Author's Note: This story is set at the time when Soda gets the returned letter from Sandy and forwards, however, a few in this story are going to be different. For example, Johnny did die, but Dallas Winston is still alive. Oh, and the baby is Soda's, which will be explained, along with the other things, as the story unfolds. Title of the story is from the Beatles' song called, "The Ballad of John and Yoko."

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own The Outsiders or any of S.E. Hinton's characters.

"When Sandy went to Florida...it wasn't Soda, Ponyboy. He told me he loved her, but I guess she didn't love him like thought she did, because it wasn't him." -Darry Curtis

*Official Seal of Rewritten*

Chapter One

The white envelope was unopened, the seal still intact, and marked 'returned.' Soda felt his heart sink into the pit of his stomach, leaving him feeling uneasy. His fingers trembled as he fumbled the envelope around his hands, unsure of what to do. "She really didn't care about me enough to even read what I had to say," Soda thought to himself gloomily, sitting the envelope down on the dining room table.

Soda morosely cupped his head in callused hands. He closed his eyes and envisioned about running his fingers through her blonde locks again. He daydreamed about her soft laugh and her china blue-eyes that glowed when she was around him. He would do anything to hear that laugh again or see those beautiful, shining eyes. Soda sighed and his heart ached, as he reminisced about when Sandy told him she was pregnant, and announced the baby wasn't his, just days after Ponyboy and Johnny ran away.

Sodapop ran his fingers through his long, greasy hair, frustrated. Maybe if he had tried harder to persuade her to stay, she wouldn't had gone to Florida, to live with her grandmother, till the baby was born. Sandy's parents thought he was too young of a kid to be married, at only sixteen years old. If only he had tried to dissuade them of that concept, Sandy would be 'Mrs. Sodapop Curtis,' while wearing his ring and picking names for the baby. Sodapop's stomach clenched and regret coursed through him, thinking about what could've have been Sandy's and his life. Sandy had told him it wasn't his baby, but Soda didn't care. He still wanted to marry her, regardless of who's baby she carried.

Sodapop hated himself more than anything at that moment. He had let two of the most important people to him slip through his fingers, in just a course of a week. He already lost Mom and Dad in the car accident the previous year. Now, Ponyboy and Johnny had run away after Johnny killed Bob Sheldon, and Sandy was pregnant with another man's baby. Johnny was dead and Ponyboy was back home, with more problems than usual, but Sandy was still in Florida with her grandmother.

Sodapop glanced at the envelope again, studying and tracing her name and address written on the paper in black ink. He had written her a letter a few days ago, mentioning all his feelings and his attempts to convince her to return to Tulsa, but to no avail or response. Sandy hadn't even took the time to look at what he had wrote in the letter. He had gotten Sandy's grandmother's address from Sandy's friend and Steve's girlfriend, Evie, after he begged her for it, countless amounts of times.

Getting up out of the dining room chair, Soda dejectedly went into the bedroom he shared with his brother, Ponyboy. Soda kicked off his shoes and took off his leather jacket, tossing it across the room. Soda withdrew a lighter and cigarette out of his jean pocket and lit up a cigarette. Smoking was unusual for Soda, unless he wanted to look tough or needed a stress reliever. Putting the lighter back into his pocket, Soda glanced at what Ponyboy had written for his semester theme. The paper had all the Curtis boy's full names listed and horses were drawn, surrounding their names. "What's that?" Soda asked, motioning to the paper. Ponyboy turned to face Soda, "Nothin' really, I just got bored after trying to write my semester theme."

Soda flopped down on the bed, "Don't let Darry catch you not doing your school work, he would have a fit." Ponyboy turned back to his work and replied, "I'll try." Silence filled the room, awkwardly. This was unusual, especially for Soda, who you could never get to shut up. Ponyboy resumed trying to write his semester theme, using various ideas, including Soda's horse Mickey Mouse and his first trip to the zoo, but it was no use, it just came out corny each time. After more silence, Soda sat up and slowly stood up, "I'm going to go fix dinner."

The dinner turned alright, which was unusual for Sodapop's cooking. Sodapop was always trying something new and original, once cooking green pancakes. That night at dinner, Soda ate quietly, rarely talking to his brothers, and didn't eat much. Ponyboy noticed this and was going to mention it, till he thought Darry hadn't noticed.

After the dinner, Darry and Ponyboy had their fourth fuss that week. The fuss had started because Pony hadn't worked on his theme and wanted to go for a ride with the gang. Usually Ponyboy would just stand there and take it, but since Johnny died, he would shout back. "What's the sweat about my schoolwork?" Ponyboy shouted, "I'll have to get a job as soon as I get out of school anyway. Look at Soda, he's doing okay, and he dropped out. You can just lay off!"

"You're not going to drop out. Listen, with your brains and grades you could get a scholarship, and we could put you through college. But schoolwork's not the point, Ponyboy. You're living in a vacuum, Pony, and you're going to have to cut it out. Johnny was our buddy, too, but you don't just stop living because you lose someone. I thought you knew that by now, you don't quit! And any time you don't like the way I'm running things, you can get out." Darry replied and Ponyboy went tight and cold.

The Curtis brothers hadn't talked about Johnny, since the night of the rumble and the day he died. "You'd like that, wouldn't you? You'd like me just to get out. Well, it's not that easy, is it, Soda?" Ponyboy shouted back and turned to his brother, but when Ponyboy looked at Soda, he stopped dead in his track. Soda's face was as white as a sheet, and when he looked at Pony, his eyes were wide with a pained expression. The expression had made Ponyboy remember Curly Shepard's face when he slipped off a telephone pole and broke his arm. "Don't, oh, you guys, why can't you," Sodapop jumped up suddenly and bolted out the screen door. Darry and I were struck dumb, also noticing Soda had dropped an envelope. Darry picked up the envelope that Soda had dropped and examined it, "It's the letter he wrote Sandy," Darry said without expression, "Returned, unopened."

Ponyboy immediately felt ashamed of himself and guilty that Darry and him often took for granted that Soda didn't have problems, or least never seemed to have any. "When Sandy went to Florida... it wasn't Soda, Ponyboy. He told me he loved her, but I guess she didn't love him like he thought she did, because it wasn't him." Darry said, sitting the letter back down on the table. "You don't have to draw me a picture," Ponyboy replied. Darry sighed and responded, "He wanted to marry her anyway, but she just left." Darry was looking at Ponyboy with a puzzled expression, "Why didn't he tell you? I didn't think he'd tell Steve or Two-Bit, but I thought he told you everything." Ponyboy shrugged and replied, "Maybe he tried,"

"He cried every night that week you were gone," Darry said, hesitantly, "Both you and Sandy in the same week. Come on, let's go after him." The brothers chased him clear to the park and had caught up to him, but he had a block's head start. "Circle around and cut him off," Darry ordered, even out of condition Ponyboy was the best runner out of all the Curtis brothers. "I'll stay right behind him," Ponyboy said, headed through the trees and cut him off, halfway across the park. He veered off to the right, but Pony caught him in a flying tackle, before he'd gone more than a couple of steps. It knocked the wind out of both of them, the two of them laid there for a few moments, gasping. Soda sat up and brushed the grass off his shirt, "You should have gone out for football instead of track." "Where did you think you were going?" Ponyboy asked, laying flat on his back and looked at him.

Darry came up and dropped down beside us. Soda shrugged and replied, "I don't know. It's just... I can't stand to hear y'all fight. Sometimes... I just have to get out or... it's like I'm the middleman in a tug o' war and I'm being split in half. You dig?" Darry gave Pony a startled look, neither of them had realized what it was doing to Soda to hear them fight. Pony was sick and cold with shame, knowing what he said was the truth. Darry and Pony did play tug of war with him, with never a thought to how much it was hurting him.

Soda was fiddling with some dead grass. "I mean, I can't take sides. It'd be a lot easier if I could, but I see both sides. Darry yells too much and tries too hard and takes everything too serious, and Ponyboy, you don't think enough, you don't realize all Darry's giving up just to give you a chance he missed out on. He could have stuck you in a home somewhere and worked his way through college. Ponyboy, I'm telling you the truth, I dropped out because I'm dumb. I really did try in school, but you saw my grades. Look, I'm happy working in a gas station with cars. You'd never be happy doing something like that. And Darry, you ought to try to understand him more, and quit bugging him about every little mistake he makes, He feels things differently than you do." He gave us a pleading look.

"Golly, you two, it's bad enough having to listen to it, but when you start trying to get me to take sides," tears welled up in his eyes, "we're all we've got left, we ought to be able to stick together against everything, if we don't have each other, we don't have anything. If you don't have anything, you end up like Dallas, please" he wiped his eyes on his arm, "don't fight anymore." Darry looked really worried and Pony suddenly realized that Darry was only twenty, that he wasn't so much older, that he couldn't feel scared or hurt, and as lost as the rest of them. Pony saw that he had expected Darry to do all the understanding without even trying to understand him. Darry had sacrificed various things for Soda and Pony.

"Sure, little buddy," Darry said softly, "we're not going to fight anymore." Soda turned to face Ponyboy, "Hey, Ponyboy" Soda gave Pony a tearful grin "don't you start crying, too. One bawl-baby in the family's enough." "I'm not crying," Ponyboy said. Soda gave Pony a playful punch on the shoulder, "No more fights, okay, Ponyboy?" Darry inquired. "Okay," Pony agreed. "Well," Soda said, "I'm cold, how about going home?" Ponyboy smirked mischievously and shouted, "Let's race home," already getting a head's start by sprinting away. "Cheater, no fair," Soda said jestingly and jokingly, running after his little brother.

Later that night, Soda laid in bed with Ponyboy. Ponyboy had started to write his theme, but he didn't want Darry or Soda to see it, not till he was done. The lights were dim and the wind blew softly. It was late at night, but Sodapop couldn't sleep. Darry had gave him back the envelope he had dropped, and Soda just stuck it under his pillow. He had to see Sandy and convince her to come home, and get married. They could raise a kid together, Sodapop was sure of that, he had a lot of experience with Ponyboy and had a good paying job. Ponyboy suddenly woke up and turned around to face Soda. "Soda, you awake?" Ponyboy whispered. "Yeah," Soda replied. "Soda...I'm real sorry about Sandy, the fighting, and everything." Ponyboy said hesitantly and quietly. Sodapop weakly smiled and threw his arm around his little brother, "Don't worry about it, kiddo. I'm fine, don't worry, just go back to sleep, okay?" Ponyboy nodded and turned around going back to sleep, "Night Soda." "Night Pony," Soda decided he better get some sleep himself, and closed his eyes thinking of Sandy. He fell into a deep sleep and had dreamed about her, as well.

Soda suddenly woke up from the realistic and pleasant dream he had about marrying Sandy. Disappointment coursed through him when he realized it had just been a dream and Sandy wasn't sleeping next to him, either. Soda checked the alarm clock beside the nightstand, which indicated it was about three in the morning. The room was pitch black and silent, with the exception of the moon's reflection that poured into the window and Ponyboy snoring. Soda sighed and turned back over to go back to sleep.