Suzie stood with her family a few feet away from where I stood with Two-Bit, his mom and Keilah. The rest didn't stand too far away, talking among themselves since they had already said their goodbye's. Ponyboy stood behind Suzie. It was cold at the moment but at the moment, it didn't really phase me- which was shocking considering I was only wearing a leather jacket and I couldn't even zip it cause the zipper was broken.

"...and you write to us as soon as you get the chance, alright?" Mrs. Mathews said to her son.

Two-Bit nodded, "I will, don't worry." He leaned down to Keilah,"Now you better behave and do what Mom says, got it?" She nodded. He smiled, ruffled her hair and gave her one final hug. He turned back to his mother, who hugged him. He turned to me and whispered, "I'm gonna miss you."

"I'll miss you too... I love you," I whispered back.

"I love you too." He leaned down and quickly kissed and hugged me goodbye, then turned to the bus taking everyone to the airport. As I watched him walk to the bus, I played around with the heart locket hanging around my neck with my fingertips. Keilah hugged her mother tight. Two-Bit turned back to everyone with a wave and a weak smile as he went into the bus, they copied his first two actions. I saw Suzie's brother walk in behind him.

"Rain, ain't ya about to freeze to death?" Soda came up behind me, like the big-brother he felt like.

I still didn't really notice how cold it was. I crossed my arms to keep warm, looked down and shook my head 'no'. I didn't feel like speaking.

I looked back at the bus as it drove away and fought back tears. "Remember, my door is always open," gave a weak smile and her voice was quiet. I gave the smile and nodded as her and Keilah walked back to the car.

I went over to my friends who patiently waited for me and Suzie, who was still with her family. "You gonna be ok, Rain?" Evie asked quietly. I nodded, but still said nothing. In reality I wasn't, and I knew they all knew that- but I refused to verbally admit to it. Inside, I wanted to stop the bus and make him stay, but I knew I couldn't.

I was happy we had all the photos from Christmas developed by January 1. He had photos to take with him, plus we all had pictures of all of us together. Before things changed. Before we had a care in the world about the whole God-forsaken war. Before-

"Rain?!"

I quickly turned my head. "You sure you're ok? You kinda spaced out, you alright?" Darry asked with a worried expression.

I nodded. "Im ok, really. I am," I said quietly. Most of them gave me an unsure or unconvinced look. "I really am fine, ok? I'm fine, I promise." They all still looked unconvinced but finally took my answer. "We should probably get back to the house, it's getting pretty cold and I don't want anyone getting sick," Darry said. We headed to the house and I stuffed my hands in my pockets and felt a piece of paper:

"Rain,
First, you're probably wondering how I got this note in your pocket. When I hugged you, I slipped it in your pocket. Anyway I wrote this last night for you. I put my house keys and my car keys in your bag for school. I talked it over with my mom and she said she was ok with you having them till I come back. I know my car ain't the best, but it runs ok. Another thing, go to the garage I work at and ask for the manager, Rusty. When he asks who you are, tell him you're my girlfriend, he'll know who you are. Anyway, I want you to know I'm gonna miss you a lot. A whole lot. Tell the gang I'll miss them a long too while I'm away. I swear I'll write to you, first chance I get. I hope I'll get to come back real soon so I can see you and the rest of them bums soon. I have the pictures from Christmas and even some from your birthday. I'm itching to make the other guys there jealous that I'm dating you and they can't. Anyway, I'll write as soon as I get there. I love you. - Two-Bit"

I smiled at the note, and even laughed at some of the things he wrote. "What's so funny?" Marilyn asked confused. I handed her the note. She smiled and handed it back after she read it. I asked Darry if I could go to the garage and he said yes... but since it was on the way to the house, they wouldn't be too far behind, but far enough that I couldn't see them.

Although at the moment, if any Soc got me pissed off, they'd be sorry.

I got to the place and there were five people sitting in front of the shop in colorfully clothes and looked kind of in a daze, but I couldn't be sure with the sunglasses they had on. The bell hooked up to the door rang when I walked in. "Be right there!" a man called from a side room. A minute later he came out from the room and behind the desk. He looked to be is his late forties or early fifties and had car and oil grease on his uniform. He opened his mouth to say something but stopped when he saw the group outside. "Excuse me," he said then went outside.

I watched as the man shouted at the group and they ran off. He came back in, shaking his head. "Damn hippies," he mumbled. He came back behind the desk and sighed, "Sorry about that. What can I do for ya, darlin'?"

I took the note out of my pocket and read what to say. "Uh... my boyfriend Two-Bit told me to come here and ask for Rusty."

"You found him," the man smiled, "You must be Rain, then."

I nodded.

"So you're Two-Bit's girl? With the prettiest eyes he ever seen, he says?"

I felt my cheeks get pink and I bit back a smile and looked at the ground.

Rusty laughed. "Anyway... he sent you over here cause I told him I'd give ya a job. Said you applied for one at the Dingo down a few blocks away as a waitress. Now, I know a garage ain't the most ladylike place to be workin'- but I've seen the uniforms at the place, and that ain't so ladylike neither. I have a daughter 'bout your age, and I sure as hell wouldn't want her wearin' them uniforms," he laughed, "At least here ya get to wear somethin' that don't show what you don't want showin'!"

I laughed and nodded. "Two of my friends work there and they hate the uniforms... their boyfriends ain't too fond of them either."

He laughed again. "Yeah... so you want the job, kid?"

"Well, what would I be doing?"

"Probably workin' the desk... I've been meanin' to hire someone for the desk, but I never got around to it," he shrugged.

I shrugged a bit and nodded. "Sure, I'll take it."

He smiled. "Great! Come by here tomorrow at ten, you'll work till four, then we'll figure out you're schedule for when school starts back up."

I thanked him then headed back to the house. When I got there, everybody had just got back there too. I honestly wouldn't be shocked if they were a block behind me then took some short cut back and made it look like they weren't still following me.

...that night...

"Rain, could you check the mail?" Darry called from the other room. "Alright," I called back. I went outside and Soda and Candy were walking toward the house. I smiled at them as they walked past and they did the same. I went to the mailbox and got out the few envelopes. Bill, bill, Darry's paycheck... the U.S. Military? Addressed to me?

I rested the other envelopes on the box and opened the one addressed to me:
"Miss Raina Johnson,
On behalf of the U.S. Military, we are sorry to inform you that Keith Mathews has passed. One of the Viet-Cong shot him when the U.S. camp he was stationed in was invaded during the night. We are truly sorry about your loss."

I couldn't move. The letter slipped from my hand into the ground. Tears ran down my cheeks and a slight screech came from the back of my throat. I felt weak. "Rain?!" someone called. Candy came rushing to my side as I fell in my knees. "Rain, what happened? What's wrong?"

I slowly picked up the letter and handed it to her. She read it then quickly hugged me. I hugged back. I was having an emotional breakdown of some sort of what I just read.

"No!" I screamed. I shot up in bed and breathed heavy. "It was just a dream," I said to myself hopefully.

Darry and Sodapop came into my room. "What happened?!" Darry asked.

I shook my head a bit, "Bad dream... but just to be sure, what's today's date? And the year?"

"January 3, 1967... why?" Sodapop asked and sat on the edge of my bed.

I shook my head again. "Just making sure... I'm sorry I woke you guys. Did I wake up Ponyboy?"

Sodapop shook his head, "Kid's still asleep."

"You sure you're ok?"

"I'm fine, really," I said quietly.

They nodded and left the room. I didn't get an ounce of sleep the rest of the night.

Hi! Ok so I just realized I could just copy and paste what I have on wattpad for the document for fanfiction. Net, I don't know why I didn't think of that till about 23 chapters later… anyway, because of that, sorry if I have any mistakes, I always read through it when I upload it and then if I see mistakes I'm always like "Oh, I'll fix it later" and I even do that with wattpad but then I never get to it… to think, I've been writing fan fiction for about three years now since I was in eighth grade, and now I'm a sophomore in high school (tenth grade) so you think I would've learned by now, but I am and always will be lazy (I've actually been lazy since I was a baby cause I didn't really cry for anything, my parents say, unless I was hungry or tired… if there was anything else wrong, I wouldn't cry- that's how lazy I was and it still continues) anyway, this chapter was sad I know it XP don't be mad at me! Just think of happy songs like Footloose! (I'm listening to the radio and that's the song that just played... I listen to WCBSFM cause they play all eighties and seventies and that's the music I like so yeah) anyway, bye! =^-^=