Soda's POV

It was Saturday afternoon and I was helping a customer who like many people decided to give me her thoughts on teen parents. You'd think I'd be used to it by now. But every time I hear someone say that I am not ready to have a child, it hurts. It's true that there are times when I wish that I had waited. After all, I am only seventeen. However, Brianna is in my life whether I'm ready to have a kid or not. I can't undo what has been done. I can only make the most of it. And I would do anything for Brianna. She's my little girl. My little princess.

"Soda, are you okay?" Steve asked me as the customer drove away. "You seem upset."

I looked at my friend. "Steve, why do people feel like it's okay to judge others?"

"I don't know." Steve replied.

"I mean, sure I'm only seventeen and may be to young to have a kid, but there's nothing I can do about it now. I try to take care of Brianna the best that I can. I know I'm not perfect. I know I mess up at times. But I don't understand why people like to say such hurtfull things about me and my daughter." I said a little more angrily than I had intended.

"Take it easy, Soda." Steve told me.

I kicked a stone across the parking lot. "I'm sorry, but this just really frustrates me."

Steve grinned . "Yeah, but remember how Darry responded when you first told him that Brianna was yours? He wasn't too happy about it."

I nodded thinking back to that night when I told Darry and Pony that I was Brianna's father.

Flashback

I walked in the front door carrying Brianna just a few hours after I had found out that I was her father. I had waited for Sandy to return, but after a while, I knew she wouldn't come back. Not after the way she handed the baby to me. So, after a while I decided to go home.

"Hey, where's Sandy?" Ponyboy asked, looking up from the book he was reading.

"She left." I answered.

Darry walked in from the kitchen then. "When is she coming back for Brianna?" He asked.

I looked between him and Pony. "Um..."

"Well?" Darry looked at me.

"I don't think she's coming back." I said.

"What do you mean she's not coming back?" Darry asked.

"Well, you know how she said I had to take a paternity test?" Darry and Pony both nodded. "Well, it came back positive and when we found out, Sandy handed me the baby and ran off. I waited almost two hours for her to return, but she never did."

"Do you mean to tell me that Brianna is your child?" Darry was trying to stay calm. I'd heard that tone many times when he was upset with Pony but didn't want to show it.

I looked at the floor while Pony looked between me and Darry with an expectant look on his face.

"Soda, answer me." Darry sounded just like mom did when she used to ask me about my poor grades in school.

"Yes." Was all I could say.

"Sodapop Curtis, what on earth were you thinking? Didn't you use your head? How in the world do you expect to raise a child?" Darry asked, glaring at me.

"But, until today Sandy and I thought Brianna was the other guy's child." I said.

Darry sighed. "Did you sleep with Sandy?"

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "Yeah. I slept with her. I thought we were in love."

"Soda, when you slept with Sandy, did it occur to you that there would be consequences?" I shook my head. "Well, there are and you're holding her right now. Tell me, how are you going to take care of her because I will not raise her for you."

"I don't know." I admitted.

"Well, you better think of something little buddy. " Darry told me before he went back to the kitchen to finish cooking dinner.

Ponyboy was still looking at me. "Boy, he let you have it."

"Yeah." I agreed as I sat down next to him. "Hey, would you like to hold your niece?"

Pony nodded and I handed Brianna to him. "She's so little."

"Yeah, I have a big responsibility don't I?"

Pony gave me a small grin. "You'll manage. I know you will. And I think Darry knows it, too."

I grinned back at him. I knew that from that day on my life would be changed forever and that it wouldn't always be easy.

End of flashback

"Darry helps me with Brianna. So does Pony." I told Steve when I came back to reality.

Steve grinned. "Yeah, but you've proved to Darry that you can be a decent father. Those people who judge you don't know you the way Darry does. They only know what they read or hear. He knows what he sees as he watches you take care of Brianna."

"That's true." I admitted. "But it still hurts when people feel they have the right to decide what kind of a father I am."

"Soda, you love Brianna and would do anything for her. You are a good father regardless of what others may think." Steve told me.

I grinned and swatted his head with a rag. "We should get back to work. We can't have the boss thinking that we're slacking off now, can we?"

Steve laughed as he went back to the car he was fixing. I was glad he had stopped to talk to me. After our conversation, I felt better even though I still didn't like the idea of others judging me when they know nothing about me. After all, I'm a person and not a statistic.