The Lost Outsiders

On Route to Santa Carla

"Pony! Look what I found!" Soda yelled up the stairs. Ponyboy, who had been doing his homework for the last two hours sighed, and dragged himself downstairs.
All the guys were there, waiting for him.
"What is it?"
Soda pulled a leaflet out of his back pocket and handed it over:

"VISIT SANTA CARLA"

"Why have you got this? You know we don't have that sort of money!" Pony murmured, flicking through the pages, pausing at the boardwalk longingly.
"Don't we, Ponyboy?" Dally smirked, pulling a wad of cash out of his jacket.
"Where the hell did you get that, Dally? You know it's dangerous to steal that much!"
"Calm down, Pony. Dally didn't steal it." Johnny laughed, "It's a reward, for when we saved those kids, remember?"
"Wait, really?" Ponyboy looked at Darry, who nodded happily, "How much?"
"It doesn't matter how much, Pony! We're rich, and going to Santa Carla!" Two-Bit yelled, bouncing in excitement.

The next few days passed quickly as they packed and tried to take time off from their various jobs. Dally had to sneak into Johnny's house and help get his luggage into the car without his parents noticing. Soda was the only one with a more difficult job, persuading Ponyboy to leave his homework.

Soon enough, they were on the road. Darry was driving, with Soda riding shotgun, sleeping so that he could drive when Darry got tired. The rest were sat in the trailer, inbetween the various bags. Pony was reading to Johnny, who was trying to listen, but was mainly watching the rolling fields that they were travelling through. Steve and Two-bit were both drunk, playing eye-spy but just making up random stuff instead of actually looking around. Dally was smoking, secretly listening to Ponyboy.
"Pony?" Johnny turned to Ponyboy, who put down the book and looked at him questioningly, "What do you think Santa Carla will be like? I've never been out of Tulsa before."
"I don't know, Johnny. I've never left Tulsa either."
After that, they sat in silence, eventually falling asleep as darkness fell. Darry and Soda swapped seats, so that they could arrive in the safety of Santa Carla as quickly as possible. Unlike the others, Dally stayed up, managing to sneak the book away from Ponyboy.

It was about nine in the morning when they finally arrived the next day. A colourful sign, reading 'Welcome to Santa Carla!' Appeared over the hill, soon followed by rows of uniform houses. As they passed the sign, Steve looked over at the back of it, noticing a line of red graffiti at the bottom. 'Murder Capital of the World'.
"Hey, hey Keith, look at this." He shook his friends shoulder, who turned around, quickly reading the sign.
"I dunno, Steve. It's probably just some kids messin' around."
Steve nodded, trying to brush of the feeling of unease that had settled over him.
The others, however, hadn't noticed and were cheering at their arrival to Santa Carla: The Murder Capital of the World.