From Weakness to Strength

Back With the Gang

The next morning, Darla woke up with a pain in her chest, hurting like hell inside a box. She felt really depressed for some reason. Ponyboy sounded like he was in the kitchen, making breakfast. "Want some eggs, Darla?" he asked. "No." Darla simply replied. She removed her oxygen tank, walked over to the piano and started playing Beethoven's fifth violently.

"Anybody home?" came a voice. "Yeah, in here." Ponyboy replied from the kitchen. "Don't slam the door."
Steve and Two-Bit came in. They saw Darla playing violently on the piano, which they knew wasn't a good sign. So they let her alone and went straight to Ponyboy. They scared Ponyboy, making him drop the eggs he was cooking in the pan. "Look what you made me do." Ponyboy complained. 

Steve and Two-Bit first made fun of his hair, calling him a "Blond-headed monkey", then showed him a newspaper, which said that he, Johnny, Dallas, and Darla were heroes.
"They're charging Johnny with man-slaughter?" Ponyboy asked. "What do they mean if he recovers?"
Darla heard that and slammed the piano keys, making her stop playing. 
"It also said how you saved 'dem kids, Ponyboy." said Steve. "They'd have burned half to death if it weren't for you." Steve took some chocolate cake into the living room. 

Darla laid her head on the piano, causing random keys to play. 
"Boy, Dallas would be mad that they didn't mention his police record." said Two-Bit. "Aint that the truth." Steve agreed. 
Ponyboy read into the newspaper. "It'a all about us. Darry, me, and Soda." he read on. "And the mysterious girl who's been seen with them for four years."
"-What?" Darla said, getting up from the piano. "Hey, look who decided to open their mouth." said Steve. Darla looked to Steve and Two-Bit. "Hey guys. Sorry I didn't say hi. I'm still in shock from what's been goin' on."
"That's okay. How is my little Minnie Mouse?" Two-Bit asked. "I don't know..." Darla responded. 
"_wait, they're thinking about putting me and Soda in a boy's home? No way! They aint putting me in a boy's home." Ponyboy dropped the newspaper on the table.
"Ponyboy, they don't do that to heroes." Steve said. "Where is Soda and super-dope, anyhow?" Steve asked. 

Just then, Sodapop opened the shower curtain, a towel barely covering his waist. "Whoa." said Steve. "Mornin', jailbird." he took a bite out of the chocolate cake as Darry picke dhim up and threw him. "Super what?" he asked sternly. "All brawn no brains." Steve sassed with a mouthful of cake.
"Hey Darry, have you seen my DX shirt somwhere?" asked Sodapop, wrapping the towel around his waist. "Hey, you gotta wear pants too, buddy. I think that's a law or something about that." said Steve as he tried to feed Soda some cake. "How about my jeans?" Soda asked, pushing Steve's hands away. "I ironed them. They're in my closet." Darry replied.

Darla got up and went to the closet and got his jeans and DX shirt and handed them to Soda. "Thanks, doll." Soda replied. "Hurry up. We're gonna be late." Darry said.

Darla went to stand next to Ponyboy. "Darry. Did you head about the Juvenile court thing?" 
"The cops told me last night." Darry responded, pulling on his short-sleeve flannel.

"Hey, I'll tell you what." Soda said coming out from his room, fully clothed. "After we stomp the socs real good, me and Steve are gonna throw a party and everyone's gonna get ripped."
Steve did a triumphant cheer, mouth full of cake.
"Hey, where're you gonna get the dough, little man?" Darry asked. "Oh, I'll think of somethin'." Soda replied. 
Soda sat on the couch. "Hey, Two-Bit, Mickey's on TV." Soda snickered.Two-Bit immediately came in and became glued to the screen. Darla stood where she was, a blank expression covering her face, but she was deep in thought.

"Pony." called Darry. Ponyboy, who was on the front porch, came back in. "You know I have to leave you guys here by yourselves. Maybe, I ought to take the day off."
"We'll be okay." Ponyboy reassured. "We've stayed by ourselves plenty of times. Besides, we can't afford it."
"Yeah, but I really ought to stay"
"-Don't worry about it, Darry. I'll babysit 'em." Two-Bit said. Ponyboy hit Two-Bit on the back of the head. Two-Bit tackled Pony to the ground roughly, but playfully. "Hey, why don't you get a job. You ever thinkin' about getting a job for a living, Two-Bit?" Steve asked. "Hey Soda, come on we got to get to work." Steve said to Soda.
"-I gotta quit smokin'. Or I can't make track next year.-Uncle!"Ponyboy said out of breath. Darla giggled a bit. And that was for the first time since yesterday morning. "You gotta do the dishes." Darry said. 
"-I'm gonna cut your hair!" Two-Bit teased Ponyboy. "Two-Bit lay off." Darry said. "Yeah, Two-Bit. Lay off." Pony agreed as Two-Bit loosened his grip. "Lazy bum." Pony muttered as he was getting up. 

"Pony, you smoke more than a pack today, I'm gonna skin you, you understand?" Darry said as he was gathering his stuff. "Yeah." said Pony. "If you carry more than one bundle of roofing at a time, then me and Soda will skin you. Understand?" Pony said. Darry grinned. "Yeah. Say hi to Johnny." said Darry, giving Darla a warm hug before heading out. Soda and Steve went up to Darla. "Kisses!" the said in unison and kissed Darla on her cheeks. Darla smiled as the two boys left. She wiped her cheek where Steve had kissed it and got chocolate residue on her hand from her cheek. "Hey! You got chocolate on me!" Darla coughed. "Hey, take it easy on her, will ya!" Ponyboy said to Steve. "Sorry!" Steve called as he slammed the screen door.

"Come on, we gotta clean up the house. The cops and reporters will come by and besides it time for the people from the state to come up and check on us." said Ponyboy, gathering the dishes. "Shoot, this house aint messy. you ought to see my house." said Two-Bit walking up to the kitchen table. "We have and if you had the sense of a billy goat, you'd start cleaning up your house instead of bumming around ours."
"Shoot kid, if I ever did that my mom would die of shock." Two-Bit replied as he grabbed the chocolate cake and sat down on the floor with his beer and watched Mickey Mouse. 

"I can help." Darla said as she walked up to Ponyboy while he rinsed and stacked dishes. "No, you don't look so well. Go watch Mickey with Two-Butt over there." "Ya sure?" Darla asked. "Yeah, go."

Darla sat on the floor next to Two-But. He fed her some chocolate cake as they watched Mickey mouse together like brother and sister.