Darry was right about me not wanting to get up the next morning. I was exhausted from the minute Soda dragged my butt out of bed until I hit the pillow again that night, almost immediately after dinner. I had drifted off a few times during class and, at open gym, I had been barely able to manage taking a few shots before lying down on the bleachers and napping until Kevin came to get us. I couldn't imagine how Darry had been able to work another whole day after being up so late, and having walked twenty miles the day before, to boot. Ponyboy was in just as bad shape as I was, and he could barely keep his eyes open at the table.

"I'm sorry, guys, but I can't keep you home just because you're tired. You already missed so much school, and you're both gonna miss again on Monday 'cause of court."

Ugh. Court again. I wasn't looking forward to that. Pony still hadn't talked to any of us about Dallas or Johnny; I was worried about what would happen when they had to ask him questions. This time it would just be me and Pony answering questions; Soda and Darry had nothing to do with that kid dying. Neither did I, really, except for my stupid decision to take Johnny's knife before I set off for home. I was regretting that now, for sure.

Darry could see how exhausted Pony and I both were, and, in a rare moment of guardianship leniency, he asked, "You two have any study halls tomorrow?"

Pony and I both nodded.

"Think you can get your homework done then?" he asked.

Again we nodded.

"You two just go to bed then. I'll get the dishes. We got pizza night tomorrow, so I'd rather have you crash early tonight." Right. He didn't want us falling asleep at Angelo's since he wanted all the time he could get with Alison. For Pete's sake, just ask her out, I thought, though I didn't say anything.

Words could not express how happy I was to get excused from homework. I couldn't remember Darry ever having told me to forget about it; I guess he was still feeling bad about making us all worry so much the previous night.

I hit the pillow and was out.

_________________

I had been looking forward to Thursday night all week, because Anna and I had a plan. Waiting around for Darry to ask Alison out was just about killing both of us, so Anna and I had conspired with her dad to ask the day waitress to stay on for the Saturday night shift, then tell Alison he felt bad and had asked her to work because she had let on that she needed the money. Mr. Harvey really liked Darry; I think he wanted him to ask Alison out almost as much as we did.

If Darry didn't ask her out once he knew she was free, I had every intention of harrassing him all night until he picked up the phone and called her. There was no question in my mind about how much they liked each other, so I was struggling to figure out what the problem was, realizing that all it really could be was us. Me and the boys. For some reason Darry was convincing himself that he couldn't have a girlfriend and take care of us at the same time. Obviously that was crap, and I intended to get him to realize it.

He was at the gym doors to get me, Anna, and Pony, right on time. Pony looked tired; he had been running especially hard trying to get back in shape after our time at the church. He was a real big-shot for just being a freshman, and before all our trouble there had been a piece in the newspaper about him being the best track prospect at our school in years. I know he wanted to do well, to prove himself to Darry, more than anyone. I knew just how he felt. We all wanted to make Darry proud.

Pony climbed into the back and Anna and I hopped into the front, me in the middle, even though Anna was always begging to sit next to Darry. I thought that was pretty funny. It always amused me how girls swooned around my brothers.

We picked up Soda at the DX and, as usual, Darry grabbed Anna's bag and carried it for her as we walked down to the restaurant from where we had parked. I swear, sometimes Darry parked far away on purpose so, later, he could send us all down to the car and get time alone with Alison.

We went into the pizzeria and assumed our usual seats by the window. Anna went up to change and Mr. Harvey brought us our usual pitchers of Pepsi. Alison was obviously tied up at a table with a bunch of little kids who seemed to need something new and labor-intensive every time she went to check on them.

"So, I called Pat about the will," Darry said, suddenly.

"Whose will?" Soda asked.

"Mine," Darry said. "Scout pointed out to me the other night that we don't have any kind of plan in place if something happened to me. You all know the only reason we're all still together now is because Dad had the good sense to prepare for the worst."

"Darry, but… c'mon," Pony said.

"I'm not askin' for anything bad to happen, Pony. I'm just preparing so you are all taken care of if something did happen. Wouldn't you rather know what was gonna happen now than have to worry about figuring it out then? If I'm gone, I can't speak up for you three."

"I guess so," Pony admitted.

"So, Pat's taking care of everything getting written up, but I need to know what you want to happen."

"I want you to never die," I said. Darry laughed.

"Me too. But, assuming that for some reason that doesn't happen, what do you want to happen? Right now, they wouldn't let you stay with Soda. He's too young. Patrick said he would be willing to become your guardian until Soda is old enough, if need be."

"We would get to stay together?"

"Yeah, but you'd all have to go to Texas and stay with him."

I thought about him, with his four boys already. "That's a lot of kids," I said.

"It'd just be temporary, right?" Soda asked, "Until I was old enough?"

"Right," Darry said, "if that's what you want, Soda. We can always ask somebody else to take custody."

Soda looked hurt. "You don't think I could handle it, do you?"

"I know you could, buddy," Darry said, putting his arm around his shoulder. "I'm just giving you the option to not have to." I wondered if Dad had given Darry that option, or if he had just assumed that's what Darry would want to do. I really hoped Darry had chosen it. I knew I would never ask him, though, for some reason.

"No," Soda said. "If anything happens, when I'm eighteen, I'll take custody. That okay with you two?"

Pony and I nodded; both of us, I think, hoping that our agreement wasn't somehow condemning Darry to some horrible premature death.

"Okay then, I'll have him write things up," Darry said. "No more talking about dying and stuff now, okay?"

This time we all nodded.

The timing was perfect, as just then Anna returned from upstairs and Alison got a momentary reprieve. The family with all the children had finally left in a cloud of noise and chaos.

"Holy cow, it's never like this on Thursdays, this early anyway," Alison said, as she squeezed in next to Pony and Darry.

"Well, at least you got a night off this weekend," Anna said. She was wasting no time, I guess. Go, Anna!

"A night off, huh?" Darry asked. "So what are you gong to do with yourself?" I was about to explode with happiness at how well this was working. Anna, I could tell, felt the same.

"I don't know," she said. "I never have Saturdays off. What do people do around here on a Saturday night?"

"Well, if you don't have any plans, I could take you around town, show you your options," Darry said, smiling. I had to physically restrain myself to sit still. Anna was studiously reading her own family's menu to try to ground herself, too, I could tell.

"That sounds good, " Alison, said, smiling and standing up, as a new bunch of customers came in.

"Seven o'clock okay?" Darry asked.

"Perfect," she said. Anna and I kicked each other under the table. It had been too easy, really. We should have done it months ago.

The rest of the time eating our pizzas was spent talking about silly stuff: relating to Anna about how Darry had been missing, which, in retrospect, was kind of funny now that we knew he was okay, and talking about Pony's track practice and how basketball was going for me and Anna. She was actually improving a lot; most of the upperclassmen didn't bother to practice if they didn't have to, so Anna was creeping up on them in the skills department. Plus she had the added benefit of height; I swear she grew an inch a week, which made me feel like I was actually shrinking. Finally, as usual, Darry tossed Soda the keys and told Soda to go start the car and he'd meet us there. I went over and talked to Anna while I saw Darry and Alison sneak out the front door.

"Maybe I can come over on Saturday, when they go out," I suggested.

"That would be so great! Scout, this is perfect!" Anna was as excited as I was.

"I'll ask him tomorrow," I said. I was really enjoying having a girl for a friend. The fact that my brother liked her sister was just an added bonus.

"Finally!" Anna said, voicing my own relief that finally they were going on a date.

"I know! I'll let you know tomorrow," I said, turning to head out the door. I admit, I glanced down the alley between the pizzeria and the post office to make sure that what I hoped was taking place actually was. I was happy to see Darry leaning in on Alison, backed up against the wall, his hands on either side of her face and their lips making more than minor contact.

I just went and climbed into the truck next to Soda, smiling.

"What are you so happy about?" he asked.

"Are you kidding me? Darry finally asked her out!" I said.

"I know, " Soda said, giggling.

"Don't say anything, okay Soda? I don't know why, but for some reason he's shy about it. Don't pick on him, 'kay?"

I could see Soda thinking about it. "Okay," he finally agreed, "but only because he hasn't been out with a girl since Mom and Dad died."

Darry came back to the car and hopped in, squeezing me between him and Soda and slamming the door with considerably more authority than necessary.

I just looked at him and smiled. He knew how badly I had wanted him to ask Alison out.

"Good job," I whispered. He just smiled and squeezed my knee as Soda put the truck into gear and headed for home.