my name is sodapop, and im going to be 17 next week. within the past year my life changed; flipped upside down. I dropped out of school; work at the gas station and two of my friends lay 6 feet under the ground. This was just another obstacle throughout my life. My brothers and I live by ourselves since our parents are deceased and try to get by in this tough town. I draw no pity. I have many positives in my life, and make the best out of the situations.

Steve took the rag he had been using to clean his hands while he fixed the cars at the small auto shop, and threw it at me

"You've got some grease on your face there soda" he said jokingly indicating it with his finger.

"Ha-ha real funny" I replied chucking it back at him.

Steve and I closed up the shop and hopped into his car like we did at 4 everyday. Even though we tried to clean the grease off we always managed to still have some on ourselves. We joked about the funny customers we see throughout the day, but today it seemed hard for me to concentrate. He pulled the car into the drive and put the car in park. steve got out and hanged with us for alittle while. You could always find steve at our house, some actually think he lives here. Actually everyone practically lives here. We try to live our lives and move on.

Two of our friends, Johnny and dally have died a couple months ago. It's the hardest for my little brother, pony boy. It took pony over 2 weeks to stop hallucinating and thinking they were still alive. He has been getting better every day but he still shows sometimes. I'd be a liar if I said that their deaths hadn't affected all of us. We all think about them and still find ourselves sad about it. I stopped wishing they were still alive after the first month because I know that they are dead and I can't change that, but I miss them a lot, and now we are finally starting to get back to ourselves again.

"have you heard from sandy lately" steve asked casually outside our front door.

"na, im over her I haven't sent her a letter sense the first one"

I lied. I acted like it wasn't a big deal, but it was. Sandy was the love of my life.

. Pony boy was eating cake with two bit as I walked in. They were just hanging out. I know that if Mickey was on two bit would have been glued to the TV. He shore digs Mickey, it's like an obsession or something for him. You didn't want to watch TV. with two bits if ya actually wanted to know what is going on .he always put his comments in and found yourself laughing so hard you would miss half the program.

"hey there guys" two bit said. Ponyboy turned around and greeted us too. We both replied and watched the show with them. Steve of course had to go get cake before he watched TV. cake was like what Mickey was to two bit.

"did you guys here about the soc's who got there car window's smashed in" said steve, and I agreed.

" no way where the man who did it, I oughta give him a pat on the back, could you imagine the look on that soc's face!"

he said in amazement, then bursted out in one of his crazy laughs. When he broke out into laugh his choclate cake could have been seen for miles. He always thought his remarks were funnier than they really were.

"ya man one of the guys was howling about what a sight it was to see the expression on the guys's face" I added. We just sat and joked around for alittle while in till darry got home.

Me and ponyboy made dinner for him and it was ready for him when he walked in. we ate but he wasn't in a talking mood. He still is a 50 year old grumpy man in a 20 year old guys body. He was probably tired since he wasn't no kid anymore; working long days.

Note: some of the spelling mistakes are intentional because that's how people talk (ex wanna, na ect)