Soda: Searching

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own them.

Only like…2 more chapters! I promise I'll finish this before September!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed: Jessie C (Thanks for reading, update yours soon!), Girlsdontcri (Well we'll find out if they're ok won't we?), Lizzy Halliwell (Okay so it wasn't exactly soon since your review last month, but I'm sorry?), Ponyboysgirl1 (I'll definitely be sooner about this next time. Thanks!), Kimmerkay (I'm debating weather to make them friends again, or go back to terms like before, only not with so much hate…), Karlei Shayner (ANGST ROCKS!), Latinagal (No problem, keep it up!), AA (uh…sorry? I'll try harder next time, I promise with all my heart.), Eh, Man (It's okay, I'm glad you tried to save them though =D), ScottyBaby (You must have been sitting for a looooong time…sorry!), Tallemera Rane (I know, it's ending very soon. It's ending in the next two or three chapters, probably.), True-Slytherin-gurl (define really really soon. Lol thanks for reading!), Blatty (I TOLD YOU I'D DO IT!!!! Lol the chain is NOT breaking and I'll make sure of it!! =D), Maverick Girl (Aww I couldn't kill them that would be horrible!), and MissLKid (Sorry I haven't been on the RP lately, this chapter and other fandoms and uh…other stuff is the reason!).

            I paced the room over and over again, wringing my hands nervously. To think that only a week before, I was worried about my job. I was worried about Steve and Pony being friends. 'What does it matter now? They could be dead!' I shouted at myself. No, no, no! They weren't dead! I knew Ponyboy, I knew Steve. They were strong. They could get out of this alive. But how long would they tolerate each other? Were even together still? Out of pure frustration and worry, I let out a strangled scream, making Two-bit and Darry jump.

            "Sorry," I muttered, sitting down then standing right back up again.

            "Soda, relax. You're not really helping by pacing the floor like that. You're giving me a headache," Darry complained.

            "I'm getting dizzy watching you," Two-bit quipped. I glared at both of them before dropping into a red cushioned seat. I looked around the waiting room, devoid of any life except for the three of us and the lone receptionist sitting behind the counter, shuffling papers and typing things up. Every once in awhile, the phone would ring, startling all of us. Finally, after an hour of waiting for something, anything, someone came out to talk to us.

            "Are you all here to hear about Ponyboy Curtis and Steven Randle?" a big burly man of about 35 stepped into the room, sweaty and tired.

            "Yes, we are. I'm Darry Curtis and this is my brother Sodapop. This is our friend, Two-bit."

            "Two-bit? Interesting names everyone's got around here," the man muttered good-naturedly, "I'm Officer Reynolds. I've been the chief of this search and rescue project."

            "Have you gotten any information?" I asked, carefully choosing my words. I didn't want to sound too uneducated.

            "Unfortunately," he sighed, "no."

            "Oh."

            "But we have a team going out there to find them ourselves," he added quickly when he saw the downcast look I had on my face, "In fact, they're going to start heading out in fifteen minutes. You can come see them off, give any last details of what their appearances are, if you'd like."

            "We'd like that!" Darry and Two-bit nodded, following Officer Reynolds and me out the door. We arrived at a helicopter landing pad thing ten minutes later, catching the search team as they boarded the helicopter. There were three members of the team: one middle-aged pilot who looked as if he'd spent too many years in the piloting business already, a young woman with fiery red hair like Cherry Valance, and a young man with gray eyes. Pony didn't like gray eyes much, he'd told me. But the funny thing was, his eyes were more gray than green. Only I never told him that, though I think he figured it out by himself.

            I snapped back to the present, listening to the rescue team talk about what they were going to do, listening to Darry describe what Pony and Steve looked like. Suddenly, I had an idea. We could go with them. That way, they wouldn't have to memorize what the appearances of two boys were, they wouldn't have to explain anything, and we wouldn't have to sit around worried out of our minds.

            "Can we come?" I blurted, interrupting Darry's explanation of Steve's complicated swirls in his hair. They all looked at me as though I were a crazed maniac, maybe I was.

            "Kid, we can't do that," the younger guy said bluntly.

            "Why the hell not? It would save you guys the memory."

            "No, you guys can all get hurt, that's why!"

            "But we won't!"

            "How the hell do you know that?!"

            "Jake," the girl put a hand on gray eyes' shoulder, "It's okay. Let's just take one." Gray eyes…Jake glared at me and then sighed, giving in.

            "Fine. One of you can go. It's your choice who goes." He turned away and the girl gave us a sympathetic look. The three of us looked at each other in total silence for thirty long seconds before Darry and Two-bit said at the same time, "You go." And pointed at me. I looked at each of them and in each of their eyes, I knew they both really wanted to go. But before I could protest, Two-bit pushed me forward and Darry yelled, "Be careful!" Almost mechanically, I boarded the helicopter, totally oblivious to the looks that Jake was giving to me.

            The helicopter ride was awkward and silent. Nobody spoke much except for a few mumbles heard from the middle-aged driver. The girl kept giving Jake looks of warning and Jake kept fidgeting in his seat. They reminded me so much of my mother scolding me during Darry's high school graduation. It was one of the last events I'd ever been to with my parents. And what if something like that happened to Pony and Steve? I forced myself to stop thinking all those morbid thoughts before I went crazy.

            "We're almost there," the girl smiled softly, tapping my shoulder.

            "Huh? Oh thanks. So what's the plan exactly?"

            "Well basically, we're doing a stab blindly in the snow kind of thing. We're going to start out at the place where the school set up camp. Then we're going to work in the direction that they were supposed to go. After that, we're going to work in the other direction in case they were going the wrong way or something happened with their map and compass skills. You're job is to tell us when you see the slightest bit of anything that resembles them. Now, Ponyboy is your younger brother, right?"

            "Yeah and Steve's my best friend."

            "Okay, we're going to need stats on them before we land. This'll only take five minutes." I obliged and sat there, telling them everything there was to know about Ponyboy and Steve. Finally we landed into Winter Wonderland. There was only snow. Snow, snow, and snow. The first thing I saw was snow, the first thing I stepped on was snow and the first thing I touched was snow. How were we ever going to find them?

*I know it's been a long time, but I promise the next one will come faster!!!*