The next morning I walked over to the Curtis' home. Steve had spent the night there and I figured it would be easier if I went there instead of waiting for him to show up. Besides, The Curtises lived on the way to the church.

"Hey, Chris!" Soda greeted me when I stepped inside the home that had become as familar as my own. "Have some cake."

"Who made it?" I asked.

"I did." Darry yelled from the bathroom. He appeared a few seconds later tucking in a black t-shirt that shoud off his muscular build. "I hear you and Steve are going to church today."

"Yeah." I replied.

"Pony wanted to go. But he already said he'd help me with some errands today." Darry went on.

"I know, he told me." I said looking around. "Where is Pony anyway?"

"In the back yard." Darry replied.

Steve stood up from where he was sitting. "We should get going, Chris. "

"Yeah, we should. Tell Pony I'll stop by later, okay?" Darry sort of nodded as Steve and I walked out the front door and got into Steve's car.

"Hey, your car sounds better." I commented when Steve started the engine.

Steve grinned. "I replaced the muffler on it. It's still old but it's better than what I had."

"Let me guess, you took one off of a car at the DX, replaced that one with a new muffler and your old muffler with this one?" I asked leaning back in my seat.

"Yup! Saves me money. And why waste a muffler that can still be used?" Steve turned down the main street that led to the church.

"Why did it have to be replaced on the other person's car?" I asked. Knowing that Steve was enjoying every second of our conversation. He can talk about cars all day long if you'd let him.

"It belonged to a soc. No soc wants any rust on his car. That includes places where no one but a mechanic will look." Steve replied.

I rolled my eyes. What Steve said made sence. No soc would want his car or anything else he owned to have any flaws. They were the rich kids. Therefore, everything they had had to be perfect. Or seem perfect. I recalled Aaron's story. He was a soc. Yet, he knew he had been searching for something most socs haven't found. And he found it.

"Well, here we are. Looks like there's a lot of older people here." Steve said once he found a parking place.

"Well, it's not a youth service." I said, feeling nervous. I didn't know what to expect at a real church service. The only thing that came to mind was visions of Steve and Two-Bit throwing spit balls at the pastor. And Two-Bit wasn't even with us.

"Steve! Chris! How are you two?" Jeff ran up to us from across the parking lot. "I didn't know if I'd see any of you. Where's Soda?"

"He had to work." Steve replied.

"But he wanted to come. So did his younger brother." I added.

"Ponyboy, right?" Jeff asked.

I nodded. "So, where's Aaron?"

"He's inside saving seats just in case you guys showed up." Jeff replied. "lets go in so he knows you're here."

Jeff led the way inside the church. Several people said hello to us.

"These people sem friendly." Steve whispered to me as we walked to where Aaron was sitting.

"Hey, you came! Where's Soda?" Aaron said once we reached him.

"He had to work." Steve replied.

"That's too bad." Aaron said. He started clearing off stuff that he had spread across the pew. "You have to make sure you place stuff where people may be sitting if you want to save seats. otherwise, someone else might take them."

"Oh." Was all Steve and I said. We both sat down. I opened a hymnal and started lookeing through it.

"So, Steve, did you make the decision?" Jeff asked.

"I'm still thinking about it." Steve replied.

Jeff nodded as the pastor stood up in front of everyone and started the service. It was definately not a youth service. But, it wasn't boring either. Not what I had been expecting after seeing a bunch of older people when we first arrived.

"Not bad." Steve whispered to me when everyone sang a song when the sermon was over.

I glanced at him. I was glad he had come with. Even if he was still thinking about making the decision.