Dallas Winston Has A Sister? (Outsiders Fanfic)

Penny Necklace

Note to Readers:  Sorry this one's a little long, but I hope you like it.  It's kind of a mix of The Outsiders, Stand By Me, and a book I read called Wrong Side of the Tracks.  Please comment and vote! 

        "You want to do something today?" Pony asked me casually as I sat down next to him on the couch.

        "I've got nothing better to do, so sure.  What devious adventure are you planning?" I asked sarcastically, wondering is he was considering this a date or not.  I didn't really care, but if he was planning on doing stuff with me all day I really didn't want him to pay for everything.

        "I don't know.  We could go to the movies, or the lot, whatever you want," he said with a shrug.

        I was silent for a second before asking, "Can we go down by the railroad tracks?  There's got to be something to do there," I suggested.  For some weird reason,  I felt like going down to the train tracks on the outskirts of town today.

        "What, you never saw a train in New York?" Steve asked sarcastically, listening in on our conversation as always.

        "I'm sure that's exactly it," Pony remarked with a smirk and I rolled my eyes and said, "Let's get out of this nuthouse," to Ponyboy before grabbing my leather jacket and heading out the door, him following me.

        You could tell when we neared the tracks because the ground vibrated under our feet, the rain rattling and clanking as it zipped past, smoke billowing over the top of the treeline.  By the time we got close enough to the tracks to actually see it rather than just hear it, the last boxcar was rolling past, and we watched as the train disappeared around a curve until even the smoke couldn't be seen.

        "Any idea when the next train comes?" Pony asked me curiously.

        "Why, do you think we're gonna get run over?" I asked with a smirk.

        "No, I want to try something that our dad showed us when we were little," he answered, fishing a handful of change out of his jeans pocket.

        "That was the ten o'clock freighter, and today's Saturday so there should be another one coming in forty-five minutes," I recited the train schedule.

        "I didn't think you'd actually know that," he said, surprised but approving.

        "I'm not an idiot like my brother," I said,, trying to contain my smile because we all knew Dally wasn't your average dumb hood.

        "Well..." he said skeptically, trailing off like he was contemplating the viability of what I was saying, and I slugged him on the shoulder, just hard enough for it to hurt.

        "Ow," Pony said monotonely, not really sounding hurt, but then he held out his hand to me, displaying a handful of three pennies, a quarter, two nickels, and four dimes.  "Pick one," he said.

        Confusedly, I glanced from his face to his palm to his face again and asked, only half-sarcastically, "Are you paying me back for something?"

        He grinned and answered, "No, pick a coin to flatten.  Copper or silver."

        "Okay," I said skeptically before taking a penny from the seventy-eight cents of change he was holding, having no idea what he was planning on doing.

        Ponyboy took the other two pennies and pocketed the rest before crouching over the rails of the track and pulling a roll of tape out of his pocket.