I woke up Thursday morning at 12:03 AM. The rest of the greasers weren't up. I got up off the couch, embarrassed to see that I fell asleep with my head on Johnny's lap. He was still asleep, and the rest of the greasers were spread out on various living room chairs and furniture. Dally had taken refuge on the kitchen table, so I sat with my back to the door and stayed like that for about a half hour while I waited for the rest of the gang to wake up. I was about to go to sleep when I heard footsteps. Ponyboy came from the bedroom next to the living room. He opened the door, and I could see that Sodapop and Darry were sleeping on the bed too. Pony closed the door and leaned against it, looking at me.
"Good morning," he said politely but awkwardly. I could tell he felt bad about Bella. I wanted to tell him it wasn't his fault, but my mouth was dry.
"Hi," I said with a weak smile. "What time is it?"
"Almost 2 AM. We should get going soon."
"This early?"
"Yeah. The train comes every half hour, so we should get there before 2:30 to catch it."
"Okay," I said weakly. I was used to jumping on the train by now, watching the world go by as the train moved swiftly across the old, nearly abandoned railroad tracks. Greasers were the only ones who used the train anymore, but now only our gang. We had even set up blankets and pillows in the old train car in case we were doing an overnight trip.
Ponyboy and I packed up, and at 2:15 we left the house.
"Johnny and the rest of the gang should sleep. They'll know where we are and will probably just meet up with us in about 3 hours, more or less," Ponyboy said.
"How will they know where to find us?"
Ponyboy smiled. "The church."
