Chapter 22 has arrived!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

It didn't take long for Soda to start withdrawing from, not only Aimee, but everyone. Steve was always bored and depressed because his best friend was isolating himself, and he couldn't do anything about it. Two Bit was getting drunk more often than usual. They almost never saw Dally anymore, and Darry was working twice as much as usual. Johnny was reading Gone With The Wind over and over again; he probably read through the entire book at least once a day, and Aimee was almost positive that he was reading that book instead of sleeping, considering he almost fell asleep in his cereal that morning.

First, they'd lost Ponyboy- the dreamer, the one with the chance to get out of this town, and overall, the kid brother of the group. Now, they were losing Soda- the happy, go lucky, drunk on life, one in a million individual. The gang wouldn't be the same if any of them left, but there were three main links in the gang: Ponyboy, Soda, and Johnny. They'd barely held it together after losing Ponyboy, their main link. Now that they were losing Soda… the gang was slipping, and if something happened that made them lose Johnny, the gang would fall apart entirely.

And Aimee wasn't going to sit around and wait for that to happen.

Aimee waited until Darry left for work (on a Saturday, which was supposed to be his day off) and after ensuring that none of the other gang members were in the house, she walked into Soda's room and found him laying on his bed, not sleeping, but simply staring at the ceiling, lost in his own mind.

He didn't even notice she was there until she sat beside him.

He didn't speak. He didn't even look at her, but his gaze turned to the window, trying to avoid her eyes.

"Soda, I am here for you. The gang is here for you. Ponyboy would not want you to sulk around when the gang needs you the most. He needs you to be strong. Now, Soda, you were doing okay for a few days after you finally got some sleep. What changed?"

Soda swallowed. "I had a nightmare."

Aimee frowned. "About what?"

"About Pony. I dreamt he got stuck with these horrible people as foster parents, and they hurt him. And then… the foster dad kicked him in the head, and I couldn't move to stop him. I couldn't save him," Soda whispered. "Why hasn't he called?"

"What do you mean?" Aimee asked.

"Ponyboy said he would call us as soon as he could after they found him a foster home. It's been almost a month since they took him out of the boys home, almost a month since the last phone call. Pony isn't one to break his promises, so what would keep him from calling?" Soda asked.

Aimee sighed. "I don't have the answer, but I know that Ponyboy loves you, and that I love you, and that Darry loves you, and that the gang loves you. Sitting in your room, going through every what if in the book and blaming yourself will not bring Ponyboy back any faster. What you need to do is clean up your act and be ready for when the social worker comes. The social worker will come within the next month and check on the house and see if they can send Ponyboy back here. The better you act with your work and your cleaning and your behavior… the sooner Ponyboy will come home. But sitting around will change nothing."

Soda nodded. "Thanks, Aimee. I guess it is about time we cleaned the house. Darry's been so busy working, nobody's done it, and I don't want the social worker to stop in unexpectedly and see dirty dishes piled as high as the Eiffel tower in the sink."

Aimee smiled. "There's the Soda we all know and love. Come on. Let's go start turning this pigsty into a five star hotel."

Soda chuckled. "Don't get unrealistic now. I've never seen this place look above a one star."

Aimee shrugged as they walked out of Soda's room.

"That's because you're all boys. Now, you have a girl to help," she told him.

The phone rang, and Soda started looking through the closet for the broom while Aimee picked it up.

"Hello," she chirped. "Curtis residence."

"Aimee?"

She froze and looked at Soda, who had his head buried in the closet. After silence reigned for a few seconds, Soda glanced up, and Aimee opened and closed her mouth like a fish several times before she managed to reply:

"It's Ponyboy."

And the long awaited phone call has arrived! Thanks for reading! Please leave a review, and I will see you with the next update! Bye!