Chapter Seven: I'll Never Forget

Walking to the DX that Friday, Sonia was startled by a car honking loudly from just behind her. She whirled around and a greaser's car pulled over to the curb.

It was the cleanest, sharpest greaser car she had ever seen. It was in mint condition. If it was fifteen years ago, it could be a Soc car.

A boy with dark, swirled greasy hair stuck his head out the window. "Need a ride, Sonali?" he asked roughly.

"Who are you?" Sonia asked the first question that came to her mind.

"Steve. I work at the DX, and I can see that you're the new girl," he said, looking at her shirt.

"Uh, yeah. Sure," Sonia said. She walked around to the other side and sat down in the passenger seat. The car may have been in perfect condition, but it smelled like cigarettes and cheap perfume, like most things this side of Tulsa did.

"You're the new counter girl?" Steve asked shortly. He seemed to have an air of permanent anger at the world about him.

"Yeah," she said. "You must work on all the cars, right?"

She figured it had to be so, if his car was in such good condition. Up until he had honked, she hadn't even heard it coming up behind her. Even now, she could barely hear the engine.

"Yeah, so?" Steve said.

"I can hardly hear your engine," Sonia changed the subject. "How do you get it so quiet?"

"I reassembled it so it doesn't run on gas," Steve said with a measure of pride. "Well, it does need a little bit, but mostly it runs on electricity. You see, it…"

He launched into a lecture, and Sonia didn't understand a word. But Steve was enjoying himself, so she kept her mouth shut.

"…One of these days I'm gonna patent it," he said proudly as they pulled into the DX.

"Okay," Sonia said, but inside she had doubts. A car running on electricity? Steve must have a screw loose under all that hair, she thought.

The manager had been right. An awful lot of girls did come around. They all seemed disappointed to see that Sodapop was no longer running the counter. They hung around anyway in case he came around, squealing in delight when he emerged to tell Sonia something or to help Steve in the garage.

"They're mad," Sonia said aloud when they were finally gone. "They are out of their minds, I swear…"

"Yeah, they're mad about Soda," Steve said from behind her. Sonia jumped about half a mile. She hadn't realized he was there.

"Soda!" Steve called when Sodapop came in from the garage. "Evie wants me to take her out tonight. Wanna double?"

"With who?" Sodapop said disdainfully. "Forget it, man."

"Come on, Soda," Steve insisted. "You haven't been out forever. It's Friday night, we're closing early, you need to get out some!"

"But Darry and Pony..."

"They'll get over it."

"Pony's worried about you," Sonia remarked quietly. She looked up to see both boy staring at her. "Sorry. I should've stayed out of it."

"Don't be sorry, you're standing right there after all," Steve said distractedly. He turned to Sodapop. Sonia watched in confusion as they had a mime argument, with Steve flailing his arms and Soda shaking his head violently.

"Sonia," Steve said winningly, turning to her finally. "Soda wants to ask you out tonight."

"No he doesn't!" Soda shouted. Then, hurriedly, "Not that there's anything wrong with you, Sonia, but—"

"Then what's the problem with going out? You need a date, it's Friday night, and she's standing right there, what's the problem?"

"Ponyboy likes her, I can't do that to him…"

"You think of the kid too much. They're not really going out, so what's the big deal, and anyway he doesn't have to know about it."

"You are just…"

"GUYS!" Sonia finally barked. They turned to her. "I have plans for tonight."

"Like what?" Steve demanded as Soda breathed a sigh of relief.

"Like none of your business," Sonia snapped before ducking behind the counter to get her things. She stayed down there until she heard Steve leave, and then straightened up.

"Thanks," Soda said. "But, what are you doing tonight, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Nothing," Sonia said. "I could see you didn't want to go out with me, so I've made plans with Jane Austen."

"Who?"

"I meant I was going to read tonight," Sonia said, pulling Pride and Prejudice out of her bag to show him.

"Oh," Soda said. "That's a shame, because I really would have liked to go out with you. Just not with Steve."

Sonia cracked a grin. "Does Ponyboy really like me?"

"Yeah. He also likes Cherry Valance and the girl who sits next to him in biology who supposedly looks good in yellow."

"Maybe tomorrow night," Sonia said, smiling. "Call me. You know where I live."

Leaving the DX, she smacked herself mentally. What was wrong with her? Not even two weeks here, and she already had had a date—sort of—and had another one—possibly—coming up?

This flew in the face of everything her mother had ever taught her: stay away from American boys because they will take advantage and corrupt you. But Soda wasn't corrupt, and he certainly didn't want to take advantage of her.

She was utterly confused. Should she abide by her mother's strict Indian values, or adhere to those of American teenagers?

She remembered another thing her mother had always taught her: if you forget your parents and the way they have brought you up, you ultimately forget yourself.

And that was one thing Sonia didn't want to do.

That night, when Soda called, she had an excuse all ready to go. But when she heard his voice on the line, the excuse withered on her tongue. What came out instead was the whole, utterly stupid, plain truth.

"Wow," Soda said when she was done. "I never realized…"

"Soda, I'm sorry," Sonia said softly. "I'm…I guess I'm just not ready yet."

"Okay. I understand," Soda said. "When I first broke up with Sandy…even now, I'm just getting back into dating and stuff."

Sonia wondered but knew better than to ask who Sandy was. "Thanks for understanding," Sonia said, abashed. "I'll see you at work." She hung up then, feeling like a total idiot but somehow righteous.

I'll never forget you, ma, she thought firmly. Nothing can replace what you taught me.

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Lame ending, no? Meh, I don't care.