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The day that Dallas Winston skipped town, Ponyboy felt more alone than he had in a year. It was coming up on the year anniversary of ‘the incident’ as Tulsa called it. The week where two teenagers died so close together. One was wept over for weeks, grieved as if he were a helpless victim of violence he did not start, the other treated as a murderer because he was from the east side of the tracks. Ponyboy didn't want to be in town either, so he understood why Dally left as soon as possible.
He used to be scared of Dallas, when they were younger; hearing stories of his time in jail, the different crimes the blond had committed and witnessed scared Ponyboy if he were to be honest. He wasn't scared anymore, he liked to think they were buddies.. Well, were in the past tense. Ponyboy figured whatever friendship they had once built up was gone, whatever trust they used to have for each other shattered the day that Johnny Cade died. Ponyboy blamed himself for the death of Johnny, and he figured everyone else did too. He had no reason to believe that Dallas didn't hate him.
Because Johnny was the only thing Dally loved. And Johnny was long dead.
Ponyboy was surprised that Dally actually gave the weekly calls that Darry asked for. He was glad to know that Dally hadn't done anything stupid yet that would make the gang have to plan another funeral. He already helped plan Johnnys, he couldn't plan Dallys either.
As the months went by, it became a usual thing. Once a week, like clockwork, the Curtis family residence would get a call. By the end of the first year, it was less of a stress, waiting for the call and hoping to whatever was out there it'd come. Ponyboy could count on the call every Friday night, he could count on Dallas being alive.
Ponyboy became friends with Cherry, despite all odds. People assumed they were dating, and that did cause a lot of tension for Ponyboy. He got jumped more often, being accused of bringing Cherry down to a lower social class. He didn't care. He learned the hard way that he had to be tough to make it through the world, so he didn't care as the kids tried to punch him. He was faster than them, and one day he'd be stronger too. He wouldn't let anyone make him feel as powerless as he did the night Bob was murdered. Maybe that's why Cherry became his friend. She ignored the taunts she got because she knew whatever she got, Ponyboy got it worse. She didn't want to see another Dallas Winston on the streets.
She noticed when Ponyboy started to carry a blade with him every day, she saw him holding it once as they walked together along the tracks as their route after school. It was the one that killed Bob. She wondered how he got it, but did not question it. She just asked if she could do homework at his place and listen to music, maybe it would get the light in his eyes back if he had someone to talk to at his house. Maybe he'd start to look like he did back at the drive in, maybe he'd start to have that hope again.
It didn't seem like Ponyboy was himself much. He didn't talk at school, didn't talk at home unless someone else spoke first, of course that was until Fridays, when he could count on a call from Dally. He didn't know why he felt so attached to those calls, maybe it was because he was thinking of going to college in New York to get away from tulsa. Maybe it was what let him cling to when everything was fine. Maybe it was more, but Ponyboy wouldn't realize that for a long time.. He was just glad his friend was alive.
Cherry would stay Ponyboys friend through his second year in Highschool, knowing he needed a friend more than ever. She knew that things were rough at his home, she knew the pressure Darryl put him under, but she wouldn't speak out on it. She wanted to be there for her friend where she could, and for Ponyboy that meant simply being there. When she learned Fridays were the days he got a call from Dally, and seeing how much it meant to Ponyboy, she learned more about him. She made sure that if they had homework plans, or even just wanted to hang out over the weekend, it was never on a friday. Because she knew that was Dally's day. She listened as Ponyboy talked about the updates on Dally during Saturday hang outs, how he got a place in New York and was starting to turn his life around. She could care less for who the updates were about, but she made sure to make a mental note of when Ponyboy talked about him, she figured there was more to these calls, but she wouldn't pray. She was just happy that her friend had something to look forward to every week.
Ponyboy started to make college plans with Dally in his third year of highschool. While pretty much all colleges turned Dally down due to his lack of a degree and criminal history, Ponyboy actually got into a decent college in New York. He was ecstatic, because he got a full ride thanks to his track and academic scholarships, as well as having a killer of an entrance essay. Everything seemed to fall into place after Dally got his apartment. It was close to campus and local highschools, it was perfect. The only issue is that Ponyboy didn't tell Sodapop or Darry about those plans. He needed everything to be solid before he did, he couldn't risk anything going wrong and being stuck in tulsa longer than he had to be.
After Cherry graduated, things got hard again. Darry was constantly on Ponyboy and didn't seem to give the kid a moment to rest. He was eating? He should be studying. He was out on track? He should have been studying. He was reading a book? He should be outside getting some sun. Ponyboy didn't feel like he could do anything right, but things had changed from when he was 14. He no longer burst out at the injustice of Darrys yelling. He never did get why Darry didn't get onto Sodapop. A part of it made him resent his brother, but then he remembered how Sodapop cried to them that week. “If we don't have each other, we don't have nothing, '' Sodapop had said. He wondered if Darry remembered that at all. It didn't feel like it as he was yelled at once again.
Ponyboy lost track of time. When he didn't have Cherry to talk to, he talked to Johnny. He spent hours at Johnny's grave every Saturday, catching the dead friend up on the issues of the gang, of his home, about every call he got from Dally. He did homework with Johnny, he watched the sunsets with Johnny. Things like this meant he didn't use his head much when it came to Saturdays, and when he returned home, it was Sunday morning and the sun was starting to leave freckles of gold upon the morning clouds. Ponyboy hated sunrises. It was a reminder of everything that happened in Windrixville. It was a reminder that the best times of his life were spent when it was just him and Johnny, though he wished Dally had been there too.
Fights were common in the Curtis house, but usually it was Darry yelling and Ponyboy taking it. He did this time too, he stood there quietly as he was hounded on by his older brothers for losing track of time and being out so late. He couldn't take it anymore, and he snapped at them.
“What do you know! I'm tired of this, neither of you two care! You two don't seem to notice that my only friends are dead or- ” Ponyboy couldn't even finish his sentence before Darry shut him down. It was like that a lot.
“Ponyboy you gotta get over this. We’ve all lost people, we lost Johnny too. We lost mom and dad too. You don't see me and Sodapop staying out till sunrise because we miss them do we? You gotta use your head.” Darry wasn't in the mood for fights, though nowadays he never was. He watched his little brother turn from a wild card with hope in his eyes and a talent for reading people's emotions, to being a husk of his former self. He could see that Ponyboy was taking care of himself and he didn't know how to fix it, he wanted to fix the world for his little brother but didn't know how. All he could do was push Ponyboy to be the best he could be.
“You didn't see them. You weren't there when mom and dad died, and you weren't there when Johnny died so don't you dare think you have a say in what goes on in my head Darry! I'm tired of it, I can't do anything right by you! I'm sick and tired of it! I can't stand it anymore. There are times I wish I had been in the car with mom and dad! Then you'd have perfect sodapop and nothing else would go wrong with your life, cause he's the only brother you really care about!”
Ponyboy saw the hurt in Darrys' face and it freaked him out. He wasn't used to seeing his big brother so.. Hurt. So wounded by an outburst. But at this point, Ponyboy didn't care. It was a sunday. He had no reason to be home. So he turned right back around and left. He knew he was faster than his brothers, what happened didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was that he was going to New York next year and getting the hell away from Tulsa. He just had to wait until summer for Dally to come back and help him back, then they'd both be back up in the same car driving away from the town.
It was the last track meet of Ponyboys senior year, he was getting ready to change into his suit for the meet and he wished Johnny we're here to see it. He knew Johnny used to come to the meets, it gave him a sense of normalcy that the Cade family didn't have. But it would be fine. Ponyboy had kept the blond hair, bleaching it every once in a while because it helped him think of Johnny, and it made him look less like Darry. Ponyboy rubbed his eyes and stretched a bit before he was suddenly picked up and swung around. At first, he was very confused until he heard a very familiar voice.
“Hey Blondy, long time no see eh?”
And there he was. Dallas Winston in the flesh.
“Dally! Holy shit you're here!” Even though Ponyboy knew Dally was supposed to come back at some point this year, he didn't think it would be this early in the year. They still had months before they had to move up to New York.
“Yeah, it's been a while. Anyways, chop chop kid I came to see you run. Can't let an old friend down can you? Better win it!” Dally left as he was talking, knowing that technically he probably shouldn't have been in the school's changing rooms to begin with, but it was worth it for the look on Ponyboy's face.
It's been a long, long time since Ponyboy didn't feel alone.