Soda rolled over and yawned. "Pony." He shook his brother.
Ponyboy simply groaned and buried his head back into the pillow. "No, Soda."
Soda thought Pony smelled funny. He wished he would get up but his brothers never seemed to wake up as early as he did on the weekends. They always wanted to sleep for far to long. Soda relieved himself first and then made his way to Darry's room, who was snoring loudly.
Soda laughed loudly at this, waking Darry, who also groaned. "It's to early, Soda." He admonished lightly.
"No. No. Nope." Soda shook his head. "Darry, no."
Darry didn't even open his eyes but reached over and pulled Soda onto the bed. "Lay down." Soda complied climbing over his eldest brother. Darry grunted as Soda's knee sunk into his stomach on the way over. "Nope." Soda continued to shake his head.
"Shhh." Darry insisted, getting comfortable again. "Yes, it is. It's early. Close your eyes."
Soda slapped his hands over his eyes dramatically. "Darry, see!" He exclaimed, hoping to show off his compliance.
"Soda." Darry groaned out more vocally this time. Soda started bouncing his legs around and making the bed shake. Darry finally opened his eyes getting closer to admitting defeat. "Shh." He tried once more, placing a firm arm around Soda. "C'mon kiddo. Darry's still tired." Soda was quiet for a few minutes and Darry started drifting back off but Soda's energy was barely contained and he was quickly growing impatient.
"Noooo." He whined finally, wriggling out of Darry's embrace. "Now." He moaned out. Darry pretended not to hear him and hoped that he'd let him sleep for just a bit longer. Unfortunately Soda's whining increased into louder sounds of displeasure and a great deal more bouncing on the bed. Darry gave up and eased himself out from under the covers. Soda hopped onto the floor, delighted and dragged Darry out into the living room with him. Steve and Two-Bit were still dead to the world.
Darry went into the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee. He heard Soda turn on cartoons. He'd have made him wait at least for another hour since half the gang was asleep right next to the television but he was to tired to deal with a tantrum. It was routine, Soda watched cartoons on Sunday mornings when he woke up and breaking this routine would confuse him. "Soda, how far is your face from the screen?" It was more of an instruction than a question.
"No." Soda shouted loudly, annoyed that Darry was disrupting him. Darry poked his head out into the living room and Soda held his arm up from his face to the television screen demonstrating that his eyes were at least an arms length from it.
"You need to stop yelling. People are sleeping." But Two-Bit and Steve didn't move an inch. Darry shook his head. He decided he'd kick them both out by the time Pony woke up. Three hung-over teenagers was far more than he was willing to deal with.
"Monique?" Soda questioned, just to make sure she wasn't coming.
"Not Today." Darry came out with Soda's cereal in one hand and his schedule in the other, placing both items in front of his brother. "No school today." He pointed. Soda was happy to see blank spaces that meant he would be able to play as he pleased.
Darry saw Soda's charming smile form and he couldn't help but laugh. "You like that then, huh little buddy?" He ruffled his hair.
Steve and Two-Bit woke up not to soon after when the sunlight started shining through the living room windows. Steve stumbled home but Two-Bit made his way into the kitchen for another beer and then sat down on the floor with Soda. Darry just shook his head in disbelief. He wondered how long Pony would sleep in. He wasn't exactly looking forward to dealing with his first hangover.
Soda on the other hand was growing impatient. "Ponyboy!" He yelled.
"Soda! Don't wake Pony up. He's sick." Darry said.
"No." Soda argued. If Pony was sick he'd sleep all day. "Pony!"
"Soda, stop it. I mean it, ya hear? Ponyboy needs to sleep."
Soda stomped his foot, nearly into his bowl of cheerios that were sitting next to him on the floor. "PONY!" He hollered.
"Ya'll are so loud." Pony moaned, stepping out of the hallway.
Soda would have been happy but the look Darry gave him kept him from getting to excited.
"Hey kid." Two-Bit tipped his bottle towards Pony.
"Two-Bit get your lazy butt home. I've enough to deal with today." Darry demanded. "Did I tell you, you could come out?" He snapped at Ponyboy.
Pony rolled his eyes. "Well, can I?"
"You had better loose that attitude real quick."
Ponyboy humphed and slouched against the living room wall. "Darry, I think I'm sick." He said, squinting in the bright room, staring blankly at Two-Bit as He ruffled Soda's hair and headed out the door.
"You're not sick, your bodies just getting over that crap you drank last night." Darry motioned into the kitchen. "Go in there and wait for me." He ordered, pointing to a chair, where Pony sat down petulantly.
Soda looked at Darry with anticipation as he walked over. "What'd I say?" Darry demanded.
Soda stared at the TV and pretended not to hear him. Sometimes this worked but it didn't today. Darry flipped it off. "Sodapop, what did I say to you about waking Pony up?" Darry tried to be more specific.
"N-no." Soda said softly, rocking back and forth. His big brother looked so tall from his place on the living room carpet.
"That's right, I said no. When I say no, I mean it." Darry snapped. Soda hid his face and Darry decided to leave it be. He had enough to talk to Pony about.
In the kitchen he poured a cup of coffee, cut a lemon and squeezed the juice into it. "Drink this."
Pony crinkled his nose. "That's gross Dar."
"Ponyboy, just drink it." Darry ordered. Pony took the cup hesitantly and grimaced as he took a sip. "The whole thing." Darry prompted, grabbing a banana and a couple aspirin out of the cupboard.
"I'm gonna go watch TV."
"No, set back down." Darry ordered. "Eat this. It will help your stomach." Pony did and Darry sat down across the table from him.
"You disobeyed me last night Ponyboy."
"I did not! You never said I couldn't…"
"I shouldn't have to tell you that you can't drink when you're thirteen years old! I thought it would be obvious. Or do I have to spell out all the rules for you? You're not allowed to drive, you may not join the army, or hold up a drugstore, or shoot up on heroine. Do I need to continue or do you have enough common sense to figure it out?" Pony stared at the coffee mug in front of him, ears turning red.
"I'm sorry." He finally said after a long silence.
Darry set his jaw. "You're grounded for two weeks."
"Awe Darry, not-"
"That means school and home. Ya' Hear? No TV, no movies, no football, none of that." Pony groaned and placed his head in his aching head in his hands. "You're gonna have to learn kid. They'll take you away from me so fast you won't even know what happened and I don't know about you but I just ain't willing to let that happen."
"I can't just sit around here for two weeks."
"Yes you can." Darry said, getting up from the table. "And you will. Go back to bed and sleep it off. Soda wasn't supposed to wake you up this early." Darry handed him the aspirin and a glass of water. "And I don't care how hung-over you are. You're finishing that report today and it's gonna be perfect."
Ponyboy sighed and trudged out of the kitchen. He couldn't help but laugh when he saw Soda hiding underneath the dining table. He barely fit with all the chairs surrounding it and his long legs were sticking out of the back. "What're you doing under there?" He questioned, bending down so they were almost eye level. Soda didn't answer, just looked towards the kitchen.
"Hiding from Darry?" Pony guessed. "It's not so bad. I don't get to watch any TV for two weeks." Soda's eyes widened at the thought and then he quickly retreated further under the table when he saw Darry coming.
"What are you two doing?"
"Nothin." Pony said.
"Well than get to bed, unless you want to finish that paper now." Darry threatened and Pony left quickly to his room.
Darry sighed and looked down at the shoes sticking out the other side of the table. "Soda, Mickey Mouse should be on TV right about now." There was no response. However, the second he stepped out of the room he heard two of the chairs toppling over and Soda scrambling back over to the television set.
"I need a vacation." Darry mumbled to himself.