A/N: What is this? A quick update? Wow. You know what I realized? I didn't even say thank you for the reviews last chapter. I'm so sorry. So THANKS TIMES A MILLION. They make my life, and just know I appreciate every single review, favorite, and alert. Thanks. So. So. Much.

Disclaimer: Pretty pointless for me to say, but I don't own anything. At all. I don't own "Light My Fire" by the Doors, or "Strawberry Fields Forever" by the Beatles. Or CCR or the Mamas and the Papas, Porgy and Bess, or whatever reference I make to something.

Also, I took Ponyboy's experience with The Beatles's from my friend's. He was an Elvis fan through and through until he heard "Strawberry Fields Forever". He had only grown up with older Beatles.

About a month later, a shrill ringing pierced the air and I jumped out of my bed immediately. I ran in to the kitchen and glanced at the clock across the room as I reached out blindly in the dark for the phone. It was 5:45 in the morning!

Sodapop bounded slowly out of the room behind me as I picked up the phone. "Hullo..?" I mumbled sleepily in the kind of tone Darry would scold me for. I yawned, smearing my hand carelessly down my face.

"Ponyboy?" the voice on the line said.

I was snapped awake. "Mrs. Almost?" I had to speak quietly because Darry was sleeping in his bedroom.

Soda's eyes widened and he looked at me questioningly. "Pony?" he whispered. "Who is th -"

I waved my hand to silence him, because Mrs. Almost was starting to talk to me. "Ponyboy? What time is it over there? Were you sleeping?" she inquired.

I blinked. Of course I was sleeping - it was only almost 6 A.M. "Um, 5:47 in the morning…?"

"Oh!" she gasped. "Oh, child! I am so sorry! It's no wonder you sounded so sleepy…"

As she drifted off, I looked at Soda. He was starting intently at me. I put the receiver to my chest. "Who is that?" he asked, eyes wide and slightly panicky.

"Mrs. Almost," I said to him, and then held the phone back up to my ear. "Yeah, Mrs. Almost, it's okay."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm in New York right now. I should have thought of the time zone difference. I haven't been keeping track of time lately. My life has been so hectic; I've been so busy, what with my daughter graduating and… I just…"

"It's okay," I said hurriedly, because I was afraid she'd never get to the point. "Uh, what do you want?" I cringed at how tactless I sounded.

"May I talk to your brother Darrell, Ponyboy?"

"Well…" I muttered, turning to Sodapop. "He's asleep right now."

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "Gosh! I'm just so scatterbrained sometimes. I am so flustered. I apologize."

"It's okay," I said for what seemed to be the thousandth time that morning. "Is it possible for you to call in an hour or something?"

"No, no, I've got a business meeting at eight. Oh, I should have sent a letter instead, but I was so afraid to; it would take much too long."

"Okay, well…" I fumbled uselessly for words. Why couldn't she just tell me? "Can I take a message for him?"

"Of course, Ponyboy."

Soda looked at me again and mouthed, What's she saying?

I mouthed back, I'll tell you in a second. But it was obvious he couldn't tell what I was trying to say to him.

"I was going to contact your brother to tell him about this first but I think you've earned the right to know what has been going on with the publishing company."

"It isn't anything bad?" I asked, my voice raising octaves. Sodapop's head swiveled abruptly in my direction. His jaw was slack. "Like, they're not going to publish it now because -"

She laughed heartily. "No, honey. They wouldn't cancel the publication after they've already sent contracts out. You need to stop worrying."

"Sorry," I sputtered. Now it was my turn to say sorry. "I get scared about that."

"I've been planning to schedule a meeting among the editors, you, the publishers, and myself. We need to discuss the cover art of your book."

"Really?" I almost shouted. Sodapop smiled at how excited I was, but he held a finger to his lips.

"Shh," he whispered with a glimmer of a laugh. "Darry's sleepin'."

I mouthed the word, Sorry, and continued to listen.

"Well, of course. What were you expecting me to say?"

I thought of all the times I'd lie awake at night - thinking of all the things that could go wrong. They wouldn't end up publishing it because of the obscene language. The gang violence. They would decide they didn't like the book anymore and it wouldn't be published.

But I just shrugged, even though she couldn't see me through the phone. "I don't know."

"But before I put everything together, I need to talk to your guardian to make sure the dates are alright for you."

"Okay," I said, ecstatic. "Wow, this is so tuff. I didn't know the authors picked their covers of their books."

"Well, it's their book, isn't it?" she said, giving a tiny cough. "I think it'd only be fair."

"I think you're right."

"Have your brother call me at this number… I recently moved offices at my work and now I have a different number…"

I told Sodapop to give me a pen and paper while she rattled off some digits. "When should he call you?"

"Um… I'll be in Connecticut for my daughter's graduation at Yale all next week. I've been traveling for such a time now. Not this Monday but the next should be a good time."

"Okay, okay. Thanks, Mrs. Almost."

"Guess we're awake for the day, huh?" Sodapop said, flopping on the couch next to me.

"Yup, I guess so."

"What did she want? Mrs. Almost?"

"Oh," I said, grinning. "I get to pick the design for the cover of my book."

"Maybe you'll get to draw it."

"Whoooa," I snapped my fingers. "That's a good idea."

"Yeah, maybe you can draw it and send it to that Nancy woman," he replied, poking me in the side.

"She wanted to talk to Darry."

"Ya know," Sodapop breathed, "I think she's got the hots for him. She married?"

"Her husband died a year ago or something." I thought about what Sodapop said, about her liking Darry. I turned to face Soda. I walked to the front porch so I could smoke a cigarette and Sodapop followed me. The sun was rising. "You really think she likes Darry? She's a little old for him, don't ya think?"

"Maybe she's a cougar," he was saying back to me. "Older ladies can like the young gents."

"Yeah, but that's weird. She's like fifty."

"So? Love knows no age. And Darry's a good lookin' fellow. When he was in high school the broads were all over him."

I shook my head, heavily disturbed. "Please don't tell me you're going to try to hook them up. That is so creepy. And Darry don't even like her. Hell, she don't even like him!"

"Did you see the way her eyes flashed when she first laid eyes on him?" He smiled.

I laughed out loud. "Uh, no? When did this happen?"

"She wants him."

"No, she doesn't. When I talked to her she seemed still pretty mournful about her husband. And I'm pretty sure Darry wouldn't want a girl who's thirty years older than him."

Soda looked out to the sunset. I looked at his face, man, he looked handsome. The golden light make him look like Zeus.

It was hot, really, really hot, even this early in the morning. Darry would be waking up soon.

"Yeah, I'm gonna assume you're right," he agreed. "Superman deserves his Lois Lane."

I snorted.

"What kind of girl do you think he's into, Pony?"

"I don't know," I responded. "Someone who's as calm and cool as he is. Someone who's smart enough for him to tolerate."

"I think so too. But sometimes it's weird to even think of him dating a girl, ya know? It's like he's never had a girlfriend."

"What about that one girl he dated in high school? The one who was obsessed with the Beatles?"

"Oh, yeah," He laughed. "How could I have forgotten her? She was crazy."

Darry woke up, clean shaven, to us playfully shoving each other on the front porch. "You guys are up early," he commented. "I went to your room to wake you guys up but you weren't in there."

I ashed my cigarette and stretched. "Why were you gonna wake me up anyway? It's summer, Darry."

"It's good to wake up bright and early every morning. What do they say? 'The early bird gets the worm'?"

Soda chuckled lightheartedly and punched me in the shoulder. "Hey, we're just jealous 'cause we gotta go to the work and he don't."

I sighed, closed my eyes, and nodded. "Gotta love the summer," I said. Relaxation, warm weather, no school. A time for lounging around. For fun.

My mom used to sing a song from her favorite opera: Porgy and Bess. How did that song go? Summertime, and the living's easy… Yeah, that's it. If I closed my eyes, I could almost hear my mother singing it.

"Did either of you guys happen to make breakfast?"

I opened my eyes and Sodapop and I stole guilty looks at each other. We were too busy talking about Darry's dream girl to even think about that.

"Nup, sorry, Darry," Soda said with a sheepish smile. "I'll get right on that."

"I think we got a chocolate cake in the ice box," I yelled as he walked in.

As we were sitting down, eating chocolate cake and eggs, Darry started, "Why were you guys awake so early? I usually have to drag you guys out of bed."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you: Mrs. Almost called."

"And that's why you woke up?" He looked at me and raised his eyebrows. "I'm surprised I didn't hear it."

"Yeah, she wants to schedule this meeting thing."

"Little early to be calling," he muttered more to himself than anyone.

I handed him the note that I wrote on earlier and he studied it. Analyzed it thoroughly like Darry Curtis does with everyone and everything.

"She's in New York. They're an hour ahead of us in time. She was all frantic and busy. I don't think she even realized she was calling so early."

He nodded and grabbed a pen, sticking it in his mouth.

Soda sat down with his plate in front of him.

Finally it was time for us to go. I'd been waiting for what seemed like months now.

"Are you ready?" Darry asked me. "You good? You good to go?"

"Yeah," I said, shrugging. I wasn't as nervous for this as I was for my first meeting with Mrs. Almost. "Where is this place again?"

"I don't know. Mrs. Almost gave me the address but we gotta stop by the DX to get a map."

"Okay."

Mrs. Almost told Darry about the place we have to meet. She told him that it was right outside Oklahoma City. It was kind of a lengthy drive - about an hour and a half. But I was willing to do whatever it took, and I could tell Darry was too.

When we stopped at the DX, we both slipped out of the car. I had to fan myself with my hand, it was so hot outside.

"Sorry I can't come with you today, Pone," Sodapop said. Cigarette behind his ear, he tucked in his DX uniform shirt.

"I'll fill 'er up, Darry," said Steve, patting the car gently. "It's on the house."

Soda gave a huge grin that bared his perfect teeth. Steve swatted him on the head with a rolled up newspaper. "Aw, you're askin' for it, Stevie."

They went on to start wrestling each other - in the middle of their work - and I wondered how they managed to even keep their jobs.

Darry shook his head. "Stop it. Both of you."

"Aw, Dar," Sodapop said in his easy-going nature. He tapped Darry on his stomach. "It's all good."

Darry smiled. "See you, little buddy. We gotta get goin' now."

"Bye, Darry! Bye, Ponyboy."

"See ya, Sodapop."

"I'm so bored," I moaned in to my hands.

"What, and you think I'm not?" Darry snapped.

Putting my hands up defensively, I inwardly groaned. Darry was acting exceedingly crabby today. So I did what Darry had been trying to get me to do since I was born: used my head. I shut my trap and turned up the radio.

With nothing to do or to talk about, we mostly listened to the radio the whole way there.

Music sure was changing, I realized, the more and more I listened. No more Elvis. I didn't hear an Elvis song once.

It was suddenly replaced by things like Credence Clearwater Revival, the Mamas and the Papas, and even - get this - a weird, psychedelic Beatles.

What happened to the mop top wearers I'd just listened to a few months ago with Darry?

"Strawberry Fields Forever"?

It was freaky, their seemingly sudden change in music, but the sad thing is I much preferred this over the old Beatles.

We finally approached our desired destination. "Pony," he said fervently as he looked out the window. He reached out blindly and tapped me a little harder than he meant to. "Read me the address on the map."

I did.

"Okay, well, it looks like we're here."

I nodded and swallowed thickly. I tapped my foot to the song playing on the radio. I'd never heard it before - it had to be new. But I nodded and tapped along to it, mostly because I was getting more nervous by the second, and I needed something to keep my occupied.

"The time to hesitate is through…"

Darry turned it down.

"No time to wallow in the mire…"

I turned it back up.

"Ponyboy, knock it off!"

"Come on, baby, light my fire…"

Darry snapped the radio off. I looked up at him.

"I'll walk you in," he said gruffly. "Get out."

"Okay," I ran a hand through my hair.

As I stepped out of the car and in to the tall, silver-lined building, I braced myself for what was to come.

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