The Protected Home

Bridgette Shepard was only six when she first laid eyes on Ponyboy Curtis. He was older and handsome and more mature at the ripe age of eight. He was exciting in those ways. He wasn't in the same gang that her brothers rolled with and that only added to his appeal. She loved her brothers to pieces but she didn't always like them. Ponyboy she liked. So on that fateful day, as Curly tried to keep up appearances that he was tough and hard while also making sure his little sister didn't run into the street or do anything to hurt herself, Bridgette saw Pony being escorted to school by his older brothers. Darry, the oldest of the bunch, was going to his first day of high school. He had on nice, clean pants and a tight black shirt that showed off muscles that didn't even seem possible for a fourteen-year-old. He had a football in his hand and he would toss it into the air and catch it effortlessly. Soda was eating something and telling an animated story. Every once in a while, he would tear off whatever it was he was eating and hand a piece to his little brother. That little brother being Pony, of course. Read more