Yeah, yeah, I know. It's not my fault though! I really wanted to finish the other story before my mind got foggy and I got writer's block for that one. And then I had basketball camp. But now that my other stories are complete, I can spend more time on this one. You get to hear most of Cherry's story in this chapter. Enjoy!

Darry's POV

So Soda was right. How was I supposed to know that Pony wouldn't tell us if he was sick? I had just figured that it was stress from the whole week. And then he got sick and threw up for three days.

We got him to the hospital and the doctor saw him immediately. It only took a couple of minutes for them to diagnose him. They told us mostly what we already knew, but the last bit worried us, especially Soda. I had never had to deal with this before, and neither had he. Neither of us had ever been that sick before.

"Mr. Curtis?" the doctor said as he walked out of the examining room.

"Yes?" both of us answered.

"It seems Ponyboy is going through a tough time. Is there anything that could be causing him more stress than usual? Anything causing him to grieve?"

"Well, today is the anniversary of our parents' death. He had what we thought was the stomach flu for the past three days, but he went to school today because he said he was feeling better," I replied.

"He has mononucleosis," the doctor told us. "It can be brought on by several things. Kissing someone else who has the disease, stress, and a number of other things can bring on the illness."

"What do we do to get him better?" Soda asked. His face was almost as pale as Pony's had been and he was sweating real badly.

"There's not much anybody can do. Bed rest, lots of fluids, you can give him ibuprofen if he develops a headache. Also, if he shares a room with either of you, the other needs to move out because it has the potential to be contagious. The most important thing is to keep his stress level down."

"Thank you," I said. Soda and I entered the examination room to find Pony sitting on the edge of the bed. His eyes were real big and he looked like something had spooked him.

"Hey, little brother," I said, joining him on the bed. "You ready to leave?"

He nodded. I picked him up and he didn't fight me. We walked out to the truck and he was asleep before we got home.

Pony POV

I woke up the next morning feeling just as tired as I had the night before. I looked at my desk, hoping some of the work had disappeared, but it hadn't. I looked beside me, noticing Soda had already gotten up.

Pulling the covers off of my body, I walked out of the room to the living room where Darry and Soda were sitting.

"Ponyboy, what do you think you're doing?" Darry exclaimed.

"Getting ready to go to school, like always. Aren't you going to make me eat breakfast?" I asked, confused.

"Pony, you're sick. And it's Saturday. You won't be going to school for at least another week. Now, go back to your room and try to get more sleep. Soda will bring in some juice and something light to eat later."

I trudged back to my room, glad that I wouldn't be going to school. I crawled back into bed and fell asleep.

A few hours later, I woke up once more, the sun shining in my eyes. A glass of juice was sitting on the nightstand, but nothing to eat. It was just as well for me because I wouldn't have eaten whatever they brought anyways.

I sat up in bed and drank the orange juice. It felt good on my tongue because my throat was so dry. As I was drinking, Soda opened the door to come in and check on me.

"Hey, Pony," he said, sitting on the edge of the bed. "Is that juice good?" he laughed, noticing how fast I was drinking.

"I was thirsty, that's all," I said as I set the now empty glass back on the table. "Soda?"

"Yeah, baby?"

"Am I real sick?" I asked.

"Yeah, Pony, you are. You have mononucleosis. The doc says it could take anywhere from a week to two months for you to get well enough to go back to school. And I have to sleep in my old room."

"Why do you have to sleep in your old room? What if I have a nightmare?"

"The doctor doesn't want anybody else to get sick. At least not from our house, anyways. And I'll be right next door if you have a nightmare."

There was a knock on the bedroom door and Soda got up to answer it. There stood Cherry in the doorway.

"Is this a bad time?" she asked. "Darry let me in and said that you guys were back here."

"No, it's fine. I was just getting ready to leave. I have to go into work for a couple of hours, Pone. I'll be back soon."

He gave me a kiss on the forehead and left the room. Cherry stood there awkwardly until she broke the silence.

"What happened, Pony?" she asked. "You said you were better."

"I was better. But I had a fever last night and Darry and Soda took me to the doctor last night. I have mononucleosis."

She stood there, speechless. "I was hoping I could tell you some more of the story," she finally said. I nodded, and immediately wished I hadn't for the pounding that answered the nod.

Cherry POV

I sat at Pony's desk and started to wrap up my story.

"Bob and I started dating when we were 14. The twins were 11. The baby, Nathan, was about 5. Dad was in Pennsylvania for some military training for a year. When I turned fifteen, Bob started complaining that I didn't spend enough time with him. He didn't understand that I needed to help mom with my siblings.

"It was a Saturday, and Mom told me to go out with Bob for the day. Since it was summer, we decided to go out in the backyard and go swimming. He and I were sitting on the deck when Nathan and the twins came out of the house in their swim trunks. Nathan sat down on the edge of the pool and dangled his feet in the water. The twins jumped in and kept teasing Nathan that he couldn't get in because Mom had gone out.

"Bob crawled into the chair with me, noticing how tense I had become with the boys coming out to the pool and Mom not being home. He started kissing me and before I knew it I heard a splash. I pushed Bob off of me and saw Nathan in the pool. He had fallen in and hit his head on the side of the pool. I jumped in and got him out while the twins called an ambulance. Bob just stood there."

I paused, trying to calm down because it was hard for me to remember.

"The ambulance came and they loaded Nathan in the back. He had lost a lot of blood. Marcia came over and watched the twins while I went to the hospital with Nathan. When Mom got home, she rushed over to the hospital after the twins and Marcia told her what happened.

"He died later that night. The doctors couldn't do anything for him. He had lost too much blood and had broken his back when he fell. Dad got special permission to come to the funeral. Even though nobody has told me this, I know it was my fault he died."

I finished off. I buried my face in my hands and tried my best not to cry.

"Cherry, it's not your fault!" Pony exclaimed. "You didn't know he was going to fall in. He wasn't even supposed to be out there, and it wasn't your responsibility to be watching him that day."

"I know, but if I had been paying attention! If I had only pushed Bob off a moment sooner, or not even let him start, Nathan would still be here! He was too young to die. So was Shawn. And Dallas and Johnny and Bob and everybody that die when they're teenagers or younger!"

"Cherry, you can't blame yourself! I tried blaming myself for Johnny and Dallas's deaths. Hell, I even tried to blame myself for Mom and Dad's deaths. But look where it's gotten me. The stress has landed me in a bed with mononucleosis and out of school for at least a week, probably even longer. You can't blame yourself!"

Darry opened the bedroom door. "I think you need to leave, Cherry," he said. "Ponyboy needs his rest if he wants to return to school in the next month."

"Bye Cherry," Pony said.

"Bye Pony," I replied. Darry walked me out and I drove off, feeling like something had finally been relieved from me.