𝑻𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝑺𝒉𝒊𝒕 | 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕆𝕦𝕥𝕤𝕚𝕕𝕖𝕣𝕤 | 𝑪𝒖𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒔 𝑺𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓

𝑰𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒈𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 : 𝑫𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒑𝒐𝒑

Sodapop's POV

It was a breezy morning and the sun was slowly rising. Steve was outside working on a Socs car while I was working register.

Darry, Steve, and I talked about the plan last night. I would stay with Steve until Darry gets off early. Nothing seemed odd outside. The only people that passed by were Tim and Curly.

Zay should already be at work. Dal and Johnny hopefully found Pony. Hopefully Two is doing his part. Knowing him he probably went and got drunk after we went to sleep.

"Hey I finished that douchecanoo's car. Notice anything?" Steve asked as he wiped oil off his hands with a towel.

"Nothin' yet. Only Tim and Curly." I replied with a sigh.

"Your kid brother is as dumb as a bag of nails." Steve scoffed.

I mean Steve wasn't wrong. Pony has done some stupid things. He also never learns from his mistakes until it's too late.

The work phone starts ringing and I pick it up. "Steamy Soda from the DX, how may I help you?" I say seductively, knowing it was Darry. Had to annoy him somehow today.

"You know, sometimes I wonder how I let you live this long" he says with a slight chuckle.

"You off?" I asked.

"Yep. I'm getting ready to leave now. Let's meet at the house."

"Good luck taking over the register and garage." I said with a smirk and I walked out of the DX. I knew I was gonna owe him.

I didn't take a car so I walked halfway home, then ran the last half. As I got inside the yard I heard the truck pull up. It sounded awful, but it was Two's old truck so it's to be expected.

Darry turned off the truck and hopped out.

"So we are going to go through you guy's room. Including the closet." He said as he walked into the yard.

We flung open the door to an empty house, which meant Zay, Dally, and Johnny are already gone.

"I will check under the bed. Can you check his desk?" Darry asks me. I nod as we walk down the hallway.

We reach the door to our bedroom and slowly open it. It was the same as when I left this morning, except Pony didn't make the bed again.

Darry crouches and looks under the bed as I made my way towards Pony's desk. There were papers everywhere along with textbooks and regular books.

I had stacks of papers to look through. Most of it was schoolwork throughout the year.

"Hey Dar, want me to go through all these papers?" I asked Darry as I saw him reach under the bed. 

"Yep" he replied.

After searching paper by paper, I finally found some clue. It was a crumbled up piece of paper. I open the crumbled paper to see scribbled handwriting.

"You caused.... Now you ....... the price........ Zayla suffer" was all I could read out. The other words were not even close to being legible. 

"Darry I found a concerning letter." I said holding the paper up. Darry got up off the floor and made his way toward me. He grabbed the paper out of my hand and started skimming through it. 

"What did Pony get himself into." He said facepalming. I could see the stress lines on his forehead forming.

"Well we know that Zayla's involved." I said. She is involved, but how? What did Pony do to drag her into this mess? Is she even aware she is involved in this?

"I have no idea but let's check the closet. We don't know how long until Pony returns." Darry said as he shoved the paper in his back pocket, being careful not to rip it. 

Our closet has two doors on it, and they slide. I moved the door halfway and reached in to grab a box. Darry tried moving the door and ended up taking the door of the hinges. The door made a loud noise and I dropped the box.

"Damn it Soda don't break anything!" Darry yelled at me.

"Me? You almost broke the door to his closet off!" I yelled back. (He said it was Pony's closet because it was Pony's side of the closet.)

"Children stop fighting." Someone said as they walked into the room. I turned towards the door to see Zayla limping inside the room. 

She started walking towards us as I picked the box up from the floor of the closet. It was a medium sized box. I opened the box and found a letter.

"Darry I found something." I said as I looked inside the box.

Zayla stood next to Darry and he stood in front of me. I pulled out the letter and read it out loud. 

"If you do what we say, you won't be weak. We will make you the toughest kid in town. You are smart enough to be on our team. If you do anything wrong though, we will kill someone you love."

That sent chills down my spine, and I could tell it sent chills down Darry and Zayla's spines too.

"Is there a name on the paper?" Darry asked. I looked down and I felt sick. 

"Soda spit it out." Zayla said eagerly. I could tell she knew, she most likely saw him while keeping an eye out for Dally and Johnny.

"It's him." I said with a cold tone. He made her life hell for so long and Pony is working for him? I wish I could knock the brain outta that kid. 

"Don't worry, I knew. I saw Pony go into his apartment earlier. Dally knows it's him too." Zayla said, following the sentence with an annoyed sigh.

Before we could say anything else we heard someone run into the house. The door in the living-room slammed loudly as we heard footsteps nearing. 

Two-Bit ran into the room with sweat dripping down his face. 

"I got info from Tim and Curly today. The guy Pony has been talking to is apart of a gang. This situation isn't looking good guys." Two said while running his hands through his hair.

*Author's Note*

So I know this chapter wasn't as good and suspenseful as the last chapter. I couldn't do much for Darry and Soda like I did for Dally, Zayla, and Johnny. Next chapter will reveal our mystery guy and give backstory and info on the person. This chapter was confirming something for the cast, and next chapter will be info. We are nearing the big battle guys, and we are also getting closer to the end.