A/N: Thank you so much for all the reviewers, and to everyone who keeps reading this! I say this every time but it means a lot!
X X X X
"Hey, Darry?" said Soda quietly. "Can I ask you something?"
"No, you absolutely may not," said Darry sarcastically. He was stirring the spaghetti on the stove as Soda sat at the table, for some strange reason reading Pony's chemistry notes. "Sure you can."
"What made me get sick?"
Darry blinked. "You know, I'm not sure," he said slowly. "Why?"
"I'm curious."
"Lord save us all," said Darry with a chuckle. "PONY! Dinner's ready!"
Pony came tearing inside, stinking of cigarettes. Soda gagged.
"Pony, how many times do I have to tell you not to come in smelling of weed?" Darry said, though there was no real animosity behind his words. Ever since the fight the night Soda had been jumped he had been making a special effort to remain on civil terms with Pony, and the effort was not lost on the middle brother. He appreciated it greatly.
"Darry, I haven't had a smoke for two whole days!" Pony cried in frustration. "I felt like I was going mad!"
"And I haven't had a smoke since I was fifteen," Darry said. "Seriously, not around the house."
Pony rolled his eyes. "What're you doing with my chem work, Soda?" he asked as he served himself and sat down to eat.
Soda shut the book and stood to serve himself. "I'm curious," said Soda, giving Pony the same answer he had given Darry. It was the truth.
Pony exchanged a glance with Darry. Soda hated school, hated learning, and chemistry was no exception. He pulled his chemistry book closer to himself so he would not forget it the next day.
Soda was in a strange mood; of that there was no doubt. Pony shrugged and thought nothing of it. He had the coming weekend to plan for.
X X X X
"Steve, can you drive me to the hospital?" Soda asked out of the blue as they sat on the couch together.
Steve stared at Soda. "Why? Are you okay?" They had spent most of the morning talking – well, Steve had, at least. Apparently Two-Bit had broken his promise and had blabbed to Soda all about that girl at the DX the other day, not that he wouldn't have told Soda himself, of course. Steve had had to divulge that she was good for a screw, but his mind was wandering back more and more frequently to Evie. He barely recalled the other girl's name anymore.
"I'm fine," reassured Soda. "There's someone there I want to talk to."
Steve frowned in confusion. "Who?"
"I dunno," Soda said thoughtfully. "We'll find out. Come on, please take me… Darry's got the truck and there ain't any buses for an hour, and I'm certainly not walking."
"Er… yeah, I'll take you," said Steve hesitantly. He didn't know what the hell Soda was thinking about. "I don't see what you plan on achieving."
"I just want to ask a doctor something, and we can't afford to make an appointment unless I actually need it. We don't know anyone who's a doctor, so my best bet is that I'll spot one going out on lunch break who won't be able to resist my charm."
Steve was still baffled by his friend's plan, but he smiled. He was glad Soda was getting better. He never would have thought that steroids could be used to treat asthma, but Soda had been on this stuff before several times and Steve knew by now that it worked wonders. "Right; gorgeous little Sodapop, off to flirt his way into medical school… Let's go, then."
The ride to the hospital was short, and it was easy to find a parking lot, so by the time the engine had been switched off, only ten minutes had passed.
"You can wait here, if you like," said Soda. "It might take a while… doctors tend to be awful busy."
Steve nodded mutely, his mind still trying to fathom why Soda actually wanted to go to a hospital. He also sensed, somewhere deep down, that Soda did not actually want him in there. This was something more than it seemed; something very personal, whatever it was. "Yeah… yeah, I'll just wait here," he mumbled.
"Thanks, Steve," said Soda, grinning broadly and opening his car door.
Steve watched him as he passed through the doors to the hospital. Soda was acting incredibly strangely, though he would not push it. Soda was his best friend; if he wanted Steve to know, he'd tell. If he didn't, there was obviously a very good reason.
Steve slumped down as far as he could in his seat and put his feet up on the dashboard on either side of the steering wheel to wait.
X
X X X
"And then, just when things couldn't get any more
embarrassing for poor old Mr Super Soc, his girl dumps her drink all
over his head and leaves the café, just like that!" Two-Bit said,
waving his arms to dramatically emphasize the story. "It was the
funniest attempt at dumping a girl I've seen in months!"
Pony laughed softly, though only enough to soothe Two-Bit's ego. His nose was buried in a new book he had just bought at the Black Cat. Peter, the weekend guy, wasn't as nice as Soda and had insisted he either pay or leave, not go around reading everything. Pony had paid for the book, and was swiftly realizing it was a wise move. This book was good.
Two-Bit took the last bite of his sandwich, and Pony could see his friend's eyes watching his own unfinished one like a hawk. He pushed the plate over. "Take it; I ain't that hungry," he said.
Two-Bit smiled and took the sandwich. Right as he went to take his very first bite, the door to the café swung open and a group of three Socs walked in. This was not all that surprising; the café was one of those places in the middle in which you could encounter people on any stage of the social hierarchy ladder, but it didn't mean it wasn't irritating. They were talking in fairly loud voices, and at the mention of a name, Pony pricked up his ears to listen.
"Yeah, but Randy always thinks he can control the whole lot of us," said one Soc who looked like he had a lot of skull and not much to fill it. "Just because he lost Bob, doesn't mean the rest of us have to stop hating greasers! Man, he ought to hate 'em more than we do! They're the reason Bob's gone!"
The Socs sat down at a table two away from Pony and Two-Bit. "Yeah, I reckon!" said a more intelligent looking Soc. Pony knew he was smart; he was in his class at school. His name was Andy. "I dunno why he thinks he can just expect us not to jump that grease's brother. I mean, no one in their crew died!"
Pony felt a strange lurch in his gut, and he saw Two-Bit's eyes harden until they resembled flint. Of course nobody remembered Dally and Johnny. They had been just two no-good hoods with nothing in life to look forward to and nothing to be proud of. Not like Bob.
The third Soc was one whom Pony had worked with on a school project the year before. He was quite a nice guy, actually; though he showed up for rumbles (who didn't?) Pony knew he never jumped greasers. "Yeah, but Pony's brother's real sick. It was cowardice, what Fred and his buddies did. They didn't have the guts to take on anyone in a fair fight, so they went four against one when they knew the one couldn't look after himself. From what I heard, they would have kept going until they killed him if his mates didn't show up. I for one have noticed their constant lack of presence at rumbles. They're cowards, the whole lot."
"You're crazy, Trevor," said the first Soc. "The thing is that they killed Bob. Randy not wanting us to do anything has nothing to do with it; if one of our crew dies, I think that gives us leave to prey off their weakest link. Who knows, we jump him often enough and maybe they'll stop bothering us?"
Pony almost felt sick by this point in the conversation. Clearly they hadn't noticed him, or they would not be talking like this here. He was not about to draw attention to himself by making a scene.
Trevor sighed, knowing the argument was lost. "Well, I'm not having anything to do with it. And if that kid ends up in hospital, we'll all be held responsible."
"Whatever. It's not like they can afford lawyers anyway," said Andy.
The conversation moved onto other, less dangerous topics. Two-Bit caught Pony's eye, and with a movement of his head, indicated that it was time for them to leave. The gang had some serious thinking to do.
X X X X
A/N: What do you think? Please review! Theories still welcome, though I won't tell you if you're right or wrong at this point