Chapter 23: Severe Problem

We were getting it on. I was basically ducking and dodging. I was looking for Chris. I wanted to make him pay. I found him. He was on the edge. He had gotten up from a blow and started to run. I chased him.

He was heading towards my house. He broke the window and climbed through. He knew who was chasing him. He ran up the stairs. The house was completely empty. Les' had either taken or sold the stuff that was here. She didn't take much.

Chris ran right into my room. He stopped when he saw he had no where to go. He was right at my window. He was breathing pretty hard, also. I was doing the same.

"You didn't have to do all that," I said.

"I don't care. You didn't have to jump me."

"You can't say you didn't deserve it."

"Yes I can. You're a greaser. You deserve all the bad things. And when I'm finished with you, I'll finish what I couldn't at the rumble. I am going straight after that Pony-horse kid."

That hit it. I wouldn't let him get to Ponyboy. That kid has been through too much. I lunged right at him. He didn't even know what was coming. Bad idea though. He both shattered right through the window and we rolled on the roof a little while before we rolled off and hit the grass below us.

I landed dead on my back and held onto consciousness. I don't know how I did it. Chris had partly landed on bushes so he recovered quickly. But my back was killing me. I looked at Chris. He was looking down the street. He suddenly picked up a pipe from the broken pipe system next to us. I thought he was going to attack me, but he ran down the street.

I looked down the street. My eyes widened. Ponyboy was right down there. Looking at the rumble. He had no idea that Chris was running behind him.

"Ponyboy!" I yelled.

He had barely turned around before the pipe collided with his head. He dropped like a heavy sac. Majority of the socs were knocked out and the others were running. The only ones left were Cherry, Rick, and Tyler. Darry and Soda saw me yelling for Pony's name and saw him on the ground. They ran straight for Chris and beat the evil out of him.

I tried to jump up, but my back pain kicked in. I fell on the ground and slowly got up. I quickly limped over to Ponyboy. The whole way, tears were sliding down my face. I reached him and turned him over gently. Tears were hitting the ground.

"Ponyboy! C'mon kid. Wake up. Please."

Everyone was staring at me. But I didn't care. I was worried about Ponyboy. He had a severe headache. The pipe would make it worse. I looked up.

"Some call for an ambulance!" I yelled through tears.

I held him in my arms. Darry and Soda came behind me. They had knocked Chris unconscious. I could hear Soda sniffing behind me. I desperately wanted the ambulance to come.

It showed up finally. They loaded Ponyboy in the back. Soda and Darry climbed in to ride with him. I walked up, but someone stopped me.

"Only family can ride in the back."

What! I had to be with him though. This guy doesn't understand.

"He is family," said Darry. They let me in the back.

On the way there, I heard Soda and Darry talking.

"What was he doing there?" asked Soda in a worried voice.

"He wanted to talk to Dean real bad. He seemed awfully sad I told him about the situation."

So that was it. Pony came all the way down there to see me. And he wound up getting hurt. Severely.

I sat there in the lobby with my head down. They had already taken care of my back. I forgot how. I wasn't paying attention. I wanted to know about Ponyboy. I couldn't believe what was happening. I could see my tears plopping on the clean floor. It was a long depressing night.

"Are you okay?"

I looked up to see Aunt Les' in front of me. Someone must have filled her in on everything.

"No. I'm not."

"It'll be okay, Dean."

"It's my entire fault."

"Say what?"

"If I hadn't been so selfish, Ponyboy wouldn't have gotten this headache, and he wouldn't have run down there and gotten hurt."

Les' put her arm around me and I let my head rest on her shoulder. I was sniffing away and tears were still streaming. I fell asleep right there.

When I woke up, I looked over to see Darry and Sodapop walking into a room. I sat up quickly. I had been laying on the seats and I was looking around. I walked over to Steve.

"What's going on?"

"The doctor's are letting them know about Pony's condition."

I looked straight at the door. It seemed like ages before it opened and they came out. It was ages. They were in there for twenty minutes! I was the first to stand up. Everyone else did the same.

"He's fine. We just talked to him."

There were a million sighs in the room. Ponyboy was going to be fine. Thank goodness.

"Dean," said Darry getting my attention. "Pony wants to talk to you."

I swallowed and walked towards him room. I opened the door and there was Pony. He had a bandage around his head. He smiled when he saw me. That made me smile too.

"Hey Dean. Long time, no see."

"I can say the same."

It was an awkward silence, before I let it out.

"Ponyboy…I-I'm sorry for not hanging out with you. I was being selfish. You're a good friend. If I hadn't met you, I probably would have committed suicide like my mother. But you showed me the goods in this type of life. You're like a little brother to me. I'm sorry."

Ponyboy stood there staring at me with a blank face. It then turned into a smile.

"It's okay, Dean. It's okay."

After I finished talking to Ponyboy, I walked outside of the hospital. I wanted to get a little fresh air.

"Dean!"

I turned around to see Cherry, Tyler, and Rick walking from Tyler's car.

"Hey guys," I said cheerfully.

"Is he okay?" asked Cherry.

"He's fine. I just finished talking to him."

"That's good," said Rick. "Tyler and I gotta go. Our parents don't know where we are."

"Hold it. Guys. Thanks for being friends."

They smiled and nodded. They got back into Tyler's car and drove off. I looked at Cherry.

"Do you need a ride home?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Um. Cherry. I'm sorry for the way I was acting-"

"I know. It's okay Dean."

I smiled.

"So we're still friends?" I asked.

"No we can't be friends. I want to be more than your friend."

I grinned. It happened. Cherry and I were officially boyfriend and girlfriend.

It's weird. It was okay being a soc. But it was even better being a greaser. The fights between the greaser and socs pretty much stopped pretty soon. So it was okay for me to still be friends with Tyler and Rick. And I could go out with Cherry. And now the socs were dressing like us. The only way you could tell us apart is that now most greasers have our hair combed over our foreheads. The greaser life wasn't that bad. I kept my grades up and went to a good college. I still kept in touch with Pony. We always had chit chats and he's the godfather of my son. A theme he wrote got published, but we still always had the lower life of Tulsa. We made frequent visits there. Me, Ponyboy, Darry, Sodapop, Two-Bit, Steve, Cherry, Rick, Tyler and even Tim Shepard. I doubt that if I was a soc, I wouldn't have this many life-long friends.

dusting hands. Well that's it. It's the end. I want to go ahead and say that you guys made this the most popular fic I have written. I knew this one would be a hit. Now I want to say that I've been coming up with many new stories. I've got stack of them. The next one was going to be a That Was Then, This is Now fic. But I changed it. Instead of it starring Mark and Bryon, it will star Soda and Steve. Don't worry, Mark and Bryon might make some cameo appearances. This fic will show how Soda and Steve became best friends and also how the gang came together. But it mainly focuses on Steve and Soda. Alright. Also for the Trix/Danny fans, they'll be making a return. Also, I'm thinking of making a series type of story. I'll explain it later. Catch y'all good reviewers later.

A Best Friend's Bond-UP NEXT!

Curtis and McCormick-COMING SOON! (The Outsiders/Tex crossover)

Untitled Trix/Danny story-IN PROGRESS (They don't stop coming)

Untitled That Was Then, This Is Now story-IN PROGRESS (Going to be good)

Staying Together- IN PROGRESS (First horror!)

Untitled Rachel/Houston/Jack/Keith story-IN PROGRESS (A little side story)

Untitled Series story-STILL DECIDING