Chapter Fifteen: Wake Up Already!

Dallas was striding up and down in front of Soda and Pony's bed, giving himself a pep talk.

"You can do this Winston," he growled. "You have to do this. Or you're damned to this forever…well, I guess I'm going to hell anyway. But I gotta do it for the kid. I gotta do it for Johnny. He deserves heaven after his hell on earth." He stopped. "Why in the hell am I talking to myself?"

Soda grunted and rolled over, flinging an arm over Ponyboy, who groaned a little in his sleep. It sounded curiously like "Suze," but it could just have been Dally's imagination.

"Okay," he told himself. "I just gotta…I just gotta wake him up and do it."

He flung himself onto the bed and thumped the blond one's back. "Wake up!" he roared. "I got something to tell ya!"

Soda merely rolled over and shivered a bit, possibly at the touch of a ghost or possibly because Ponyboy was stealing all the blanket.

Dally ground his teeth furiously, frustrated that Soda wasn't responding. "WAKE UP!" he bellowed.

Johnny appeared next to him. "Hey."

Dallas was so surprised he fell off the bed, and Johnny nearly came with him as he broke into peals of laughter. Dally glared daggers at Johnny. "It's my job to scare you senseless!"

"Sorry Dally," Johnny chuckled. "But what're you trying to wake Soda up for?"

"I got something to tell him."

"What?"

"Just something," Dally replied testily.

"Fine," Johnny said sullenly. "Have fun waking him up yourself," he added, beginning to fade. Dally grabbed Johnny's shirt collar to prevent him from doing so.

"Tell me or I'll slash you. I still got Two-Bit's blade."

"Dally," Johnny began tiredly. "I'm already dead. I can't—"

"You've already told me I can't eat, drink, steal or fight 'cause I'm dead. And whaddya know, I've done all of it! So don't push your luck."

Wisely, Johnny shut his mouth,

"Now wake up Soda for me."

Sighing, Johnny faded for a moment, but was back before Dally could even open his mouth to curse. He was holding something very large and circular.

Dally raised a skeptical eyebrow. "A gong?"

"Got it from Chinatown," Johnny grinned. "Don't worry, I'll put it back."

"I ain't worried about that," Dally said impatiently. "I'm worried that you'll wake up the entire East side!"

"Don't worry. I know how to make it so it only wakes up Soda. But you gotta be the one to ring it."

"You don't have to ask me twice," Dally said, gleefully accepting it from Johnny. "What do I do?"

"You concentrate on Soda and what you have to say—"

Johnny was cut off by a tremendous, ringing crash with reverberations that made the gong, as well as Dally, vibrate.

"W-w-w-w-o-o-o-o-w-w-w!" he exclaimed.

Johnny covered his eyes with a hand. "I can't watch," he groaned. No explosion came. He lifted his hand tentatively.

Ponyboy, and apparently the rest of Tulsa, was still fast asleep. Soda, however, had turned over and his eyes were blearily open, looking around confusedly. Dally leapt in front of him and flapped his arms like a windmill, screaming, "SODA! HEY! HEY! SODAPOP PATRICK CURTIS! I'M TALKING TO YOU! WHY CAN'T YOU HEAR ME?"

"I don't think he can hear you," Johnny remarked quietly.

Dally whirled on him, eyes blazing. "Ya think?" he raged.

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Sorry it took so long. Random ending to the chapter, I know. But the sooner you review, the sooner an update.