Nichole did have a nightmare again that night. This time, she was watching her family put her casket into the ground at the cemetery while crying. It was her funeral, and everyone that Nichole had known since she was little was there. Everyone was crying, and saying that she had died too young.
Nichole couldn't help crying along with them, because she knew that she was hurting her family and friends. Nichole had hoped that she wouldn't be forced to see this after she saw when her family found out that she was dead, and she was all alone this time, Cherry Valence didn't come to tell Nichole anything.
When Nichole raised her hands to wipe the tears away however, she saw that her hand was covered in wrinkles. Nichole gasped in shock, and looked down to see the rest of herself. She was in clothes that she saw old women ware.
Nichole looked around till she saw a building where she was sure that had a bathroom. She walked over to it, because she found it hard enough to walk let alone run. When she reached the bathroom, Nichole looked in the mirror, and saw an old woman staring back at her with wide shocked eyes.
Nichole woke with a start, and sat bolt upright. She turned on the lamp next to her bed, and looked down at her hands, and they were her normal hands, with no signs of old age. She breathed a sigh of relief, but then it hit her.
By the time that Nichole gets buried in the ground, she'll be an old woman, and would be able to watch it all happen. Nichole put a hand over her mouth to try and keep quiet while she cried, because she didn't wat to wake the boys. She cried for a while, and when she was done, crying she thought about if she should go to Soda or not.
Soda had said that if Nichole had a nightmare that she could go to him, but Nichole wasn't too sure if she should wake him for something like this. There was nothing really that Soda could do about it, and he had his own problems with Sandy to deal with. He shouldn't have to deal with Nichole's pain too.
Nichole rolled herself into a ball, and wiped away the tears that she had shed.
"I don't want to dream anymore." Nichole whispered to herself, and she didn't have any dreams for the rest of the night because she didn't allow herself to fall asleep again, since she was afraid that she would have another nightmare.
[…]
Nichole was the first one up when morning came around, and she thought that it would probably be a good idea to bake the gang a cake to try and help them all take their minds off what had happened so far.
The first cake that Nichole had made here did not taste exactly like Mrs. Curtis's cake according to Darry, but it was also pretty close to it according to Soda. Nichole was glad that the guys had liked her cake, but she hadn't made another one since that last one till now.
The cake was in the oven, and Nichole was doing the dishes, and cleaning up after the little mess she had made when Soda came walking into the kitchen.
It was obvious to Nichole that Soda did not sleep all that well either since there were dark bags under his eyes.
"Morning." Nichole said.
"Morning," Soda replied taking a dishtowel and started to dry a spoon, "How did you sleep?"
"Not all that well. How about you?" Nichole asked.
"Same." Soda said, he put the spoon away, and started drying a bowl.
"Um, don't you want to eat anything before drying the dishes? And speaking of that, you don't have to do that at all. This is my mess, I can clean it up." Nichole said.
"Please just let me do what I want to do this morning," Soda said, "and besides, I wanted to try some of your cake for breakfast."
"Oh, okay." Nichole said, she looked down at the soapy water and yawned a little bit.
"Did you have any more nightmares?" Soda asked.
Nichole hesitated before giving Soda an answer, "Depends on what you call a nightmare."
Soda sighed, "Did you wake up crying?"
Nichole nodded.
Soda put down the dishtowel, and pulled Nichole into a hug. "Why didn't you come to me about it?"
"Um… I thought that you shouldn't have to deal with what I'm going through right now, while you're dealing with your own sucky stuff." Nichole said.
"What's 'sucky'?" Soda asked.
"It's a word that means bad. It's a word from my time." Nichole said.
"I see, well that word actually seems to fit both of our lives right now huh?" Soda said.
Nichole nodded, "Yes it does. That's why I'm making a cake. I thought that it would be something that could cheer everyone up at least a little bit."
"That's a good idea." Soda said, and Nichole could hear a little bit of a smile in his voice.
Nichole couldn't help smiling a little bit too. "Yeah, I guess it is."
The timer dinged on the counter indicating that the cake was done. Nichole unwounded herself from Soda's arms so she could get the cake out of the oven.
"Who's baking?" Ponyboy asked as he walked into the kitchen.
"Me." Nichole said pulling the cake out of the oven, and placing it on a wire rack so it can cool.
Ponyboy nodded. "It looks good." He said.
Soda reached towards the cake to take a peace, but Nichole stopped him when she hit his hand.
"What was that for?" Soda complained.
"The cake it too hot to even touch right now, let alone eat. You'll just have to wait a little while longer." Nichole said crossing her arms in front of her to show Soda that she meant it.
Nichole must have looked pretty funny, because Soda just started laughing. "Alright, I'll wait a little while longer."
Nichole nodded, and then she turned around and swotted Ponyboy's hand too, which was reaching for the cake. "That goes for you too, Pony."
"Fine." Ponyboy said, and he walked to the refrigerator to get a glass of chocolate milk.
"Morning everyone!" Two-bit called as he walked into the house, "Who's awake?"
"We are." Soda called He was in the refrigerator now, pulling out eggs, butter, and grape jelly.
"That doesn't completely answer the question, Soda." Two-bit said as he walked around the corner and into the kitchen.
Nichole moved out of the way so there would be at least some room for all four of them in the small kitchen.
"What's with all the shouting?" Darry asked as he walked into the kitchen too so he could get himself some coffee before he headed off to work.
Nichole had to squeeze herself past all the boys who were talking and cooking in order for her to get out.
That was when Dally and Johnny walked through the door that Two-bit forgot to close.
"What's going on?" Dally asked.
"For some reason, everyone wants to hang out in the kitchen this morning." Nichole explained.
Dally walked into the crowded kitchen to see what was going on.
"Hey Look! Cake!" Two-bit exclaimed, and Nichole was sure that now all of the guys would want to cake now, and she could not stop them from toughing it before it cooled off.
"You made a cake?" Johnny asked.
Nichole nodded, "I thought that it would maybe make you guys feel better if I made you guys a cake."
Johnny gave Nichole a hug, "That's really tuff of you."
Nichole smiled and hugged Johnny back. "Thanks Johnny. How did it go at the station yesterday?"
"They wanted me to retell everything that had happened the night of the rumble." Johnny said, and he looked like he was thinking back on how terrible that night was.
Nichole hugged Johnny tighter as if she could protect him from the memory. "The fuzz do that the day after what happened, because by then everyone that's involved has calmed down enough to think."
"They had me tell what happened that very night too." Johnny said.
"Maybe they just wanted to hear it again." Nichole said.
"Yeah maybe." Johnny agreed.
They hugged each other tightly, like they were trying to be an anchor for one another. After a while they pulled apart, and headed to the kitchen to see what the others were up to.
They were all sitting in different places around the room. Ponyboy, and Soda were both sitting on the counter, Two-bit was perched on the refrigerator like a cat, and Darry and Dally were sitting on the floor with the cake on a plat sitting on the floor in front of them. It was about half gone, and all the boys that were in the kitchen while Nichole and Johnny were in the living room, had crumbs on their face.
"How's the cake?" Nichole asked.
"Really good, thank you." Soda said with a smile. Nichole had to hold back a bit of a giggle since there was a little bit of cake in his teeth, and Nichole found it funny.
Johnny sat down on the floor next to Dally, and took a peace of the cake. When he took a bite of it, he smiled, and he didn't look like he had just witnessed a murder a day and a half ago.
Nichole sat on the last spot that was left on the floor which was right next to where Soda was dangling his foot.
"How are things?" Dally asked Nichole.
"What do you mean?" Nichole asked.
"Soda told us that you can't go home, and we were all wondering how you were doing with that." Darry explained.
Nichole looked up at Soda. "Why did you tell them?" She wasn't mad at him, but she still thought that she should have been the one that told the rest of the gang about it.
Soda shrugged, "I thought that it would be easier for you to have me tell the gang than you having to tell it more than once."
Nichole nodded. "Thanks Soda."
Johnny raised his hand. "I'm confused. Why can't Nichole go home? Her mission is done isn't it?'
"It is done, Johnny it's just that…" Nichole started crying before she could finish her explanation.
Soda jumped down from the counter, and hugged Nichole tightly. He moved around so He ended up sitting down, and was holding Nichole in his lap while she cried getting his T-shirt whet with tears. Nichole liked the comfort of being in Soda's arms like that, but it was a little strange with the rest of the gang in the same room. Soda didn't seem to care, he just wanted Nichole to just calm down.
Dally leaned over, and whispered in Johnny's ear the answer to his question. Johnny's eyes went wide with shock, and he looked at Nichole.
"That's horrible." Johnny whispered, and it sounded like he was close to tears too.
Nichole now felt like she needed to comfort Johnny, but when she moved to get out of Soda's grasp to go hug Johnny, Soda tightened up on Nichole so she couldn't go anywhere. Though a small opening in Soda's embrace, Nichole could see that Dally was hugging Johnny like an older brother would to when the younger brother is sad, or just woke up from a nightmare.
"I just keep making everyone hurt." Nichole whispered, and Soda seemed to be the only one that could hear her.
"Don't say that," Soda whispered in Nichole's ear, "don't even think that. You don't make us all hurt on purpose, and you do your best to take the hurt away. You just did that this morning with the cake you made for us, and you saved both Dally and Johnny."
"But I'm the reason that Steve is dead." Nichole whispered.
"Steve died saving Johnny, it's not your fault that Steve is dead, it's the guy who killed him." Soda hissed, and Nichole saw a tear from Soda start to roll down his face.
Nichole hugged him tightly, trying to take Soda's pain away. "I'm sorry." She whispered.
"Don't be." Soda whispered.
"But I made you cry," Nichole whispered, "and for that I'm very sorry."
Nichole reached up to Soda's face, and gently wiped his tears away.
They both had no idea that the rest of the gang had left the kitchen so the two of them could be alone.
