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Chapter Three

I ran down the hallway towards my locker. I opened my locker and tossed all of my book inside. I slammed it shut and began ran out the front doors of my school. All I can think about is getting home so that Darry and Sodapop can fix this. I'm sure they can do something. He could call Mr. Chatham and explain, or call our social worker and make sure that nothing will happen to me. After all that's happened in the past few months, they won't take me away from my brothers. They can't. As I got closer and closer to my house, I began to feel scared. I didn't know how I was going to explain this to Darry. He would be so dissapointed in me for putting all of that in my theme. I opened the gate and walked up the stairs to my house. I opened the door, and both Darry and Soda looked up at me. "Well hey there kiddo." Soda said, giving me one of his famous goofy grins. I wanted to smiled back, but I just couldn't do it. "You're home awful early ain't ya Pony?" Darry asked, setting the newspaper and standing up. "Yeah." I said kind of quietly. I looked down at my white converse. "Hey?" Darry asked. He had realized that something was wrong. "Darry, I have something that I need to tell you." I finally managed to say. I sat down on the couch in the middle of Darry and Sodapop. I began to explain everything. I told Darry how if I wrote a good theme, I could pass Mr. Chatham's class with a C. Then I went on to tell him about what I wrote, and how we were in trouble. Darry's face fell when I told him what I wrote. Soda immediately threw his arm over my shoulders when he saw how upset I looked. Darry got up and began pacing the floor. After a while, he finally stopped and looked over at me. "What exactly did you write Ponyboy?" he asked. "I don't know." I said quietly. I drag the sleeve of my shirt across my eyes. I'm trying my hardest not to cry. "Everythin' I guess." I finally said. "Everything what? About our fights? What, Pony?" Darry asked. He sounded real angry, but he had every right to be. I should have throught about what I was writing before I did it. I pulled myself closer to Soda. I'm not scared of Darry or anything like that, I just didn't want to see the betrayed look in his eyes. I knew that I had thrown him to the wolves. But I didn't mean it. I really didn't mean for any of this to happen. "I-I just had to write it down Dar- I don't know." I managed to tell him. "And then you thought that it would be okay to give it to your teacher?" Darry asked. I sniffled a bit, and finally looked at Darry. He looked so hurt. "I just wasn't thinkin about what could happen." I told him. Darry just stayed silent. "I mean it was mostly about Johnny and Dally, I wanted people to know, I just didn't think.." I continue to try and explain. I feel Soda tighten his grip around me. I can feel his heart pounding. "Hey Darry. Just calm down." Soda said. Darry just looked at him. "It's nothin to argue about." Soda continues awkwardly. "Maybe the state won't care. They know what happened before and you got to keep the custody. You know that." Darry sighs. He sank down in the recliner, put his elbows on his knees, and buried his head in his big hands. I looked up at Soda, and he forced out a smile. "It'll be okay Pony." he said. I wanted to believe him so bad, even though I knew he was probably wrong. It hit me then, that everything might not be alright.