Ponyboys POV

I leaned back against the fountain, watching the sun sink into the horizon. The park was dark and shadowed already, deserted. Darry had asked me not to go there after dark, and after everything that had been I could understand his fears. I looked at the deepening blue-black of the sky and figured I could get away with a few more minutes. I'd been at track practice, and didn't want to head home just yet. I pulled out my cigarettes and lit one up, the smoke hitting the back of my throat. I loved this time of night, the setting sun and the darkness of the trees, the silence around me. Sometimes when I came here alone I could almost feel Johnny beside me, and the sadness was so deep it was a kind of peace.

"Hey, Curtis!"

I jumped, turning wildly into the dark, and someone laughed nearby.

"Shoot Curtis, do I look like a fucking soc!"

"Curly, dammnit, don't sneak up on me." I muttered, embarrassed. What the hell was he doing in this side of town anyway? Tim had been inside altogether about twelve months now, and I had hardly seen Curly in that time. I'd heard he was doing his best to hold onto Tim's territory while he was gone, and I didn't envy him any. Tim's wasn't a reputation I'd want to have to live up to.

"You got a smoke?" he asked.

I offered him one from my pack, watched the spark from his match briefly illuminate his face. "What you doing over this way?"

He shrugged and leaned back against the fountain as well. "Just on my way to Bucks, bit of a party up there." I saw him smile in the dark, a taunting edge to it.

"You wanna come?"

"Nah, I better head home soon." I knew what Darry would have to say about me going to a party at Bucks, let alone with Curly Shepard.

"I guess you better" he said, his tone mocking again. I felt myself squirming a little. I didn't even want to go to the party, but Curly had a way of making me feel like a kid beside him.

"When's Tim getting out?" I asked him, making conversation.

"Next week."

Even Curly couldn't hide the underlying excitement in his voice, I guess even tough hoods could miss their big brothers.

He fiddled around beside me and a second later a match sparked again, an unmistakable smell filled the night air.

He sucked on the joint and offered it to me.

"Nah, I don't smoke" I said.

He shook his head. "You gonna make me smoke this whole thing by myself?"

He laughed softly, and I smiled too. Sometimes even more than I missed Johnny himself, I missed just having someone my own age to hang around with. Not that I could ever talk to Curly about the stuff me and Johnny used to talk about, but we still got on okay.

"How's things going over your way?" I asked him.

"Holding on" he answered briefly.

He didn't offer any more information, which maybe spoke more than anything he could say anyway. I couldn't imagine any of those downtown hoods would care to take orders from a kid.

He pinched off the end of the joint and pocketed it. "Don't tell Tim about that" he said suddenly.

"What, the dope?"

"Yeah, he ain't into it."

"Okay" I said, trying not to laugh. Maybe big brothers are the same no matter what side of the law they're on, but it was hard to picture Tim that way.

"So" Curly said, "you sure you don't wanna come along to this party?"

I glanced down at my watch, I still had a couple of hours until Darry would expect me in. I could just go along, hang with Curly a little, maybe play some pool, then head home. Sometimes I wanted to want the same things everybody else did.

Someone like Curly didn't care about good grades or running track or sunsets. He wouldn't care if he never got out of this neighborhood, never had a good job, never went out with a nice girl. I didn't know why the things that mattered to me seemed to be something unimaginable to everyone else.

"Okay, for a while."

"Alright, lets go" he sounded surprised.

"Hey" I said as we walked back across the lot. "Don't tell Darry I went and I won't tell Tim you smoke dope okay?"

I meant it as a joke, but he suddenly stopped and stared at me fiercely.

"I'll tell Darry whatever the fuck I like Curtis, but you tell Tim that and I will beat your fucking head in, got it?"

"Alright Curly" I snapped, angry that a kid my own age could intimidate me so much. What was his problem anyway, I couldn't see Tim caring too much about someone smoking dope, even if it was his brother.

"Hell Curtis," Curly said, his tone cheerful again. "You know what he done when he caught us playing chicken, remember?"

"That's right!" I laughed, remembering how he had glared at us. I remembered how Curly had looked too, the strange longing in his eyes as he smirked at his brother, daring him to do something.

"Big brothers aye" I said, thinking of Darry. Things were better between us, I think we were both getting used to our changed roles. We both tried harder, for our own sakes as much as Soda's. I guess we had all lost enough already.

Curly's idea of a 'bit of a party' seemed to be a little different to mine. I hesitated at the driveway; the party that had spilled into the parking lot looked wild enough.

"Come on, this looks wild!" Curly said, swaggering ahead of me. Inside was packed, and I shoved my way through, hoping no one took offence to being shoulder barged. Most of the people there were what I'd call hoods, not greasers. I know to most people there ain't no difference anyway, but if you'd ever been stared down by a hood, you'd understand the line isn't just imaginary.

I fought my way up to the bar and leaned against it beside Curly. The music and laughing and yelling were deafening and I scanned the room for anyone I knew as more than a passing acquaintance. Even Curly wasn't exactly what I would call a friend.

I saw Two-Bit across the smoke hazed room, standing against a wall beside the pool table with some blond girl leaning into him. I squinted, puzzled by his posture. Usually he'd be returning the flirting. The girl raised a hand to flick her hair off her shoulder and I recognized the gesture. It was Sylvia, Dally's old girlfriend. She cared nothing for him while he was alive, she had made that much clear, but since he had been gunned down by the police and attained legend status, anyone would think he'd been her husband. I guess for a girl like that, what might have been would always be better than what was real.

Just seventeen, and already looking at the past as the best she would ever have. I guess she was no different from most anyone here, for these young hoods, now was the glory days that would never come again.

No wonder Darry didn't want me here, suddenly I didn't want to be here myself. I shoved myself back from the bar, as Sylvia pointed and Two-Bit turned and followed her gaze, right at me.

"Here Pony" Curly shouted near my ear, shoving a glass into my hand.

I didn't even look to see what he'd given me, just took it and headed back outside. I stood on the steps by the door and leaned on the metal handrail, looking over the car park. I took a sip of the drink, wondering what it was.

"Hey Ponyboy, what you doing here?"

I shrugged as Two-Bit came to stand beside me.

"Curly asked me to come" I said, deliberately misunderstanding his question.

The grinding whine of a car engine being revved filled the parking lot, and I turned to see the first drift of smoke coming from under the tires of an Impala.

"Burnout!" someone yelled, and the lot filled with cheers and whoops of encouragement.

"Darry know you're here?" asked Two-Bit.

"Nah" I said, taking another sip of the drink. It was bitter and burnt my throat, like something that might be good for unblocking drains.

"Aww, you shouldn't be here" Two-Bit said quickly. "Ahh fuck, I hate saying shit like that, but really Pony…you shouldn't."

"Why not?" I asked, suddenly angry. "It's good enough for everyone else to be here. None of you think I can handle myself?"

"I know you can fight kid. But these boys is all older than you, you're in a goddamn bar, not a school dance."

His condensation pissed me off, and I took a bigger gulp of the drink.

"Curlys' here."

"Curly" Two-Bit repeated, laughing. "You know the other day I saw Curly Shepard on the poster for smart choices in life."

"Lay off Two-Bit" I growled. "You always gotta live up to your name?"

He flicked me round the ear and laughed again. "Best you be careful Pony."

Curly's POV

I should have sorted out a goddamn car myself, I should have known better than to trust fucking Wade to actually be organized.

I paced the footpath, so impatient and angry I couldn't stand still.

"Settle down would ya Curly" Wade called out, bent over the engine of his car. "I'm sorting it."

I didn't bother replying. Tim had already spent nine months in that fucking prison, not to mention the three he was on remand, he sure wasn't going to appreciate any time he had to spend waiting outside it to be picked up.

"Go and turn the key now would ya?" Wade asked me.

I sighed and went and twisted the key in the ignition, and the car suddenly shuddered and coughed to life. About goddamn time, we were gonna be half an hour late as it was. I got in the passenger seat and waited for Wade to get his shit together and get in. I couldn't wait for my brother to get out, I couldn't wait.

Shit like this didn't happen when Tim was around, he knew how to keep things under control.

As the miles rolled away behind us and the prison approached ever closer, I started thinking about how things would be.

I wondered if Tim would expect that time had stood still for all of us, like it had for him. So much had changed, it felt like forever since me and him had hung on the streets, gone to parties, had fights. I wondered if he would understand I wasn't the kid I'd been when he'd gone in.

"Guess we'll be having another party at Buck's tonight" Wade said.

I grinned and twisted in my seat, so much anticipation inside I felt almost sick. "I reckon he would have only just finished cleaning up from the last one."

That had been a good party alright, not as wild as most there, but still a good party. I never expected Ponyboy would actually come with me, and I wondered if his brothers had found out. I didn't even know when he'd gone home, I'd been too wasted too fast to know much of what had happened.

I could see the prison gates rising high into the sky as we approached, and felt my heart thudding slow and deep in my chest. I couldn't understand the strange kind of nervousness that was inside me, under the excitement.

I just wanted everything to be the same, I wanted Tim to be the hero I always thought he was.

He was standing out by the entrance, smoking and gazing at nothing, not looking impatient. I guess I'd been wrong, I guess when you done nine months already, another thirty minutes ain't nothing.

Prison hadn't changed him, not for the better or the worse. He just looked as he always did, cool and controlled, like I wished I knew how to.

Wade stopped the car and Tim came over as I got out.

"Hey kid" he said, looking at me without expression. Despite having known him all my life, there was a part of me that was still disappointed.

"Hey" I replied, standing by the idling car, wondering if I would always be the one that wanted so much from him.

I guess I don't just want everything to be the same.