Bit but he was almost black out drunk at this point. "Hey Two-Bit you seen Ponyboy around?" I called out over the noise. Two-Bit just yelled back "no I don't have a horse I don't do rodeos but a lot of the guys around here do!" I rolled my eyes. What an idiot. I then scanned the room and saw Johnny and Dally standing in the corner. Didn't Soda say he left Ponyboy with Johnny? I didn't see Pony with them though. I walked over to them and Johnny looked really nervous and like he was gonna pass out from fear. Dally had an amused look on his face like he was enjoying something.

I walked up "you guys seen Ponyboy? We gotta go to make curfew. Soda said you were with him Johnny. Where is he?" Johnny looked even more frightened as I spoke to him. He opened his mouth to speak but then froze. Dally stepped in and with an amused smile on his face said "apparently Ponyboy went upstairs with some girl" I was shocked. Stunned. I couldn't speak for a second and then screamed out "WHAT?!" Johnny looked close to tears and Dally stepped in front of him a bit clearly worried I was going to kill Johnny.

Just then Soda appeared to my left "hey guys anyone find Pony yet?" I turned to him "apparently his upstairs with some girl" Sodas mouth dropped open "no" was all he said. We stared at each other in shock and then both must have come to our senses at the same time because we were hurtling towards the stairs. I was taking them two at a time as we rushed up.

We got to the top and I started ripping doors open like a maniac. Each door that flew open had kids screaming at me to get out, but none of them were Ponyboy. My mind was racing. I needed to find him fast and get out of here.

Finally Soda and I stood outside the final door. He had to be in here but I was so nervous what I was going to find. Soda and I shared a glance and then I reached out and opened the door. There sitting on the edge of the bed was Ponyboy. He looked a little pale and like he might be on the verge of tears. Sitting next to him was a girl probably around 17 or 18. Older than Sodapop for sure. Finding them fully clothed and sitting in the lights was a relief but now I could feel the anger boiling up. Who was this girl taking a literal kid to a room!? I started to yell "what on earth is going on here?!" Pony looked up and saw us both standing there and I swear he got paler if that was possible.

Just then the girl jumped to her feet and wasn't afraid to yell back "I should be asking you the same thing! What idiots bring a little kid to a party like this? I found him alone on the couch down there looking like he was going to pass out. I took him up here to get away from the noise and crowd and opened up the window to get him some air!" She gestured to the open window and I just now noticed the cold breeze in the room. I was too stunned by her words to say anything. They cut like knifes because we really had messed up leaving Ponyboy alone.

Soda spoke up "thanks for watching him and taking care of him, but we will take him home now" she whirled around to now look at Soda. Her eyes looked him over and she gave a quirk of her mouth "alright pretty boy. I've seen you around and am not so surprised anymore that you would dump this kid on an unwilling babysitter. Make sure he gets some water and maybe next time don't bring a kid to a party" and with that she pushed past us and walked out of the room.

Soda went over to Ponyboy and pulled him off the bed. Now that he knew we weren't going to actually kill him he was looking a little less pale. I looked at my watch. It was already almost 11 and we still had at least a 10 minute drive home. I wasn't sure if we were going to make it before Mom and Dad got back and then we would really be dead.

"Come on guys we will talk about this later. We have to go if we don't want to get caught" we all headed down the stairs and bumped into Dally and Johnny again.

"How was it kid?" Dally said with a smirk to Ponyboy. Pony just looked confused. I grabbed his arm and continued to pull him after me and gave Dally a certain finger as a passed him. He just let out a laugh. We weaved through people and the noise and finally burst outside. It was cold out here. Colder than when we showed up and I noticed how slick the ground was. It was going to take longer than 10 minutes to get home with these roads, but hopefully it would take Mom and Dad longer too.

We got to the truck. My truck now. That still brought a grin to my face and I opened the passenger door for Ponyboy to climb in. He scooted to the middle and Soda followed after him. I jumped in the drivers seat and we headed off.

The roads were so slick even the truck slipped a few times. We were really cutting it close now. I turned to my brothers "Ponyboy you go to church the most. Say a prayer we beat Mom and Dad back or else we are all dead." Pony gave me a look like he didn't know if I was serious or not. It took us almost 20 minutes to get home because of the roads. We were very late now. It was almost 11:30 and that's when Mom and Dad said they would be home and Ponyboy was supposed to be asleep.

We pulled up to the house and to all our relief the driveway was empty. I let out a sigh and Soda gave a little whoop! We had almost done it. If I could just get everyone inside and in bed, Mom and Dad would never know. I put the car in park and we ran into the house. Once inside I felt like we really might have gotten away with this and I had a few minutes to get some answers about what happened tonight.

"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 know what happened tonight" Soda turned to Pony "I'd like to know as well cuz I told you to stay on the couch with Johnny"

Ponyboy was now looking very mad at us and he was practically shouting "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" he had is arms crossed and clearly was ticked off with both of us.

Soda jumped in "I didn't ditch you Pony. I left you with your best friend on the couch of a party. Don't be like that."

I was still mad that he left and went upstairs. This could have been such a different situation and I don't think he even realized that. "Ponyboy why did you leave the couch if Soda said to stay? Why on earth would you go upstairs?" Pony gave me a confused look. Yep he didn't understand the situation at all. I didn't know if that was a good or bad thing, but he needed to know before he went to high school later this year.

Soda spoke up now "Pony do you know what happens in bedrooms at parties like these?" Pony now was staring at Soda and slowly things were beginning to dawn on him. His face was very quickly becoming bright red and he looked like he might start crying from embarrassment. "I wasn't going to do anything like that" he said in the most childlike whisper of a voice.

I let out a breath and then decided to kneel down to get on Pony's level. I put my hands on his shoulders and looked him right 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." Pony really looked on the verge of tears now. "But it's ok. Everything's fine. Look we need to be in bed now before Mom and Dad get home" I glanced outside like I could sense them coming home. Ponyboy gave a nod and him and Soda headed to the bathroom to brush their teeth and get in bed.

I sat down on the edge of the couch for a minute and put my head in my hands. I wasn't cut out to watch both these boys. Tonight was too much. Luckily we got back before Mom and Dad but next time they went out and there was a party I was just going to stay home with the boys. This was way too much stress. I got up to go check on my brothers progress and make sure they were asleep. Only a few more minutes of being in charge before I could also go to bed and not worry anymore.

I walked into Ponyboy's room and he looked almost to be asleep already. He had had a full day of school I guess and then was out way later than he ever has been. He must be tired. I sat on the edge of the bed and put my hand on his arm "goodnight Ponyboy." I whispered and then patted his arm and stood up. He grabbed my wrist as I stood. I turned around to look at him. He still looked half asleep but managed to mumble out "thanks for finding me." And then dropped his hand and I think fell asleep right then. I pulled the blankets up over him more and whispered "always kiddo" and walked out the room.

I then walked into my room to see how Soda was doing. He sat up in bed when I walked in "Pony asleep?" "Yeah. I don't know how but it looks like we pulled it off. Made it back in time." Soda just grinned. "Of course we did! I knew we would get away with it! And even if we didn't I already had a plan to sweet talk us out of it. It was all about brotherly bonding. You would have been in tears" I huffed out a laugh at that. "Soda you really are trouble" he just flashed a grin "guilty as charge" we both laughed and then I stood up. "You really should go to sleep. I think I'm going to wait up for Mom and Dad." I looked at my watch again. It was close to midnight now. They were never out this late. Mom wasn't much of a night person and liked to be home in bed. Soda just nodded and laid back down. "Tell them to wake me up when they get home. I wanna see them" I said I would and headed out of the room.

I sat down on the couch and pulled out a book I had started a few days ago. Ponyboy is known for being the big reader, but I also enjoy a good book and even have my own collection of books albeit much smaller than his, but I still read when I have the time. After the night though I must have been more tired than I realized because I started to drift off as I read.