None of these characters belong to me sadly. They belong to S. E. Hinton.

Prologue

Ponyboy's POV

It had been a few months after Johnny and Dally had died. Soda was now 17 and Steve was almost 17. At first the gang had some trouble getting over Johnny and Dally's death, but some of them slowly started to get over it. I wasn't one of those people. I was still upset. Soda would try to be there for me from when he came home from work in the evening to when he left again the next morning.

My nightmares were back as well. And they were worse. After mom and dad died, my nightmares were bad. Now after losing Johnny and Dallas, they're worse. Every time I have a nightmare though, Soda is there for me. I'm grateful too. Sometimes Darry comes, if I wake him up, but it's usually just Soda. That's okay with me though. Soda knows how to comfort me.

There was one day though that was different from all others. Soda came home from work in a bad mood. I didn't know why. When I asked him, he yelled at me. He yelled, "Well it's none of your business is it?!"

I had backed up a bit. Sodapop hardly ever yelled at me. And he usually tells me everything. I just shrugged it off though and went into the room we shared. I would ask Soda what was wrong when he was in a better mood. I was sitting at the desk in the room, doing homework, when Soda came in. He still looked upset though.

"Soda can you please tell me what's wrong?" I begged.

He looked at me then glared a bit. "I told you. You don't need to know." HE then climbed into bed. I sighed and decided to go to bed too. After I got ready for bed, I climbed in next to him. He wasn't asleep, and his back was to me. "Night Soda."

"Mhm." Was all he said back. I sighed again and fell asleep.

XXX

Surprisingly, I didn't have any nightmares last night. In the morning Soda seemed to be in a better mood but he still seemed upset. Something happened to him yesterday, and i was going to make it my job to find out.

I asked him what happened that morning, but he just said that he might tell me later. I guess that was better then not telling me at all.

XXX

I went to school and came back home. Soda came home later that day, but he was worse. He came home with a bruise on the right side of his face. Darry saw it and was furious. "What happened?!" He yelled at Soda.

Soda was in a worse mood then yesterday. "Socs." Was all he said, but I had a feeling that he was lying.

XXX

Since I get done with school before Soda gets done with work, I decided to stop at the DX after school today. I went by myself. What I saw was shocking. I was still at a distance but I could see what was going on. Soda was talking to random kids that looked to be about his age. Some stood with him, while he was arguing with others. There were four standing with Soda, and six that were against him.

They started fighting. That's how Soda got his bruise yesterday.

I don't know why but I ran to the fight. Soda was able to look at me at the same time I looked at him. He looked furious at me. I helped Soda's group, so it was six against six. We were winning, and so the other group ran. When they were gone, Soda turned on me.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" He yelled at me.

"I was helping you Soda!" I yelled back. One of Soda's friends asked Soda who I was.

Soda looked at them. "He's my kid brother."

Some of them snickered. "Why don't you tell him to go home or something? We don't want him here."

Soda looked at me furiously again. I didn't know why he was so upset.

"If you tell Darry what happened here, I'll skin you." He said to me in a menacing voice, before grabbing my arm very tightly. He started pulling me down the sidewalk towards our house. I could hear some of his friends snickering in the background.

When we were far enough away from his friends, he let my arm go, but he was still upset. "Soda, who are they?" I asked him. He glared at me. "You don't need to know. And if I find out that you told Darry, you'll hurt more then you do now."

That freaked me out a bit. Soda had changed completely. The one person I trusted the most seemed like he hated me.

"Soda?" I tried to look him in the eyes. "What happened to you?"

He stopped walking and looked at me. The anger in his eyes flickered a bit and I saw sadness in his eyes. I saw a bit of joy and comfort. I saw a bit of the real Sodapop. It quickly turned back to anger and he continued walking. "Nothing." He said as we entered the house.

Nothing.

He expected me to believe that it was nothing.

Darry wasn't home when we got there so we went into the bathroom and cleaned the cuts. We also tried to cover some of the bruises. When Darry did get home, he didn't notice anything. I was relieved.

XXX

The next few days, Soda and I didn't talk much. He was really changing. We only talked when we really needed to. I didn't tell Soda, but after school, I would sometimes secretly watch him and his 'friends' at the DX. The people that fought him didn't come around. Him and the other kids would hang out and stuff. Sometimes they'd drink, and Soda would come home a bit drunk. He'd just tell Darry that he went to hang with Two-bit or went to the dingo or something.

If they did anything else, I was going to tell Darry. I didn't care if Soda hurt me though. I knew that he was better then this.

The days went on, and Soda got worse. He was starting to be mean to me at home now as well. He was only mean when Darry wasn't around. When Steve called me stuff, Soda no longer cared. When I called Steve stuff, Soda was furious with me. I didn't get it.

I thought Soda loved me.

Apparently, he didn't.