Heart Breaker

Chapter 23

(y/n POV)

Morning . . .

I decided that I was going to walk over to the Curtis' and come back to the hospital later that day.

When I walked in I heard Two-Bit and Steve, loud as always.

"Now look what you did," Ponyboy said staring them down. "There went out breakfast. Can't you two wait till I set the eggs down before you go shovin' me all over the country?"

"I don't think they could stop, even if they wanted to. You know that Ponyboy." I said walking through the doorway into the kitchen.

Two-Bit was walking in a slow circle around Ponyboy. Pony sighed because he already knew what was coming.

"Man, dig baldy here!" Two-Bit said staring at Ponyboy's head as he circled him. "I wouldn't have believed it. I thought all the wild Indians in Oklahoma had been tamed. What little squaw's got that tuff-lookin' mop of yours, Ponyboy?"

Aw, lay off," Ponyboy said.

Two-Bit winked at Steve, and Steve said, "Why, he had to get a haircut to get his picture in the paper. They'd nerver believe a greasy lookin' mug could be a hero. How do you like bein' a hero, big shot?"

"How do I like what?" Ponyboy said.

"Being a hero. You know"--- Steve said stoving the morning paper at Ponyboy impatiently--- "like a big shot, even."

Ponyboy just stared at the newspaper. "What I like is the 'turn' bit," Two-Bit said, cleaning the egg up off the floor. "Y'all were heroes from the beginning. You just didn't 'turn' all of a sudden."

Ponyboy looked up from the paper. "You mean that they're thinking about putting me and Soda in a boys' home or something?"

Steve was carefully combing back his hair in complicated swirls. "Somethin' like that."

"No," Ponyboy said, and Two-Bit was scraping the egg off the clock, I turned to stare at Pony.

"No what?" I asked.

"No, they ain't goin' to put us in a boys' home." Ponyboy said

"Don't worry about it," Steve said, cocksure that he and Sodapop could handle anything that came uo. "They don't do things like that to heroes. Where're Soda and Superman?"

That was as far as he got, because Darry, shaved and dressed, came in behind Steve and lifted him up off the floor, them dropped him. Soda came running in. "Where'sthat blue shirt I washed yesterday?" He took a swig of chocolate milk out of the container.

"Hate to tell you, buddy," Steve said, still flat on the floor, "but you have to wear clothes to work. There;s a law or something."

"Oh, yeah," Soda said. "Where're those jeans, too?"

"I ironed. They're in my closet," Darry said. "Hurry up, you're gonna be late."

Soda ran back, muttering, "I'm hurryin', I'm hurryin'."

Steve followed him and in a second there was the general racket of a pillow fight. Pony watched Darry absentmindedly as he searched the icebox for chocolate cake.

"Darry," Pony said suddenly, "did you know about the juvenile court?"

Without fuming to look at Ponyboy, Darry said evenly, "Yeah, the cops told me last night."

Ponyboy said, "I had one of those dreams last night. The one I can't ever remember."

Darry spun around to face Ponyboy, he had genuine fear on his face. "What?"

"Was it very bad?" Two-Bit questioned. All of us knew the whole story, we knew they could get bad.

"No," Ponyboy said.

Darry started to say something, but before he could begin, Sodapop and Steve came in.

"You know what?" Sodapop said to no one in particular. "When we stomp the Socies good, me and Stevie here are gonna throw a big party and everybody can get stoned. Then we'll go chase the Socs clear to Mexico."

"Where you gonna get the dough, little man?" Darry had found the cake and was handing out pieces.

"I'll think of somethin'," Sodapop assured him between bites.