This chapter's shorter than the others but I hope you'll like it anyway!

I don't own The Outsiders.

8 - July

Sodapop didn't believe me at first when, the day I'd come home, three weeks before, I told him I was expecting a baby.

He thought I was kidding (God only knows why) but when he realized I was serious, his mood changed quickly and his happiness was almost tangible; he had started asking questions and barely giving me the time to answer.

"When are you due?"

"I expect sometime in February…"

"Are you positive you are pregnant?"

"Pretty sure!"

"How do you feel? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine!"

"You should have a check up with a doctor immediately!"

Since that day, the day I shared the news with Soda, I had started feeling different. I couldn't believe we were going to have a baby, but I hoped he or she would be as much similar to Sodapop as possible, both looks and personality wise. We hadn't told Ponyboy or anyone else yet, we'd agreed we'd wait till I was a bit further along.

Darry had also come back from Louisiana for a couple of weeks: he wouldn't stay all summer because he had found a pretty good job in Shreveport, where he attended the Centenary College of Louisiana, but it was cool having him home. I loved seeing Ponyboy, Sodapop and Darrel interact. You could definitely tell they were brothers and see the love they shared for one another.

"Who wants to come to the mall with me tomorrow?" I asked, as Darry and I were doing the dishes after dinner.

"I'll come…if Lauren doesn't call me in the morning and asks me to go somewhere with her." Ponyboy said.

"Who's Lauren?" Darry asked, turning to look at his little brother suspiciously, in a father-like manner.

"My girlfriend."

"Since when?"

"Since December."

"How come no one told me?"

"No offense, Darry, but it ain't something that concerns you…I mean, you don't live in Tulsa anymore." Ponyboy replied.

"Just till next year. And I can still care about my brothers, can't I?"

Sodapop sensed the tension between the two and intervened: "Hey, Darry, what about you? Found any special girl?"

Darry was silent. We all stared at him but he just kept cleaning the dishes like no one had said anything. Sodapop came closer and elbowed him: "So? You gonna answer before my hair turns gray?"

None of us couldn't help but laugh, even Darry. "I'm seeing this girl…but I don't know how serious the thing is, really."

"How long have you been seeing her?"

"Since January."

"That's almost seven months! How can you say it's not serious?" Ponyboy exclaimed, looking shocked. Maybe he never considered the idea of his older brother actually having a girlfriend.

Darry mumbled something I didn't understand and, despite all of his siblings' curious questions, he only told us the girl's name was Diane and that she was from Shreveport. She was two years younger than him.

"That's tuff! You should convince her to move to Tulsa, after you've married!" Ponyboy said.

"Don't you fantasize too much, Pony. I never said anything about even considering marriage."

"Well, I thought…"

"You should think about it, Darry! You're twenty-six, isn't that the perfect age to elope?" Soda said cheerfully.

Darry raised one eyebrow skeptically. "Who says that?"

"Me!" Soda smiled proudly.

"That must be true, then, little buddy." Darry grinned.

"I'd like to see this girl, she must be somethin' special…" Sodapop paused. "…if she can stand you for so many months!"

Darry punched him playfully.

"I gotta go…" I announced, glancing at the clock. "I promised I'd babysit Julie so that Steve and Evie could go out together for a couple of hours."

"Aww, you leavin' me alone with those two?" Soda whined.

"Not just with them, I think Two-Bit will come over. I bumped into him today and he told me so." I laughed at Soda's distressed look.

"Don't make that face! I'll bring some ice-cream if I come back early. What flavor would you guys like?"

"Chocolate!" They answered unanimously. I knew they'd say that.

When I rang the doorbell at the Randles' house, Evie showed up first, looking mad. "Hi, Sybil…come in."

"Is everything alright?" I quietly asked as I followed her upstairs. Evie was dressed up and wearing make up, ready to go out, but it seemed she wasn't in a good mood.

"Not really…Steve and I got into a fight not too long ago."

"Do you want me to leave?"

"No, we're going out whether he likes it or not! He never takes me anywhere…" she scoffed.

I didn't reply because I didn't know what to say. We entered Julie's room. "Hey, Julie! I haven't seen you in a while!"

"Hi!" she looked genuinely happy to see me. "You gonna stay?"

"Yeah. We can play for a while, it's not your bedtime yet, right, Evie?"

Evie smiled gratefully at me. "Right. Here's Steve…" Steve had just entered the bedroom to say a quick hello before they left.

"So, Julie…what do you wanna do?" I asked. "You can draw, or I can read you a story, or…"

"Can I watch TV? There's a new cartoon I like!"

Julie sat on the sofa and I went to the kitchen to get her a glass of milk. I hoped everything was okay between Steve and Evie. Soon I quit worrying about them, though, because I got one of the biggest scares of my life.

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"I'm back!" I yelled, quite unnecessarily, in fact, since the slamming of the front door had already alerted anyone in the house.

"Finally!" Sodapop reached me. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. Did you know Steve got Julie a dog?"

"Nope." He shook his head. "Why?"

"Cause the dog scared the hell out of me! After I put Julie to bed, I heard some strange noises coming from downstairs, and it turns out the dog wanted to come inside…I thought it was a thief or something." I explained.

"A thief? In our neighborhood?" Soda laughed.

"It's not funny, I was really scared!" I said, walking away from him.

"Hey…hey, Sybil…" Soda put his hands on my shoulders. "I'm sorry. Don't be mad, I can't stand it when you're upset at me."

"Don't make that puppy face." I tried to sound annoyed, but Soda's eyes were already making me melt. "You're such a…"

"What?" He gently tucked my hair behind my ear and stroked my cheek.

"…a charmer." I sighed. "Let's call Ponyboy and Darrel, so we can eat the ice-cream together."

Soda grinned, proud of his act.

As we were eating ice-cream sitting at the kitchen table, Sodapop kept giving me weird looks. Then he whispered in my ear: "I can't stand it anymore, d'you mind if I tell them? Since you left to look after Julie, I've been tempted to 'fess up."

"What?" I frowned. "Now?"

Pony and Darry were staring at us curiously.

"Please?" Soda insisted.

"Fine, you tell them." I agreed.

Soda grinned crazily and got up: "Pony, Darry, we have somethin' to tell you."

"Something good, I hope." Pony replied.

His brother ignored him and kept on talking. "We're having a baby!"

Suddenly, the quietness of the house was but a memory. The three of them were making such a racket I thought the neighbors would show up to protest. Before I knew it, Darry and Pony were both hugging me tight. "Guys? I can't breathe…" I muttered.

"Sorry! We're just happy to hear the news. Darry, we're gonna be uncles! When are you going to-"

Soda interrupted him: "In February, we ain't sure about the date. And you're the first to know, so don't tell anyone…"

"We actually wanted to keep it a secret for a while but he couldn't resist." I pointed out.

"Too excited! If your brother was here, you'd wanna tell him, too!" Sodapop exclaimed.

About half an hour later, everyone was going to sleep. As Soda turned the light off in our bedroom and I snuggled close to him, I wondered if I should tell him about Steve and Evie fighting and ask for his opinion, but I suddenly felt too tired to do anything.