A/N: I know this chapter is really really long. I probably should have broke it up into two parts, but I didn't against it XD
So if you don't like long chapters sorry but if you do like long chapters you're welcome! <3
Ponyboy's POV
It's been over a week since I was in the hospital, and things were finally getting back to normal. I was on my medicine and feeling a lot better, and Darry finally decided to let me out of the house. The gang decided to go bowling tonight, and even Darry came along. He claimed he had a free night but I think the real reason was he wanted to keep an eye on me. I wasn't really complaining, even though it was slightly annoying to have him acting like my babysitter, it's probably good that he got out of the house.
"Boom!" Steve threw his hands in the air as his ball knocked over all the pins. "Beat that." He walked back to where we were sitting with a small bounce to his step.
"Watch me." Soda shot up and grabbed his ball. I heard a few girls who were sitting at the lane next to us giggle about how cute Soda was. I rolled my eyes, not just because I heard that kind of stuff all the time, but because Soda had a girlfriend, and he was as loyal as they come. No way would any of them stand a chance.
Soda's ball went straight into the gutter on the first try, and only hit one pin on the second. "Tough luck." Steve mocked. Soda rolled us his and stood next to Dally, waiting for him to get up so Soda could take his spot. Steve grabbed Soda's arm and pulled him onto his lap, jokingly ruffling his hair.
"Fuck off Steve." Soda tried to get off but Steve had a tight grip around him.
"Language." Darry chimed in.
"Sorry." Soda muttered. I thought he would continue to try and get off of Steve, but Soda stopped struggling and sat back, leaning into him. Even when Dally or Two-Bit threw jokes at them, Soda made no effort to move.
Soda's hands were in front of him, with Steve's arms wrapping around him and gripping his arms. Ever so slightly, Steve was running his thumb back and forth on Soda's arm. It was so small I bet no one else noticed, but I guess I have a good habit of picking up on the small things.
Well I guess not everything, something was clearly going on that I couldn't quite see, though before I could think too much about it, it was my turn to bowl.
I knocked down five pins my first go, and three my second. A pretty average turn I guess. Though when I turned around to walk back to my seat, I was a group of familiar Soc walk in. There was Bob and Randy, two other stuck up looking boys whose names I never caught, and four girls, two of which were Cherry and Marcia.
I ducked my head and quickly went back to my seat. I didn't want to start a fight with them, and I definitely didn't want to talk to Cherry. Well I did, but I knew she didn't want to talk to me. "You okay?" Darry asked as I sat next to him. I nodded my head and shrugged, slouching back into my seat. "Are you sure? Are you feeling okay?" Darry quickly brought his hand to my forehead.
"I'm fine." I said, a little irritated.
"You're kinda warm, maybe we should go home." Darry shot up and pulled me with him.
"Seriously, I'm fine." I told him and snatched my arm back. "It's just hot in here, I'm going to go grab a drink." I walked away from my keeper and over to the concession stand.
"One coke please." "One coke please."
I said in unison with another voice. I turned to the right of me and saw Cherry standing there, looking at me with the same shock that was on my face. I knew she was probably hoping I would ignore her, so I turned back around. "Ponyboy hey." Cherry said quietly and tapped my shoulder.
I turned around, my eyes narrowed. I glanced around for her friends but there were nowhere to be found. I looked back at Cherry, at her green eyes that were staring right back at me. "Hi." I muttered.
"How have you been?" She asked like it was a script, like she had to ask but didn't want to.
"Fine." I said simply. "You?"
"Also fine." She smiled a little and then looked away. I turned around, expecting the conversation to be over. "I'm sorry about the movies." She said bluntly. Our little dance in the rain and movie date seemed so long ago, though it has only been a month.
"It's okay. I took the hint." I said with a shrug. I tried to sound like Dally, cool and like nothing bothered me, though it did. It hurt to like this girl so much only to have her look down upon me simply for my social class.
"I wanted to come, I really did but something came up." She told me with desperate eyes.
"Then you should have told me that the next day at school, or any day in the past month." my voice went a little harsh, and I could tell she was surprised.
"Pony, well, you see I would have, but um."
"But you didn't want to be seen talking to a greaser." I finished the sentence for her. The concession stand worker placed the two cokes down on the counter. I gave a ticket to him and grabbed mine. "You shouldn't just want to talk to me when your friends aren't around." I turned back to Cherry who looked stunned.
"Is there a problem here?" I heard a nasty voice say from behind me.
I snapped around and looked at Bob, who had the other three guys standing behind him in a triangle form. "Yeah." I nodded. "Tell your girlfriend to stay away from me." I spat and tried to walk away but Bob grabbed my arm and yanked me back.
My coke spilt on the ground, and splashed a little on the old shoes, which already had countless stains. "What did you say grease?" Bob gripped my arm tight and shook me a bit.
"Stop!" Cherry shouted.
"Go on, say it again." Bob ignored Cherry and yelled at me.
"Hey!" A booming low voice pierced my ears, and then I was being pulled away from Bob and into my brother's grip. "You leave him alone, you hear?" Darry told them off and I smirked at their scared faces. It doesn't matter who you are, Soc or grease, Everyone's scared of Darry when he wanted them to be.
"We were just playing around." Bob shrugged and backed away. "Come on Cherry."
Cherry looked at me once more, with a wired confused look. Then they walked back to their lane which was on the other side of the room.
"Are you okay?" Darry asked me once they were gone.
"Yeah." I nodded and we walked back to our spot.
"Those Soc giving you trouble?" Soda asked and eyed up the group.
"It's okay, really, nothing to worry about." I told them and sat back down.
"Are you sure? Because I'd be glad to flatten them out for you." Dally cracked his knuckles and took a step in their direction, though I stepped in front of him.
"No please don't." I begged.
"Yeah, let's keep the fighting to a minimum." Darry told the group.
They all muttered something and then went back to the game. Johnny walked over to me and quietly whispered to me, "Those are the guys that jumped us right?"
"Yeah." I whispered back. "Jumped me a few times." I shrugged and sat down. "But you heard Darry, let's not go staring a fight."
***
About an hour later, we were done bowling, but still hanging around in the arcade. Darry and Soda were playing foosball and Johnny and I were taking turns on the Pacman machine. The other guys were here somewhere, floating around, probably talking to some girls.
That's when he heard a scream, followed by lots of yelling. I looked at Johnny and then at Darry. We all ran towards the door at once and into the parking lot where the yelling was coming from.
Of course it was Dally Two-But and Steve who were fighting with Bob and his guys. They were fighting about cars or something. They probably insulated Steve's car. "Stay here." Darry told Soda Johnny and I. So we watched as Darry quickly walked over to the group.
"How about we settle this like with a good old fashion race." Randy laughed with a cocky grin on his face.
"Name the place and time." Steve yelled.
"Tomorrow, noon, route 6." Bob chimed in.
"We'll see you there." Dally told them in his normal confident voice.
"How about you guys get out of here." Darry said calmly at the soc.
"This is our turf, how about you greasers leave." One of the other boys told Darry, and I cringed because I knew what was coming next.
Darry stepped towards the kid and grabbed his shirt. "Leave." He ordered in his spin chilling tone.
I knew Darry wouldn't hit a kid, but my other gang members looked like they were ready to take a swing. The kid pushed Darry off of him and back away. They got into their car and tried to keep their cool-unbothered looks plastered on their faces. "We'll see you tomorrow." Bob pointed at Two-Bit, Steve and Dally.
They drove off laughing, but we knew we won. "What was that about?" Darry snapped and I ran over to them.
"Just a small disagreement." Two-Bit shrugged.
"Are you okay?" Soda asked Steve and grabbed his arm.
"Of course." Steve sounded insulted by the question.
"We'll show those soc who's boss tomorrow at the race." Dally pulled out a cigarette and lit it.
Darry shook his head. "There ain't gonna be no race" He said firmly.
"What?"
"Those things always get so dangerous. So none of you are going."
Everyone started arguing, saying how unfair that was and how Darry had no right. Though he did, he was the gang leader and we all knew when it came to gang stuff like this he had the final say.
"Enough." Darry snapped and we all fell silent. "If any of you step foot onto route 6 tomorrow there's going to be hell to pay." he turned to me and Soda and pointed a tight finger at us. "Especially you two."
"Alright." I muttered.
"Yeah okay." Soda added.
"Good." Darry nodded. "Glad we're all on the same page."
Though not all of us were. I could tell by the fire in Dally's eyes, the way Two-Bit nodded, the way Steve bit his lip and the way Soda's left hand was shaking, that they were all planning on going to that race.
Just as I suspected, later that night Dally told me and Johnny that's exactly what they were planning to do. He told us they changed the time to five in the evening so Darry wouldn't suspect anything. Johnny agreed to come and keep it a secret and so did I.
At first I wanted to say no. I considered just staying home and not risk getting into any trouble, though Dally spoke to me like I was one of the guys, like he really wanted me there. So I happily agreed.
That night I didn't say a word about it, not even to Soda. I didn't want to risk Darry overhearing. Though I was a little nervous to be honest. I had a horrible feeling something bad was going to happen.
***
The next day, Darry had me and Soda on lock down all day. He gave us useless cores to keep us busy though both me and Soda knew he didn't want us going to that race. He even took a short drive to a place he wouldn't tell us once noon hit.
It was four thirty and just like we planned, Johnny came up to the house. "Hey guys." He smiled as he walked in. I walked from the kitchen and acted slightly surprised he was here.
"Hey Johnnycake what's up?" I walked over to him.
"Nothing, wanna go walk by the stream or something?" Johnny asked and I looked at Darry who was reading the paper at the kitchen table.
"Go on." He said and waved me on. "Be back by eleven."
"Okay." My stomach flipped, I was slightly hoping Darry would tell me no.
"Don't fall in the water." Darry smirked and I smirked back with a forced laugh.
"Darry, I'm going out." Soda said as he came out of our bedroom.
"Where?" Darry put his paper down and looked at Soda.
"Not sure. See ya." Soda quickly left the house. He was bad at lying so keeping the conversion short and sweet was probably the best option.
"Go tell your brother to be back by midnight." Darry told me.
"Why does he get an hour more than me?" I whined.
"Pony." Darry warned so I groaned and left, running to catch up with Soda.
"Wait up." I yelled. "Darry said be back by midnight." I told him and Johnny and I began walking alongside Soda. "You don't think this thing will take that long do you?" I was pretty sure it wouldn't. It might not even take an hour.
"What thing?" Soda snapped.
"The race?" I raised my eyebrows and then looked at Johnny. I was pretty sure we got the date and time correct.
"You're going?" Soda yelled in a quiet voice.
"Yeah?" I know we didn't talk about it but I assumed Soda knew I was coming.
"No." Soda shook his head. "No you ain't."
"What?" I almost gasped.
"You're going, why can't he?" Johnny chimed in.
"Because, well-"
"Exactly." I said and smiled at Johnny. "If you don't want me to go then you can't go either."
Soda thought for a minute, walking slowly and kicking a rock down the gravel road. "Fine. But you can't tell Darry about this." Soda told me with much hesitation in his voice.
"No duh." I muttered.
"Wait, don't lie to Darry." Soda added. He shook his head, internally departing what to do. "Just don't bring it up. But don't lie, and um." He ran his hand through his hair with a sigh. "Damn it." He grabbed my arm and pulled my close to him. "You know this is dumb stupid and reckless right?"
"Uh, yeah I guess." I muttered.
"Good. So don't start doing this shit. This is the only time, understand?"
"Yeah." I nodded and Soda let my arm go.
We walked a good ten minutes until we reached the long back road. The soc were already there. There were two more of them in addition to the ones that were at the bowling alley last night. They sat in their red mustang and roared the engine when we walked up.
Steve was sitting in the driver's seat of a blue convertible. I haven't seen the car before though I suspected that Dally got it from Hank Williams. I was glad Steve was driving, he was by far the best driver out of any of us.
"Hey there the kids are." Dally laughed from the passenger's seat.
"Hey." I smiled and jumped over the doors, landing in the back with Two-Bit.
"You let Pony in on this?" Soda snapped at Dally
"Of course. You got a problem with that?" Dally crooked and eyebrow.
"Ok ok calm down. We're here to fight the soc not each other." Two-Bit said quickly.
"You pansies ready yet?" Bob called from his car with a wicked grin.
Soda nearly jumped out of his seat. I though for sure he was going to rip their heads off by the way his eyes went wide. "Sit down." Steve grabbed his arm, yanking him into his seat. "Just ignore them."
"Yeah they're not being serious." Dally shrugged.
"We all know you like pussy as much as Dally." Two-Bit laughed, though Soda didn't. Neither did Steve.
"We're ready if you are." Steve said in a low voice.
"To the sign and back." Randy said. There was a large sigh about two miles down the road that advertised our town. I guess you could call this rod a highway. Though people rarely drove on it, and there weren't any other signs, lights or nothin.
A few of their girls came to watch, though Cherry wasn't one of them. A few of our girls came too, though they were dressed in leather booty shorts, tight red tank tops and checkered print print bandanas and hair ties. Most people might think our girls looked better, though I thought they looked trashy. I liked the skirts past the knees, the sweaters over the bloused and the high socks with small ruffles.
Everyone got situated, Steve driving, Dally shotgun, Soda and Two-Bit sitting on the sides of the back and Johnny and I sitting on the back, letting our feet rest on the middle seat. Soda dripped me leg tight so I would go flying anywhere.
One of our girls who had huge chunky black heels walked in the middle of our two cars. She blew a large bubble with her gum and held her bandana in her hand. "On your marks, get set...Go!" She raised her arms and dropped them, and off we went.
Steve was really flooring it, I felt like the wind might take me back. I laughed and hollard and put my arms in the air. It felt like I was flying.
"Let's go boys!" Steve yelled as we slowly started to pass the mustang.
"Eat our dust!" Dally yelled.
We all yelled at the top of our lungs, hooting and hollering and laughing until our throats hurt.
He got to the sign and Steve whipped up around so fast both me and Johnny fell off the back of the car and into the actual back seat. Soda held me down with a death grip, though I kept smiling as we began to pick speed back up.
We had only a mile left and we were in a pretty decent lead, when we heard the familiar and terrifying sound of sirens. I looked over my shoulder and there were three cop cars racing towards us. The Soc pulled over and I yelled at Steve to do the same.
With a sigh, he hit the break and came to a rough stop on the shoulder of the road. "Shit shit shit." He muttered.
Johnny looked white, I probably did too. "All of you keep your traps shut." Dally instructed. "Let me take care of this."
When the officer walked up to us he had a disgusted look in his eyes. "License and registration." He said in a robotic tone. Steve pulled out his license and handed it to the man. "Registration?" He cooked and eyebrow.
Steve looked over to Dally but he just shrugged. "We don't have it." Dally said in a cool tone.
"You also don't have enough seats for the amount of passengers you have." The cop told us. "Not to mention you have no right to be driving that fast anywhere, and you're probably all on something."
"What?" Steve gasped.
"Were not on anything." Dally added.
"Yeah were as sober as your wife when she decided to leave you." Two-Bit said in a nasty yet playful voice.
We all glared at him because this was no time for jokes. "I'll be the judge of that. Let's go." The cop pulled Steve out of the car and pushed him against the car.
"Whoa!"
"Hey!"
"Watch it!"
"What do you think you're doing?"
The cop pulled out handcuffs and restrained Steve behind his back.
"What the hell?" Soda jumped out of the car and rushed towards the cop. "Let him go!"
"Backup!" The cop yelled and the other two cops that were talking to the Soc ran over.
They threw Soda to the ground and that's when everyone lost it. Dally even tried throwing a punch though one of the cops tased him. It took three cops to get Two-Bit down, but only one to get me down. Johnny didn't fight, though that didn't stop the cops from being rough with him and slamming him against the car.
Before I knew it I was in the backseat of the police car with Johnny. Soda and Steve were in one and Two-But and Dally were in the other. They halled us off, driving past the soc who were free and laughing. I cursed under my breath because I knew even if they were drunk or high or even had a gun on them the cops wouldn't arrest them. And they definitely wouldn't have been as rough with them as they were us. Nope, but that's just how it is. That's the score. The soc get all the breaks the greasers get treated like trash. I'll change that one day. Maybe when I'm older I'll move away to the country, that way my kids won't wave to grown us with a label such as greaser. People won't judge them on what clothes they wear or how their hair is.
As we pulled into the police station, I finally thought of something. What's Darry gonna say?
Darry's POV
I was real proud of my boys. All of them, the whole gang. I know how hot headed they could get and I know how much fun a race could be. Though I told them not to go and they listened. Pony and Soda were home basically all day, Even Two-Bit and Steve popped in. I drove on route six around noon and there was no race. I was so glad I didn't have to be like Tim Shepard in order to get my gang's respect. Tim runs his gang like a cult. And he's their leader. That's it. I like to be my boy's friend first and only have to be their leader only when I need to be. I let them do what they want, joke around with me and treat me like a buddy. Though when it came to the important things like fights, races and anything illegal they listened to me.
I was doing bills at the kitchen table when the phone rang. I answered it, assuming it was one of my buddies from work or maybe even Sandy calling for Sodapop. But no. It was the chief of police calling to tell me they had my little brothers behind bars at the station.
My stomach dropped and my chest clenched. I tried to speak though no words came out. I tried to imagine the look on Pony's face as he sat in the corner, shaking and scared. Soda would try to be strong for his kid brother though I know he's scared too. "I'll be there in a minute." I finally said.
I jumped in my car and I truly was there in a minute. I raced through every stop sign and went at least ten over the speed limit the entire time. I pulled into the station and pushed through the door.
There were a few chairs lined up against the wall, and a large desk with a door on the left and side. Through the door I saw two holding cells adjacent to each other. It looked like all of the boys were in the right hand cell besides Two-Bit who was in the left. Probably because he was then only one over eighteen.
I saw Ponyboy who was, just like I predicted, curled up in a ball in the corner, with johnny sitting next to him, Steve passing pack and froth, Dally looking like none of it was bothering him, and Soda who sat of the bench with his head in his hands.
I walked up to the desk and cleared my throat to make the police officer look at me. "I'm here to get Sodapop and Ponyboy Curtis." I said flatly.
From the back I saw everyone's head shoot up and towards me. "You're the guardian?" The cop looked at me with narrow eyes.
I got that a lot, even though I was tall and kinda big, I still had a young face. I was only twenty one so I didn't look like the boy's dad. "Yes sir." I said and pulled out my ID. "Darrel Curtis."
The officer took my ID, looked hard at it then handed it back to me. "Your boys were caught racing down route six. We suspect that they were high or something. Then they attacked me and my men."
I sighed, running my hands through my hair. I really thought my boys knew better. I thought for once they were going to listen to me. It didn't seem like he contacted social services yet, maybe I could still talk him out of it. "I'm really sorry for all the trouble they caused you. I promise nothing like this will ever happen ever again."
"You sure? Because anyone hanging around Dallas Winston is bound to get into trouble." The officer told me.
It was a fair point. I really need to get Dally on a better path. "I'm sure. I'll keep Dalles out of here too."
"Yeah right." The officer laughed. "Considering this is their first offence I'll keep this between us."
"Thank you so much." A thousand pounds were lifted off of my shoulders.
"I'll go get your kids." He told me and walked into the other room. He came back with Pony and Soda by his side. Pony's eyes were brass and Soda kept his head down so his hair covered his face.
They came through the door but kept a good distance away from me. I didn't blame them, I thought I'd might pop them right there. I sighed and looked in the back at the others. "You know," I mumbled to the cop. "Their parents ain't coming."
"Yeah you're probably right." The cop agreed. "Gonna be a lot of paperwork. These kids will probably get charged with something."
"How about you save yourself the trouble and release them to me." I offered. The cop looked at me like I was crazy. "I promise to get these kids back home and keep them out of trouble. They're good kids they really are. They just make dumb choices some times."
The cop thought for a moment and then looked down at his wrist watch. "I'm supposed to be off in ten minutes, and I really don't wanna stay here all night." He sighed. "Just take em."
He walked into the back room and came back with the whole gang.
"Thank you." I told him and then glared at the boys. "Let's go." I snapped and walked outside. Everyone followed me, and for the first time ever, they were all quiet. "Are you okay?" I asked Pony as we walked through the parking lot. The kid was shaking a little but he nodded. "Johnny?"
"I'm okay." Johnny said with trembling hands.
I looked at Soda but he nodded before I could get the question out. "I can't even believe you guys." I snapped as we reached my truck. "I told you all not to go to that race! And you disobeyed me."
"Were sorry." Soda muttered.
"Yeah." Pony added under his breath.
"Yeah well sorry really won't cut it!" I yelled. "Soda, Pony, you two almost landed on a boy's home. If the cop called social services, that's where you two would be. Maybe even you Johnny, if they looked into your home life. Dally you could have ended up back in jail and Two-Bit you might have too, your eighteen after all. I don't know how you didn't!"
"We weren't drunk or high or anything the fez accused us of!" Dally defended himself.
"Nothing they accused you of?" I took a step towards Dally and grabbed his jacket. "You went speeding and you didn't attack the cops?"
"They attacked us!" Dally shoved me back away from him.
My eyes went wide and I ran up and swung my hand back as if I was about to hit him. I stopped myself. Because even if Dally did deserve a good wack, I wasn't going to be like Tim and start punching my gang. I took a deep breath and lowered my voice. "Were you racing?"
Dally was normally good at hiding his fear, but I saw it clear in his eyes. He nodded but didn't say anything. "Did I tell you not to?" I asked. Again, he nodded. "Answer me!" I screamed as loud as I could and the whole gang flinched away.
"Yes sir." Dally said immediately.
I took a step away and closed my eyes, getting my anger under control. I turned and looked at my brothers who were shaking and probably thought I was going to explode on them next. I ran my hand over my small stubble and decided not to yell anymore in the parking lot. "Pony, Johnny, get in the front. Everyone else got into the bed." I said simply and the boys scrambled into the bed of my truck. "We'll talk more about this later." I told Dally, Two-Bit and Steve as they settled down.
They nodded, and then I shot Soda a look that said we would talk when we got home. I climbed into the driver's seat. Pony was in the middle and Johnny was on the far right side. Both of them were shaking, and Pony refused to look at me. "It's okay. You're out of there. We're gonna go home now." I tried to sound comforting though my voice was much too harsh. "Johnny, wanna come back to our house tonight?"
"No that's okay." Johnny shook his head. "Thanks though."
I nodded and started the car. I turned the radio on in order to drown out the silence. I dropped all of the boy's off and I gave each of them a small lecture before letting them go.
Finally, I pulled up to my house, as tired as ever but knowing I had to deal with Pony and Soda. "Let's go." I told them and then helped Soda out of the bed. "Straight to my room." I said sternly and they both hurried off.
I stayed on the porch and lit a cigarette. I normally don't smoke, but I needed something to calm me down. I was so scared even though I was trying really hard not to show it. If anything happened to any of my boys I wouldn't be able to handle it. I cried when Dally went to jail because I felt like I failed him. I felt like it was my responsibility to keep them out of trouble and I've really been slacking.
If the head of officer at the station wasn't so lazy, social services would have been informed and Pony and Soda would have been gone. I didn't want to keep them on lock down, or babysit them every time they left the house, but they purposely changed the time of the race to deceive me. I want to trust my brothers, but I can't if they are going to be manipulative and disobey me.
I let out my final blow and then stomped the cigarette out. I walked in the house and slowly made my way to my room. The door was a jar and I could hear quiet whispers between my brothers. As soon as I opened the door both of them went silent and their eyes darted towards the floor.
They were sitting on my bed, side by side with their legs hanging off of it. I stood in front of them and crossed my arms. They both looked scared, and rightfully so. We all knew they were in for a wicked bad spanking. "You two disobeyed me." I said flatly. They both nodded. "You ended up at the police station because of it." They nodded again. "Anything you want to say for yourselves?" They shook their heads. "Use your words." I said much louder, though I wasn't exactly yelling.
"I'm sorry." "I'm sorry." They said in unison.
I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. "Do you know how close you were to being taken away?"
"It was dumb, we know." Soda muttered. "It's not going to happen again."
"Yeah I'd really hope not." I snapped. "What the hell were you two thinking?"
"We needed to stand up for ourselves, for our gang." Pony's voice was shaking.
"The best way to stick it to the soc is to ignore them and show them that we were not the hoods they think we are. Getting thrown in jail is just proving their point."
"They should have been taken in too." Pony muttered. "We weren't doing anything they weren't."
I could assume that was true. I knew they guys were not drinking or on any drugs. I've seen them all on that stuff enough to tell. "I know it ain't fair. But that's the score. It's tough but that's the way it is."
"It shouldn't be like that." Pony muttered.
"You're right." I agreed and then knelt down in front of him. "But you still put yourself in that situation. And even though the soc should have gotten in trouble, it doesn't mean you shouldn't have." Pony shrugged and began playing with his fingers. "Look," I sighed. "I know that races could be exciting because they're fast and dangerous. But that's the exact point. They are dangerous and you two should have listened to me when I said not to go."
"Yeah we know." Soda muttered. "We knew that as soon as the fez showed up."
"Well maybe next time you guys can use your heads before the fez show?" I tapped their legs and they both nodded. "Good. Who wants to go first?"
Both of their heads shot up with panic. "First, for?" Pony's voice was shaking.
"A spanking." I told them flatly.
"Ugh." Soda groaned and his head fell into his hands.
"You guys don't think you deserve one?" I asked but I already knew the answer.
"No we do." Soda said miserably. He looked at Pony and sighed. "I'll go first."
I nodded. I expected that. I stood up and crossed my arms again. "Pony go wait in your room."
"Yes sir." He muttered and then left, closing the door behind him.
Soda was shifting on the bed uncontrollably. I took off my belt and his eyes went wide. "No, please!"
"Shh." I folded the belt and then placed it on my nightstand. I grabbed Soda's arm and yanked him off of the bed. I sat down and threw him over my lap.
He let out a small grunt and his chest hit my knees. "Please, not over your knee." Soda begged.
"You don't have a choice this time." I said simply and started raining down the spanks. Soda stayed still and quiet for the most part, only letting a small squeak out when I hit his sit spots.
"What in the world made you think it was okay to disobey me?" I asked but didn't stop the smacks.
"I don't know." Soda said miserably. "All the guys were going, and I didn't think it was a big deal."
"But it turned out to be a really big deal, didn't it?" I began spanking a little harder.
"Yes sir!" Soda yelped.
"Tell me why it did."
"Because, I ended up at the police station."
"Yeah, and it wasn't just you, was it?" I asked.
"No sir." Soda muttered. "It was Pony, Two-Bit, Steve, Dally and Johnny and me"
I nodded and kept on with the spanks. "So just because your friends are doing something, it means it's not a big deal?"
"Yes sir." Soda muttered and my eyes went wide.
"Yes?" I spanked harder.
"I mean no! No! It's still not a good idea even if they're doing it!" Soda started kicking and I swatted his legs down.
"That's right." I landed two extra hard snacks on his upper thighs and he yelped like a small puppy. "Get up." I told him and Soda shot up immediately.
I grabbed Soda's waist and quickly unzipped his jeans. "No, please!" Soda grabbed his pants and held them up.
I ignored him and shoved his pants down to his knees. His whole face went red. "Grab the belt." I ordered and glanced over at my nightstand where it was laying. Soda quickly shook his head and used his puppy dog eyes. "Now." I snapped.
With a huge groan, Soda waddled over to the table and picked up the belt. He came back over and gave it to me reluctantly. I pulled him back over my knees and he was squirming non stop. I put my one leg over his two in order to keep him in place and wrapped one of my arms around his waist.
I began raining the snacks down and Soda finally started yelling. "You will not disobey me like you did." I told him.
"I won't! I won't ever! Please I swear!" Soda yelled. "Please stop!" He begged.
"When I tell you to do something you do it. And when I say don't do something, you don't do it." I kept my voice at a good strict tone but not yelling.
"I understand!" Soda tried to squirm but I held him down.
"You didn't just disobeyed me as your older brother and guardian. You disobeyed me as a gang leader." I swung harder and Soda tried to reach behind and block his ass but I took his wrist and pinned it behind his back. "Do you know what would happen to Tim's gang if they disobeyed him?"
"They probably wouldn't be getting spanked." Soda muttered and couldn't help but laugh internally.
"No they probably wouldn't. Tim would probably beat the shit out of them, or maybe even let them rot in that jail cell." I liked Tim, but I hope I never turned into him.
"I understand." Soda was on the verge of tears. "I'll always listen to you. Especially if it's about gang stuff."
"That's what I like to hear." I nodded and then put the belt down. I lifted Soda up and the stood up myself. He wrapped his arms around me and slightly cried into my shoulder. "Were not quite done yet." I told him and I could practically hear Soda's heart drop. I gently pushed his away and kept my hands firmly on his shoulders. "There's one more thing we need to address." I walked over the the nightstand, opened the drawer and pulled out the old hairbrush.
"No!" Soda yelled and tried to walk backwards but he tripped over the jeans that polled around his ankles. I lifted him up and dragged him over my knee again. "No! Stop! Please!" He began kicking frantically. "I didn't even do anything else!"
"Really? Because if I recall you allowed your baby brother to go to a dangerous race when you knew he wasn't allowed to."
"Oh." Soda muttered and settled down. I could tell he was feeling guilty about it.
I tapped the back of the hairbrush on his ass a few times but didn't hit him yet. "Now I'm not saying Pony is your responsibility. But you are setting a bad example for him by going and then allowing him to come along."
"I didn't even know Pony was going until we were on our way! It's not like I invited him along!"
"You didn't make him go home though, did you?" I asked and Soda sighed.
"No sir."
"Alright." I nodded and adjusted him on my lap a little. "You're getting ten. No need to count."
"Yes s-sir." His voice broke. I hated seeing him this scared but I needed to do something that would leave a impression.
Spank
"Ow." Soda gripped my leg and buried his head in it. I barely hit him but we began squirming rapidly.
Spank
"Ow!" He tried kicking his legs but I kept them down.
Spank
"Shit! Ow!" He jumped.
Spank
I hit right below his ass. "Fuck!" Soda muttered into my leg.
"What was that?" I snapped.
"Nothing." Soda said quickly.
"Did you curse?"
"No." Soda said but heard clearly that he did.
"Are you lying to me?" I asked and swatted him twice hard with the hair brush.
"Ow! OW! Okay Yes I did!" He screamed and tried to push himself up.
"We're starting over." I probably would have let it go if he didn't lie about it.
"Agh." Soda began lightly crying.
Spank
Spank
Spank
Spank
Spank
Spank
At this point he was full blown sobbing.
Spank
Spank
He tried apologizing and begging for me to stop though I couldn't understand anything he was saying through his sobs.
Spank
Spank
I rubbed Soda's back gently and helped him up. He immediately clung to me and wrapped and cried in my chest. "We're done now right?" He asked through hiccups.
"Yeah baby." I laughed. "Were done."
Soda continued to cry and was vigorously squirming around on my lap. "You know I have to go punish your brother now."
"No, don't spank him like that. Pony can't handle that." Soda shook his head.
"Well he's not getting the hairbrush but he's getting the rest." I told him.
"No Darry, please." he begged and kept shaking his head.
"Relax. Pony can take it just like you did." I rubbed his back and softly shushed him when he tried to object again. "Are you okay?" I whispered.
Soda nodded. "Just don't make me leave yet." Soda clung to me tighter.
"There's no rush." Even though I hated giving spankings, I loved how cuddly my brothers got afterwards. Pony sometimes will sit on my lap or cuddle on the couch with me, but never Soda. Not unless he's really upset or just finished a punishment.
I laid back on the bed and let Soda lay on top of me. I wrapped my arms around him and he shut his eyes, letting his breathing even out. "Don't fall asleep on me." I laughed and Soda grinned.
"I won't." He muttered and finally stopped crying completely.
After five minutes, Soda's eyes were still closed and I knew he fell asleep. I didn't want to wake him so I gently picked him up bridal style and carried him to his bedroom.
When I opened the door Pony's eyes went wide. "You killed him?" He gasped.
"No." I chuckled and laid Soda on his bed. I pulled his shoes and pants all the way off and pulled the converter over him.
I turned to Pony, who looked quite scared. "Come on, your turn." I grabbed Pony's arm but he pulled away. "Pony-"
"No. No. No!" He said frantically.
"Don't wake up your brother." I said a little harshly. Pony shook his head and backed away from me. I sighed and grabbed his legs, flinging him over my shoulder.
"Darry! Put me Down!" Pony punched my back and I carried him to my room. I placed him down and sat on the bed. "Why is that out?" Pony looked at the hairbrush that was still laying on the bed. I don't think Pony has ever gotten spanked with their hairbrush before. I knew I'd never done it.
"Ignore that. It's not for you." I said and Pony sighed with relief. I grabbed his wrist and pulled him over my knee.
My lecture went relatively the same as Soda's. Though Pony was crying a lot sooner and a lot more, and struggling a ton.
"Calm down Pony." I told him as he began flinging his limbs all over.
"It hurts!" He yelled.
"We're not even close to being done so pull yourself together." I said in a tone that even I thought was harsh.
"But it hurts." Pony cried and gripped onto the bed.
"Then you shouldn't disobey me." I said and continued the spanking for another minute.
"Up." I said and waited for Pony to slowly get off of my lap. I reached over and grabbed the belt. I saw the panic in Pony's eyes and knew he was about to object. "Save it." I raised my hand and he stayed silent. I went to undo his jeans and I realized he cut a different whole a few inches away from the normal whole and used that to buckle his jeans. When I undid them, his jeans fell straight to the ground.
I thought about saying something, but I knew the kid was having trouble putting on weight like he's supposed to be, and I didn't want to make him insecure about it. I stayed quiet and pulled Pony back over my lap.
"Tell me why you thought It would be a great idea to disobey me." I said and started raining down strikes.
"I donno." Pony cried.
"I'm not stopping until I get a reasonable explanation." That was obviously not true. Pony dose dumb things without thinking and with zero reason all the time. Though I wanted him to either realize that or figure out why he did it.
"I don't know. I guess because everyone else was." Pony said and tried to whip the neverending tears from his eyes.
"You know Soda said the same thing." I shook my head. "But just because your friends do something doesn't mean it's okay to do it."
"I know it wasn't okay. I knew it then too." Pony muttered and I stopped spanking for a moment because I was having a hard time hearing him through the wacks and yelps and I wanted to know where this was going.
"What do you mean?" I asked. "You knew it was wrong, you thought about it but you decided to do it anyways just because the guys were?"
"Yeah, pretty much." Pony nodded. "They just don't always include me in things, especially not stuff like this. So when they asked me to come I jumped at the opportunity."
I thought for a moment. I thought for the most part everyone did everything together. Though the more I thought the more I realized sometimes Soda would say he's going out with some of the guys and Pony won't go. I guess I just didn't question it. I assumed he just didn't want to go, not that he wasn't asked or told no.
"Ponyboy, it's not like the guys don't want you around-"
"Well it sure seems like that sometimes." His voice rose a little but I knew it wasn't me who he was mad at.
I sighed and picked Pony up, placing him on my lap. He winced a little but did not object. "I know it's hard being the youngest in the gang. And maybe the guys want to do things that you shouldn't be doing, but they all care about you. Every single one."
Pony just shrugged and leaned against me. "It doesn't seem like that."
"Did anything else happen? Anyone say anything to you?" I suddenly got really worried and my blood boiled at the thought that anyone was mean to by baby brother.
"No." Pony muttered. "It just seems like they don't want me hanging around them."
"Well that ain't true. Not one bit kiddo." I hugged Pony tight.
"Are we done with the spanking?" He asked in a meek voice.
I knew he deserted more, but I didn't have it in me to pull him back over my knee. "Yeah we're done kid." I muttered and we both let out a sigh of relief.
I laid back on the bed and let Pony cuddle up next to me. "I'm sorry." He muttered"
"I know." I said and began playing with his hair.
"Do you still hate me?" Pony asked in a small voice.
"What?" My eyes went wide. "Pony I've never hated you."
"But-"
"No." I cut in. "I never have and I never will."
"Are you still mad?"
"No Ponyboy. I ain't mad." I laughed a bit. I hated how he always needed to be reassured. I would never stop loving this kid no matter what he did. I wish he knew that. I wish his self esteem was higher and he could see how much everyone cares about him.
There was a small knock at the door. I looked up and saw Soda inching his way in the room. "Can I join?" He asked.
"Pony wake you up with his cries?" I asked with a smirk and Soda laughed while nodding. I kept one arm wrapped around Pony and opened the other up for Soda. He happily ran at us, jumped on the bed and cuddled up next to us. "I love you guys."
"I love you too."
"I love you too."
Word Count: 8224