Disclaimer: S.E. Hinton owns the rights to these characters, I don't.

Chapter 10

I've lost count of how many hours it's been, I suck at counting. It's been too many…

I woke up to someone saying my name. My arms ached and pain in my legs throbbed. I felt so out of it, but I forced myself to open my eyes.

I was staring at the gross ceiling of that all-to-familiar basement. I groaned. I wish I was anywhere but here. I knew it wasn't true though, so I sat up.

Ponyboy was kneeling next to me, his eyes small and scared, and he looked horrified.

"Ponyboy?" I asked wearily. Ponyboy's face quickly turned angry.

"Don't Ponyboy me! What were you thinking?!" he shouted, though he somehow kept his voice down and up at the same time.

"I'm sorry, Ponyboy, but I did it to protect you. It's what Darry would want me to do," I tried reasoning with him but he pushed me away as I leaned against the wall.

"No, that's not what Darry would want, it's what you want!" Ponyboy said, getting farther and farther away from me. I looked at him sadly.

"Ponyboy, please, I need you to understand," I said, fighting tears.

"No, no! I don't need to understand, I already know what you think!" he interrupted.

Then I got mad too. He was being so difficult!

"Then why don't you tell them what I think if you know so much better!" I shouted back at him.

My fists clenched together.

"You don't treat me like a 14-year-old! You don't treat me like a greaser! You treat me like a baby and I'm sick of it!" he said.

"We do it because we care about you! Because we're trying to protect you!" I told him, trying to convince myself I was doing the right thing.

"Oh yeah, and how'd that turn out?! Is this protecting me?!" he asked, waving his shackled hand around the room.

"I'm trying my best! And I've tried to get closer with you!" I said to him,

"I've noticed that! Especially that time you asked me to go look at the stars?! Yeah, don't think I didn't understand what you were doing there!" he shouted.

Before I would've been concerned about him waking up the socs, but right now, that didn't matter to me. None of it did.

"Listen, Ponyboy, I did it because I was trying to help! I didn't want you to feel that same pain again!" We continued arguing. I wasn't sure how long this would go on for.

"That's my point! Why do you guys always have to be the ones to sacrifice yourselves?! For once, let me do something for you! I'm not a child anymore, I can handle it!" Ponyboy yelled, tears streaming down his face.

"What do you mean, us guys?" I asked though I think I already knew the answer.

"I mean all of you! Dally and Johnny! They sacrificed so much for me and ended up paying the price for it! That's why I don't like talking about them! Because it's my fault!" he yelled, not letting back anymore. He stopped himself.

Silence echoed the room and for a second I could only hear Pony's whimpers.

I was stunned. I stood there like a stupid idiot.

Of course. It all made sense now. He didn't like talking about them or even the slightest mention of their name.

He didn't want me to come to the grocery store with him because he didn't think he needed to be babysat. I stepped back.

Suddenly, we heard footsteps coming down the stairs. The door opened and our captor stepped in, holding a blade.

"You guys are in for it now! Do you have any idea how much noise you're making?! Looks like you greasers need to be taught some manners!" he shouted, kicking things out of his way as he walked towards us. He kicked the wooden plank aside and raised the blade to my neck.

"Get away from him!" I heard Ponyboy shout and I saw him pick up the wooden board and swing as hard as he could against the soc's head.

The soc swayed on the spot and collapsed on the ground.

"He's out cold," I muttered. Ponyboy stood there in front of me, holding a wooden board and he was panting. He knelt next to the soc, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a key.

Ponyboy stared at it as if it was pure gold. We were both thinking the same thing.

He immediately shoved the key into the lock of the shackles and to my surprise it worked.

"Glory, we can finally get out of here!" I said smiling as he handed the key to me and I freed myself from the shackles.

I stared at Ponyboy, knowing he was probably still mad at me. I sighed.

"Ponyboy, listen, I-" but I didn't get to finish before we heard a bunch of footsteps coming our way.

"More socs. We gotta move quickly. Here, take this!" Ponyboy said, handing me the blade.

"Listen to me. There's a phone in the kitchen to the right of the living room. Call 911 and call Darry. I'll hold off the other socs, now go," he explained, grabbing the wooden plank again.

"Ponyboy…" I started but he looked at me with an expression that I couldn't quite make out.

"I can do this Soda, trust me, please…" he told me.

I stayed still for a second, not wanting to move.

"Soda, just go!" he urged me. I snapped out of my trance.

I nodded and headed up the stairs.

Author's Note

Sorry this took so long to finish, I had to deal with some writer's block, but this chapter was full of drama, so I hope this will satisfy you guys! So many people have messaged me asking for collabs and I do appreciate it, I really do! But I already have so much to do and I don't want to get too stressed, so I won't be doing any more collabs for the rest of this fic. Don't get me wrong, I love hearing from you guys, but it's becoming a little too much and you guys deserve only the best from me. The next chapter is gonna be a doozy, I already have a lot of it done, so it should be coming out soon. Drink water and take care of yourselves! Stay gold!

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