A/N: This is such a damn long chapter that it is being posted in two parts.

Disclaimer: The usual

/Pepsi's POV/

I woke up the next morning with Darry shaking my shoulder. That was odd; he usually just pounded on the door for a few minutes. Maybe he was in a hurry or something. It was too early to figure him out. I rolled onto the floor with a thump and sat there dazed for a moment. I really wasn't awake yet. Soda got up and tripped over all the clothes on the floor on his way to the door. I watched him go as I shook the sleep out of my head. It wasn't my day and I could feel it already.

I finally managed to make it to the kitchen to find Darry cooking breakfast. He threw me a little grin out of the blue and I frowned. What's got in to him? I went to the fridge and saw no chocolate cake. This was really not my day. Darry put a couple of plates on the table and I got the hint pretty fast. I sat there and looked at my eggs for a minute. I wanted cake even more now.

Soda came in a minute later and went straight to the fridge. He grabbed the grape jelly and the salsa then sat down beside me. I thanked him and piled half the jar of salsa on my eggs. I figured if I was gonna eat eggs, I was gonna do it right. Darry raised an eyebrow at my breakfast, but he was one to talk; drinking coffee. We all ate in silence, not having anything to say to each other. What was there to say?

Darry was the first to finish and he dumped his dishes in the sink with a meaningful look at the two of us. We knew it was our turn to do the dishes. He didn't have to give us that look, well maybe he did. I wasn't planning on getting up. Soda picked up a dishtowel and waited for me to get washing. It was stupid that he always got to dry, but I was good at washing.

We were nearly done when Soda just started laughing for no reason.

"Anything you want to share?" I asked

"Nope. Just felt like laughing." Soda grinned

I shook my head and splashed water at him. He splashed some back and before we knew it we were in a full out water fight in the kitchen.

"Well, someone's pumped for school," Two-Bit laughed at us

Soda and I grinned before splashing water at Two-Bit.

"Hey!" he laughed, "I got an image to maintain, unlike you two."

I looked over at Soda, who was drenched with soapy water, and I knew I was no dryer. Soda had gone to so much trouble to dress too... He seemed to be on the same thought as I was 'cause he started laughing when he saw his clothes.

"Come on, Pepsi." Two-Bit threw a towel at me "We got teachers to turn gray."

"Yeah," I replied pulling on a shirt from the laundry pile

"See ya, Peps!" Soda laughed

"See ya, Soda!" I answered almost crashing into Steve on my rush out the door.

Maybe the day was turning around, but it wouldn't last for long. School has that affect on people

I went to my last period before lunch feeling absolutely miserable. Every Grease I ran into shook my hand, on Pony's behalf, and every Soc gave me dirty looks and tried to start fights. I wasn't happy with either. To top it off, my history teacher acted like I might knife her, if she turned her back on me or came within three rows of my desk. Today was only getting worse and I wondered if things would be like this every day. I sure as hell hoped not.

"Mr. Curtis!"

"What?" I replied thinkingthe math lady'svoice only gets more nasal everyday

"On time today are we?" She was smiling like I was giving up being rebellious.

"Yeah," I said mentally flipping her off

The two Socs closest to me started to talk and point at the mention of my name. I threw them a glare and they talked even more, just like Soc girls always do. Damn it was annoying. I decided the best thing I could do was put my head down on my desk and wait for the day to be over.

"Don't let those Soc's get to you, buddy," Two-Bit said seeing them as well as I did "Pony and Johnny did what they had to. We should be proud."

"Yeah," I answered putting my head back on my desk

The Socs were only the half of it. The fact I should be proud was the other.

I let the period slip by and was more than glad to get to my locker. I stashed all my books away and slammed it closed. I'd had enough for one day.

"I'm going home," I announced to Two-Bit and Steve

"You don't want to go get lunch?" Two-Bit said thinking that odd because he thought with his stomach.

"Nope."

"You're quitting, man." Steve shook his head "I thought you'd be the last to crack."

"Yeah, well, I ain't cracking. I'm just leaving before I beat someone's head in," I explained

"You can tell yourself that," he sighed, not being anything like a good buddy

"Thanks, man," I answered really not liking Steve and not really wanting to argue with him either.

I knew Darry wouldn't be impressed, but what choice did I have? Stick it out until some Soc had his head beat in and I was suspended? Not my idea of the best way to get in trouble. I'd rather have Darry yell at me for drag racing or something I could laugh with the guys about later. That was my kind of trouble.

I can't say I wasn't tempted to get suspended on my way out of the building. Socs were bad before, but they were worse now and the teachers didn't even care to stop them. I was even shoved and cussed at. Damn, what I wouldn'tgive for a drink.

The Socs must have taken Sheldon's death as the excuse to really pick up this Soc vs. Grease thing. It was now every body's war, but for the first time, I was on the front lines. I would have rather just been some Grease getting in on beating up Socs than everyone of them knowing me.

I was thinking on this while I walked. I wondered how things would be for Pony when he came home. I was still kicking myself for letting Dally talk me into letting him go. I shouldn't have been calm. I should have kicked and screamed anything but just standing there. If only you could turn back time, like in those books Pony tells me about.

I was nearly home when something hit me in the back of the head. I turned to see five Socs standing a few feet away. I was seething, to say the least, mostly because I was stupid enough to think and not pay attention to things. I let my guard down, now I was gonna pay for it. I knew when not to push the odds, but it looked like I don't have a choice, again. Three to one, maybe, but never five to one. Never.

I turned and started on my way home again. I knew it wouldn't do any good, but maybe if I was closer to home, I'd even the odds by running into Dally or Shepard. Damn, I was thinking like a coward.

"Hey!" one yelled "You running, Curtis?"

"Yeah," another yelled "Bob Sheldon was a friend of ours."

"We don't take kindly to a Greasy Curtis killing him," yet another one yelled

"So, we'll kill us a Greasy Curtis," the first finished

Kill me? They didn't know who they were dealing with. I've ridden tougher bulls than the whole group was.

"Maybe we should teach him the lesson Bob started on his kid brother with," one snickered

They sped up their pace and I kept mine. They wouldn't get the satisfaction of me running from them.

"How would you like a bath and a good working over, Grease?" one hissed at me

I stopped then. Pony had used the exact same words when he told me what happened.

"You were there," I snapped shaking with anger for a moment.

"Yeah, I was there." One grinned "So was Dan."

These two had tried to kill my baby brother. I wanted them dead. I wanted to kill them myself, with my bare hands.

"You just gonna stand there, Grease?" one asked looking overconfident

"No," I answered folding my arms and glaring at the leader

There was no way I was going to avoid this and I'm not sure I wanted to. They started to circle then, like a pack of vultures. That's what all Socs were; rich vultures no one could stop. Well, I wasn't dead yet, and I was going to take a few of them with me before I was done with them. They closed in even tighter. They didn't have to worry; I wasn't going to run.

Dan grinned and took the first shot at me. I ducked under it and threw him one to remember. Now, if this had been a fair fight, I'd have taken them on one at a time. Socs don't fight fair. I'd barely punched Dan when another one of them caught me in the ribs and one hit me on the side of the head. I took in a short breath of air hit one after another, but for my every shot, two were thrown back at me.

I was managing to miss most of the ones aimed for my head, but I could tell my ribs were going to be bothering me for a couple days. Suddenly, one came out of nowhere and caught me on the temple. I hit the ground hard. I shook the stars out of my head while they just stood there and watched. I looked up from my back at five smiling, if bloody, faces. A pack of vultures was perfect. I spit at them and waited for them to come at me.

I heard a yell and the Socs looked surprised. Next thing I knew I was almost trampled by Two-Bit. He had a broken pop bottle and was swinging it at the Socs. They backed up a bit and I noticed the fence was to the back of us now. Two-Bit was swearing at them and jabbing that pop bottle at them to get the point across. The Socs didn't seem to know what to do, but every time a Soc tried to close in Two-Bit would jab that pop bottle at them and they'd back up a bit more. They really got the point then.

"Back up, you Sons of Bitches," Two-Bit yelled again

"He's ours, Grease," a Soc yelled

"You bastards have caused enough trouble. Scram!" Two-Bit yelled

"An eye for an eye!" one said in far from happy voice

"You'd better back off!" Two-Bit threatened "I ain't afraid to use this!"

"Great," I muttered patting Two-Bit's calf. I was glad he wasn't bluffing because things looked sorry for me, if he was.

"You just stay down there, Pepsi. I'll handle these assholes," Two-Bit ordered not looking down at me

"My hero."

Wondered where Two-Bit had come from and where he'd got that pop bottle

Suddenly, there was more yelling and the pounding of feet on the pavement. The Socs scattered and I could see rocks following them. Two-Bit threw his pop bottle after them, still cursing. I thought he was going to take off after them, so I grabbed a hold of his leg, not wanting to be left here on my own. I hated this. Maybe Steve was right. Maybe I was cracking.

"Pepsi-cola." Darry looked half-worried and half-relieved as he knelt down on the pavement

"Why are you out of work?" I asked thoroughly confused. How the hell did he get here so fast?

"I got the afternoon and thought I'd come home and take the truck into the DX then I ran into Dally and now you two on my walk home," Darry sighed

He looked into my eyes and then out of nowhere jabbed me in the side. Damn, did that hurt! I let go of Two-Bit so I could cover my ribs.

"Damn, Darry," I cursed feeling my ribs throb with every breath I took now

"You might have cracked a few ribs, but you'll be fine," Darry said looking fully relieved

I might have cracked a few ribs? Damn, he says dumb things. I know he saw those Socs running away and they weren't just standing there while I beat up my own ribs. I was about to tell him this, but I found it easier not to talk. I didn't have anything nice to say anyway

"Are you ok, Two-Bit?" Darry asked him

"Yeah," he answered looking angry, but it was fading

"You're pretty good with a pop bottle, man," Dally said complimenting Two-Bit

"Lucky for me," I commented, meaning it, but wishing I hadn't said it from the pain in my ribs

"Why aren't you at school?" Darry asked in his parental tone

"'Cause if one more Soc cussed me out because of all this or one more Greaser shook my hand because my brother's involved in all this--" I started to explain but stopped about there. I wasn't about to explain it all until I had a couple of aspirins in me.

Darry nodded which surprised me. I hadn't expected him to understand.

"So, you drug Two-Bit home with you?" Darry asked

"Nah. Pepsi took off and I heard some Socs talking about how some other Socs were going to get revenge on Pepsi and I couldn't just do nothing." Two-Bit grinned at me "No matter how hard headed he may be, Pepsi-cola is my buddy."

"Good for you, man," Dally said lighting up

Darry was starring at me again. Damn, that was annoying.

"Come on, little buddy," he said offering me his hand "Let's get you home."

I took it this time

To Be Continued...


Well there you have it ladies and gentlemen. Part one of this damn long chapter is done. Any comments at all are welcome, flames are accepted and so forth.

See ya in the funny papers!

Tens