The next morning I woke up feeling a lot better. Soda was still sleeping, and I could hear Darry in the kitchen. The bed creaked as I slowly got up. I figured that I really needed to take a shower. I stumbled into the kitchen first, and said hi to Darry. I was greeted with a "Good morning" and a hand on my forehead.
"How do you feel?" Darry asked, satisfied with how cool I was.
"Fine," I yawned and sat down. "Can I go to school today?" Darry put his coffee down and looked at me skeptically.
He sighed. "I don't know." I got a little annoyed. I was fine now.
"Come on, Darry, please? I feel fine, really."
He looked at me with his ice cold eyes, and they seemed to melt.
"I just don't want you to wear yourself out." Darry said.
"I won't," I promised, "Seriously. I'll be fine." Darry looked like he was going to say no, but he gave in.
I showered, and then got ready. Track was this morning, and if I wasn't there I didn't go to the meet on Saturday. I knew it wasn't very smart to try to run, but I didn't care. Soda came into the bedroom while I was packing my books.
"Hey, Pony, how ya feeling?" Soda was showered and had his DX shirt half buttoned.
"I'm fine." I kept packing my books.
"You going to school?" he sounded puzzled.
"Yeah." I didn't look at him. I sensed him shrug, give me a funny look, and then continue buttoning his shirt.
"Did you eat anything?" Gr. I could have gotten away without eating if he hadn't asked. I stayed silent, hoping he would forget he asked. No such luck. Soda came behind me and grabbed my shoulder to turn me around. I shrugged it off.
"Pony... Pony, come on," Soda pleaded. I shook my head. He just didn't understand that I had to go to school.
"Hey," he said softly, laying on my bed and looking at me. I turned away, refusing to look at him. "Pony, all I was is to know you're okay." Soda followed me out of the bedroom.
What he did next still shocks me. He grabbed me around the waist and dragged me, struggling, on to the couch. There he cornered me.
"Neither one of us is leaving until you talk to me." He sounded angry, which was unlike Soda. Then, I saw a tear form in his eye and make a trail down his cheek.
"Soda? Soda, what's the matter?" I was alarmed. He hadn't cried in a long time. He wiped his eyes.
"I'm just worried... about you. When you wouldn't take that aspirin, it reminded me of last year when you were in the hospital. And, Pony, gosh, you were so sick," He almost started bawling again. "When I can't get you to eat anything, I'm afraid you'll end up in the hospital again. I wouldn't be able to take that."
I was so stunned I couldn't speak. I hadn't realized how much Soda worried about me. The clock said it was 6:30, which meant I had a half hour until practice started. On an impulse, I grabbed him around the waist and hugged him.
"Please don't worry, Soda. I'm really okay, just not hungry."
He hugged me back tightly. "Do you think you can eat a little, just for me?" I really didn't want to, but for Soda's sake I had a piece of toast.
Soda pop drove me to school that morning. I bounded out the car as soon as we pulled up. Track started in five minutes.
It felt great to be running again. That is, the first mile did. I guess I was still a little weak, because after mile one, I was out of breath. Not like that stopped me, though. I kept running until my chest was so tight I could barely take any air in. The coach noticed and immediately made me stop. It was just in time. I stood on the side of the track panting, and regretting the toast Soda made me eat. Coach wouldn't let me run anymore, so I went into the school and got changed.
The rest of the day I felt sluggish. I tried to just ignore it and do everything that I normally did. That wasn't the smartest on my part. The only time I gave myself a break was in the library during lunch with Sarah. We were supposed to work on our project. When I walked in, she was sitting in a big chair reading 'Great Expectations'.
"Hey," I walked over to her and sat down. "That was a pretty good book. I had to read it last year." She folded the corner of the page she was on down and set the book on her bag.
"It's not that good, yet. Mr. Cline is making it boring."
"You have Mr. Cline for Literature?"
"Yeah."
I was puzzled. "I thought you were a sophomore."
She grinned, "Nope, I'm a freshman."
"Then how are you in sophomore biology?" She grinned, bigger than before, and her eyes danced.
"The other teacher and I had dome differences. I have my beliefs, and she has hers. I attempted to be polite, but the textbook was scientifically erred, and she ignored it. That kind of got me ticked." There was that grin again. "The principal looked at my grades and just let me move up a class." I grinned, too. This girl had a lot of spunk.
We finished the project in no time flat. It actually turned out better than I could have done myself. An A was expected. Since it was done before lunch ended, we walked over to the cafeteria. I bought a Pepsi, and she took an apple out of her bag. She made a face at my Pepsi.
"What?" I asked, taking a swig.
She just shook her head. Okay, I thought, she doesn't like Pepsi. Poor girl. We talked for the rest of lunch. She was a very good listener, and the way she talked made it interesting to listen to while we exchanged the story of our lives, siblings, and interests.
I learned a lot about her in the few minutes we had to talk. She had moved to Tulsa in the middle of the summer from Northern Ohio. They used to live on a farm, and even had some horses! Boy, Soda would have liked to hear about those. She had raised sheep and would show them at the county fair. It sounded like she really loved them. I could imagine her, dirty jeans and a grin, out in a green field on a sunny day with some black-faced sheep, their white wool gleaming in the sunshine. It was a cute image. Mrs. Piatt used to do some sort of therapy for kids on the horses. The reason they moved was because her dad got transferred. I thought it was kind of sad that she had to go from the country to this, but I was glad that she moved here and I met her.
I didn't really talk very much. I mentioned a few things, like my brothers, and my parent's death. The bell rang all too soon. I could have talked to her all day. When she mentioned horses, I thought of Soda's horse, Mickey Mouse. I almost told her about him, but the bell interrupted me. Saying goodbye was harder than I expected, which reminded me of some things Soda had said about girls.
When I got home, my stomach was growling, and I was beat. I sprawled out on the couch for a nap before dinner. I dreamed about Sarah. She and I were in the country riding horses through the woods. It was awesome.
Soda woke me up when he got home.
"Pony," he shook me a little, "Pony, wake up."
I yawned and sat up. "Hmmm, hey Soda."
I looked at my older brother. He was covered with dirt and grease from working on cars all day, and his face was creased with worry. It relaxed when I spoke, though.
"Are you okay?" he asked as he kicked off his shoes.
"I'm fine, just taking a nap. When's dinner?" Soda smiled when I asked about dinner.
"When Darry gets home. You want something now?"
"Nah, I'll wait." I followed Soda into the bedroom while he changed.
"How was work?" I sat on my unmade bed.
"Oh, it was okay. Kind of slow today." Soda's normal happy-go-lucky attitude didn't seem present.
"Something wrong?" I asked.
He stared at the wall, then shook his head as he pulled a clean t-shirt on. "No, not really. I was just thinking about you and worrying all day. Then when I saw you asleep, I was afraid you were feeling lousy again." He shrugged, trying to look relaxed.
"Well, stop worrying. I'm not feeling lousy." I grinned and chucked my pillow at Soda. It hit him, and he grinned crazily.
When Darry came in later, me and Soda were having a major pillow fight. He stuck his head in the room.
"Well, looks like y'all are feeling nice and chipper. Who's up for noodle casserole?"
We stopped long enough to tell Darry that noodle casserole was great. It felt good to finally be hungry. Then Soda came on extra hard, and all I could do was block.
"Holler Uncle?" Soda asked. I didn't want to, but my strength was draining.
"Uncle!" I put the pillow down and sat on my bed, panting. Soda was out of breath, too. We grinned at each other, knowing there were more pillow fights to come.
Casserole never tasted as good as it did that night. I didn't eat very much, but what I had was great. Darry and Soda were so glad I was eating that they didn't mind when I only ate half of what I normally did. I just enjoyed sitting at the table, eating with my two big brothers.
--Sorry if the last two chapters seemed slow. I was reading over them last night, and thought, 'Man, this is getting kind of boring'. Never fear, they did have a purpose in the all over plot. Anyhow, my apologies if this incited boredom. The next will be much better.--