I do not own The Outsiders. S.E. Hinton does :)
"Soda, why do you like dying the food different colors?" Ponyboy asked his brother as Sodapop proceeded to mix food coloring into the mashed potatoes.
"Why do you like keeping the food their normal colors?" Sodapop shot back, and he fake-glared at his little brother before bursting into fits of laughter. Ponyboy rolled his eyes; why did his brother find everything funny?
"Cause, I'm not strange like you." Ponyboy muttered, and ducked as Sodapop reached out and tried to ruffle his younger brother's hair. Ponyboy however, wasn't having any of it.
"Aww, Pony, you're no fun!" Sodapop complained as Ponyboy swiped the food coloring off of the counter and put it back in the cabinet.
"Soda, forget it; I'm not eating green and red mashed potatoes!" Ponyboy said seriously, but then chuckled when he saw Soda's evil grin. "Uh oh, it's the grin! What's gonna happen to me now?" Ponyboy asked as Soda turned the stove off and started walking towards his younger brother.
"You Ponyboy Curtis…are gonna get tickled to death!" Soda screamed, and pounced on Ponyboy. He dug his fingers into Ponyboy's sides as the younger greaser squealed below him.
"N-no, Soda! Anything but that!" Ponyboy begged, and very soon he was starting to cry from the amount of laughter that he was producing.
It felt good to hear Ponyboy laugh; he hardly ever laughed anymore; not since Johnny and Dally had died.
Soda continued to tickle Ponyboy until the boy finally kneed him in his private area. Sodapop groaned, and pushed himself off of the ground and looked at Ponyboy who was dusting off his jeans with his hands.
"That's cheating." Sodapop protested, and then went back over to the stove and heated it up again.
"Well, if there's rules, then tickling is also cheating." Ponyboy declared, and sauntered over to the stove. He looked into the pan that was boiling, and saw some sort of red liquid bubbling inside it.
"Soda, what the hell is that?!" Ponyboy asked in disgust. Sodapop looked into the pan and pulled the same face that Ponyboy was pulling.
"I don't know…Darry told me to put it in the pan. He's been having some weird cravings lately. Hey…maybe he's pregnant!" Sodapop laughed, and for the second time that day, Ponyboy rolled his eyes.
"That's disgusting, Soda." Ponyboy said to his brother, and marched back into the living room. Sodapop chuckled and continued to stir whatever was in the pan with his mother's old wooden spoon.
After twenty minutes, all of the food was finally ready…except for the red liquid. Sodapop turned the stove off and just left the pan sitting there; he didn't want to eat it but he didn't want to throw it away in case Darry wanted it.
After the two youngest Curtis's had finished their food, Ponyboy left to go study for an upcoming exam while Soda watched TV in the living room.
It was another thirty minutes of waiting before Darry finally strolled into the house. He looked pale and cold; yet his cheeks were flushed bright pink.
"Hey Dar, you don't look so good. You okay?" Soda asked with concern laced in his usually calm voice.
"Hmm? Yeah, I'm fine; my back just hurts more than usual, that's all." Darry sighed, and sat down on the sofa next to his brother.
"Oh, well me and Pony ate dinner. There's some of that weird red stuff on the stove if you want that; me and Pony didn't touch it." Sodapop said to Darry, and Darry raised his eyebrows.
"Why didn't you eat it?" Darry questioned, and Sodapop looked at his brother like he was the stupidest person ever.
"We didn't know what it was, so we just left it." Sodapop answered, and Darry shook his head.
"It was just tomato soup, you dingbat." Darry chuckled, and Soda looked up at his older brother.
"Oops." Soda muttered. Darry smiled.
"Go on, go watch TV or something." Darry said, and then looked around the living room. "Where's Ponyboy?" he asked.
"He's studying for some test in his bedroom." Sodapop answered, and strolled over to the sofa and switched the TV on again.
Darry took the soup off the stove and poured it into a bowl. The scent of the soup made him feel sick yet he didn't know why; he loved tomato soup.
Even though his stomach was disagreeing, Darry knew that he needed to eat; he hadn't eaten all day since he had felt a little nauseous when he woke up.
Meanwhile, Ponyboy was in his bedroom studying for his English exam. He no longer shared a bedroom with Soda anymore; both of them decided that they needed their own space.
As Ponyboy flipped through his copy of To kill a mockingbird, he couldn't help but think about Darry. His brother looked very pale, too pale, and his eyes had a gross yellow and white crust circling them.
Pony had asked Darry if he was okay, but Darry just responded that he was going to be late to work and ran out of the house before Ponyboy could say anything else. Ponyboy began worrying, but Soda assured him that Darry was just tired; Darry had hardly had any sleep the night before because his stomach felt funny.
Ponyboy shut his book and made his way into the living room where Soda was watching some stupid 50's show and Darry was eating the tomato soup, though he didn't look as if he was enjoying it.
"Uh Darry, your eye looks yellow." Ponyboy said nervously, observing his brother's eyes. He still had the ice-blue shards, but where the sclera was supposed to be white, it was instead a light yellow color.
Darry set his soup down on the coffee table and walked over to the mirror, and scanned his reflection in the mirror.
"Dammit; I must have jaundice." Darry sighed, rubbing his eyes.
"Don't rub it! You'll make it worse!" Ponyboy scolded, and Darry smiled at him.
"When I need my kid brother to tell me what to do, I'll ask ya alright?" he chuckled, and Ponyboy cracked a grin.
"Not this again!" Ponyboy laughed, and Darry grabbed him in a headlock and started rubbing his hair.
"No! Leave my hair alone!" Ponyboy ordered, escaping out of his brother's grip. "Why's everybody obsessed with messing up my hair?" Ponyboy asked his brothers.
"It's just because you're the youngest; you're easier to pick on." Sodapop smiled. "Hey Dar, you eatin' your soup?"
"Nah; I don't feel very well. I think I'm gonna go to bed." Darry mumbled, and left to go to his bedroom.
Ponyboy and Sodapop glanced at each other worriedly; Darry hardly ever got sick. And this time, it looked worse; even when Darry was sick, he still ate. But now, the thought of food for Darry made him want to throw up.
"You think Dar's gonna be okay?" Ponyboy asked nervously. Sodapop shrugged.
"Don't matter if he's sick; we can take care of him." Sodapop said, and Ponyboy nodded.
"He'll need to go the doctors about his jaundice, though. It can't be left untreated." Ponyboy declared, and Sodapop shrugged again.
"Yeah, good luck gettin' Dar to go the doctors." Sodapop muttered as Pony made his way into Darry's room.
Darry had stripped off his shirt, but he left his jeans on. His stomach was aching, and although he knew that taking off his jeans would help, he was scared that it would hurt more if he took them off.
"Um, Darry?" Ponyboy said as Darry lay down on his bed and pulled the covers over himself.
"Yeah, Pony?" Darry mumbled, wiping some sweat off his forehead. He didn't know why he was sweating; he was absolutely freezing!
"You're gonna need to go the doctors over the jaundice." It was more of an order than a statement. Darry snickered.
"You kiddin', Pony? It's just gonna give us more bills." Darry exclaimed, looking up at his little brother.
"Well, you never hesitate when me and Soda are sick, so you're doing the same as what happens when we're sick." Ponyboy stated firmly, and Darry sighed.
"Fine…if it makes you happy. Now, leave me alone; I wanna rest." Darry muttered, and Ponyboy exited his oldest brother's room.
"He's goin'!" Ponyboy announced proudly, and Sodapop grinned.
"Nice." Soda said, and pulled his little brother down on the sofa to sit next to him.
"I'm kinda worried about Dar, Soda. Do you think he's gettin stressed out?" Ponyboy asked, and Sodapop looked at his little brother.
"Yeah, Pone, he is stressed, but I don't think that's the whole reason why he's a little sick. I'm sure he'll get over it…soon; he's Superman after all." Sodapop whispered, and Ponyboy nodded.
"Yeah…okay." Pony sighed, and settled down next to his brother.
In the next room, Darry was tossing and turning; the pain in his stomach wouldn't go away. He'd taken four aspirins that day, and still nothing was working.
The tomato soup had burnt his stomach earlier and he had wanted to scream, but he couldn't; not while Pony and Soda were watching.
AN: Okay, so this is my first story that I'm going to be continuing. With the symptoms Darry is having, some of you can probably guess what's up with him. Pony'sgirlfriend suggested I do a sicfic, but this is gonna be a little more than that…
Seriously, the whole time while I was writing that chapter, I kept replaying For River (orchestral version) on YouTube; it gets me into an emotional mood!