Title- A No Title Jess

Chapter Title- Uncles

Disclaimer- I do not own The Outsiders

Note- For this story I've decided that Soda and Pony shared a room and when Pony got the nightmares Soda started sleeping in the same bed. Darry has his own room and then there is the parents' old room.

Soda and I were talking but I became quiet when Darry came into the kitchen. He hadn't said anything to me at all last night and I was scared. I knew he thought I was a little strange but he would always say a few things to me. The usual 'hi' or 'how are you?', but not last night. It was quiet, it was my fault. Why did I have to think out loud? I could blame it on Steve for walking in at the wrong moment and saying 'congratulations' in front of everyone.

I went into the room to make the bed; I have this thing about unmade beds. I don't like them. I was ready to go out when I heard Darry and Soda talking.

"How do you suppose you'll raise this kid? You both dropped out of high school. Where do you think you'll live? You can't stay here forever. There isn't enough room for five people."

"I got my job at DX and Jessi is lookin' for one today. We can fit five people in here. Jessi and I have mom and dad's old room now, and the baby could still sleep in their room with us." Soda seemed to have this planned out. I didn't even think of this. Was I ready for the baby? The more I thought about it, the more I felt like I wasn't ready.

"I need to head to work early, so you can go to work early or wait for Steve."

"I'll wait for Steve." The front door opened and closed. I wasn't ready for this. I could hardly think I was responsible enough. I slid onto the floor and started to cry. I wasn't ready. I cried softly for a little bit, and then I wiped my eyes and got up. I went into the bathroom and looked in the mirror. You couldn't tell that I had been crying.

"Jessi, could you wake up Pony?" Soda called from the kitchen.

"Sure," I said and walked into Ponyboy's room.

"Hey, Uncle Ponyboy, wake up." I pulled up the curtains and let the light shine onto his face. He rolled over to protect his eyes from the light and pulled the blanket over his head. I grabbed the blanket off of him and swatted him with the pillow.

"Breakfast is in the kitchen," I told him. He groaned and I walked out of there. 'Uncle Ponyboy,' I laughed to myself.

"What's so funny?" Steve asked.

"Uncle Steve," I laughed. Laughing at these people becoming uncles was almost making me feel better about the baby.

"Uncle Steve," Soda repeated. He had found it almost as funny as I had.

"Hey, Uncle Ponyboy, get in here and eat breakfast!" Soda called. Ponyboy came in mumbling about something. He sat at the table and ate his eggs quietly. I didn't know how he felt about the baby. Soda was excited, Steve was happy for us, I was worried, and Darry was, well, Darry. Soda and Steve left for work, Steve works full time during the summer. It was just Ponyboy and I in the house. I don't think Pony likes me that much. I stole Soda away from him.

I walked out of the house saying 'bye' to Ponyboy. He didn't even look up from his book. I walked on the sidewalk, not sure where to go. I noticed a bunch of girls glare at me from the other side of the road. I knew what they were thinking. 'There's that lucky bitch that married Sodapop Curtis.' Nobody bothered me much. I was also the girl that almost killed Lisa. I'm kind of proud of it, but I won't tell anybody that.

I ended up getting a job at the Dairy Queen. I had the lunch shift, 11to 4, similar to my shift at The Dingo. The only difference was that I didn't have Lisa here. Her mom left with her after my dad had pulled a gun on her swearing the kid wasn't his. I think that was the only time I was actually thankful for my dad.

I remember going to the house to give Steve the wedding invitation. He intercepted it and started to make jokes about it. I wanted to kill him; he had no idea what he was talking about. I was happy when he passed away last month from a combination of lung cancer and alcohol poisoning. It served him right, smoking and drinking all the time. Plus the words he used with Steve and his actions towards me, I was glad, real glad, he was dead. Steve got the house, because I lived with Soda. The house wouldn't have fit all three of us. It was smaller than the Curtis's. It was two bedrooms and a living room/kitchen. I couldn't kick Steve out of the house that he grew up in. It didn't seem right.

I walked home and went into the bedroom. I put my pajamas on and went to bed. I was really tired. I woke up early the next morning. Soda was pushing me gently. My back hurt.

"My back hurts," I said out loud. I sat up and rubbed my eyes.

"It better, you slept on my arm last night."

"What was your arm doing underneath me? Did you talk to Pony about the baby?"

"Yeah," he said.

"What'd he say?"

"Congratulations, and that he didn't want to be called Uncle Ponyboy. It made him sound old."

"Oh," I replied laying back down. I was still slightly tired still.

"Why didn't you ask about Darry?"

"I heard you talking to Darry yesterday. I'm so nervous Soda, Darry's right."

"Don't worry, it'll be fine," he told me and kissed my forehead. Somebody knocked on the door. It was the only door that was ever knocked on, for obvious reasons.

"Darry said breakfast was ready."

"Thank you Uncle Ponyboy." Soda looked at me and I smiled.

"What?" I asked him, looking innocent. I got out of bed and went to eat breakfast. I took a shower afterwards and then got dressed. I wore something half way decent and put on a pair of Soda's old shoes. They were comfortable and worn in, plus they smelt good.