The next day, Steve and Evie received new about her parents' whereabouts. Apparently, they were having some problems with things. Because of those problems, they were physically unable to return home to Tulsa. Due to these circumstances, it was explained that her and Esther would be moving in with their aunt and uncle in Tulsa- their mother's sister and her husband- who lived in the middle class section of the town.

Evie would have been sent to move there as well, and her aunt and uncle would have to sell the house, but after speaking with her relatives, it was agreed she and Steve would live in her house together with and for Layla. He would be moving out of his father's house and moving in with her and the two would take over the house. Her aunt and uncle agreed to help the young and new parents with anything they need, and they had also suggested she write a letter that would be sent to her parents, explaining the situation.

"Mom and Dad,

I've already talked to Aunt Lorraine and Uncle Raymond about these arrangements. Only Esther will be moving in with them. I'll still be living in the house, and Steve will be moving in with me in the house; I remember you guys liked Steve when you guys were still around. The reason he's moving in is cause while you two were gone, or maybe a little before that, I got pregnant, and the baby is Steve's. He chose to stay with me and help me once the baby was born cause I decided I was gonna keep it. He loves me and since I love him, we decided we're going to elope since we're both legal. It just makes life easier, and it'll be better that way. Neither of us have a problem with it. I'm dropping out of high school to take care of our baby, but in a year or so, I'll probably take classes at the college. Steve has a job, and soon I can get one too, so we'll be fine.

I was in a car accident yesterday, so our baby was born early. She was born yesterday, August 3, 1968, and her name is Layla Estelle Randle. There's a picture of her the doctor's took for me for this letter for you guys, just so you could know what your granddaughter looks like. She's five pounds and seven ounces, which is kind of small, but the doctors said she's fine. They said she might have slight health problems when she's older since she was a few months early, but nothing that can't be treated. I just thought you'd like to know, Aunt Lorraine and Uncle Raymond support us.

Your daughter, Evelyn 'Evie' Rachel Smith"

-/-/-

Throughout the next twenty-four hours, Cherry's memory of her entire life flooded into her head. For some reason, it was giving her a headache, but Mackenzie Robertson said it could've been from the sudden burst of memory, or stress, or from the car accident. She did an x-ray of the redhead's head, and there was nothing, so it was established that it was one of those three things.

No one was able to visit Cherry after Soda left. Until twenty-four hours had passed, the only people allowed in her room were the on staff doctors and nurses, and the same had gone for Evie- with the exception of her aunt and uncle since they took the place of her emergency contact. For the redhead, the only person who could take position as her "legal guardian" was Darry, since he took official charge of her at the beginning of the summer.

Once twenty-four hours had passed after the two girls had been admitted into the hospital, Dr. Mackenzie Robertson and the only female Neurologist- Dr. Giovanna Riviera- entered Cherry's room to test her memory and brain activity. They were going to be asking her both simple and complex questions about nearly anything and everything in her life that could prove her memory. If a few minor things were not completely there yet, that would be alright, they just wanted to know the major things that would completely affect her life.

"Are you ready to begin?" Mackenzie Robertson asked.

Cherry nodded. "Yeah, I guess," she shrugged.

The doctor smiled. "Great. Now remember, if you can't remember every detail about something, just say so. Don't lie or make some random answer up. Take as much time as you need to for an answer. And if you need anything during this examination, just say so and don't hesitate. Alright?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Great! Let's get started."

-/-/-

"Soda said they were gonna give her some sort of examination to see how her memory is… it's amazing," Lily commented, "Cherry and Evie were in that terrible wreck that's all over the local news and in the paper this morning, and they're barely hurt. I mean, apparently Evie was pregnant, but they said the baby's fine."

Ponyboy nodded. "It's kinda scary thought," he said, "Don't you think? I mean, car crashes just freak me out in general, but they're just real freaky to anyone."

"I get it, and you're right. Whether you're someone who was in the accident, or know the person who was in the accident, it's scary."

Lily knew how Ponyboy felt about car accidents. For crying out loud, him and his three brothers had lost their parents in a car wreck only a few years previous to the present time. It was a scary thing to think about in general, but for the three brothers, it was even scarier due to the fact that it's the type of incident that they had been through. She couldn't even imagine how they were reacting on the inside to the car accident.

-/-/-

"You need to calm down, Soda," Kathy said in a tone as soft as possible.

"I can't," Soda mumbled, not looking up or away from the ground, "I'm a terrible person."

"Please don't say that."

Now he looked up, his face contorted in frustration. "But it's true!"

Two-Bit gave a serious look- which was a rare thing to see. "Man, you gotta calm down," he said, "And if ya can't, don't take it out on Kathy."

Soda buried his head in his hands. "I'm an asshole… I was finally gonna tell her, and this happens. I never should've done any of this in the first place." Why did I anyway? he thought.

Soda got up from his seat abruptly and stormed off to the nearest bathroom. Once he got there, he went straight to one of the sinks, turned on the cold water and splashed some on his face. He then looked up at his reflection in the mirror with a slight sigh. His reflection stared back at him, and for some reason, his face contorted in anger at the person looking back at him.

Soda abruptly turned away from the mirror, now liking who he saw in the reflective surface. He walked over to another part of the bathroom in front of one of the walls. He felt anger begin to rise and devour his body and mind in a brief second, and he began to unconsciously shake. Before he knew it, his arm had risen and his fist collided with the tile wall of the bathroom.

Soda repeated the action until his hands began to slow down and soften. Once his hands were back at his sides, he leaned his back against the wall and sat down on the tile floor. He let his head fall back and against the tile, letting his eyes shut as he sighed again. What have I done? he thought to himself.

"You alright there, son?" A voice asked, making him jump.

Soda looked up and saw middle aged man that had just walked into the bathroom. "Uh, yeah," he answered, and cleared his throat a bit, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You're lying, I can tell. What's wrong?"

"Everything's just a mess, alright? I mean, my girlfriend has amnesia and was just in a car accident with my best friend's girlfriend, who was pregnant. And there's just a whole bunch of complicated stuff goin' on, and everything's just nuts right now."

The middle aged mad gave an odd look. "Wait, wait, wait," he said, "Your friend wouldn't happen to be Steve Randle, would he?"

Now Soda gave a confused look. "Yeah, he is," he answered, "You know him?"

"Yeah, I do. I was just talking to him yesterday, actually. He told me about what's going on, my daughter is your girlfriend's doctor."

"Really?"

"If your girlfriend is Sherri Valance, and his is Evelyn Smith, then yes she is."

"Oh wow, alright then. Uh yeah, that's them… um, I'm Sodapop Curtis, but most people just call me Soda."

"I'm Angelo Robertson, but everyone calls me Angel for short."

The two men sat talking for a while, the older man trying his best to calm down and comfort the younger man. The whole time, they were sitting on the floor of the men's bathroom; there were not actual chairs in the men's bathroom, like there was in the women's restroom.

After a while, the bathroom door opened and Steve walked in. "Hey Soda," he started but stopped when he saw the older man there, "Oh, hi Angel. What're you doin' here?"

Angel shrugged slightly. "Just talking with Soda," he answered.

Steve nodded and looked back to his best friend. "Ok, Cherry's examination is done and she wants to see you."

Ooooooh what's gonna happen? I mean, I know what's gonna happen, but you don't- so hahahahaha *evi laugh*

Layla will be making an appearance in the next chapter, just because I want her to and I love Layla… I've actually been thinking of writing a spinoff of this story about Layla in the future, but I don't know yet.

Hope you all had a great Easter/Resurrection Sunday this past weekend!

I can't think of anything else to say, so peace from all the hippies of the world =^-^=