Disclaimer: I do not own the Outsiders, only Teresa Macks and Matthew Block. Or anyone else I decide to throw in. )

Chapter 5 – Soda's POV

I sat bolt upright in bed. I couldn't remember what my dream had been about. Maybe Teresa. Maybe not. I racked my brain for remembrance of any type, bringing up nothing. I sighed, laying back down. I looked over at Ponyboy. He was sound asleep, and hadn't even stirred when I had sat up. I glanced at the clock on my nightstand. 2:43 AM. I took a deep breath, still trying to remember what my dream had been about. I couldn't remember, but sleep was over-taking me, and I felt my eyelids droop, no matter what I did to stop them. Slowly my whole body relaxed, and I let myself fall asleep until I would wake up at 6:30 when my alarm went off.

The next day at work was terrible. Mr. Meyer demanded to know why it was my brother who had called in, not me. I cleared my throat and talked sort of hoarse-like, saying,

"Well, because yesterday I lost my voice. Still feeling kinda down, but I wanted to get back to work." I added in a cough for extra points. He shook his head and sighed, blundering away. I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding and turned to head back to Steve. "Hey Stevie man! Whatcha up to?" I called, looking around the garage. He popped up from behind an old beat-up blue car that looked like it had seen better days.

"Hey Sodapop! Nothing much, just working on the transmission." He said, wiping his brow with the back of his hand. I noticed he smeared grease all over his forehead and started to laugh.

"Steve, man, you just smeared grease all over your face! That sure makes you look tuff!..." I said, trailing off at the end. Steve was running his pointer finger back and forth under his chin, his eyes wide and staring over my head. I felt my eyes also get wide and I turned slowly on the spot, knowing, but dreading, what was to come.

"Curtis. You have some explaining to do!" Mr. Meyer barked. He grabbed me by the arm and led me forcefully to his office in the back corner of the building. It was small and cramped, big enough only for his desk and chair, a file cabinet, and another chair across from the desk. I noticed he had to turn to the side in order to fit behind the chair across from his desk, which he pulled out as he squeezed by. "Sit." He ordered, moving to around behind his desk. I sat.

He sighed, and I took a deep breath. "Sodapop Curtis." He said my name, not as a statement, not as a question, but it just sort of hung there with no general purpose. He looked at me straight on. I suppressed a shudder, thinking of what was to come. "Curtis, you have taken off all your days. Yesterday was only an exception because your brother said you weren't able to come to the phone, and something very very very important had come up. He said it was urgent that you skip work. I agreed, not knowing that that very important something was really nothing at all." He intertwined his fingers and bent his arms at the elbows so they were pointed up, and rested his chin on his hands. "Would you care to explain?" He asked. His gaze was steady and almost blinding. I thought of Darry, kindly calling in so I could take the day off. I couldn't decide if he would be mad or just upset about this whole ordeal.

"Um…well, yes, I would like to explain." I said. I looked away from his creepy eyes. They were almost...well, purple. I sighed, and began to twiddle my thumbs. "See, my girlfriend recently moved away. I sent her a letter asking if we could go long-distance, and she sent one back saying that she had a new boyfriend. I was so bummed about it, I could hardly do anything. So Darry called in for me. I didn't even know he had done it, until I woke up at 10:30." I said the last part very quietly and quickly. He looked at me still, and sighed again.

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that. I would make this one of those happy movie endings where I tell you I understand and that you still have a job," I felt my heart rise up into my throat. "…but I'm not going to." It dropped back down into my toes. I stared at him, all thumb twiddling forgotten. "I'm sorry Sodapop, but I'm going to have to let you go. You can finish you shift if you want. I'll need your shirt and hat back by tomorrow." He paused. "And please put up the 'Help Wanted' sign in the window when you leave." It was like he didn't expect me to finish my shift. I stood up calmly. I decided I would finish my shift so I could fill in Steve on what had happened. I stuck out my hand for him to shake, but he just began writing on his papers. I pulled it back in, and turned to walk out. I made sure to slam the door behind me. If I wasn't going to show him it affected me with words, I sure as heck was going to do it with actions. I stalked over to where Steve was in the garage. I looked around, but he wasn't anywhere in sight.

When I closed the door, he was leaning up against the wall with his arms crossed. The grease on his forehead was gone.

"Hey Sodapop. What happened?" He asked, seeing my face.

"I got fired."

"What? For missing one over your allotted days off? What kind of ---- ---- is this?" He asked, throwing his rag on the ground. "Maybe I should quit too." He said.

"No, don't be stupid about it. You and me both know Meyer never really liked me." I said, shrugging. "I'm finishing my shift and then going home. Mr. Meyer told me to put up the 'Help Wanted' sign when I left," I added dejectedly. Steve faked wincing.

"Ouch."

"Yeah….anyways. You finish up on that transmission?" I asked. My fingers were itching to move. I knew they really wanted to strangle Mr. Meyer, but I directed them in the direction of a car.

"Yeah, everything's done for the day." He said. "I even threw the towels in the corner while I was waiting for you." I glanced over. Sure enough, everything was neat and orderly. I sighed, peeling off my shirt. I pushed my hat off onto the floor, watching it fall. I threw my shirt on top of it.

"Tell Meyer that's my shirt and hat," I said. "I'm headed out."

"With no shirt?"

"Sure, no one'll care." I waved over my shoulder as I walked out, tossing the 'Help Wanted' Sign on the window sill. It fell off, but I didn't bother to pick it up.

As I walked down the street, I felt something brush my leg. I swatted around, but didn't hit anything. I looked down. Nothing was there. Suddenly something caught my eye a few feet in front of me. It was dog. It was pretty small, and looked to be the kind that I had once heard to be a Chihuahua. I clicked my tongue up against the roof of my mouth, coaxing it back. It didn't move, just kept trotting along. I whistled a long low whistle, then ended in a short high note. It was our gang and Shepard's gang's way of saying "who's there?" in code. The dog turned and came running full speed at me. At first I thought it was going to try to bite me, but then I realized it was just running back to me because I had whistled. I opened up my arms and it jumped right into them. I was half-tempted to take it home and ask Darry if we could keep it, when I heard someone yelling behind me.

"Wait! Wait! Wait….!" They ran up to me, gasping for breath. Red hair caught my eye.

"Teresa? Is this your dog?" I asked. She looked up. She was very cute when she was out of breath.

"Umm…" More gasps for air, "Yeah. Coco. Thanks for getting him, Sodapop." She held out her arms for the dog, and I carefully handed him over. I suddenly remembered I was shirtless. Oh crap. Once in his master's arms, he began to struggle again. "Sodapop, you must have the magic touch. He's never that calm for strangers," She said, blushing. I laughed.

"I don't know about that. Maybe just lucky." I said, looking at her. She looked up at me. I was considerably taller than her, so she literally had to look up into my face. I smiled. Our eyes stayed connected for a while, and she finally looked away, blushing even more. I looked down at the ground.

"Well, I should….ya know…get going," She said, nodding at me.

"Oh…yeah. I'll see ya around. Bye Teresa!" I said, watching her turn to leave. She walked away, and when she stopped, she put her dog back on the ground, with a leash attached to it's collar. She turned around and stooped to pick up his front paw and wave it at me. I laughed and waved back. She walked away, her little dog trotting at her side. I smiled inwardly and began to walk in the other direction.

I got a little farther down the road and it suddenly hit me that I wasn't so mad any more. At first I couldn't remember why I had been mad, but it all came flooding back to me, and soon the Teresa incident was forgotten as I stormed home in a fury, slamming the door behind me.

Author's notes: Thanks for voting on the poll, majority said see each other on the street without meaning to. Next chapter might be a little more boring, but I hope not. Let me know what you think!