…a few months later, near Christmas…

Life was pretty much the same. All of us were still together. A few of us had birthdays. I turned 17, Sodapop turned 18, Evie turned 18, and Candy turned 17.

Two-Bit had brought up the possibility of being drafted to Vietnam a few other times, each time making me more and more nervous. I tried to hide whatever worry I had so he wouldn't get any more worried than he already was. He told me he hadn't even told his mom yet about how worried he was, which kinda made me feel bad at first, but then he reminded me that he helped with Keilah and he didn't wanna worry her either, considering their father was still missing in action, and probably would still be even after the war was over.

Evie and Candy started to get somewhat tense. More and more boys who were eighteen were getting those horrible letters, and more and more girls and families were getting letters of their own saying that their soldier wouldn't be returning for whatever happened to them. And the fact that both Steve and Sodapop were eighteen now, well that didn't help our situations at all.

Plus we all wanted to be together for Christmas, especially since this was the first year without Mr and Mrs Curtis, Dallas and Johnny. The Curtis' always made special breakfast for everybody on Christmas since the rest of us didn't come from the best homes, and that knew that well and good so they always invited us over. Johnny would always watch Miracle on 34th Street and would be so mesmerized by the city, but then Dallas would always tell him it wasn't really like that, and the rest of us would always tell Dallas to shut up and just enjoy the movie- which he never could, probably cause he thought Natalie Wood was annoying as the little girl. And we all know how much Dallas Winston loved little kids… note the sarcasm.

Marilyn, Evie, Candy, Suzie and me all had gone out to look for Christmas gifts. I didn't know what the other four planned, but I already knew what I was getting Two-Bit.

He never got his fancy show-off switchblade back that night. The cops wanted it for evidence or something and said they'd give it back, but no shocker, they never did. Probably, even considering the circumstances, they thought, oh, they're still Greasers, better not give it back, you don't know what they'll do. Anyway, he never got a new one to show off like he did with that one, I would take advantage of that. I planned on getting him a new show-off one. Obviously not the same exact one, I doubt they even sold the same exact one anymore.

The other four looked completely confused what to get the rest as gifts, especially since we had gone to nearly every store in town and with everyone we left, they looked more anxious. I was just waiting till we got to the hardware store, and I was starting think of just going there and meeting back with them, especially since it was getting cold. "Why aren't you looking, Rain?" Evie asked as we walked.

I shrugged a bit. "Two reasons. One: I don't think Christmas is all about gifts and such, but about being with those you care about. Two: I already know what I'm getting him."

Marilyn smiled. "My parents used to say the first thing you said, so we would always make people gifts instead of buying and going crazy."

We all went back to the house at 4:30 in the afternoon. It was kinda weird getting back and nobody was there and from what we could see, they left no trace of anything saying where they were. "They left a note!" Candy called to the rest of us as we looked, and she was looking down reading a paper:

"If we're not back when you five get back, meet us at the hospital. Sodapop will be waiting in the waiting room for you all. -Darry Curtis"

"Get in my car," Marilyn said and we ran back outside to her car.

The car ride was quiet. There was nothing any of us could think of to say to ease our nerves. Candy didn't have much to worry about, considering Sodapop would be waiting for us. Marilyn, maybe not, considering Darry wrote the note. Me, Suzie and Evie on the other hand- we were shaking as much as someone outside with no jacket of any type. We had no confirmation of any type that said Two-Bit, Steve or Ponyboy was ok. Something was wrong with one of 'em, and the worry was eating us all alive.

We got there and ran inside to the ER. Just as Darry said, Sodapop was sitting in one of the chairs in the waiting room. He sat hunched over with his elbows on his knees, one leg bouncing nervously on the ball of his foot, and one hand to his mouth as he chewed on his nails.

The five of us quickly went over to him, Candy reaching him first. She practically knocked him over when she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and buried her head in his neck, but he didn't look like he minded, considering he returned the action. "What happened? Where are they?" Marilyn asked.

Candy let go but still had her arms tightly around his torso and his arm around her shoulders tight as he led us through the halls. "Ok, Steve and me were at the DX and Ponyboy and Two-Bit came by cause Two-Bit was on break. So this red mustang comes drivin' up and nearly hits Ponyboy…"

I saw Suzie tense up.

"Steve pushed him out the way and he got hit…"

Suzie eased up a bit, but now Evie was tense and looked like she was about to break out in tears. I put my hand on her arm to try and calm her nerves. She took a deep sigh to try and compose herself and smiled a tiny bit at me.

"He's fine though. Some cuts and bruises, nothing serious... after that, I was helping him get inside cause we had no idea if he was ok or not cause when it happened he couldn't get up. That red car then came around again and tried to hit my brother again but Two-Bit pushed him inside before they got him. Car nearly hit 'em both. Then him and me tried to get the guys in the car but they knocked us both down. Threw some empty glass bottles out at us too. By the time we got up, car was gone," he finished and we got to the room.

Steve sat on the edge of the hospital bed clutching his left arm with his right hand and some sort of gauze bandage by his left eye. Ponyboy sat in one of the chairs staring at the ground and his face was pale. Two-Bit sat in another chair, bouncing his leg and inspecting the bandage that wrapped around most of his palm and back of his hand that ended a little underneath his wrist, Darry wasn't in the room and Marilyn had gone out to look for him since he was probably talking with a nurse or doctor about what had happened and what caused everything. We all had reunions like Candy and Sodapop when we got to the room, which was expected considering how scared we were by the note.

"Sodapop told us what happened… are you ok?" I asked Two-Bit, taking the seat next to him.

He nodded and motioned to his hand. "Got cuts on my hand from the glass bottles they threw but that's it. When I was getting up, one had crushed over by me and I must've leaned on it when I was getting up off the ground. Doctor said he got whatever glass was there out. Other than that, I'm alright."

"It was from the guys that night, wasn't it?" He sighed a bit and nodded. I sighed and leaned my head on his shoulder, "And here I thought we were done with those guys."

I glanced over at Ponyboy and Suzie. He was shaking as much as we had been in the car ride there. Suzie was trying to calm him down, but it didn't look like it was helping much. Could ya blame the kid, though? Someone had tried to hit him with a car. And the worst part, is that we all knew it was intentional and not just some accident or coincidence.

We all left a little while after. Sodapop was fine. Two-Bit was fine with the exception of his hand. Ponyboy was fine with the exception of his nerves. Darry wasn't even there when it happened, they called from the DX and he picked them all up there then drove them to the hospital, expect he was real worried about Ponyboy and how he was doing. Steve had a gash on his left arm from when he fell, plus a little cut by his eye, and he said his ankle was bothering him from when the car had hit him but he had no limp, and the doctor said he was gonna be fine… so in summary, no one was physically hurt too bad, but on the inside with our thoughts, we were all a wreck.

All the guys got into Darry's truck to drive back to the house, all the girls in Marilyn's car. "That was nervewracking," Marilyn sighed as she started the car, "I hope we never have to deal with anything like that again." We all nodded in agreement with what she said.

I started to think about the first time Two-Bit talked about the possibility of getting drafted. I had nearly jumped outta my skin when Soda said the car had nearly hit him, even when he said he was fine. I mean, if he ever told me he got a letter of being drafted, how would I react to that? It was hard just thinking about everything we had just encountered, could we handle something like that? Could he? Could I?

I was brought out of my thoughts when someone nudged my arm. I quickly looked to the side and saw they were all getting out of the car to get into the house. I got out of Marilyn's car and waited for the rest. "You ok, Rain? You were just staring into space on the way back," Candy said with a worried look. I nodded and gave a weak smile, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking." She gave me an unsure look as we all headed toward the house.

"Rain… can we talk to you for a sec?" Marilyn stopped me before we walked in. Behind her stood Candy, Suzie and Evie.

I nodded a little and we sat down on the porch. "What's going on?" I asked.

"We should be asking you that." Evie's voice was kinda harsh but kinda sad at the same time.

I gave an unsure look. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No, Evie just doesn't know how to be subtle." She glared at Evie a bit then back to me. "What she meant, is something bothering you?"

"Like what?"

"You've been acting weird since you told us Two-Bit mentioned the possibility of getting drafted." Suzie gave a weird look at me.

I sighed and leaned my head against the post. "Honestly… I'm scared to death. I mean, what if he does? I can't handle that, I mean just with how worried I was today."

"Have you talked to him anymore about it?" Marilyn asked.

I shook my head. "I don't want him more worried than he already is."

"This is something you two need to talk about, though. It's not helping either of you. I know you don't wanna talk about it, but you have to. Let's just say- God forbid- that he did. You two both have feelings about this, holding them in will not make things easier. And it's not gonna help your relationship. Now I'm not saying your relationship isn't good, and just saying that it's not gonna help keep you relationship the way it is, or even making it better. And if he does, he needs to know that you know and believe will all your heart that he's gonna be perfectly fine."

"I agree with Marilyn, just talk to him about it." Evie gave a concerned look. "There's no harm in just talking about it."

"Look, Rain, I understand where you're coming from. My big brother got drafted," Suzie said.

We all gave sad looks. "How did your family react?"

She gave a slight chuckle. "Well obviously we're scared, but we all talked about it and we're better than we were. My mom's still more on edge than the rest of us, but that's expected. He leaves January 3."

"Are you nervous?" Candy asked.

Suzie nodded. "Sure… but we know he's gonna be ok and believe it or not," she glanced at me, "talking about it with the person does help. Cause you get out your feelings and they get out theirs."

I sighed in defeat. "Fine, I'll do it. I try talking with him about it soon…"