I WOKE UP to pounding on my door. I jump out of bed and look at my alarm clock. Who in the hell is pounding on my door in the middle of the night?

I groggily walk downstairs as the pounding gets louder and louder.

How does Dally not hear this?

I opened the door and furrowed my eyebrows. "Pony?"

"Abs, can you please let me stay here?" He asked with a pleading look on his face.

"Pony, I ought to kill you for waking me up. You better give me a good reason as to why you woke me up." I replied, shooting him a glare.

"I can't deal with Sandy and Soda. I keep trying to sleep, but all they keep doing is kissing and talking." Pony explained with a disgusted look on his face.

I glanced at the floor, a sad expression washed over my face. "I'm sorry, Abs. Soda's stupid." Pony smiled, trying to cheer me up.

After Soda hugged me that day, I pushed him away and haven't talked to him since. It's been five days. That's the longest I've gone without talking or seeing Soda. I've been talking to Steve here and there, but it's not the same.

"You're lucky it's not a school night. Did you tell Darry?" I questioned, letting him in.

"Yeah. He said he didn't blame me." Pony smiled.

I started laughing which made him laugh. "What in the world is going on?" Dally snapped. "You know I don't like getting woke up."

"You've got to be kidding me." I laughed even harder. "You can't tell me you didn't hear Pony beating on the door like he was about to get murdered by Soc's."

"Shut up." Ponyboy laughed.

"Why is he here?" Dally asked, sitting down beside Pony on the couch.

I walked and sat beside Dally. "Soda and Sandy."

Dally rolled his eyes. "I never thought two people could actually make me sick to my stomach."

Ponyboy and I were laughing so hard we couldn't breath. "Well, we better get back to sleep. I have to work at the DX tomorrow even though I don't want to be around Soda." I remarked while walking towards the stairs.

"Wait, don't y'all go in the morning?" Pony asked while messing with his hair.

"Yeah, but that's only because we went to the Dingo and Jay's. We have to be at work at nine." I explained.

"Oh, so you're breaking y'all's tradition?" Dally intervened.

I shrugged. "I guess so."

"Oh c'mon Abs, you can't break that." Pony whined.

"Pony, you act like you're the one in this friendship triangle." I shook my head and chuckled.

"Well, it upsets me to see this. Y'all three have been friends since you were born. Literally." Pony replied.

I rolled my eyes and went upstairs, laying in my bed. For some odd reason, I have a terrible feeling about tomorrow.

//

I JUMPED OUT of bed and looked at my clock. I hurriedly rushed to my closet and got a plain white tank top and skinny jeans with holes at the knee. I put my little baby blue DX jacket over it and slipped on my converse.

I was running just a little late. I ran to the bathroom and brushed my long, blonde hair. I left it down and then ran downstairs and passed a sleeping Pony on the couch. I walked out the door and ran to Soda's house.

Like usual, Steve was sitting on the couch, but there was no shower going?

I looked to Steve and furrowed my eyebrows. Steve jumped up when he saw me and embraced me in a big bear hug. "I didn't think you were coming over here!"

I rolled my eyes and replied in a monotone voice. "Yeah, well I wasn't. You can thank Pony for the persuasion."

"Well," he said it like he was reading my mind. "I guess Soda's still asleep or something."

"Okay? You haven't woken him up?" I questioned giving him a dumb look.

"I'm not walking in there." He laughed.

"Where's Darry?" I asked, looking around.

"He already left."

"Well, since you're a big baby, I guess I'll go get Soda." I huffed and started walking towards Soda's bedroom.

"Fine. I'll go with you." Steve sighed and stood beside me.

I slowly opened the door and opened it to find Soda and Sandy both laying in bed. "At least they have clothes on." Steve whispered.

"They're about to have a rude awakening." I chuckled as I walked right towards the bed.

"Uh oh." I heard Steve say behind me.

"WAKE UP!!!!!!!!" I screamed as loud as I could. Steve was laughing so hard I thought he was going to turn purple.

Soda woke out of his slumber quick, I tell you. He jumped up so fast, he fell off the bed. Which that only made me and Steve laugh harder. Sandy just screamed and looked at us like we were murderers. Once Soda saw me he quickly stood up.

"You know there's other ways to wake a person up, Blue!" He yelled.

"Nice to see you too." I snapped and walked out the door.

"Steve, I'm not going to the Dingo and Jay's. I'm going up to work early."

I heard Steve and Soda shout my name, but I ignored them. I walked to the DX and when Boss saw me he gave me a surprised look. "You're here awful early, Skye."

"Yeah, well do me a favor and keep me as far away from Sodapop as possible." I replied and sat on the counter.

"Now, what happened?" He asked worriedly. "You and Soda haven't fought once in your whole lives. You only fought one time that I heard of and that fight wasn't too long ago."

"Yeah, well it seems like we're just getting in more and more fights. He's back with Sandy, Boss. After all she did to him. I thought I made it obvious that I liked him, but I guess not!" I raised my voice and he pulled me into a hug. "I bet Soda feels bad, Skye."

"No, he doesn't. He didn't even ask about me this morning. I haven't seen or talked to him in five days, and that's the longest we've been without talking. He didn't even try to come visit. Just Steve." I buried my head between my knees and closed my eyes tight.

I am NOT going to cry over something this stupid.

Just then, the door bell rang. I glanced up and saw Steve and Soda. "Blue," Soda spoke, but I cut him off. "I don't want to hear it. Yes, I woke you up disturbingly this morning, but that's the first thing you say to me? Not a 'hey how are you doing I haven't seen you in five days.' Like I said when I first saw you and Sandy in the kitchen. Me or her. Clearly, you've made your decision. You chose her."

I jumped off the counter and turned to Boss. "So, what do you want me to do?"

"Organize the store first and then come to me."

I nodded and walked right past the both of them, taking things off the shelves and reorganizing them. "Oh, by the way," I announced, causing Soda and Steve to look back at me, "Steve, I'm sorry if we're dragging you into this mess. You haven't done anything, but trying to be there for both of us. I'm sorry."

Steve grinned. "Oh it's fine, Skye. I don't mind walking to each of y'all's houses. I pass both of y'all's houses to get to my girlfriends, so it's no big deal."

Soda and I's eyes got real big. "GIRLFRIEND?"

"Yeah, I think you and her are good friends, Skye. You have to keep it a secret though. She said she would never talk to me again if I told anyone." He explained.

My heart started thumping.

"Her name is Sarah."