𝑻𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝑺𝒉𝒊𝒕 | 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕆𝕦𝕥𝕤𝕚𝕕𝕖𝕣𝕤 | 𝑪𝒖𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒔 𝑺𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒏

ATTENTION
I am currently not home, so I don't have my laptop. I won't have my usual fancy layout until I get home. I will have the story posted of course, and it'll be updated to my fancy layout in the future! Sorry bout that.

*2 Week Timeskip, Darry is home from the hospital*

Ponyboy's POV

"Watch your step pal, I will make sure you get buried. You almost killed my siblings." Ponyboy threatened.

"Hey, we had a deal, I just cheated. Your fault for trusting me." The man stated.

"You little-!" Pony yelled while running at the man.

Sodapop's POV

"Hey Darry don't you think Pony has been acting off?" I asked. Pony has been sneaking off lately. He will come home beat up but say he got beat by Socs. Socs haven't been acting up that often which is also weird. Everyone returns with a few bruises but that's about it.

"He mentioned he was off with some pals" Darry said while fumbling with the newspaper. From the corner of my eye I noticed Johnny nervously mess with his fingers.

"I haven't heard him mention friends. He told me he was busy catchin' up in school." Johnny nervously stated.

Darry put the newspaper down in his lap and glanced up towards Steve and I.  "So our kid brother has been lyin' Soda." He said and then started chewing on his cheek. The atmosphere of the room grew darker and colder.

Realization started hitting us like a freight train. Pony has been coming home with bruises and cut lips way more than the rest of us. He has been getting hurt more than Two and Dal, which is sayin something.

"We should poke around and see what's up." Johnny said as he stood up from the couch.

"Meet in the kitchen, we have some discussing to do." Darry said as he waved us towards the kitchen.

This is the game plan.

Dally and Johnny are the sneakiest, so when Pony leaves in the morning they will follow him to see where he goes, and to see what he does.

Darry and I will poke around the house, including the attic just in case Pony hid something.

Two-Bit will ask other greasers to see if they've heard or seen anything.

Steve will work at the DX and keep a lookout, since Pony used to pass by a lot.

If Zayla returns before things go down, she will sneak with Dally and Johnny. Of course we can't go immediately, we have to wait for the right time.

"So it's a plan?" Steve asked. We all nodded. The plan was set, we will go through with it in a week, give Zay time to possibly wake up and recover, and give her time to understand the plan.

We also need to observe Pony's behavior and his patterns to see what's up.

Two sat on the floor with his cake, Darry went back to reading the paper, Johnny sat with Dally on the couch, and Steve and I horsed around. We had to seem as normal as possible.

We heard a few steps towards the door and within seconds, Pony opened the door. He entered with a black eye and a cut on his cheek. "D-don't worry, Socs got to me. Nothing new." He said with a stutter.

Johnny glanced towards Darry when he said that. Pony normally stutters when he is lying or when he is in trouble.

He scurried past us and went towards our shared bedroom.

We heard a ringing on our phone and Darry went and answered the phone.

----

Darry : Hello?

??? : Hey is this the Curtis household?

Darry : Yes, who is this?

Nurse Terisa : I am Nurse Terisa, we have just been informed that Zayla Curtis woke up. She hasn't shown any signs of eating issues, but she has been struggling with walking. She is free to leave in four days.

Darry : Oh my- that's amazing! We will be thete in a few days! Thanks!

----

"Who was it superman?" Steve asked.

"Nurse. Zay is free to leave in four days. She is readjusting to walking right now." Darry replied with a smile plastered on his face.

Darry put his hand on his face and his eyes started to water up. I walked towards him and hugged him, patting his back. "It's okay man, she is okay. She was a fighter, we all knew she would fight her way outta it." I said, comforting him.

Throughout the rest of the night we did our normal activities, still observing Pony's every move and action.

*Author's Note*
Hey! I know this chapter was extremely short. And it took FOREVER to release. But this chapter is setting up the future chapters. I have a neat idea coming up for the investigation, and the ending is near (unless I add filler chapters)
I'm so sorry this took awhile. I'm back in my grooooove lol. The chapters will be changed to my fancy format when I have access to my laptop. If there are errors please let me know so I can fix it ASAP!