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"Darry," Soda said.

Soda had spent the majority of the day thinking about how he was going to tell Darry about the meeting with Ponyboy and his foster parents, but each attempt to practice the conversation with himself was even worse than the last.

Eventually, Soda abandoned practicing all together and simply tried to put all the puzzle pieces together in his brain. Aimee was right by his side the entire time, but now that he was finally facing Darry, he needed to do this on his own.

Darry looked up from the newspaper. "Yeah, Soda?"

"There's something I need to tell you," Soda said, grabbing a folding chair from the nearby card table and placing it in front of Darry's arm chair. He took a seat in it and took a deep breath.

"Oh, no," Darry muttered. "What did you do, Soda?"

"It's not something I did. It's something I'm worried about," Soda said.

Darry rolled up his newspaper and put it on the table beside him and looked at Soda, giving him his full attention.

"Ponyboy called today," Soda began.

Darry's eyes widened. "Really? How's he doing?"

"He says he's doing fine," Soda replied.

"But you're not so sure," Darry finished.

"I knew he was hiding something, and somebody was listening in on his phone call. I think it was one of his foster parents. So if Ponyboy wanted to tell me anything, he couldn't with this person there," Soda explained, "so I wanted to make sure he was okay. Aimee and I went to visit him."

Darry blinked. "Is that allowed?"

"Yeah, we checked with the social worker, who apparently hasn't visited Pony's foster home once," Soda informed him.

"Wasn't she supposed to visit him last week?" Darry asked.

Soda nodded. "I can understand her being busy and having to postpone the visit, but Ponyboy sounded like he needed her to visit. I think he might have even called her, asking for her to come visit, but I don't know for sure. Anyway, Ponyboy seemed… different."

"Different how?" Darry demanded.

"He was more timid. He kind of asked his foster father permission to have one sip of water from the bottle I offered him, and his foster father didn't even give him permission. Darry, he was skinnier than when he got back from Windrixville."

Darry's eyes widened.

"I know," Soda muttered in response to his brother's surprise. "And… worst of all… I saw… bruises," Soda stammered. "I think they're hurting him, Darry."

Darry sighed. "Well, we need to go to social services!" he exclaimed.

"Darry, we're desperate to get Ponyboy back," Soda pointed out. "Do you really think they'll believe us?"

"It'll at least get them to check it out. They can't ignore a child abuse report without serious consequences. Ms. Jarris could get suspended, fired, maybe even arrested, depending on… what happens if she chooses to ignore it," Darry said, hesitating towards the end.

"You mean if those foster parents kill Ponyboy," Soda whispered.

"They're not going to kill him. We won't let them. If worst comes to worst, and we know for a fact that Ponyboy could be in grave danger in that house, we will take matters into our own hands. I will not risk my little brother's life," Darry stated.

"None of us will," Aimee said as she appeared in the doorway. "Tomorrow, the three of us will go to social services. We give them a week; if they haven't checked on Ponyboy or his living situation by the end of the week, we tell the gang, and we get proof. They can't ignore us if we have proof. That's just begging for jail time."

"What do we do until then?" Soda asked. "I don't know about you, but if I sit here all night, I will do nothing but worry."

"Maybe that's what we need," Aimee said, flopping down onto the couch. "The more we worry, the more determined we'll be to take action. The more we worry, the more precautions we'll take. The more we worry, the more things we think of and the more detailed plan we have."

"So what… we all just sit here alone on a Sunday night worrying?" Soda asked.

Aimee smirked. "We're not alone. We may worry, but we'll worry together."

"Yeah, to have two people that can hold back the one that tries to burst out that door and run down to Ponyboy's foster home and do something we'll regret when the lawyers come around," Darry snorted.

Aimee smiled. "Exactly."

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