Thanks again for the reviews everyone! They really keep me motivated to keep going quickly. This is unfortunately the last chapter that I have prewritten, so updates might slow down a bit—depends how much time I have because my schedule is completely unpredictable. From here on out the story is going to get a bit technical in places. I have tried to research thoroughly, but I have no personal experience with any of this, and most of the research pertains to modern times, not the sixties. Also, I almost failed grade 13 bio, so that's a bit of a hindrance. ;) One last thing—I put a spacer between points of view. I didn't realize how the formatting showed up for the last one—sorry! If I repost chapter 2 will it delete my reviews?

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It was Friday afternoon and school had just finished. I was on my way home, trying to figure out what I was going to do tonight. There hadn't been as much to do since Johnny and Dally had died. Soda and Steve worked every other Friday night and on the ones they had off they usually found a party to go to. I figured that's what they'd do tonight. Soda was feeling a lot better than last weekend; he was almost back to his normal self. He was still kinda tired, but otherwise he seemed okay. When I walked through the door into our house I saw him sitting on the couch with his head resting in his hands. As soon as he heard the door he raised his head and smiled at me, but the smile was strained. "Hey Pony. How was school?"

I didn't buy his act for a second. Something wasn't right and he was trying to hide it. "What's wrong, Soda? You don't look so hot."

"It's just a headache, nothing major. Hey, did Steve say anything to you? He said he'd come by tonight."

"Soda, you look real pale. Maybe you shouldn't go out tonight."

He sighed. "Pone, I've been stuck here all week cause of that flu and I need to get out and actually do something. I'm not gonna let a headache stop me."

I was gonna argue more, but right then Darry walked through the door. He took one look at Soda and must've seen the same thing I did, cause he was on his case right away. "Soda, you're not going out tonight, are you? You don't look good."

Soda groaned. "I'm fine! It's just a headache, probably from sittin' around here too long. I'm gonna go find Steve." He got up and started heading for the door, but stopped after just a couple steps. He was pale before, but now his face was totally drained of all colour. He stood on the spot for half a second, then his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell to the ground and his whole body started shaking. Darry and I both ran over to him. I didn't know what to do; I'd never seen anything like this. I looked over to Darry who looked just as worried as I felt.

"Soda? Soda, can you hear me?" Darry tried getting him to come around, but it wasn't working; Soda just kept shaking and his eyes weren't focused on anything. I was starting to panic. What was happening to my brother?

"Darry, what's wrong with him?" I could hear my voice wavering.

"He's having a seizure. Pony, do you know what to do when someone has a seizure?" He looked at me, his face anxious. I shook my head. I'd counted on Darry knowing what to do; he always knew, no matter what the situation was. At that moment, all I knew was that I was scared to death.

After what felt like forever, Soda stopped shaking and his eyes closed. He groaned and then opened his eyes again. He looked up at Darry, confused. "Darry? What happened? Why am I on the floor?"

"You had a seizure, Soda," Darry answered. "How do you feel?"

"My head hurts…." Soda pinched his eyes closed, obviously in pain. My stomach felt like it was tied in knots. Something had to be seriously wrong, but I had no idea what.

Darry took charge. "Let's get you to the hospital and get you checked out," he said, putting his arm around Soda to help him up. Soda nodded and let Darry help him to the truck. I followed them out, keeping my eyes on Soda the whole time. No one talked the whole way over. I spent the entire time praying that my brother was okay. I'd already lost too much; I didn't think I could take losing him, too.

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As I helped Soda into the truck, a million thoughts were going through my head. What could be wrong with him that would make him have a seizure? This couldn't still be the flu. He was leaning on me a lot, letting me support him. When he was buckled in, he put his head back and closed his eyes. I guess his head was still bugging him. We drove in silence and when we got to the hospital I parked as close as I could so Soda wouldn't have to walk so far. I helped him into the building, but he didn't lean on me as much as before. I was thankful that at least he was feeling a bit better for now. Maybe whatever was wrong wasn't too bad. I wasn't getting my hopes up too high, though. I could tell Pony was worried, too. He kept his eyes glued on Soda and stayed as close as he could. I don't know if he was expecting another seizure or if he just needed to be sure Soda was okay. When we got into the ER I got Soda settled into a chair and then went to check him in. The room didn't look crowded, so I was hoping we wouldn't have to wait too long. After I talked to the woman behind the desk I went back to sit with my brothers. I felt better when I saw Soda's eyes open and some colour in his face again. "Feeling better, little buddy?"

Soda smiled back at me and nodded. "Yeah. I'm kinda tired, but the headache isn't so bad now."

"Good. You gave us a good scare—don't do that again."

"Yeah, I'll try not too," he smirked.

It didn't take long for a nurse to call us. She took us into a curtained off area and had Soda sit on the bed while Pony and I found a couple chairs. She repeated Soda's symptoms off the list I'd given earlier—tiredness, vomiting, fever, headaches, and the seizure. Not long after she left a doctor came in to see us. "Hello, I'm Doctor Woods and I'll be treating you tonight." He looked at the chart, then at Soda. "So, I can see your symptoms here. How long have they been going on?"

"Umm…about a week, I guess," Soda replied.

"And just the one seizure? Any other history of them?"

"No, just tonight. Do you know why I had it?" Soda sounded worried.

"That's what we're going to find out." Dr. Woods smiled at us. "Any symptoms besides the ones listed here?"

Soda thought about it. "Not really. I've been kinda achy, but not that bad. And I haven't been hungry the past couple weeks."

The doctor added these to his list then looked back at Soda. "Okay, we're going to start with a simple blood test and see what that turns up. It might just be the flu, but it's better to be safe."

Soda cringed a little. He'd never liked needles, not since he was a little kid. Mom used to have to bribe him to get him to take any shot. Something was still bugging me, though. While Dr. Woods was getting the needle ready I asked, "But what about the seizure? If it's the flu, why would that happen?"

"Sometimes people will have a seizure when they are very stressed out or run down, and the flu would definitely cause that. It's not very common, but it does happen." Well, that made me feel a bit better, anyway. The Doctor had Soda roll up his t-shirt sleeve so he could take the blood. Pony squeezed his hand and Soda smiled at him gratefully. He was tough, but that didn't mean he didn't still hate needles.

Doctor Woods finished drawing the blood, then taped up Soda's arm. "I'll send this to the lab and be back with the results as soon as I can. It'll probably be a couple of hours, so you should try and make yourselves comfortable." Soda sighed. I know he'd been looking forward to going out tonight after being stuck at home all week and I'm sure he was frustrated that he had to spend his Friday night at the hospital instead. I wasn't too thrilled about it either, but if it would help him get better it was worth it.

By the time the doctor got back Soda was asleep on the hospital bed. There was another doctor with Dr. Woods, and that worried me. Why would we need two doctors in here? Pony must have been thinking the same thing cause he shot me a scared look. I squeezed his shoulder, then went over to Soda and gently shook him awake. "Come on, Soda. You gotta wake up—the doctor is back." He groaned a little but he opened his eyes and sat up slowly.

Dr. Woods waited till Soda was completely sitting up, then spoke. "Hello Soda. I brought a colleague of mine, Dr. Sheldon, to see you. He wants to do a quick exam and then we'll talk about the results of your blood test." I tried to read his face, but he must have been one hell of a poker player cause I couldn't tell anything.

"Soda, how long have you been feeling sick?" Dr. Sheldon asked.

"About a week. Maybe two."

"I'd like to examine your neck. Have you had any discomfort there?"

Soda looked confused. "No, it feels fine."

Dr. Sheldon felt the sides of Soda's neck, then asked him to raise each of his arms while he felt underneath them. He turned to Dr. Woods and nodded, who sighed. This was the first sign he'd given about whether the news was good or bad, and I had a sinking feeling that it wasn't good. "Soda, your blood test shows a very high white blood cell count. What Dr. Sheldon did just now was to test your lymph nodes to see if they were enlarged, and unfortunately, they are. Along with the other symptoms you've been experiencing, I'm afraid there's only one diagnosis we can make. You have acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

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Kudos to daydreambeliever95 for guessing correctly about Soda's condition. I'll try and get the next chapter out by Friday!