Chapter 7 Amanda's POV

Soda's arms were wrapped around me the morning of the trial. He was still sleeping, so I decided to take the moment to stare at him. He seemed to even smile in his sleep. His eyes were shut lightly and my eyes landed on his lips. So soft and kissable. I was so mesmerized by them, I leaned forward and kissed them lightly. His eyes shot open and I leaned back, bit my lip and giggled. He looked at me and gave me a crazy smirk. Uh-oh he was gonna do something.

"You asked for it…" he trailed off mysteriously. I smiled and he crawled on top of me and gave me countless neck kisses. Then it honestly started to hurt at one point for about thirty seconds. I moaned and then he hopped off of the bed.

"Gotta get dressed the police will be here any minute to pick me up." He said, out of breath. I nodded and got off the bed and stretched. He walked over and kissed me passionately on the lips before I told him I'd go get dressed in the bathroom. I walked out of the room and looked around.

"Hey Mandy! Wanna borrow some clothes for the trial? I have something that would look so cute in! But tuff at the same time! Soda will love it!" Bella smiled leading me down to the really run down basement, well Bella's room.

"Ok here it is." She smiled and pulled out a dark purple mini skirt and an all lacy long sleeved black shirt. She winked at me. As if telling me that was a way to get him to look at me. Please, not trying to be cocky or anything, but he checked me out even when I was in sweats. I wasn't really much to check out.

"Saucy." She giggled like a fourth grader. It was HOT. I really wondered what Soda would think or say. Would he think I was slutty? Cute? Hot? I really wanted him to think I was hot. Did he? If checking me out had anything to do with it, he loved me. I popped back into reality to see Evie running down the stairs. I started to take off my Soda's big shirt and his sweats.

"Hey girlies!" Evie smiled as I slipped into Bella's black tank top for under the lacy top, then the lacy top and the skirt. Evie looked me up and down and bit her lip seductively. She seriously had been getting after me for being a tease to Soda. He always started it. Kissing my neck then I'd shove him off after a while, he knew the situation, but he pushed it until he knew he'd have to stop.

"Oh, Soda is a lucky boy! Mandy, you are HOT! You got straight girls checking you out woman! Dang girl. You're pretty good!" I blushed and stuck my hip out sassily. They laughed and continued to compliment me. Even straight girls checked me out. Maybe I was pretty. I mean my nose was a pretty good shape and my eyes were a pretty good distance apart, and my hair was ok. I ran Bella's brush through my hair a couple times and waited for Evie to change into some of Bella's beautiful clothes too. Now it was showing through that she was a Soc at one point, she had all the good brand clothes, but all the times I'd met her she'd worn Holey jeans and old T shirts. I walked back up the stairs and Soda was waiting for me eagerly at the door. When he saw me his eyes bulged and he not so surprisingly looked me up and down slowly, his eyes scanning my body and they landed on… well, if you can't figure it out, you're probably not old enough to know. I snapped in front of his zoned out eyes, making him look me in the eye.

"My face is up here." I said pointing my index finger towards my face. He looked guiltily at his feet, then looked back up and his eyes reminded me of a puppy's after chewing his master's shoes. I sighed and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Keep looking and I'll never let you touch." I winked. He reddened and gave me a huge kiss on the lips. Soda took my hand and led me to the kitchen to get something to eat. We walked in and for some reason they all stopped what they were doing and stared at me. It got uncomfortable to the point where I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Alright that's enough. Go back to your business." Soda scoffed protectively. I rolled my eyes at his behavior. He seemed kind of… jealous, but oh well. It was better than him treating me like material. I hated guys like that. A lot of hoods treated their girls like nothing, just toys. And I couldn't stand that. It annoyed the shit out of me. Soda treated me like a queen, like no one else mattered but me, I always came first in our relationship no matter how hard I tried to get him to come first, it was always me. But that was the way he showed me that he loved me, he put me on this pedestal and loved me to death. It sometimes made me feel guilty for not giving him what I knew he wanted, but I wasn't ready. And he definitely wouldn't want me to do something that I wasn't ready for. No matter how bad he wanted it. But then I thought, would I ever be ready? It was kind of hard to say, I loved him A LOT, but it just didn't seem right. He was ready, he'd told me that when I'd asked for honesty the night before. But I couldn't see it happening yet, I knew that it would happen eventually, because I wanted to have kids. And I also knew that my I'd lose my virginity to him. But I just didn't know when. I wanted it to be special, and I needed to be braced. Kathy's words had bounced around in my mind. 'He won't wait around forever, and if you don't give it to him someone else will' she'd hissed. And I couldn't help but take it to heart. I mean, Soda was the sweetest guy I'd ever met, but did that make him any less of a teenage boy? No. and what's his emotionally unstable girlfriend supposed to do about that? That's what I wanted to know, that would have been quite helpful. I didn't want to disappoint him or leave him hanging but I guess I had to. He'd said it was ok that he had to wait. And that answer was good enough for me. For now.

"Hey babe, want pancakes?" he asked. I nodded but started to rub the side of my neck. It kind of hurt, like a bruise. I gave him the signal to wait a minute and walked down the hall to the bathroom to check out what was wrong with my neck. Bella was cleaning the toilet when I walked in. She looked up and smiled at me. I smiled back and looked in the bathroom mirror. It was a fat purpley pinkish bruise. How the hell had that gotten there? I saw my nose scrunch up in the bathroom mirror when Bella popped into the reflection.

"Oh looks like someone got a love bite!" Bella giggled. I love bite? First of all what was a love bite? And secondly, if it was a love bite, then why did it hurt so much? That made no sense. I gave Bella a confused look and she just laughed and put a hand on my shoulder.

"Darling, Soda gave you a hicky." She sighed as if I should have known that. Ok, maybe my life was sheltered, but what the hell was a hicky? I touched the bruise again and examined it. Then I remembered that morning, when Soda had sucked on my skin and made it hurt for a little bit. So that's what a hicky was. I mean, why did he want to give me a bruise? It made no sense to me, but Bella seemed to think it was perfectly normal, I guessed it was ok. I bit my bottom lip, still confused and walked out of the bathroom without another word. I couldn't stop touching it now with an awkward look on my face. Soda saw and gave me a guilty look as he walked over to me.

"I'm sorry about that, I just got caught up in the moment." He sputtered. I nodded trying to seem understanding. But I really didn't do a good job because he still looked guilty. I sighed and moved closer to him. He put his arm around my waist in return and smiled. I sighed heavily starting to think about the trial. It was making me nervous, but I wasn't about to make Sodapop more of a wreck than he probably already was. I gulped and he started to massage my shoulders. He had the magic touch. I can't tell you how good it felt. He kissed my neck slowly.

"Soda we're in front of people." I moaned silently. He laughed quietly and pulled away. After a few of Two-Bit's typical wise cracks there was a knock at the door. I knew it was the police officer and my stomach churned it was scaring me as the actual trial was in an hour! I grabbed a hold of Soda and we walked toward the door. I went hid behind Soda so the officer couldn't see me.

"Hello Sodapop Curtis? We're here to pick you up." The officer was young, his hair slicked back. He had black hair and green eyes. Soda was definitely the cuter of the two. Soda smiled and nodded. I knew he was gonna ask now about me riding with them in the police car to the trial with them. I didn't really know what he would say, but it was worth a shot.

"Officer, do you think my girl could ride with us?" Sodapop asked smoothly. I crossed my fingers that he would say yes. Was it some kind of rule that only the defendant could go with the officers? Maybe, maybe not.

"We don't normally allow…." I stepped from behind Soda and the officer looked me up and down. "I guess that'd be ok." He stuttered. Still staring at me. I rolled my eyes and all three of us started to walk toward the car. Gripping Soda like it was our last time together this year. What could be our last day together.

"Defendant not guilty." The judge's words rang in my head. Tears streamed down my face as I held Sodapop's hand. She continued to say that as long as he took a week off at the DX and helped out at the Police station as community service, there would be no jail time. He was also reset in Darry's custody. I was so happy I couldn't help but give him a passionate kiss, starting to kiss in sync, tongue and all, we didn't stop till Two-Bit butted in.

"Not in the court room." Two-Bit chuckled. We pulled away and stared into each other's eyes, yep couldn't have spent eight months without my baby. He grabbed me by my waist and threw me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. I screeched.

"I'm in a skirt!" I giggled. He squeezed my thigh lightly and then tickled it. He walked me out of the room like that with the judge still in her seat, staring at us. She looked serious but then gave me a playful sympathetic look. I beat on his back lightly chanting 'put me down.' When we reached Two-Bit's car he put me down. I rolled my eyes and shoved him, annoyed. I could feel that the short skirt had ridden up. I yanked it down and huffed. The things he did.

"Oh come on baby, you can't stay mad at me." He said wrapping his arms around my waist. I bit the inside of my cheek hard, still annoyed. He looked down at me and I looked up at him, he was right I couldn't stay mad at him. I sighed as he gave me a kiss. He picked me up and smiled.

"I love you Amanda." He smiled. When he told me he loved me, it made my heart skip a beat. I loved him too, a lot. Maybe more than he loved me. But probably not. I bit my lip and he set me down. I wrung my hands around his neck and laid on his chest.

"I love you too." I sighed and I did, I really did.

I held Sodapop's hand under the dinner table as we ate dinner at the Montgomery's, Evie did the same with Steve. The boys were silent, not wanting to make a fool out of themselves. Steve couldn't afford to get another bad thing added to Jim's mental naughty list.

"I've got a surprise for y'all." Uncle Jim said gruffly. I smiled and squeezed Soda's hand and wondered what it could be. Maybe he'd let us take the Porsche out for a while, or maybe have a party, or maybe he'd cut Soda's community hours. You never knew.

"I won you guys basketball tickets, I bet four tickets that Soda wouldn't end up guilty with another officer." He chuckled and set the tickets on the on the table, then nodding for us to leave. Wait… now? Everyone thanked Jim and walked out the door with their purses and wallets. Soda opened the passenger door for me, letting me know we got the front seats and he'd be driving. Steve hopped in with Evie and they almost immediately started making out. I rolled my eyes and tapped Soda.

"You know if you would have made Steve drive, that could have been us." I smirked at him. He arched his eyebrows in surprise and then gave me a semi dirty smirk. He ran his finger over my hicky and I giggled. He turned back to the road but winked at me before turning all the way back around. My stomach exploded like a fan girl getting a wink from their heart throb.

"Good point Mandy, you're driving home Steve." He smiled, still looking at the road. Steve couldn't pull away. He was putty in Evie's hands. Her lips touched his and that was it, she had full control over him. He stuck one limp thumb in the air and put his hand right back on her ass. I shook my head in disbelief. Evie didn't care that we we're in the car and seemed to care even less. Then I started to think about basketball, I knew nothing about the sport. Oh well, they probably didn't know crap either.

"I brought you a drink." Soda smiled. I kissed him in the cheek as he sat down. Damn it, there it was again, this one basketball player on the Oklahoma team kept looking at me and it was honestly getting kind creepy. But then he smiled, I waved and he nodded for some reason and went after the ball. Soda and I had shared a couple kisses during the game but no joke, Steve and Evie never stopped swallowing face, I bet it was because Jim never gave them time alone.

The game ended and I somehow lost Soda and them. I searched around frantically the crowd for them but they were nowhere to be seen. Then someone tapped on my shoulder, I whirled around to see the basketball player that kept staring at me. He flipped his hair and smiled. I smiled and turned back around to find them, but he spun me around again.

"I'm Derek." He stuck his hand out for me to shake I shook it firmly and awkwardly stood there for a minute.

"The team's going out for drinks if you wanna come, like as my date maybe." He gave me a flirty grin that made me want to puke. I knew he'd seen me holding hands with Soda earlier in the game. I 0started to turn a bit. No Derek, HELL no. I wanted to say, but I wanted to be more polite than that.

"Sorry, I was just looking for my…. Soda!" I smiled. He didn't smile back and walked straight up to Derek. I'd never actually seen Soda mad before. And he was more so fuming than anything. Why was he so mad at Derek? That ought to make a great conversation on the way home, Jesus Christ.

"What you doing with my girl, ass wipe?" Soda snapped. I tried to calm him down and rested my hand on his shoulder, but he just shrugged it off. They shot insults back and forth for five minutes, me telling Soda to calm down and come with me the whole time but he completely ignored me. That for one pissed me off. Then out of nowhere, Soda threw a punch. I gasped and yanked Soda through the crowd so Derek couldn't continue the fight, when we made it outside I gulped hard and started to yell at him.

"What the hell were you thinking Sodapop Patrick Curtis?! I yelled for you to stop so many times I can't even tell you. And I know you heard me!" I snapped. He shot me a glare. What the hell had gotten into him?! He shook his head crazily and stomped his foot.

"Did you see him?! He was totally flirting with you!" he bellowed close to my face. I cowered in fear. I'd never actually been physically scared of Soda, but I sure was then. My eyes stung with tears and I groaned, I knew what I had to do if he didn't stop soon and it was going to kill me.

"Like none of the girls at the DX flirt with you?! Please! You can't control if they like you and I can't control if he likes me. I may not have your movie star good looks, but is it that hard to believe someone might find me cute and Soda…" I started shaking my head. I made a deal with myself, if the next thing that came out if his mouth was immature, then I'd have to it. He glared at me and fired back.

"No it's not Amanda! That's why I got so mad over what he did? You are my girlfriend, mine. And so if a guy flirts with you I'm not gonna be rational!" He screamed. Tears started to stream down my face, I had to do it now, that was the deal. I started to let out tiny sobs.

"Y-You know what then Sodapop? If you're really that immature, then I think we need to take a break from this, we're done until you grow up!" I said, my voice quivering as I cried. His face dropped and tears rimmed his eyes too. He shook his head in disbelief.

"Are you breaking up with me Amanda?" he asked. A tear fell silently down his cheek. No. I didn't want to break up with him! But I also didn't think it would have been good for our relationship to be with him right now either. So I shook my head.

"We're on a break though." I sighed, the tears coming faster now. I loved Soda so much. Could I even handle a break myself, even if it was my idea? He gulped hard and more tears came for him too.

"I thought you loved me?!" He cried. I bit my lip. I did, I had to tell him that I did so he didn't think I lied when he'd written me the song.

"I do Soda. I love you so much I can't even see straight sometimes. Please don't take it like that. This is because I love you. I'll want you back, this is for the best." I kissed his cheek and ran to Evie and Steve who stood shocked about ten feet away.

"There's a pay phone over there let's see if you're mom will pick me up." I sniffled, wiping salty tears off my chin. She brought me in for a warm hug like she usually did when I was miserable, thing is, ever since I had known Soda, I hadn't been miserable.

"I'll ride with you sis." She said rubbing my back. She gave Steve a huge kiss goodnight and linked arms with me, walking over to the pay phone. Mrs. Montgomery answered on the second ring.

"Hey mama come and get us will ya? Something happened with Soda and Amanda, she can tell you in the car if she wants to just please come get us." She said in a hushed tone. I looked across the parking lot and saw Soda still letting a couple tears slip down his cheeks like I'd been doing too. Steve nudged him and started telling him brotherly things like 'it'll be ok buddy' and 'she said she's comin back for ya.' And I was. Sooner rather than later because I was weak. Mrs. Montgomery gave me a sympathetic look and nodded for us to hop in. We both got in the back and Evie squeezed my hand,

"What happened baby girl?" Sally asked looking at me through the review mirror. That was it. I got that peppery feeling in my nose I always got before a big sob. I burst into tears and Evie squeezed my hand tightly.

"W-we're on a b-break." I hiccuped. Sally rested her hand on my knee lightly. I'd never thought that ending it for a bit would hurt this bad, and there was no way it got better.

"Oh honey can I tell you something that will effect your choice on whether to get back with him or not?" She asked me. I gulped hard. Sally was older which meant all the wiser, what if she thought we were better off not together? I nodded slowly.

"Honey, the truth is everybody will hurt you, you just gotta choose the people that are worth suffering for. The flaws in someone may be the thing hurting you, but it's up to you." She said. And that was so true.

We got home and I cried and cried non stop with my head in Evie's lap. She kept telling me that Soda would forgive me, but I couldn't be so sure. I sobbed all night thinking about Soda. What If he didn't forgive me? What if we were over...