Chapter 38

As the Curtis members were rushing around as per usually on a work/school day each member rushed in from kitchen, to bathroom, back to kitchen, and Darry knew that he had to let the family know about his plans for the night. "Hey Guys, before the gang gets here I need everyone in the kitchen for a few minutes." Soda was fixing his hair while Sara was brushing her teeth. The two shared a quizzical look between them and continued on with what they were doing until Darry hollered again. "Now would be better than later, Guys."

Soda let out a smile and nudged Sara's shoulder to get her moving. "Sounds like Darry's in a mood this morning. We best not keep him waiting, so be quick and finish up with those teeth." Soda tried to encourage his little sister to pick up the pace a bit faster. Sara got the hint and quickly pushed the toothbrush over her top and then her bottom teeth and finished up. Soda waited until she was done then guided her out into the kitchen where Darry was packing up their lunches.

"Where's Pony?" He asked the two as they entered. When the two just shrugged their shoulders, Darry started in again, "Ponyboy!" Darry yelled again.

"I don't know, thought he was out here with you." Soda said moving to the living room to see if he was in there, but when he noticed an empty room he knew the only other place must be their room. By the time Soda had turned to go retrieve Pony, Darry was already a step ahead of him. He was marching down the hall towards the boys' room.

"Ponyboy!"

"I'm coming, Dar." Pony tried to gather up his books but was too late, for now Darry was already standing in his room. "Is that homework you're working on? Why the hell didn't you get it done last night?" Darry's voice was so loud that Soda and Sara could clearly hear the conversation from the kitchen.

"I um, didn't get it done because you wanted me to redo my paper on the Civil War. I have it almost done, Dar. I'll finish the rest of it at lunch. Just relax, it won't be late or anything."

"It best not be, and if you keep this up, you can just forget about doing what I'm gonna let you do tonight, got it?" Darry's message was a clear warning that this procrastination best not continue. For Pony was very grateful to be starting his new job tonight at the Bowling Alley. It had been a couple of weeks since Darry approved of him working there, and now his boss had finally called to have him come in to train.

"Yeah, I've got it, Dar. I'll get it done, I promise." Pony said while gathering up his books and managing to step over the mess that Sodapop had left on the floor.

"You better, now hurry up. I want to talk with you guys about something before the boys get here." Darry said while tapping the doorframe to show Pony that he was still waiting on him. Darry soon returned back to the kitchen with a frazzled Pony in tow. Soda glanced towards Pony to see if he was alright but when Ponyboy just avoided his eye contact Soda knew that he wasn't. Soda made a mental note to remember to talk with Pony later today about letting stuff like this slide off his back.

"Ok, so here's the thing." Darry started fidgeting which was a sign to the Sodapop and Ponyboy that something was up. Darry stumbled a bit over what he was trying to say. "I'm taking on a part time job working at PB &J's Warehouse. It's gonna be a night shift, so that means things are gonna need to change around here a little." Darry didn't get much more out before he heard a chorus full of moans coming from the two youngest Curtis' "You two can just stop with the moaning, because I'm not changing my mind. I figured since summer is approaching then it would be a perfect time to do this. Plus it will help get us some extra money. Which brings me to my next point, those changes we need to make are gonna have to start tonight. I'm going in right after I'm done with my roofing job over on Sutton Street. Depending on how fast we are with the roof today I might swing by here but I doubt it."

"Darry, you don't need to be doing this." Sodapop said knowing he needed to try to change Darry's mind.

"Yes, I do, Sodapop. And it isn't your call to make anyway. And that brings me to my next point. Ponyboy is also starting his new job tonight at the bowling alley, So Soda you're in charge."

"Yes!" Sara said pumping her fist in the air.

"No!" Soda yelled. Both Darry and Sara turned towards Soda with frowns on their faces. When Soda spotted them he tried to defend his answer. "Me and Steve are taking the girls out to the Dingo tonight. I've already planned this Darry so I can't stay here with her. You'll need to find someone else. How late is Pony working?"

"I'm training until 8:30, Possibly 9:00." Pony answered.

"C'mon Dar, I promised Sandy. Can't Mrs. Mathew's watch her? Or what about Cathy?" Darry rubbed his chin and shook his head.

"Sorry, little buddy, no can do. We can't depend on them. We need to get used to the way things are gonna be from now on. I'll get my schedule tonight and then we'll sit down as a family and work things out. We'll make it fair."

Sodapop was fuming he couldn't stop pacing around the kitchen when he blurted out, "Then I'll just bring her with me, cause I'm not canceling on Sandy." Soda said in a pissy tone.

"Hell you are, Soda. It's a school night and both of you will be staying here, end of story!" Soda started slamming things around the kitchen out of frustration. Just as Darry was about to say something the screen door flew open and in stormed the rest of the gang.

"Hey, why it's so quiet in here?" Two-Bit asked jumping into the kitchen, but once he noticed the solemn looks of the entire Curtis family he knew why. "Oh, shit, is this a family meeting?" Two-Bit knew the family well enough to know that if they were all in one room and things were this quiet than something was going down. Steve ran right in behind Johnny and Two-Bit but halted to a stop in his spot.

"Whoa." Steve said letting out a low whistle afterwards. "What's going on here?"

"Friggin' Darry is taking on a part time job at the PB & J's. Warehouse and now I have to stay home tonight with Sara." Soda frantantically started on the dishes just so he would have something to do with his hands, because at this given moment he wanted to punch something and something hard. He spun back around and faced the boys, "Hey, Two-Bit, is your Mom working tonight?"

"Yeah she is, sorry Man." Two said shrugging his shoulders.

"Someone pinch me and tell me this isn't happening!" Soda screamed.

"Soda, we've gotta go out with the girls tonight. You can't bail on us, especially on Sandy again. You know how she'll react." Steve sometimes loved just adding fuel to the fire.

"Please Dar?" Soda begged.

Darry shook his head from side to side. "Sorry, Soda. We'll talk more about this later, but right now we've gotta get going." Darry tried patting Soda's arm, but Soda was too pissed and pulled away and moved up beside Steve where the two started exchanging some words. "Sara, go get your shoes on and put your lunchbox in your bag and meet me out in the truck." Sara shagged her shoulders put did as Darry directed. She shuffled over and grabbed her stuff from Darry and slipped through the crowd of boys towards the living room. She actually was relieved that Darry asked her to go get in the truck and to wait for him there. She didn't want to hear any more from him or Soda about who was gonna be the one to watch her tonight. It wasn't the warmest and fuzziest feeling to hear your two brothers arguing because of you, especially when she noticed how made Sodapop was about it. It always crushed Sara when Sodapop was mad at her, or because if her. She slipped on her shoes and was heading out the door when she ran into Dally who was entering the house at the same time.

"Well good morning to you too." Dally said greeting a still solemn Sara.

"Oh, hi, Dal." Sara said looking up to see the tall, blonde headed boy.

"What's got you looking so down this morning?" Dallas asked still holding the door open. Sara didn't respond but just looked shyly back into the house where Soda was still talking quietly with Steve, and Darry was at Ponyboy about something or another. Dally followed Sara's glaze inside and took in the view. "Something goin' on in there that they don't want you hearing?" He asked with a bit of seriousness in his voice.

"Sort of. Darry's taking on a new part time job at PB &.J's Warehouse and he's starting tonight. So Darry's making Soda stay home with me tonight, but he doesn't want to because he has a date with Sandy."

"Why can't Ponyboy watch you?"

"He's starting his new job at the bowling alley tonight." Sara didn't feel like talking anymore so she dragged herself down the stairs and towards the truck leaving Dally to stand alone on the porch. Dallas was still standing by the door watching her when Sara stopped and turned on here heels and popped the question to Dallas. "What are you doing tonight Dal? Can you stay with me?"

As much as Dally wished he had something better to do, he lied through his teeth. "No can do, Kid. This cat has business to take care of."

"Oh. I guess it was worth a try. Thanks anyways Dal." Sara headed on towards the truck where she jumped in and waited for her brothers to come out. It sure wasn't going to be a very pleasant drive this morning with these two she thought. She watched as Dally disappeared into the house and waited for either Darry or Soda to come out. It was just about a minute more before Soda came storming out of the house with his DX shirt flapping in the breeze and his hat was pulled down over his eyes. He moved swiftly over to the truck and flew open the door and slid on in. The second he caught sight of Sara he knew that he owed her an apology. He reached over and placed his hand on the back of her head and slowly stroked it.

"Try not to take it personally, Babygirl. It's not you, it's just I want to see Sandy tonight, that's all." Soda was trying to flash Sara one of his movie star grins but Sara wasn't buying into it.

"Yeah, ok." Sara replied with anger.

"Sara really, don't be like this. You know that if I didn't have a date, it wouldn't be such a big deal. It's just I haven't seen Sandy in a while. Remember I was supposed to go out with her the other night?" Sodapop tried to pull her closer so that he could see her face, but she just pulled away.

"You told me that you loved me more than Sandy. That's not really true if you want to be with her more than me." Sara decided to shut her mouth when she caught a glimpse of Darry coming towards them.

"Sara, that's not true and you know it. It's just different." Sodapop was just about at his wits ends, between Sara acting like this and Darry being an ass, he was just about ready to blow a gasket. "Hell, you're just too young to understand." The second Sodpop saw Darry coming out of the house he too decided that he would drop the subject. Darry jumped up and cranked the engine and threw the truck into reverse and then they were off in complete silence. The three sat stiff, and silent until just about the DX. Darry barely had the truck stopped before Sodapop had his door open trying to get away from everything that was making him angry this morning. He was just about to step out when Darry grabbed his DX shirt.

"Soda, I'm sorry about your date tonight with Sandy." Soda just gave an annoyed nod and started to slam the door shut when he heard Darry speak again. "Soda wait!" Darry started stumbling over his words hoping he didn't regret what he was about to say. "You know I don't really like this idea, but why don't you and Steve ask Evie and Sandy over to the house tonight."

"You mean it, Dar?" Soda asked with surprise.

"Yeah. Just make sure that you're still watching Sara though. And all of her restrictions still apply, so it could make things a little difficult."

"I will. I will. Don't worry about a thing. I've got it covered."

"And make sure she goes to bed on time. No staying up late with you guys, and Soda, keep it down after she goes. She's been sleeping pretty good lately." Darry looked down towards Sara and gave her a weak smile to let her know that he was proud of her improvements.

"You got it Dar." Sodapop said while shutting the door to the truck. Soda started to turn when Darry called after him again.

"And Soda?" Soda stopped and reopened the door. "Please don't make me regret this."

"Darry, has anyone ever told you that you worry too much." And there it was again, Soda's movie star grin. Darry might have fallen for his charm but Sara still hadn't. For some reason she had a feeling this day was gonna bring nothing but disaster.