A week before Christmans and I still hadn't talked to Two-Bit like I said I would. Marilyn, Candy, Suzie and Evie kept asking me if I had yet or not. Then when I said I hadn't, I got a nice little lecture about it from the four.

Ponyboy had kinda calmed down after the whole car thing. He was still kinda jumpy whenever there was a shiny, red car around or when he went to the DX, but someone was always with him. Plus, the Shepards and us were all getting along at the moment and were on good terms, so if they saw anything going on with us and they were in the area, we had them to help out, too. And I will admit to this, they were good figthers, most of the time, at least.

Two-Bit, me and Ponyboy had been let out for Christmas break. Two-Bit still had work at the garage, Steve and Soda at the DX, Darry was at work. Evie and Candy both had jobs at the Dingo as waitresses. Marilyn worked at the library. Suzie had gone to Tennesee to visit her family. Long story short- me and Ponyboy sat at the house bored out of our minds and no one else was around.

I had applied for a job at the Dingo with Evie and Candy, but the manager said she could tell me after the new year started. I wasn't too fond of working there, but I need a job. The reasons I didn't prefer to work there though was, one: Socs went there sometimes and I didn't wanna deal with those guys. Two: the uniforms were degrading and would show about how my chest and if I bent down, my behind too.

"I know it's cold, but can we please go out and do something?" I asked hopefully.

He rolled his eyes and chuckled a bit, "Fine we can go out." I clapped my hands a bit and grinned like a little girl who had just got a new doll. Ponyboy laughed, "Sometimes I wonder which of us is the seventeen year old here and which is the fourteen year old." I stuck my tongue out at him but ended up unable to hold in my laughter at his true comment.

We both put on a jacket and left the house. I wasn't kidding when I said it was cold. The only thing we could do with the holiday coming in a week was go to the Dingo or to the new record store that had opened in town. "Ponyboy, can I ask you something?" I asked him as we got into the Dingo.

We walked over to one of the booths. He nodded as we sat down at both sides. "Sure, what's going on?"

I bit my lip. "Are you nervous about the war?"

He shrugged a little. "Kinda. I mean, not too much, I guess. Why?"

I sighed, "I'm scared to death."

"Why?"

"Cause anybody could get drafted in the blink of an eye."

He nodded slowly. "Oh… Suzie was telling me that you were nervous that he could get drafted."

"What's she told you?"

"Well, that both of you are nervous about the whole thing. But even if he does, you won't be alone here. We'll all be with you."

"I know, but. It's just that… this kind of thing always happens…"

He gave a confused look. "What happens?"

"Everything or everyone I live gets taken away from me, one way or another. They're just ripped right out from under me like a sheet."

"Ok, first of all, stop talking like that. Second of all, you're talking like it did and already happened."

I sighed again. "I know, I'm sorry… I just always think the worst scenario possible, you know I do that when I'm worried."

He nodded. "Yeah, and I've been trying to break that since I've known you," he chuckled, "look, I think you're worrying more than you need to. And whatever happens to whoever, the rest of us will be around to help get through it."

After we left the Dingo, we went to the new record store. It was this one that opened up about a month ago. Lots of those stores were opening up all over, I heard. The music was starting to change. More bands were coming out, singing groups, styles, everything was changing. I get that the New Year was starting, but the people were changing too. Their mindsets, thinking, I saw clothes style changing a bit too.

When we got inside, my eyes widened a bit. I had never seen so many records in one place at one time ever before in my life, and I went to a lot of record stores. I looked at Ponyboy who, from the look on his face, was thinking the same thing as me.

There were records from the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys, the Monkees, Pink Floyd, the Who, a whole bunch of other bands. But from the selection, it seemed like this place catered to the Soc music preference. A record that really stuck out to me was this group form the East Coast, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. It was an album released specifically for the season, The 4 Seasons' Christmas Album was the title. I looked behind and saw about ten more of their albums.

The four on the cover wore suits most of the time, which wasn't different from the Beatles. The one guy who was in front of the other three, who I'm guessing was Frankie Valli, kinda had puffy hair almost like an afro. I nudged Ponyboy on the arm and motioned to the group. I held up one of the records in front of him. "Ever hear of these guys?" I asked. He inspected the group and shook his head, "Never heard of them."

"Can I help you two with something?" a voice said behind us.

The two of us jumped a bit and turned around. "What?" I asked.

"Do you two need any help finding anything?" the worker asked again, seeming a little more annoyed but trying to hide it.

I looked up at him and automatically recognized him as Andrew, one of the guys from the day and that night out. He was a junior. I, thankfully, wore my hair out. I shook in front of my face, shook my head and looked down at my feet. "We're just looking," Ponyboy answered. Andrew nodded and walked off.

The two of us quickly left the store after that. We didn't wanna be recognized. It seemed like he didn't, but we didn't wanna risk anything. "I think we should head back to the house," he said, "It's getting pretty cold out." He was shaking a bit and I could tell it wasn't entirely from the cold. I nodded and pretended not to notice as we walked back to the house.

When we got to the house it was 5:03pm. Darry, Steve, Sodapop, and Two-Bit usually got back at about 5:30pm. Evie and Candy said their shifts ended at about five, but they would always go home to change first out of their uniforms. Marilyn would get off at 5:30, that's what she said at least. "I was actually thinking of applying at that record store since they had a help wanted sign in the window. But I don't know anymore," I said.

"What's stoppin' you?" he asked.

"We walked in," I chuckled.

Yeah sure, like I said, I applied to the Dingo, but I really didn't wanna wear those uniforms. They were too tight, showed nearly half of anything a girl with some self-respect didn't wanna show. Did I wanna work somewhere that guys would stare at me with wide eyes and smiles, and not in a good way? Hell. No. Evie and Candy hated the uniforms, but needed jobs. And Steve and Soda weren't fond of them two working there either with those uniforms and since they knew how most guys thought.

Everybody got back around 5:30pm like usual. Evie and Candy dragged me to my room, closing the door behind us. "Have you talked to him yet?" Candy asked.

I sighed and shook my head.

Evie gave an annoyed sigh. "That's it… you're gonna talk to him about it, and you're gonna talk to him about it right now. Cause if you don't soon, we'll all be in the 90s before you do! The four of us are worried out of our minds about you and have been since the first time you mentioned it! I know you don't want to talk about it, but you know what, you have to."

I sighed in defeat, knowing she was right about everything she said. "Fine," I mumbled. The two nodded and we went to the living room. "Two-Bit… Rain needs to talk about something very important with you," Candy said. He nodded and the two of us went to the front porch and sat down. "What's going on?" he asked cautiously.

I bit my lip. "Um… ok… we need to talk about, the possibility of you getting drafted."

"Oh…"

"Evie, Candy, Suzie and Marilyn have been telling me to for weeks now."

He chuckled. "Steve, Soda, Pony and Darry… well mostly Darry and Pony… but they've been saying that too."

I couldn't help but laugh. "you have no idea how much that makes me feel better."

He laughed, "Just imagine how I felt when you said that too."

We finally calmed down and I looked at the ground. "They're all right, ya know." My voice was quiet.

He nodded. "Unfortunately, yeah."

I looked up at him. "Even if you do, there's nothing we can do about it. Cause if you get one of those letters and you don't show up there, you could get into a lot of trouble. And I know, neither of us want that."

He nodded and looked at the ground. "I know."

I sighed a bit. "How scared are you?..."

He looked up at me and his face showed hurt, more than bearable and that he was about to breakdown. "Terrified…" He stood up and started to pace a bit. "I mean, what if something happens to me? Then what're my mom and Keilah supposed to do? I've been helping with her ever since I was ten, that eight years, Rain! Ever since that son of a bitch I used to call dad walked out on his wife, ten-year-old son, and two-year-old daughter! I'm the closest thing that Keilah has to some sort of father figure and I've always been around to help my mom. If something happens to me, what's gonna happen to them? Huh? I mean, I just…"

He sat back down hard on the steps, leaned his elbows on his knees and looked at the ground. I put my hand on his back and rubbed it in a circle on it. I leaned my head on his shoulder on my other hand was on his leg as I tried to calm him down. He leaned his head on mine and put one hand on top of mine as he sighed. "I'm just scared what could happen…" he choked out.

I sighed a bit. "You're talking like how Ponyboy said I was before."

"How's that?"

"Like you already got drafted."

He looked up at me with a sad look.

I'm a bad person for making that happen, aren't i… wait, you don't even know exactly what yet… then in that case- CLIFFHANGER!