Darry's POV:
"Mommy, where's grandma?" 3 year old Ponyboy asks my mother through tears.

"She's... She's not here right now." My mom says. She doesn't know what else to say. I'm 9, so I understand more.

She's dead.

"But mommy, why isn't she here?" My mom thinks for a second, trying to figure out how to explain this without breaking his tiny heart.

"Grandma's just... On vacation. Yeah, she's going to be on vacation for a while, so we're not going to see her for a while, honey," She explains, "Now get in the car."

We're all dressed in black, heading to her funeral.

"Mom, I don't want to be here," I say when we get there, narrowly holding back tears. Ponyboy and Soda are on either side of me holding my hands.

"I know you don't, Darry, but do you want to come with me?" She asks.

"Where are we going?" I respond. Telling my brothers to stay put, she has me follow her to the coffin. It's an open casket.

"She looks so helpless," I observe. My mom nods.

"At least she's not in pain anymore. I wouldn't have wanted her to suffer," She tells me. But it's what she told me next is what really got me.

"Mom, why did she have to go?" I ask her. She shrugs.

"Well, Darry, sometimes... people get old. Nobody's meant to live forever. People go when they need to, weather they're ready to or not..."

That was 9 years ago. I've still never gotten over the fact that she's gone.

How would I ever get over my parents dying? The funeral is today. I just don't think I can do this. If it wasn't my parents, the ones who raised me, the people that I cared about most in the world, more than Elizabeth, more than Ponyboy, more than Soda even, I probably would have found a reason not to go. But I couldn't do that with them. It would just be.. wrong.

On Saturday morning, May 18, 1959, the entire Gang, Beka and Elizabeth gathered at my house at around 7:00 in the morning to drive to the funeral.

It's a dark and gloomy day, and the sky threatens rain. I got up at around 5 to get ready, and make everyone breakfast, but it was quiet, nobody said a word all morning.

We got there and saw tons of their coworkers, and friends dabbing their eyes with Kleenex. Just the thought of it made my stomach sink.

As soon as we got there, Ponyboy couldn't hold it in anymore. Almost immediately, my baby brother was sobbing. I didn't know what to do. I just stood there, with my hand in Elizabeth's, watching him cry.

If I moved a muscle I would start crying too. Soda was crying too, just not as hard. The rest of the gang just stared at them.

I decided to go over to some of their friends and thank them for coming. Elizabeth followed. We did that for about an hour, and then everyone started making their speeches. I went first, then a couple of coworkers, and the gang.

"I remember something my mom said to me a long time ago," I started off.

"She said, 'Nobody's meant to live forever. People go when they need to, weather they're ready to or not.' And for some reason that's always stuck with me. I've... I never really understood it, but I do today-" I started to tear up a little bit.

"It seems like such a simple thing, people die, but that's not just it. Sometimes... they're not ready. Like my parents. They were still really young. They weren't ready, but they needed to go. Someone, up there, in heaven or whatever needed them. So they left," I went on to talk about what amazing people they were and how we're all going to miss them. After a while I choked up, and went to sit down.

I put my arm around Elizabeth, and she rested her head on my shoulder, wiping away tears after every few minutes.

When everyone was done talking she says, "I feel like I know them, or I knew them anyways. They seem like they were good people, Darry. I'm sorry for your loss." I smile at her, and she kisses my cheek.

My only response to that was, "At least they're not in pain. I wouldn't have wanted them to suffer," Just like my mom had said. After that we were all quiet, listening to people talking about my late parents. I was glad she was here, I wouldn't have been able to make it through without her.

And then came the hard part. Their burial.

Not only was it the saddest thing I'd ever seen in my life, but a second after we get outside, a burst of thunder, a bright flash of lightning, and the sky was crying with all of us.

Except I couldn't cry.

Not with the gang around, not with my brothers, and especially not around Elizabeth. The whole gang was crying, even Dally. Beka stayed by his side, and helped him, through her own tears. I never thought about how hard this would be for the rest of them.

I mean, Dally and my mom had some kind of special connection. One conversation with him, and he would stay out of trouble for weeks. I'm not really sure what she would even say to him, but it was obviously something.

Johnny Cade stood there watching, completely petrified. He didn't say anything throughout the entire ceremony, which was normal enough, but there were tears running down his face. You could just tell that he was upset. My parents were the closest thing the poor kid ever had to parents. He'd come to our house after his parent beat him, and my mom would clean him up and let him stay the night, no questions asked.

No matter what, he always had a place to go, and we were all satisfied with it.

When we finally left the funeral, it was about 6:30. We had spent all day there. We got home at around 7ish, and I was ready to crash. Dally, Steve and Two-Bit went home, but obviously Johnny had nowhere to stay.

"Hey, Johnny, where are you going?" I call to him as he follows the guys out. He looks back.

"Uh... The lot. I'm gonna stay there tonight," He tells me. I shake my head.

"No you're not. You're staying here. It's wet and rainy and you're going to catch a cold if you spend the night in the lot," I tell him. Hmm, maybe I won't be the worst parent, to my brothers anyways.

I think that at first but then Johnny says, "Nah, I'll be ok. I don't wanna be a burden here." I blink and stare at him.

"When have you ever been a burden?" I wonder aloud. He never put up a fight to stay here when my parents were alive, so why should he now?

Finally, I get him to stay, and I go into my room. Elizabeth follows.

"Hi," She says.

"Hey," I give her a small smile. She's been by my side all day, but I feel like we've barely said anything to eachother at all.

"Are you ok?" You asks, staring into my eyes.

"Yeah, just... My parents and-" But before I can finish, she tackles me on my bed in a kiss. I don't fight, but let her keep going. I don't mind anyways. As long as it's with her, I'm happy.

Elizabeth's POV:

"Darry, Darry, Darry... Elizabeth?" I hear, first thing when I wake up. I immediately recognize the voice as Ponyboy's. I look around the room, it's Darry's. My boyfriend yawns from next to me.

"Pony, go away. We'll be up in a little while," He says.

"Did you guys sleep together?" Ponyboy asks.

"Ponyboy," Darry says sternly, "Leave." This time he listens, and closes the door.

"Soo..." I say to Darry.

"So," He says back, coolly. I'm not wearing any clothes, and from the spot in the bed that I was laying on, I could tell that he's not either.

I remember last night perfectly, and it was amazing.

Right now, his arm is around my shoulder and he's playing with my hair. My hand immediately goes to his stomach, feeling his rock hard toned abs.

"I love you, Elizabeth," He whispers, leaning over to kiss me.

I could get used to this.

"I love you too," I tell him. When we get up he gives me one of his shirts, which is long enough for me to wear as a nightgown, but I put on my black pants from the funeral back on under them.

We walk out into the living room, hand in hand to see the rest of the gang sitting there. They're childish, and make remarks about us, but we don't care.

"Hey, Dar," Soda says. We look at him.

"We got the mail from yesterday. You got a letter from that college you wanted to go to," He says. Darry looks at me hopefully, with eyes that say "does this mean I got accepted?" I smile at him.

"I can't wait for you to open it!" I exclaim.

"You probably got yours too, Elizabeth. You should go get it, and we can open them together," He tells me. I nod, it's a really good idea. I look at Beka, who I've become close with, and tell her she should check her mail, too.
I would suggest Dally gets his, too, but he's obviously not going to college.

The two of us sprint home, and come back in a few minutes, letters in hand.

"3," Beka says.

"2," I say.

"1," Darry says, and we open them.

We both stare at our letters in silence.

"So?" Ponyboy asks from the other side of the room. I jump, forgetting that anyone else was there. I think my friends forgot, too. I look at them hopefully.

They both say, "Accepted," and smile. I say it after them.

First, I hug Beka, then Dally does. Then, I hug Darry, and he hugs his brothers in celebration.

"This is great!" I yell happily. The only thing I didn't think of, was what colleges we're all going to, and how far apart they would be from each other.

A/N: This might be the longest chapter I've ever written. I was trying to give you all feels (tiny Ponyboy wondering where grandma did it for me) but idk if it worked. I didn't want to keep it sad, though, so I did the Elizabeth's pov thing (and I also did that because a dirty chapter was requested and that's as dirty as I'm getting😂) and that is going to lead into the next chapter WHICH IS GRADUATION! So I hope you liked this one. Leave some reviews below? I love easing feedback! :)