Chapter # 4

"Ponyboy, you and Johnny go do your homework. Soda's got dishes tonight," Darry said as everyone finished dinner.

Soda sulked. He knew Darry was getting them out of the way before he came down on him. Quickly he began to pick up dishes clanging them loudly so that he could pretend that he couldn't hear his older brother. It didn't work of course.

Johnny and Ponyboy both laughed as they watched from a safe distance. "We better go do our homework for real," said Ponyboy. "Thanks for covering for me with that homework help thing. Darry would go ballistic on me if he knew I'd gotten detention. I'd be in worse trouble then Sodapop."

"So what's Darry gonna do to him?" Johnny asked.

"I don't know. Soda's been getting himself in a whole lot of messes lately. Have you seen all the new dinks and scratches on the truck?"

Johnny shook his head, and Ponyboy then began to tell his best friend about everything.

"Man," Johnny exclaimed. "I've never seen Sodapop in trouble like this."

"I hate it for him, but I'm glad it's not me Darry's drilling for once."

"Do you think Darry might…you know…like he did with those magazines?"

"Darry got both of us for that, not just Soda," Ponyboy replied. "He sure would whip me good though if he ever found out that I had detention."

"And that you lied about it on top of that."

"You were the one that told him I was helping you with homework. That makes it your lie," Ponyboy reminded his friend.

"Oh no Pony, you are not dragging me into this."

Suddenly both boys heard loud yelling coming from the kitchen. They both jumped up, and Ponyboy quietly opened the door without a sound. They stepped out, and crept along the wall where they stopped to listen.

"I thought I had them all paid off Darry."

Yeah, and then you get another one," Darry yelled.

"So I made a mistake. I admit it, but what's done is done," Soda pleaded.

"You've been making too many mistakes lately Sodapop Patrick Curtis," Darry informed his kid brother.

Pony winched. Darry only used their full names when they were really in trouble. He knew Soda was in for it big time now.

Darry voiced a list of all the mistakes Soda had made, the tools in the truck that they couldn't afford to replace if they had been stolen, the torn open bag of water softener that Darry had placed behind the wheel to prevent Soda from going anywhere, the dinks in the truck from where Soda had hit it with the lawnmower and backed it into the dumpster. He ended with the speeding ticket. "And that's only this month," Darry stated.

Soda didn't say anything. He just looked down at the floor, and waited for his older brother to pronounce sentence.

Darry sighed heavily. "I hate to do this Sodapop, Darry began, "but until you can show me you can be responsible when you have charge of the truck you won't be driving."

"But-but-but…" Soda stammered.

"Give me your driver's license," Darry ordered.

"No," Sodapop protested strongly.

"Give me your license now," Darry commanded more firmly.

"No," Soda said again.

"Sodapop, give me your license now, or I will take a strap to you. Do you understand me?"

Soda's eyes widened in surprise, as did Ponyboy's. Darry hadn't even used a strap when he had punished them for the inappropriate magazine incident.

Reluctantly, Sodapop pulled his license from his wallet out of his back pocket, and handed then over to Darry.

Soda then looked up and for the first time that night dared meet Darry's dangerous gaze. It was stern and angry, but warm and loving.

"How long?" Soda asked in a small voice.

"A month, and then I'm gonna put you on a trial period."

Sodapop nodded. He could have gotten worse. Then out of the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of black and reddish brown hairs in the hallway. A wide grin spread across his face.

"Did you hear that Ponyboy?" Sodapop yelled at the top of his lungs. Johnny jumped.

"He found us out," Johnny whispered.

"I can't take you to the drive in for a month, so if you want to see…"

"We gotta stop him," said Pony as he ran to the kitchen and attempted to cut off Soda's last words. "We didn't go see that and you know it," Ponyboy said.

Soda laughed as the two tumbled to the ground. "I know that's what you said, but none of the gang was there. You can't prove it," Soda insisted as he rolled on top of his baby brother, and pinned him to the ground. "Yell Uncle."

Help Johnny," Pony called. Johnny appeared seconds latter from the hallway.

"So what was it that the two of you went to see?" Darry asked Johnny.

"Gone with the Wing," Johnny replied truthfully.

"That's what I thought," Darry said, and with that joined his two kid brothers in their ruff housing.

AN: Hope you enjoyed the story. Fill free to leave a review, and check out my other stories if you are hungry for more.