Darry's POV:

After I got home from dropping Elizabeth off, I felt like I could finally relax. It's been a tough couple of days, but seeing her made it a lot better. I changed into a pair of pajamas and sat on the couch watching TV.

It was a Friday night, and I didn't have to be up early for anything, other than Ponyboy's track meet, but that was at 2 o'clock, so why not stay up all night and forget about everything for a while? I felt the urge to do something unusual, suddenly. I went into the kitchen and got myself a beer.

My parents didn't care if I drank every once in a while, but I've only had a few, ever. I've been to parties before, obviously, but I've never gotten drunk. I was alway worried that if I got addicted it could get me kicked off the football team.

Football is my passion, and it's what I want to do for the rest of my life. I applied for a few footballs scholarships a while back, but I don't think I'm going to get any of them. But, we'll find out in a few weeks at the Senior awards night.

After about an hour, I'm overcome with sleepiness, so I throw away my beer and go to bed. I'd finally drifter off when I heard a scream. Ponyboy. I knew as soon as I heard it. He used to have pretty bad nightmares when he was younger, but he hasn't gotten any in a while. I sprang up from my bed and ran into his room, to find him, head in his hands, crying. Soda, who had also gotten up at the sound of his screams, followed me into our younger brothers room.

"You ok, buddy?" I asked, sitting next to him. Soda, on his other side, hugged him, but said nothing.

"Bad dream?" He asked after a minute. Ponyboy wiped his tears and nodded.

"Why was it about?" I asked, worried. He took a long, deep breath.

"Pony?" I prompted.

"It was... Mom and dad. When they got into the accident, but I was there too, and I didn't die, and I couldn't save them and..." His voice trails off as he starts crying. I don't even know what to say to that, so I just scoot closer and rub his back.

"Well, why don't you go back to bed? You've got a track meet tomorrow and you don't want to be tired," I say. He nods and wipes his eyes again.

"Hey, Soda?" He says quietly.

"Yeah?" Soda responds. "Can, um, can I sleep in your room tonight?" He asks. Poor little guy. Soda nods and Ponyboy takes a blanket off of his bed and drags it into Soda's like a little kid. I go back to my room, but can't sleep.

Nightmares about mom and dad? That was not good. But then again, maybe it was normal. I mean, he was in the room when they passed, but Soda and I were, and we aren't getting these nightmares. Then again, Ponyboy's younger than us.

I guess after a while of thinking and worrying, I did fall asleep because the next thing I know, Ponyboy and Soda are bouncing into my room.

"The gangs here, Darry! We want breakfast," Ponyboy says.

"Will you make pancakes?" Soda asks. I get up and follow them out of my room, where I find Dallas Winston, Johnny Cade, Two-Bit Mathews and Steve Randle.

"Hey, guys," I say, rubbing my eyes sleepily. They all wave and continue what they were doing, sleeping, watching TV, or playing cards. None of them say anything, it's completely silent other than the sound of the TV and my voice.

"So pancakes," I say. I hear a chorus of "yes," "yeah," and "sounds good," before I go into the kitchen. I take out some eggs, oil and mix, make them quickly and put a few on plates for the 7 of us.

When mom and dad were still alive, they would come over every weekend. Mom would wake up early to make us pancakes and we would all sit in front of the TV watching Mickey Mouse until we finished.

When everyone was done, Dad would take us outside and play football. It would always be Dally, Johnny, Ponyboy and I against Dad, Sodapop, Steve and Two-Bit. I remember mom standing there, leaning into the doorway with a smile on her face.

"My kids are such good players," She'd say about the entire gang, and dad, not just Pony, Soda and I. She was like the mother of the whole gang, probably why everyone hangs out here so often. She loved all of us equally, unlike my friends family.

Dally doesn't have parents anymore, he left them in New York a while back. Johnny's parents are... To say the least, the worst people that have ever lived.

He's a 13 year old kid, and his parents beat the crap out of him on a daily basis.

He always used to come over here when he could get out of the house, and my mom would clean him up and take care of him like he was her own son. And he practically was.

The entire gang is like our brothers. Johnny never says much, but I know he's grateful to have us, and I know we couldn't get along without him.

Steve, on the other hand, has an almost perfectly ok family. His mom left when he was little, only 3, leaving him to live with his father and newborn sister. He's lucky, he was too little to remember it happen, and so was his sister. He's real close with his sister, but isn't a big fan of his dad. Every now and then we wake up with Steve on our couch, his dad swore at him the night before, so he came here. Mom and Dad didn't mind, they left the door unlocked for him. The next day his dad gives him a few extra bucks and apologizes to him, but I can't imagine what it would be like to be him.

I've never really liked Steve too much, he's too... hateful. Maybe it's because of his father, or his mother, or maybe even something else, but he's just never been the nicest to me or Pony. He's best friends with Soda, though, so there must be something good about him.

Onto the other guys in the gang, Two-Bit lives with his sister and mom, an old lady in her late 50s, who he's real close with. His sister is 10 years old, her name is Kendra and I've only met her a few times. She's shy and has her own crowd to hang out with. None if us know what happened to their dad, and we're not even sure the two of them are.

Two-Bit says, "Man, Dar, these are good pancakes. Better than-" but then he stops himself as we all go to stare at him. He was going to say they were better than my moms, but then realized that that might be wrong.

"So are any of you coming to my game?" Ponyboy asks, changing the subject. Dally shakes his head.

"Nah, I'm goin' to the drive in. Any of you guys coming?" He asks.

"I... I, um. I will, Dally," Johnny says nervously. Dally smiles at him and they both get up. Johnny waves goodbye, but Dally leaves without another word.

I really don't want to go to the track meet, myself, but I have to. Mom and Dad always used to while I practiced in scrimmage football games with my school buddies, and Soda was out with Sandy. Now, I convinced Soda that he had to go too, since I do.

"I'll go too, bud," says Two-Bit. Pony's entire face lights up, because to him, people like Two-Bit are gods, even as Greasers, because their older.

"What team are you against?" I ask him.

"Green Bay," he says, talking about the middle school across town, in the Socs neighborhood. Ponyboy's team has never played them before, and I've heard their good, from some Socs who talk about their little siblings that play.

"Home or away game?" I ask.

"Away," he answers. I sight, that meant we have to drive all the way to the school, which was about 10 miles away. Not too far, but players had to be at the game by 1:00, and my brothers always procrastinate, and make us late, when it comes to going places. It's already 12:30, I realize looking at the clock.

"Go get dressed, guys," I say to Ponyboy and Soda, who run into their rooms. Two-Bit and I go to the car, and my brothers follow a minute later. The farther we drive, the more I realize that I am excited to see my baby brother play.

"Man," Soda says.

"I wish I could have brought Sandy with. We haven't seen each other very much lately. She's been hanging out with this new guy at school." I raise my eyebrow, thinking about something Elizabeth said to me about her. What was it... That she was talking to her and some guy came up and put his arm around her? No, that couldn't be it. I've met Sandy before a bunch of times. She's always seemed so sweet, not the average Greaser girl. She wouldn't cheat on Sodapop... would she?

Finally, we got to the school. Ponyboy hopped out of the car and quickly jogged over to his team. The boys and I went to go sit down on the Tulsa Middle High School side. There were tons of parents here that I recognized and a few people from school. I gazed over at the other side, the home team and a familiar looking girl caught my eye. She jumped up and waved.

"Darry," she called. It was Elizabeth. I ran over to her, leaving my brother and friend alone.

"What are you doing here?" I ask her.

"My younger brother's on the Green Bay Track Team. He's their number one player. What about you?" She says.

"Ponyboy's on the Tulsa MH team." I explain. She nods, and goes off to sit back on the bleachers. I do too, and don't say anything until the games start. I'm worried, our brothers are both stars of opposing track teams. Is this going to be bad for our relationship, or an I just worrying about nothing?

Elizabeth's POV:

"Liz, wake up, honey. You have to take Jack to his track meet," My mom says, shaking me at around 11:30.

"Mooooom," I mumble.

"The meet starts at 2:00. Why do I have to get up now?" I ask, wanting to sleep in.

"And why can't you take him for once?" I complained. Every Saturday morning Jack has a track meet and every Saturday my mom wakes me up to take him.

God only knows why she can't take him herself, but she's never even been to one.

She sighs, tells me to get dressed and leaves my room. I pick some black leggings and a pink t-shirt, knowing nobody important would be there, and walk downstairs.

"Ready, Jack?" I ask, grabbing the keys after I finish my breakfast. He springs up, excited. When we get there it's 12:00, but most of the team is on the field, practicing. I go over to the bleachers and sit down with all of the other moms. There's nobody here even close to my age.

"Elizabeth," A grandmother of one of the kids says, trying to start a conversation. She must be bored too. She's at almost every meet, and talks to me a lot, but I don't even know who she's related to. After talking to her for a while, I notice more people sitting on the bleachers of both sides. I look around my side, but don't recognize anyone.

A guy across from me catches my glance, and I jump up, waving like a crazy person. Darry Curtis is on the away team bleachers. He runs over to me, and kisses my cheek.

"What are you doing here?" He asks.

"My younger brother's on the Green Bay Track Team. He's their number one player. What about you?" I ask.

Not to brag, but Jack is an all star. He's their best player and he's never lost anything before.

"Ponyboy's on the Tulsa team," he tells me. Ponyboy, the little kid that almost lit the house on fire, Ponyboy? I didn't really see him as the track type. But, you never know. I nod my head and go back to my seat. Finally, the match starts.

They start with hurdles, and send my brother and a few other kids out. On the other team, a few kids I don't recognize... and Ponyboy Curtis. Oh, god, I think to myself. Ponyboy's going to lose to Jack, and then I'll feel terrible. Unless Pony was really good, and Jack lost. But he doesn't lose. Crap, this can't end well. Well, maybe it could.

They're running next to each other right now, in sync. They both jump a hurdle at the same time, and keep going. But then, Jack's foot goes out to the left, where Ponyboy's running. My stomach sinks as Ponyboy goes down, face first. His foot bends backwards in the process, and his scream is the loudest I've ever heard.

Everyone else in the race is frozen in place, not wanting to go any further, and hoping he's ok. In the bleachers and crowd, everyone is silent, and the air is full of tension.

Suddenly, Jack is at the end of the track, sweaty and out of breath. He had kept running when everyone else stopped. At the same time a coach and Darry run onto the track, to make sure Pony's ok. He still hasn't moved.

I jog up there and in a moment I'm at his side. He wraps an arm around my waist.

"Is he ok?" I ask, but I don't get an answer. His eyes are open, he didn't faint or anything, but tears are running down his face, and the poor little guy's obviously in pain. Darry lets go of me and kneels down next to his younger brother.

"You ok, buddy?" He asks. Ponyboy starts sobbing right there, he obviously wasn't.

"Whats wrong, little guy?" Soda asks, jogging up to us. He hugs his little brother and rubs his head.

"You're ok," he whispers, trying to calm him down. We soon found out that it was his foot. Taking off his shoe, we found out how swollen it is.

"Darrel," the coach says, "You might want to take him to the hospital," he says. Darry nods.

"Should we call him an ambulance?" He asks the coach, who nods his head in response. He sends TwoBit, who had appeared behind us, to go find a phone.

"Why do these things keep happening?" I hear Darry whisper. As soon as I hear it, my heart breaks in half. I go over and hug him, and he holds me tight. His breathing is hard and rigid, almost like he's crying, and nothing like last night.

"It'll be ok, Darry," I whisper. "I know. I just... I feel like I have nobody left," he says. I don't know what he means by that.

"You have me, don't you?" I ask. Without another word, he looks down and kisses me. It's a perfect moment, in the middle of a track, with people staring, but just us. Two people who like each other, together. That was the first time I really realized that I love him.

A/N: I'm sorry this took to long to update! I've been trying to write this chapter for a week, and it's really hard for me to continue a chapter that I started the day before. That's why it seems so rushed and stuff. But my friend has been begging me to hurt Ponyboy for some reason, so I will be continuing with that in the next chapter! Hope you like this chapter! Stay gold and leave some reviews if you're still reading? Love you all! :)