A/N: First off, thanks a ton for the reviews! Love you guys so so much :) And anon, Ponyboylover, Mackenzie's bday is December 2nd :) And to anon, Coeurdeb2uty, I love long reviews haha. So thank you so much for everything you said! I hope everyone enjoys this chapter. Reviews are always appreciated :D

You'd be surprised at how quickly I realized that I was wrong. I mean, normally I'd think I was right for at least a few days before I gave in, but this was different. I was just scared, because of what happened with Billy, and I took out my anger on whoever happened to be there, which at that time was Darry. I knew he wouldn't think too much of it, with him being an actual adult and all. He probably shrugged me off and simply told Soda what had happened. I didn't care though, well not that much anyways. I only focused on keeping those stupid tears back. Those stupid, stupid tears. Why was I even crying? I mean, my ex-boyfriend only tried to rape me. Around our neighborhood, that wasn't exactly surprising.

"Fuck," I whispered as I slide down the wall in my room.

I wrapped my arms around my knees and took a few deep, shaky breaths, resting my head on my knees. It was all I could do to not scream and lose my mind. I had never told anyone, especially Soda, but I hated my life. And I knew most greasers weren't happy with their lives, but I truly did not like mine. It was unfair. Sure, so were other people's lives and I was all for them being miserable too. Maybe we could form a club. An "I hate my life" club...

Oh, dear God, I was losing it. I had no real reason to hate my life! I had the gang, and I had Soda. I was especially grateful for Soda. He was my source of happiness, but some days there was nothing even he could do to make me smile. Like the day I found out my dad had cancer for instance. I was so upset and, like I did with Darry, I took my anger out on Soda.

Suddenly, I lifted my head out of my arms. A painful thought ran through my head and I suddenly felt sick. I'm turning into my father, I thought with a sigh. He snapped on anyone who was in close proximity to him, and they always mistook him for some kind of jackass. Well, he was a jackass, but he wasn't always trying to be one. And he really was doing his best with me now that I knew about the cancer. I had surprised myself when I forgave him for the previous beating. Normally, I would've lashed out and screamed at him until my throat hurt, but I couldn't. All I could do was think about how much I didn'twant to lose him. Even if he was a terrible father at times, I only had one parent left. My mom was gone and Mr. and Mrs. Curtis were gone too. They had been like second parents to me, and when they died, I couldn't even function right for a few weeks. Soda and I both cried like babies, and whenever his brothers weren't around I came by just to sit there on the couch with him. We simply sat there and cried because we didn't know what else to do. I was upset when my mother died too, but I was so young, and I hardly understood what was going on anyways. I just didn't want to lose someone else. I couldn't lose someone else.

Why did stuff like this happen? I don't mean just to me, but to the Curtis brothers too. Two-Bit. Steve. Johnny. Even to Dally. They all had hard lives, no matter what they said. Half of the time Steve wouldn't let anyone forget that he had a hard life, but besides him they all acted like what they did on a daily basis wasn't out of the norm. Two-Bit acted like drowning in his sorrows was a normal thing, Darry acted like taking care of his two younger brothers was nothing special while they acted like barely living off the low income was normal too, Johnny acted as if when his parents beat him, he deserved it, and then Dally didn't give two shits about anyone. He was the worst of them all. He thought being loving and caring was pointless and would get you no where. Oh poor naive Dallas.

And then, as if my mind had nothing else to think about, my thoughts drifted back to Billy, and what he was planning. I mean, I knew he wouldn't let me off that easy, so what the hell was he planning on doing? I just hoped he didn't hurt Soda, even though that was probably his main goal. If he was smart enough.

A light tap came at my window and I jumped, now seeing Soda outside the window, sitting on the tree. I forced myself to get up and I walked across my room to open the window.

"Mackenzie, look, I didn't come here to fight or anything," he started as he climbed through the window.

For once, I kept calm. I wasn't prepared to yell at him and I really didn't want to. I had already yelled at Darry enough and for unjust reasons.

"Good. I don't want to fight either," I assured him, "How much did Darry tell you?"

"He told me enough, and I'm sort of confused about why you did what you did with Billy..."

I ran my fingers through my hair once and looked him straight in the eye. "I didn't have any other choice. I had to distract him so I could get out before...before he went farther."

"I believe you. I just wish I hadn't left...He would have never been able to put his hands on you if I had still been here," Soda replied angrily.

I knew if I said anything I would just start crying, and I didn't want Soda to witness that again. So, to stop the tears, I threw my arms around his neck and waited until he tightly wrapped his arms around my waist. I tried to wrap my arms a little tighter because I could feel the tears coming, but there was no hope. The tears were already falling and I was shaking. And I don't mean shaking a little, I mean shaking a lot.

"Kenzie, babe, calm down," came Soda's voice, slightly soothing me.

"Okay," I breathed out.

I pulled away from Soda and he wiped a few stray tears away from my face. I felt my breathing getting back to normal and could feel the faint tug of a smile at my lips. Soda leaned forward to press his forehead against mine.

"I will always be there for you. Tonight shouldn't have happened and I'm sorry about it all."

"Soda, I love you and that's all that matters right now. I don't want to think about Billy or anything, I just want to be with you," I responded almost instantly.

"And what exactly does that entail?"

"Sleeping," I told him, holding back a smile.

"Sleeping?" he asked incredulously.

I drew back in pretend shock. "Yes, Soda, sleeping. What did you think I was going to say?"

"I dunno," he grinned, "Thought you might be talking about something like this."

He pressed his lips to mine and I smiled. This was what I meant when I said Soda could usually make me smile. He pulled away, but I wasn't done yet. I pulled him back to me and kissed him again.

"Thought we were goin' to bed," Soda smirked once our lips weren't locked anymore.

"We are now, Sodiepop."

I laughed as Soda plopped onto my bed, sending his hair flying into his face. He kept his grin and folded his arms behind his head. I hesitated for a minute before opening my dresser drawers and pulling out a pair of pajamas. I pulled off my clothes, blushing when Soda whistled, and quickly replaced them with a pair of pink pants and a white tank top. Soda pulled off his shirt and wrapped an arm around me when I crawled into bed.

"Please don't leave tonight, Soda," I whispered, even though it was a stupid request.

"I wasn't planning on leaving you," he said.

I only snuggled deeper into Soda and let out a sigh of happiness. His grip grew tighter around me and he mumbled something inaudible.

I screamed Billy's name, but he didn't seem to notice me. I kept yelling as he aimed the gun at Soda. Soda looked at me, his eyes filled with fear. Suddenly it grew cold, almost bone-chilling, and I wrapped my arms around myself. I wasn't about to let Soda die though, especially not for me. I tried to run forward, but I couldn't move. My feet were stuck to the ground and I was really struggling now. Billy noticed me struggling and he pointed the gun at me. It was like slow motion as Soda tried to surprise attack Billy from the back.

Then it happened. It was as if Billy knew Soda would try something like that. I heard the shot ring out and soon Soda was lying on the ground, blood spilling from his arm. He wasn't dead, but I was filled with the need to get to him. Before it was too late.

I was finally able to move my feet, but as I ran towards Soda, Billy grabbed me. I was forced to watch as Soda lost too much blood, killing him. Billy laughed and I let out a scream...

I jolted up in bed as I screamed. Soda groggily sat up next to me and put a hand on my cheek, forcing me to look at him. Fresh tears began to fall and I took a deep breath. I was glad to see that he was still alive and that the horrible nightmare wasn't real.

"Bad dream?" Soda guessed, wiping away the tears.

"Terrible," I whispered.

"You wanna talk about it?"

I immediately shook my head and answered, "No."

He nodded in understanding and I remembered that he had done this for Pony before. Many times, by the things he had said about it. Apparently Pony used to get nightmares a lot after his parents died and Soda had usually been there to help him with them.

Soda slowly pulled me back down the bed with me facing him. He wrapped his arms around me and I buried my head in his chest. The tears had nearly stopped because of the soothing things Soda was saying and my breathing had become normal again. I was happy that Soda had been with me when I woke up, because it he hadn't been I would've still be a wreck.

"Soda?"

"Hmm?"

"Th-Thank you for not leaving me tonight. I know I shouldn't expect you to leave, but...thank you," I told him.

"I already told you I'll always been there for you. You're my girl, Mac, and I'm gonna do whatever it takes to protect you."

I couldn't say anything else because the nightmare came floating back to me again, reminding me of why Soda died in the dream. He was protecting me. Me. I couldn't ever let him do that, because if he did he might end up hurt.

I snuggled closer to Soda and he mumbled louder now. It was as if he was already asleep so I remained quiet, just listening.

"Kenz," he sighed, and I kept listening, "All..." he paused as a small smile graced his face, "Mine."

I almost laughed but then I realized that he was actually having a dream about me. One in which apparently he needed to make it clear that I was his. It was stupid really because he knew I was his. And if he didn't, boy, was he in for a shocker.

A/N: So I'd love to hear your thoughts about this chapter! I know, not too much to review on but if you can think of anything please share your thoughts with me...Just no flames please :) Thanks!