Nothing Gold Can Stay

Chapter Four

Apparently, I did fall asleep, because when I woke up, Soda wasn't in bed and I could hear silent whispering from the living room. The gang seemed to be over. They had to be talking about Ponyboy. I sat up and brushed my long red curls and got myself dressed. Sure enough, everyone was on the couch looking at a newspaper article but I could tell this wasn't the typical newspaper article. This was way more serious. There was a spot for me between Soda and Steve. I sat there. That's when I heard soft crying from Soda. He was whispering to himself.

"Soda?" I asked. He lifted his head up seeing me. He almost looked like he had something to tell me but didn't know how. His brown hair was in the way of his puffy brown dancing eyes. His optimistic grin was replaced with a sorrowful frown. He was crying all right. When he didn't say anything, I decided to ask another question. "Where's Johnny?" That struck a nerve even harder in the gang. I wrapped an arm around him. Steve looked just as concerned but like Soda, he didn't say anything. Eventually, Soda handed me the newspaper.

"This will explain everything," he said softly.

Everything?

What was going on?

What was there to explain?

Ponyboy ran away last night. It was as easy as that. I dunk my head down and read anyway.

Two greasers kill a rival Soc in a Tulsa park

Underneath it, was a picture of the murderers. It only took me a second to realize what Soda was crying about. Johnny and Ponyboy were......murderers and the boy they murdered was Bob, Cherry's boyfriend. My eyes started welling up with tears themselves but I kept reading.

Around two-thirty a.m. last night, fourteen-year-old Ponyboy Curtis (see picture above) and sixteen-year-old Jonathon Cade simply went for an evening stroll in the park. Reports say that Curtis ran away from his home in Tulsa and that he and Cade were trying to think things over before he went back. What neither expected was for them to be culprits of the murder of seventeen-year-old Robert Sheldon. (see picture above) Right around that time, Sheldon and his gang of Socs decided to try and dunk Curtis's head in a fountain. Cade was left bruised on the ground not wanting to see his best friend die. The cause of death is assumed to be a stabbing of some sort. The boys and the remainder of the Socs ran off at the scene but there was a beer bottle next to Sheldon's dead body which can imply that he was in fact drunk. Neither boy has ever been involved with the police but they are close friends with Juvenile Delinquent Dallas Winston who is currently being questioned. "Even if the boys were caught, I doubt their punishment wouldn't be as severe as it would. Maybe a couple of weeks at a Juvenile Delinquent center since it was strictly self-defense. Curtis wouldn't get a punishment since he was unconscious," Officer Charles Maribelle reported.

I didn't need to read the rest. I already knew what this meant. I knew without having to think for very long that the only thing Johnny had that he could stab Bob with was his switchblade. This could mean we could be separated for good. It's not that I blamed Johnny. God, I was just happy he fought back altogether. I didn't blame Pony either. He obviously didn't have a say in the matter. Wish he would've been the one to tell us but I understand why he didn't. He thought Darry would've been mad and he didn't want to be the one to tell us. I looked around the room. God, even Two-Bit had a concerned look on his face. Darry had the palm of his hands buried in his face about ready to cry himself and we all knew why. He had tried to raise him but the newspaper article made him feel like a failure. What he didn't realize was that he wasn't dad no matter how hard he tried to be. The whole year had been work work work for him. I think that's one of the reasons he didn't relate well with Ponyboy. He tried to but he barely even had time for himself these days.

The silence of the room was killing me. I opened my mouth to say something but nothing came out. What was there to say? The negative energy in the room was saying everything for itself. Finally, Darry couldn't take it anymore.

"The cops are most likely coming later to interview us," he said slowly.

"You think Dallas knows anything?" I asked, wiping my eyes.

"God, I know he does," he admitted. "He would be the first person they came to."

Soda must have realized I was on the brink of tears so he brought me closer to him, kissing the top of my hair before letting go. I've always found it funny that he treats me like one of his girls but I'm too sad to think about it right now.

"Darry? Am I gonna be put in a girls' home?" I asked. He stared at me with a conflicted face.

"I don't know kiddo," he whispered. "I just don't know but one thing for sure, I'll fight to keep you guys as long as possible."

That made me feel somewhat better but Ponyboy and Johnny were still out there who-knows-where leaving the rest of us terrified and worst of all, the police would want to know all kinds of information from us and I wasn't sure how in the world I was going to respond and the worst part was, I knew more then Soda and Darry. The most they knew was the reason why he ran away. I was with him last night. I had seen everything that went down after the movie. They didn't have a clue. I wish they did so I wouldn't have to tell the police. I always tried to stay as far away from the police as I could but there was no going back now. Dallas always had clarified me as a bad girl.........maybe his dreams were finally coming true.

I turned my attention to Soda. His eyes were dark still and he looked miserable but slowly calming down.

"Do you have any idea where he could've gone?" he asked me.

"Probably somewhere far away from here," I assumed and it made sense too. Johnny, like the rest of us, hated living in Tulsa. Even with us by his side, he was still miserable here. Who could blame him? His dad was a drunk alcoholic who would hit him if he stayed in his house too long. His mom, though, was even worse. She scared Johnny. She would chase him with a broom across the yard and called him weak simply because he couldn't stand up for himself. God, she probably couldn't care less that her sixteen-year-old son was nowhere to be found. For all the sixteen years of his life, she never loved him. The only form of emotion he ever felt with her was sadness. God, the only thing he felt in that house was sadness.

"I would think so," Steve agreed. "God, Johnny must be a nervous wreck. I would be too if I were him. At least the police have the guts to acknowledge this was self-defense." He had a scared look on his face when he said it. It took a lot to get Steve Randle scared. He was the most reckless we knew so when he even showed a slight sign of nervousness, you knew that it was scary alright.

"What are we gonna do? Neither of us can take time off work and Aileen has school. God, other than Two-Bit and Dal, we all have work today," Soda cried. If I was being honest, I forgot we had work. Everything had been happening so fast with Ponyboy coming home late, Darry hitting him by accident, Ponyboy running away, and Pony and Johnny killing a Soc. Johnny............innocent little Johnny being wanted for murder. Steve was right. He must have been terrified the second the blade hit him yet what choice did he have? It was either Bob died or Ponyboy did. Johnny wouldn't have been able to live with himself if he let them kill his best friend in the whole world. Eventually, Darry spoke.

"I've called myself and you two off today. We'll need to be home when the police come," he admitted. "And as for Aileen and school, we'll just have to wait and see how she is in the morning." I was surprised by his answer. Normally, he would've sent me to school regardless but this was a very traumatizing time for the gang. Even worse, for me. Pony and I always had each other's backs but now I feel like he was too scared even to tell me as if I would've told Darry. I've always been good with secrets especially if it could damage the reputation of someone I loved if I even dared to tell someone.

Steve and Two-Bit didn't stay too much longer. Steve needed to get to work and Two-Bit noticed that we would need some time alone so he left too. When it was just the three of us sitting around the living room, Darry and Soda each took turns asking me questions about what went down the night of the movie. I expected Darry to be upset that me and Pony were hanging around Socs in the first place but he seemed to relax when I told him that Cherry didn't like fights and that she was just trying to have a conversation with us. I even told them how Pony seemed to have a crush on her. Darry frowned in a concerned way but Soda had a small grin on his face happy that he was starting to get interested in girls himself. Girls always had a way of making him smile even if it was obvious he didn't feel like smiling.