Soda: Good-Bye and Be Careful

Typical Disclaimer…I'm not even going to bother writing it.

Thanks to (name people who have reviewed)

            Over the weekend, I started noticing the weirdest things about things I've never even thought about before. Like how pretty the colors of the flowers were on Mrs. Matthews' front lawn. Or the way the color of the sky was a little different when I got up to go to work than when I came home every night. On Sunday, I finally caught myself, "Soda, what are you doing?" I asked myself. This was Ponyboy's turf and I never was too interested in it. I just listened to him ramble about it because I knew it made him feel better. Now I was actually getting into it!         Monday morning rolled around and I found myself lugging Pony's camp packs to the car. Before we left to get Steve, I pulled Pony to the side, "Listen. Whatever happens, be careful and look out for yourself.  Try and get along with Steve okay? When you get back, I think the three of us need to have a serious talk."

             He nodded and said, "I promise." Smiling and relaxing a little bit, I threw his back- pack into the trunk. We were off to the school.

            "Mornin' Curtis's!" Two-Bit yelled cheerily. Personally, I like Two-Bit a lot, but hearing that cheerful voice so loud in the early hours of the morning was kind of startling.

            "Morning," we muttered back to him. Pony saw his friends from school and left to go talk to them. I took this time to watch Pony's school friends. They were all middle class kids and they didn't seem to mind having Pony around. It might have been because he was so much younger than them. It might have been because of his vulnerable, "sweet" looks. Looking away when Ponyboy looked up and came up to us with his friends, I saw Steve.

            "Hey, guys. These are my friends. This is Ben, Jake, Kathy, and Jake and Kathy's younger sister Leslie," Ponyboy introduced his friends. They all waved and Kathy looked shyly towards Steve.

            "Hey…Steve," Ponyboy looked over at Steve. I guess he was trying to keep his promise and be decent towards Steve. Steve looked taken aback, probably not expecting Pony to be so nice, "Uh…hey, Ponyboy."

            "Are you Steve Randle?" Kathy asked quietly.

Steve looked down at her and nodded, "Yeah."           

            "My sister talks about you all the time," Leslie giggled. She was five.

            "Really?" Steve grinned.

            "Yeah. She loves you…but don't tell her I told you. She'll kill us," Leslie continued while Jake laughed. I heard Ponyboy say that Kathy "fell in love" with almost every single guy that she saw.

            "Really? Now, who's your sister?"

            "I …don't know if you should tell them that, Leslie," Kathy blushed violently. I laughed. No I knew that Steve couldn't ever complain and say that no girl's liked him before.

            "What group are you guys in?" Steve asked Pony's friends.

            "Tree-huggers!" Ben high-fived Two-Bit.

            "The Summits," Jake and Kathy said together.

            "Oh, you're with them?" Soda asked them. They nodded in response.

            "Yeah, we can't wait to go. It'll be fun!" Jake exclaimed. Kathy rolled her eyes, "Fun for you maybe. Me on the other hand, no." Pony laughed,

            "C'mon, Kathy! It's not that bad!"

            "Yeah, well that's because you've got Steve," she started, "But all I've got is this little idiot whose supposed to be my brother!"

Ponyboy looked uncomfortablely over to Steve and nodded slowly. I could tell he was thinking "Sure…Steve…" But he didn't say anything and neither did Steve which was a total relief for all of us. When I turned back into the conversation, Darry was already giving Ponyboy the "Be careful and be responsible" lecture. I pulled Steve aside.

            "Steve, I know that things haven't been going great for the past few days and that you and Pony don't get along. But just do me this favor and look out for him…" I trailed off not wanting to complete my thought.

            "Don't worry about it, Soda. Pony's fourteen, I'm sure he can take care of himself. It's not like he's two or something," Steve mocked.

            "I know, I know. But just say that you will so that I'm assured that whatever you guys do…"

            "We won't be killing each other. I know, Soda, I know. I've gotten that lecture from just about everybody today."

            "Everybody?"

            "Yeah. My mom gave it to me, although she doesn't even know half of what's going on. Two-Bit told me that if either of us came back with more than our share of scrapes, bruises, or whatever else, he'd beat both of us in. Darry just told me to be careful and be smart out there. Even Evie called last night to threaten getting her brother to beat me to a pulp if I didn't 'stop with the child abuse'."

            "Evie? Evie gave you a lecture? Are you back together?"

            "I'm not really sure. She hung-up on me," Steve shot back sarcastically. I shrugged, "Sorry. I didn't mean to pry."

            "It's okay," he sighed, "It's just that I thought we had something real special, you know?"

            "Yeah…I thought I had that with Sandy, but I guess not."         

            "Don't you have the hots for that other girl? Tara or something?"

            "Teri. She's really nice. I hope something can develop from our talking to each other…but I want to try and take it slower than I did with Sandy. I don't want to be hurt…"

            "Again." Steve finished for me. Yeah, I liked Teri all right. It was just that I didn't want to rush things because if I learned anything from Sandy's harsh break-up with me, it was that I had to get to know the girl before I jumped into anything serious with her.

            "STUDENTS PLEASE GET TO YOUR RESPECTIVE BUSES! WE'LL BE LEAVING IN APPROXIMATELY FIVE MINUTES!" a teacher yelled. We all walked Two-Bit and Ben over to the Tree-hugger's bus, which was the first in line. Jake, Kathy, Steve, and Ponyboy said a good-bye to Two-Bit. As Pony passed by Two-Bit, I heard Two-Bit mutter, "Take care, kid. Don't get yourself into any trouble…if you know what I mean." He said the same as Steve passed by. They both gave him a strange look and then turned towards Ben, saying good-bye. I waved to Two-Bit before going off to find the Summit bus. It didn't take too long to find it though because it was only one or two buses away.

            "Bye, Steve. Take care and don't get naughty up there in the snow!" I called out to him. Steve threw me a smile and yelled back, "Yeah? Well don't you get naughty down here in Tulsa!" We laughed and he rolled his eyes, turning to talk to Randy, a Soc that, surprisingly, wasn't with other Socs.

            I walked up to my little brother, "Bye, Ponyboy. Take care, kid. And remember, be careful and have a hell of a good time!" I ruffled his hair. Pony looked up at me and smiled, "Sure, Soda. Thanks. See ya in five days."

            "See ya." I hugged him and walked back to Two-Bit's bus to say good-bye to him. Darry was giving Pony another lecture. I rolled my eyes and walked away, smiling.

            'Things'll work out just fine.' I told myself, laughing at Two-Bit's joke. Boy, if I had only known how lonely it would be in the house and at the DX without everyone else there…

*How was that? Sorry, it took me awhile to update it…I got the lead in my school play! So I have to rehearse a lot and my parents want me to keep an A average at school too so I'm studying a lot…sigh…well anyways I'll try and update soon!*