It's getting late on a Friday night. You're over visiting your friends, Darry and Soda Curtis. Their youngest brother, Ponyboy, has been out with his friends watching a double-feature movie at the Nightly Double Drive-in. For a while, you're just laughing and chatting with Darry and Soda. Eventually, however, Two-Bit Mathews, one of your other friends, shows up. Far from his usual, silly, happy-go-lucky self, Two-Bit has a noticeable frown on his face when he enters the room. He motions to Darry to follow him to a more secluded area and leaves you and Soda to wonder what on earth has happened. Two-Bit and Darry engage in a hushed conversation for a while, but when Two-Bit leaves, you hear an unfamiliar noise. Eventually, you realize that Darry is crying. With Soda on your heels, you hurriedly follow the noise and find Darry curled up on his bed with his face buried into a pillow. When Darry hears you and Soda come in, he looks up and sniffles.

Two-Bit... he... he told me...

For a second, Darry can't formulate a coherent sentence through the tears. After a moment, he finally manages to find his voice.

He told me that Pony said he thinks I want to put him in a boys' home.

Now that the words are out of Darry's mouth, he buries his head in his hands and continues to sob.

I don't want to! I would never even think about doing that. I love him. I wish he knew that. Why am I so bad at showing him?