Ashley Curtis... Ponyboy's sister...

To the beach. - chapter 29

After a long silence in the car, Dally looked at me and smiled.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah." I said. "Why?"

"You're eyes, they look like your gonna cry or something. So, you okay?"

I hadn't noticed that I looked like that. I was thinking of what could've happened to Dally if we hadn't gotten help from the cops. Would he be here next to me?

"I'm fine." I said. "Just tired."

"Ya look nervous." he said. "Are ya?"

"Nah." I lied. "I'm fine."

He put his arm around me. We drove all the way back, silent again. And when we got there, Two-bit , Steve, Pony, and Soda jumped on top of us. They were giggling, laughing, cracking jokes, and singing, "Dally and Ashley, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G." They bugged us up until Darry walked in. He sat next to Johnny, who was sitting on the couch, watching them laugh, smiling, but not joining in.

"Hey." Darry said, silencing everyone. He smirked as I sat down next to him on the couch. "How's the happy couple?" I punched him in the arm and everyone continued laughing, even Darry and Johnny.

I turned to Dally. "Wanna head back to New York?" I asked. He nodded and we walked back towards the door. We were stopped by 6 guys, tossing us onto the couch. I couldn't help but laugh. Two-bit and Steve continued their song and everyone else joined in. "Dally and Ashley, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love. Then, comes marriage. Then, comes a baby in the baby carriage." Throughout the song, Two-bit was acting like a conductors and Sodapop replaced the word Baby with Pony. Ponyboy punched him in the arm after that.

After a while, I just yelled, "ENOUGH!" Everyone froze. "Jeez, if I sang that song for every time that one of y'all got a new girlfriend, shoot! I wouldn't have my voice."

"So," Dally said, changing the subject. "We doin' anything good t'night?"

Ponyboy looked at me. "Ash promised that we would all go have some fun if I went to school."

"Yeah." I said. "I know." I ruffled Ponyboy's hair. "A promise is a promise."

"So, where we goin'?" Soda asked.

"Don't know." I said, trying to think of something to do.

Two-bit glared at Dally, crossing his arms. "Hopefully not the club." Dally went to say something back, something that I probably didn't want to hear, but I covered his mouth with my hand. He calmed down.

"Well," Johnny said, "we can go to the nightly double, tonight."

"But we always do that." Steve wined.

"What else is there?" Pony wined back.

"I have an idea." Darry said. He threw me the newspaper, football style. "Let's go to the lot and play some football."

I tossed him back the paper. "We always do that, too. It's all been there, done that. What else is there."

There was silence for a while until Soda said, "We can go hang out at the peer. If there's nothing else to do."

"What would we do there?" Two-bit asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"I don't know." he said. "Just hang out and talk. Get some fresh air."

"Give Ash and Dal some time alone." Pony added with a smirk.

I rolled my eyes. "Quite actin' like Two-bit." I said.

Pony cocked an eyebrow, the same way that Two-bit does. "Who's actin'?" he said.

Darry elbowed me, saying, "Yeah, we best leave you 2 alone. We'll hang out on the beach and you 2 can meet up with after your done."

Darry winked and I punched him in the arm.

"Shut it!" I threatened, grinning. "Our I'll give ya a black eye."

Sodapop stood up and grabbed his keys off the coffee table. "Let's get goin'." he said. "Before Darry's just another blood stain on the floor."

Dally got his keys, too. "K. Johnny, Pony, Ash, you can come in my car." We all went outside and hopped in the cars. We were off to the beach.