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I awoke the next morning screaming. I didn’t know what had happened to cause this; all I knew was that Soda and Darry were sitting on top of my bed, shaking me something horrible.

“Pony, wake up! It’s a dream!” Soda called, trying to hold me still. (Yeah, I’d realized by now they weren’t shaking me; I was thrashing around in my sleep.)

My heartbeat calmed but sweat was still dripping down my back and forehead. I looked up at Darry and Soda.

Soda seemed to handling this a little better than Darry; he’d dealt with me like this for a few nights now and knew that I’d calm down when I woke up. His soft brown eyes were still worried, though, and he leaned off me when I stopped moving about so much.

Darry on the other hand was not as accepting. His ice-cold eyes were almost a liquid now, warm and worried at the same time. He still held to me fast, then asked, “What’s going on? You all right?”

I leaned up, rubbing my head. “Yeah, Darry, I’m fine. Can you let go of my legs now?”

I happened to glean a glance toward the door. Two-Bit and Steve had their heads poked between the door, one on top of the other like you’d see in a cartoon. When they noticed me looking, they pulled away, though, like I wouldn’t remember their being there. I smirked in spite of myself.

Soda brushed my brown hair back and smiled. Yeah, it was brown again; it’d grown out over the year since… the night of the rumble. (I still refused to refer to it as ‘the night Johnny and Dally kicked the bucket’. The night of the rumble just seemed to have a bit more of a ring to it.) “You remember what it was that scared you?”

I gave him a kind of ‘duh’ look and told him, “No, I never do… Just that it had to do with you…”

I caught myself as I said that. How did I know it had to do with Soda?

Sodapop seemed to catch me, too, and so did Darry. “How do you know if you don’t remember?” Darry asked me, taking his hands off my legs and sitting on the bed. By this time, Two-Bit and Steve had snuck completely in the room, peeking over the end of the bed. That kind of made me uncomfortable; Soda may like attention, but I don’t.

I scooted away from them. “I dunno… I just know!”

I took a deep breath in the silence that followed, then looked back to Soda and Darry. “It’s nothing…”

Soda seemed to agree, thus convincing the others, so we all went to the kitchen for some breakfast. The five of us might as well share a house now with how much Two-Bit and Steve stayed over.

Sodapop cooked, so our meal was… interesting… We all crowded around our food: blue eggs, doughy pancakes of an unnamable color, and a strange red liquid I think we were supposed to put on our pancakes. Only Darry had the spine to try it, and he didn’t seem too fond of it, so most of us pushed it away.

It was a Sunday, so Soda, Steve, and Darry all had the day off work; Two-Bit and I were glad. No offense to Two-Bit, but I like hanging out with Darry and Soda, too. His jokes get kind of stale after a while and it get boring sneaking into movies- pardon me, the SAME movie- every day.

We all lounged in the kitchen, the stereo blasting as usual and Steve and Sodapop belting the lyrics. Once again, the two were playing cards. No table, though, as Steve didn’t trust my brother enough anymore since he’d started sneaking an ace in his shoe. Darry was snoozing in the armchair and Two-Bit was watching some movie on TV. I was in my own world, though.

Ever since I woke up, I couldn’t concentrate. It reminded me of after I woke up from my concussion; I was running into things and was spacey then, too. Maybe I got like this when I had one of those dreams…

That got me to thinking: what did happen in that dream? It was peculiarly obvious that it had something to do with Sodapop. The fear I’d felt earlier that morning rose back in my gut as I thought about it. Something bad happened to Soda in my dream…

But it was so real; whatever it was felt far too realistic for my liking. I got that feeling like when I went into that church with Johnny a year back. Premonition its called I’m sure now…

Steve shook me from my thoughts and I mean literally. He’d taken my shoulder and was shaking me hard. “Pony, you coming or not?” he questioned, a steely glance locked on me. It was plain to see inviting me wherever had not been his idea.

“What are we doing?” I asked. Soda popped up behind Steve, reached around him, and grabbed my arm. “Come on! We’re gonna play some football- the five of us!” he cheered, his brown eyes wild and dancing. How can you resist that? I always ask myself that. The answer? You can’t, simple as that.

I allowed myself to be dragged outside by my jacket until the five of us branched off for the walk there. I listened as some of the boys carried on their crazy conversation pertaining to their favorite Elvis songs. More or less it was Two-Bit and Steve; Soda and Darry were having a quiet conversation away from us. They were in hushed voices, Soda looking oddly serious compared to his normal attitude and Darry leaning over to him to speak directly in his ear. My nose started to burn and I let out a loud sneeze.

A chorus of, “Bless you”s and “Gesundheit!” sounded in the moment’s disturbance, but was soon forgotten as all went back to their respective conversations. Now I’m not usually superstitious, but this was one thing I did believe (since for me, it normally came true): when you sneeze, usually someone is talking about you. My gaze slid to Soda and Darry. It was more than likely them, since Howdy-Doody and Randle were still duking it out over ‘Hound Dog’ or ‘Jail House Rock’.

I silently scooted behind them, my hands tucked in my pockets and my ears perked in concentration.

“That still doesn’t explain it!” Darry chided, running a hand through his dark brown hair. “He’s never remembered even a little of a dream before-”

“Suddenly he spouts off my name and we’re all freaking out!” Soda said defensively. “Maybe it’s just a coincidence; since he remembered something, it obviously can’t be one of those dreams again!” (As he said this, I smiled and shook my head. His logic… Leave it to Soda to stick up for something off kilter.) Soda playfully slapped Darry on the stomach, smirking up at him “Let’s just give it some time. If anything else comes up about this, then we can worry about it, all right?”

Darry sighed in defeat. “All right. I’m more worried about Pony’s health now than yours… no offence…”

Soda replied, “None taken.”

I shied back. So that was why they vouched to play football… I thought. They wanted to wear me out so I couldn’t dream- like the doctor had said.

Finally, the five of us reached the lot. Two-Bit took the football out from under his arm, smiling like a maniac. “We all know the rules.” He announced tossing the ball in his hand. “Now to pick teams.”

Instantly, Soda and Steve attached to each other and called, “We’re a package!”

I smiled. An elementary trick wasn’t too low for them. Darry gave on of his rare grins. “I’ll take Pony. I don’t think it’s fair for three like us to take on the two of them… Two-Bit’d way you down…” He added the last bit quietly in my ear and I smiled wider. What was funniest was it was true; Two-Bit had some ability in football, granted, but it was mostly in kicking. He couldn’t throw a spiral very well or run too fast. But Darry could, and so could I.

“You’d better watch it!” Soda warned, pointing at me with a playful glare. “We’re not goin’ easy on you ‘cause you’re small!”

I crossed my arms. “I’d be insulted if you did.”

Soda laughed, tossed the ball to me, and turned away to talk to his teammates. Apparently we were offensive first… I did likewise, only exception is that I only had Darry.

“All right,” Darry began, leaning down on his knees to see me at eye level. “Let’s try something new: I throw the ball to you and you run.”

I chuckled. Leave it to Darry to use the same tactic we always did. Not that we were the only ones who did that…

If things worked out like I bet they would, Soda would charge Darry full blast- and miss. Two-Bit would soon follow. Darry would throw the ball to me, and I’d have to hurtle over Steve- who’ll be diving toward my feet and miss- and then run toward the gold. Touchdown and the other team’s ball.

I smiled as Soda’s team broke and we lined up to play.

“Hike!”

Darry turned as the call was made; I was right. Soda sprinted head-on as usual toward Darry, but then he did something strange: Soda dove, grappling his arms around Darry’s feet. Before Darry plummeted, he tossed the ball sloppily, and I ran up to catch it. Stumbling, I turned on my heel to see Two-Bit and Steve dashing toward me. I ducked under Two-Bit’s insane leap… thing… and tore past Steve. Of course he chased after me, but I was still the best runner in the crew. I jogged past the goal line, Steve huffing twenty yards behind.

Quickly, I swaggered back to where everyone had bunched in the center of the field.

“We’re done already?” I asked, plopping down by Two-Bit, who’d sat in the circle.

Sod smiled. “Yeah, I think…”

Darry flared over at him and Soda might as well have shrunk under his gaze. “Someone-” Darry accented this word dramatically-“twisted my ankle with that flying leap ‘o his.” He playfully slapped Sodapop over the head. “I’m gonna stay off it just in case; I still got work in the morning. So unless you wanna take on all three of ‘em-” The ice-blue eyed boy thumbed toward the three goofs, who waved back idiotically. “we’re going back to the house.”

I sighed. “All right, let’s go.” Soda and I helped Darry to his feet and we all made our way back to the house without incident. It was nice. Since the rumble, there’d been peace between the greasers and the Socs. No one had been jumped yet and Soda and Steve got more and more reckless because of this. They missed the action, but Darry and I liked the quiet. Two-Bit didn’t care either way.

At the house, we all crowded back into the kitchen. Darry said, “Pony, go get that cake from the freezer.”

Soda and Steve perked up instantly from their bored stupor. Both jumped to their feet; fished through the freezer and produced the cake; Soda plopped it on the table. “Fresh by me!” he announced. I dragged some plates, forked, and a knife from the cabinet. Instantly, Soda dove it through and cut it into five pieces.

Two-Bit looked it over carefully, holding it at eye-level on the plate. “Is it sanitary?” he questioned, prodding it with his fork.

I shrugged (I hoped secretly that it was) and took a chunk from it. “Only one way to find out!” I replied. I put the cake in my mouth. It was bland and dull, tasting strongly of salt and unsifted flour.

I jumped from my chair and spit it quickly into the trashcan. You’ll hopefully never have to taste Sodapop’s failed cake attempts because when he screws up, it’s a different type of food altogether.

Steve shot me a glare. “It can’t be that bad.” he crowed, taking a bite. Two-Bit followed his lead, but Darry wisely pushing it away, claiming he simply wasn’t hungry. He trusted my opinion, whereas Steve would do anything just to go against what I had to say.

I watched in satisfaction as Steve and Two-Bit also rushed to the trashcan and spit the rotten cake into it.

Soda stood with his cake, gaping at our reaction. “Come on…” he moaned, “What’s wrong with us.

The four of us huddled together and watched Soda take an overly large bite of the cake. (I think I was more worried he’d get sick or choke than that he’d see how badly it tasted.) By some miracle, he swallowed. He grimaced then, running and taking a deep drink from the sink at his reaction. The four of us laughed heartily. Bewildered, he looked back at us. “Oh…” he said. “I think I forgot the sugar…”

Like I’ve said before: you’re never bored when you live with Sodapop.

We all continued laughing and Soda shot us one of those famous movie-star smiles. You know, the ones that make girls go-

Wait, I thought. I remember this…

A sharp pain jolted into my head, and it seemed as if the sunlight streaming through the window came to a focal point in my eyes. I grabbed my head, wincing as another wave of pain coursed through my head. Dazedly, I remember Soda walking over to me. Everyone was looking at me.

“Pony… You okay?” he asked, grabbing my shoulder.

I looked up at him, then cried out and pulled away. Something was off… It wasn’t Soda I was looking at. Some mangled being stood in his place, reaching out with what I assumed was supposed the be the remains of a hand.

The world around me swayed, shifting and pulling at me until we were in a dark, dank alley. Brick extended as high as I could see, the path in front of me empty… except for the fact that Soda was standing in it, surrounded by a pack of angry Socs.