A/N: First off, I appreciate the reviews. Now here comes the hard part. See if you can get the metaphors. It may throw the story off a little bit, but I'll try my best to keep on track.

Chapter 3:

A car slowed down to a rundown motel near the borderline of Southside Tulsa. This car was familiar looking as Sodapop and Steve stepped out. Each with the same saddened look on their face, each with a letter clutched in their hand; Steve had a more firm grip on the mail.

Combining their money and using change they found, the bought a room in the motel. At nearly 12:00, Both Soda and Steve were sitting on the bed smoking a cigarette. They kept the back window open so the cigarette smoke would not become trapped in the small room. Steve carried a face that seemed as if he was ready to kill someone, while Soda sported an expression that was completely blank and was accompanied by a shaking knee.

Steve finished his drag, which was his last cigarette, and took a look at the letter again. The two best friends looked at each other simultaneously and Steve leaned back on the bed.

"Shit!" he nearly yelled. "That what it is. Shit!"

Soda merely shook his head. He wanted to agree and kept having to remind himself that this was reality and not some television show or someone else's problem. This was between him and Steve.

"I know. But we don't have a choice."

"We could skip town."

"With what? We barely have enough money to leave Tulsa. By the time we get to where we need to go, they would have caught us."

Steve only sighed and sat up. It was the saddest moment in their lives and the news they had just received was the most terrible thing that could happen to them.

"Darry, Darry!"

Ponyboy was shaking his older brother, who had fallen asleep on the couch with the forms he needed to read on his stomach. He sat up and rubbed his face. He must have fallen asleep while reading the semi-thick packet.

"What time is it?" he asked.

"6:05 in the morning," answered Pony. "But Soda wasn't in bed when I woke up!"

"What!" yelled Darry as he rose up quicker than he had wakened up.

"What are we going to do?!" asked Pony, worried about what could have happened to his brother.

Darry paced the floor. This was bad. It was a hard decision to make, but he had to come up with some sort of decision.

"We'll have to wait."

"What?"

"I know it sounds crazy, Pony. But Soda isn't going to be eighteen for a few months, so he's still a minor. Plus Soda has his head on straight. The only thing we can do is pray that he isn't hurt. If you hear anything at school, be sure to come straight to me afterwards. Okay. I'm going to leave early, to see if I can find him."

Ponyboy couldn't do anything but nod. He along with his brother could only pray that Sodapop hadn't been attacked.

Later on that day at school, Two-Bit was roaming the halls; still slightly quieter than usual. But only real friends of his would notice this transition in attitude. As he walked on, he heard a familiar name from a group of greasers.

Being rather reluctant to ask what was going on, he decided to eavesdrop.

"…Yeah. I didn't even think they were that close."

"So tell me what happened."

"How they hell would I know what happened in the room. "

"So nothing happened?"

"Oh they definitely…"

Two-Bit's eyebrow cocked. But that was only to hide the surprise inside. He had to get to the Curtis household and tell them what he had just heard. Meanwhile, at school Ponyboy had been keeping his ears pierced for news about his brother, but it was very peculiar. Everyone time he would walk past some greasers, they would stop and just stare at him. What did he do?

He was getting no luck from the hoods. As he walked towards the exit of school, he noticed a group of socs near the door. Maybe they would know something. There were plenty of greasers around, so he wouldn't have to worry about being jumped. Besides, ever since that rumble last year, socs have pretty much left him alone.

He walked past the group of socs, hoping to hear them mention something about what they did last night. Instead, they were carrying on a conversation about a new record that had been released earlier this week. Saddened, the young greaser continued on his way and exited out of the door.

Before Pony could reach the bottom of the stairs though, someone called out his name. He turned around and almost instantly was thrown into a fantastic daze. There standing was young girl with jet black hair with emerald-green eyes. Her clothing consisted of just plain attire. Nothing extravagant, yet it wasn't dirty and worn out. She must be middle class.

"I heard that you had just been accepted to a Writing School," she said when they suddenly came face to face.

"Uh….Y-yeah. I was?"

"That's cool. My name's Emily. Did I say your name correctly? Ponyboy, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. It's Ponyboy. How did you know about my theme?"

"Uh….Mr. Syme is my teacher. Hey I gotta go but…"

She gave the young man a sheet of folded paper.

"Call me tonight. And we'll talk more. Okay?"

"O-okay."

With that, she walked off. As she proceeded, she took one last look at Ponyboy and smiled at him. That made his heart glow even more.

A car pulled up to the Curtis house and Two-Bit stepped out. He walked inside the house and saw Soda lying on the couch, watching television.

"Soda! I need to tell you something!" he nearly yelled.

Soda slowly lifted his head to Two-Bit, with a slightly saddened look on his face.

"I gotta tell you something first."

Two-Bit raised his eyebrow again and Sodapop pulled out a letter that he had received just yesterday. He gave it to Two-Bit. His friend took a look at him and then swiftly began reading the letter. He stopped at one point and then took a look at Sodapop, who nodded and said,

"Both me and Steve."

Two-Bit didn't say a word, not a word at all. The silence was broken by the door opening and there stood both Ponyboy and Darry.

"I got off work early," he announced. "Soda, where were y-"

He stopped when he noticed the expression on Two-Bit's and then his brothers. Pony seemed to have examined their faces also.

"What's going on?" asked Darry.

Two-Bit looked at Sodapop and there was all eyes on him, like there was on Two-Bit the other night. Soda sighed, looked at his friend and then his brothers. A tear slid down his cheek and he said,

"Me and Steve have been drafted to Vietnam."