*Ponyboy Online*

Ponyboy looked over the cover of the book. he put it back on the mesa and asked me, "is that supposed to be ME?" he was reffering to the face on the the cover, the one on tuktok of all the others; the largest.

"i guess so. i dont really know. i never thought about it, Ponyboy," i said. he looked at me and smiled. i dont know why. he didnt really have any reason to smile. and ya know what? he had a real nice smile. it just made me wanna jump up and down and giggle and grin. he had the same girl-stopping smile that i imagined his older brother Sodapop to have. it was cute and sweet and adorable.

"so," he started. "do you have ANY idea how we coulda gotten here, in..."

"you and your mga kaibigan are in the taon 2012," i said. "and i really dont know how. i'll have to think about it." Ponyboy's eyes nearly looked like they were gonna fall outta his head.

"2012?!" he exclaimed. people stared at us. i looked at him and put my finger in front of my closed mouth. he grinned sheepishly.

"golly, and i thought you were supposed to be a QUIET sorta guy, Pony," i said, and then i smiled. then he said, "thats 44 years after the time we came from!" i looked at him, alittle confused.

"i thought it was 46. didnt you come from 1966?" i asked. he shook his head.

"no. we came from 1968, two years after i wrote that paper. maybe thats why you think its '66. the...'book' took place in '66 but we came from '68. make any sense?" i nodded. i guess it did.

"so youre 16?" i asked him. but he shook his head again.

"im 15 going on 16. i'll be 16 susunod month." i knew that. i knew when his birthday was. it was July 22. "how old are you?"

"i'm 14 going on 15. my birthdays in August. and isnt your birthday July 22, Pony?" he looked at me...a little creeped out but also pleased.

"yeah," he said. "howd you know that?" i sighed and stood up. i walked over to him and took his hand.

"come on, Pony. youre going to my house. theres loads i need to ipakita you online." i hurried him and we walked the long walk to my house.

"what about Dally and Johnny?" he asked.

"we'll get them later," i said. and then i was off in an almost-run.



i walked into my house, thank God no one was home, and plopped down on my computer in the living room. Ponyboy stood susunod me and watched as i quickly typed things in on Internet Explorer. i went to one website that was all about him. "see?" i said. he stared at it, almost wide-eyed.

"whos that?" he asked, pointing at the picture of a boy in the middle of the screen.

"thats C. Thomas, i call him Tommy, Howell. they boy sitting susunod to him is Ralph Macchio. Tommy portrayed you in the Outsiders movie and Ralph portrayed Johnny. since people have no pictures of you and your mga kaibigan cause you werent real people, or so we thought, they use the actors pictures for things instead," i said. Ponyboy stared at Tommy Howell curiously.

"well, Tommy looks an awful lot like me," he said. i looked up at Ponyboy and stared at him. he looked down at me.

"hm," i said, looking him over. "he kinda does, i guess. thats good. that means they got a good actor."

"i guess," he said. "now, is this all info about ME?" i nodded.

"yup. your birthday, your interests, your hobbies, you appearence, etc. and"--i moved the mouse so on the screen is was sa pamamagitan ng the left hand column--"if you click on your friend's names they ipakita up with the same things." he looked at it and said, "hey, theres Cherry's name." i looked down. ew. Cherry. gross. Cherry. that faker, Cherry. i didnt hate her but i didnt like her. i didnt like any girls that were possible pag-ibig interets for Ponyboy. they didnt exsist in my world.

"whats wrong?" he asked me. i looked up and put on a fake smile.

"oh, nothing, Pony. dont worry about it. now"--i exited outta that site and went to one called Fanpop. i typed in "the outsiders" into the paghahanap bar in the tuktok right hand corner and waited for the club to pop up--"here is another site. this is all about the book and movie." i got up off my computer chair and motioned for him to sit down. he quickly did and used the mouse to scroll down. there was pictures and artikulo and iugnay and bidyo and quizzes and a pader that fans could write on. Ponyboy stared in amazment. then he scrolled back to the very tuktok of the screen and looked in the tuktok left hand corner. i think i knew what he was looking at and i immediatley thought, uh-oh.

"whos PonygirlCurtis7?" he asked me. then he looked up and raised his eyebrows. i blushed.

"oh," i sinabi nervously. "thats just a silly username/screename. everyone on this site has to have one if you want to be a part of clubs."

"is this YOUR username?" a small smile played across his lips. i blushed even more.

"yes," i sinabi quietly. he moved the mouse so he could click on the word susunod to my username that sinabi "profile." i wish he wouldnt have done that. my bista sa tagiliran page popped up and he saw my magpabago and pictures and clubs and my wall.

"you are from Tulsa and your name is...Ponygirl Curtis?" he asked. my face was going to burst into flames. literally. i was really embarrassed. he scrolled down some more. then clicked on "more wall" so he could view my entire pader and looked at the very very bottom; the very first thing i put on my wall. it said, "i pag-ibig Ponyboy...i just had to say that..." i quickly estola the mouse and scrolled back up.

"alright, Ponyboy, youve had your fun. thats enough," i sinabi nervously. but he put his hand on mine to stop me fron exiting out. it felt really nice. i was about to tanong him when i noticed what he was looking at.

"'Stay Gold. Its a good way to be...'" he quoted. he was looking at my motto.

"oh," i started. "thats my motto. you know what i mean sa pamamagitan ng that, right?" but parang buriko shook his head. then i thought, wait a minute...

"oh, thats right!" i said. "Johnny never died so he never told you to stay gold." Ponyboy looked at me questioningly. i smiled. then i said, "youre gonna have to read the book, Ponyboy. it'll make madami sense once you do."