Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own the Outsiders or profit from anything that S.E. Hinton writes besides the enjoyment of reading her work.

A/N: I decided to go back to the bases, just because I love classics and I love sick fics. Anyway, I don't think I want to do a flu fic, just because there are certain details you need to pull and I have not thrown up in forever, so to be honest I don't remember anything about it. I'm undecided on what Ponyboy is going to have so please send me PM's or reviews/suggestion on what illnesses he should have. I left this chapter open to different illnesses he could have. This story will be different then regular sick stories or times when Ponyboy is sick in my other stories. Probably will be slower update than usual but still at least once or twice a week.

Sodapop's POV

I woke up to the Ponyboy shivering next to me. I wrapped my arm around him. The heat radiating off of him was intense. I remembered he hadn't eaten a lot last night and immediately was concerned.

"You feeling okay Ponyboy?" I asked quietly.

"Yeah, just cold." He whispered hoarsely. I rubbed my arm against his bare arm, but realized that he had thrown on a hoodie sometime in the middle of the night. I was getting concerned, I was really hot in the house.

I was going to ask him how he felt again, but he started to cough. Not lightly, but deep, painful coughs that shook his small frame. I rubbed his back until he stopped, sniffling lightly.

"Sorry." He apologized softly. I squeezed his shoulder comfortingly.

His head hit the pillow and he fell asleep quickly. I felt his forehead and sure enough, he felt real hot. Just then Darry walked in to wake us up, but only to find me awake.

"Hey, Darry," I called softly to not wake up Ponyboy,"Ponyboy ain't feeling too hot. He feels warm to me."

"I'm fine." Ponyboy lied. Darry felt his forehead, clicking his tongue. He grabbed the thermometer and stuck it in Ponyboy's mouth. If beeped and he showed it to me. It was an old mercury one, so it looked between 100-101. I'd say 101.4 or so. Not too bad I guess.

Darry allowed him to go to school so Ponyboy was up and getting dressed.

His shirt fell out of his hands. He bent down to grab it, but started coughing again. It took him awhile to catch his breath. I was ready to tell Darry that I didn't care if he didn't have a temperature, he sounded awfully miserable and looked ready to fall asleep standing there. He had gone to bed a bit before nine a'clock last night. Which is pretty early for his typical eleven a'clock time.

It was too late to talk to him, because Two-Bit came in, slamming the door with his usual greeting of screaming out a "Honey, I'm home" or "Hello Curtis Family." Ponyboy grabbed his head and winced slightly at the loud noise. I opened my mouth to talk, but Ponyboy was already out the door with Two-Bit, breakfast cold and forgotten still sitting on the counter.

I rushed to get ready, taking a shower and eating, barreling out the door with Darry in front of me and Steve behind me. At the time being, my biggest worry was, what is the boss going to do if I'm late again?

Luckily, I brought in too many girls for him to fire me, but that didn't stop Darry from lecturing me on "time management" the entire car ride to the DX.

Ponyboy's POV

I threw myself into Two-Bit's car before Sodapop could say anything. I honestly felt awful. My head was pounding, my throat was really scratchy and sore, I was super cold even though it was hot outside, and I felt sick to my stomach.

I was silent the entire ride to school. I kept up my silence until fourth period. Johnny noticed that I was more quiet than usual and asked if I was okay.

"Yeah, Johnnycakes, I'm fine. Don't worry." I told him hoarsely.

He shook his head, feeling my forehead.

"Your really hot, Ponyboy." He told me. I shook my head, but then winced.

"If you go to the nurse, I don't bug you anymore." Johnny tried to compromise, but I refused.

"Darry or Soda can't come and pick me up anyway. They won't get paid." I whispered guiltily. It was my fault, I shouldn't have gotten sick.

"They won't be upset, Pone, your health is important." Johnny told me. I shut my locker for and grabbed my books as the bell rang.

"I'm fine, Johnny." I said, a touch too sharply but my head was pounding. I hurried too class before anyone could argue with me, my stomach churning.