So this is the final chapter *tear* *tear* It's also the longest chapter. Read away!!

Chapter 16

My heart went into panic mode. Soda stared at me, a confused expression on his face. What was I going to do? If Soda walked me right up to the door, Bob would see for sure, but if I sent him away then I'd feel bad. Bob was making my life so much harder than it already was. I stood there debating for a little while, off in my own world when Soda pulled me out of it. He was tugging on my arm.

"C'mon. Are we goin'?" Soda asked.

"Uhh…." I stuttered. I had to make a decision and I had to do it fast. I finally made up my mind. "Yeah, we're going." We walked together and I felt a sense of adrenaline rush through me. I knew though, that if I paused I wouldn't be able to go through with my plan.

We reached the door and I turned to face Soda. We stood there in silence for a moment. As usual, I was the one to break the silence.

"Thanks for walking me home." I told him.

"No problem." He smirked at me. I could have melted right there. He began leaning in for a kiss but as our lips were about to meet my mother whipped open the door.

"LAURIE DANNING WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" She shouted as I cringed back.

"Around," I said sheepishly.

"Get in the house RIGHT NOW!" She yelled sternly. It was then that she noticed that I wasn't alone. "Who's this?" She asked curiously.

"Mom, this is Sodapop. He's an, uh, friend." I rushed introductions. I looked past my mother and saw my dad sitting on the couch accompanied by my uncle. My heart lifted as I felt relieved. Maybe Bob just dropped off the car and went off with his friends, I hoped.

"Oh well, hello…um…Sodapop?" My mother struggled with his name. I wanted to laugh/apologize for my mother's behavior. She turned her attention back to me. "Well, what are you doing still standing out here?" She glared at me with a look so intense it bore into my soul.

"Can I at least say goodbye?" I asked hoping for all this to end.

My mom leaned against the door frame. "Go ahead."

I turned back to Soda and tried to send him a message through my expression. Either he understood or he just knew not to kiss me in front of my mother because he just stood there and said good night. I returned his good night and felt an immense urge to collapse in his arms. I knew I couldn't though.

"Good night Sodapop. Let's hope the next time we see you it isn't under such bad circumstances." My mother pulled me into the house and closed the door. I stared through the window beside the door and watched Soda walk down the path from the door. I watched until I could no longer see him. I sighed and hoped he wouldn't hold my mother's actions against me.

"Laurie," My mother began. "Why didn't you come home with your cousin? We've been worried sick."

I was about to answer but as I was about to say something I noticed that my father was also accompanied by Bob. My heart dropped. He saw and heard everything. Great.

"Laurie! Answer me. Why weren't you with your cousin?" My mother repeated.

"I found some friends. I just forgot to tell Bob that I was going to be with them." I looked apologetically to my mother and then turned my glance to Bob. My eyes were like daggers. I saw him look slightly shocked at my expression. "I'm sorry mom." I turned back to my mother.

"Don't do that again, do you hear me?" She pulled me into a hug.

"I won't." I meant it too.

She came out of the hug and gave me a look. "So, that boy Sodapop…" She dropped the words mid-sentence to promote her suggestion.

"Awh mom, please don't." I started walking away. Normally I wouldn't have minded, but it was the fact that Bob was there.

"Actually," Bob spoke up. "That guy's bad news. Laurie shouldn't be hangin' around him."

"No he's not. That's just what you and your little friends think. You don't even know him!" I was not in the mood for his antics. He wasn't going to win. Not this time.

"Sorry little cousin, but I think I know a bit more about the people around here. I've lived here longer." Bob stood up and walked in front of me.

"Really? Have you ever even talked to him?" I crossed my arms with attitude.

"No, but –"

"Oh, let me guess, rumors right?" Bob looked away. "Let me tell you something cousin rumors aren't true. Not about him. So why don't you take your little rumors and shove them up your—"

"LAURIE!" My mother cut in. I had completely forgot that we were having this debate in front of my family.

"I'm going to bed." I stated and went up to my room. I felt the urge to slam the door but thought against it. I was in enough trouble as it is. I threw myself onto my bed. I buried my head into my pillow almost as if believing that it would take my troubles away. I part of me hoped it would, but I knew that no matter how long I kept my head pushed into the pillow, it would not make anything better. A soft knock at the door was what made me bring my head out of my pillow.

"Go away." I mumbled.

The door opened anyways and I stuffed my head back into the pillow. I felt my mattress sink slightly as someone sat down. It was only when the person spoke that I figured out who it was.

"Your mom wants to know what got into you." Bob's voice increased my pulse as my anger rose.

My head shot out of my pillow and I turned to glare at Bob. "Get out of my room." I tried to say as calmly as I could.

"You really want those grease-heads to get hurt don't you? This is it Laurie, your chances are gone. This is gonna stop. You ain't hangin' around them anymore. I'm comin' into this."

"You've been in this since the start. You're the one making such a big deal out of this. And I honestly don't care what you say, you can't pick my friends!" My voice was starting to raise but I knew I couldn't get too loud or my mother would come up.

"No cousin of mine is gonna hang out with greasers." He said the word greasers in disgust. Like it was some sort of disease.

"Well then, I guess you just disowned me as a cousin. Now it's time for you to go." I glared at him more intensely. He returned the glare but – thankfully – stood up and left.

I shoved my face back into the pillow. I wanted to tear at something. I was so frustrated and I noticed that tears started trickling down my face. Great. I hope Bob is happy. I thought to myself. I changed out of my clothes and put on some pajamas. I lay down under my covers and found that I couldn't even reminisce about what happened between me and Sodapop because every time I thought of him, Bob jumped into my head. He was the last person I wanted to think of.

I eventually fell into a dreamless sleep and was awoken the next morning from a knock at my door. I grunted and struggled out of my bed. I whipped open the door and found myself squinting to see who it was. My eyes had not yet adjusted.

"Yeah?" I asked through a yawn.

"Get dressed and come downstairs." My mother's voice filled my ears. I nodded and closed the door. My eyes were still squinted and when I attempted to find my dresser, I ran into it.

"Ow! I found it. Stupid dresser," I said groggily.

I changed into the first thing I saw. I ran a brush through my hair and tied it back. I then slowly made my way down the stairs.

"Why'd you wake me up?" I asked, sitting down beside my father.

"We didn't want you sleeping until 4 you know." My father replied, not even looking up from the paper.

I sighed and played my fingers on the table. I waited a moment through the silence. "So there was actually no reason for waking me up?" I did not want to be awake.

My dad looked up from his paper finally. "Go for a walk or something. Make a day out of it. You aren't just going to sleep away the day."

I rolled my eyes once he looked back at his paper.

"Honey, Bob's coming by today if you want to hang around with him?" My mother suggested.

"Uh, thanks but I think I'm gonna go for a walk after all." I practically leapt out of the chair. I beat it out of the house and just started walking. I didn't care where I'd end up and I didn't care how long I was out.

I don't know how long I was gone for. I ended up at the park that Soda took me to last night. I sat on the jungle gym that I sat on the night before. I starred at the sky, but it was much harder to do today because the sun was so bright. I let my thoughts take wing into whatever they wanted and was startled with an ugly thought suddenly.

What if Bob saw Soda at the gas station? Would he start something in public? Would he start something at all? I stopped and rethought that. Who am I kidding, or course he'll start something.

I went into panic mode. What if Bob started a fight? But Soda had a lot of friends that would stay by him. And if his friends didn't, at least he had his brothers. But Bob had friends too. Why did I have to be in the middle of this? I decided to go by the DX to see if Soda was working. I figured he was, and if he wasn't I would just go by his house.

I tried not to think too much or I would end up getting lost. It was a bit of a walk and as I saw the DX in a distance and noticed that I was kind of thirsty. I decided that that would be my excuse for going to the gas station in the first place. Just to buy a drink. And if Soda wasn't there then I would buy a drink anyways.

I reached the DX and the first person I saw was Steve. He would think I was some sort of stalker that had to see Soda everyday when actually I was trying to help him, in a very pathetic kind of way. I walked up casually and hoped that Steve wouldn't notice me, but as I got closer to the little variety store attached to the gas station, my eyes caught Soda who seemed to have been hiding behind a car.

"Laurie, hey, gimme a sec!" Soda called over to me. I nodded and leaned against the wall.

He finished up with the customer and walked over to me. "What's up?" He asked.

"Oh, just came here to buy a drink." He didn't believe my lie, he gave me that cocked eyebrow look of his.

"You came all the way out here, to buy a drink?" He asked.

I gave him a sheepish grin. "I didn't say that was my only reason." I changed my tone, "I kinda need to talk to you."

Soda looked behind him at where the cars pulled up. "Can it wait, I've gotta finish my shift."

"When's it end?" I asked.

"At three."

"What time is it now?" I tried to look around for a clock. I hadn't put on a watch this morning.

Apparently he didn't know the time either because he called to Steve to ask.

"One forty-five buddy!" Steve shouted back.

"Alright, I guess it can wait." I looked down at my feet.

"Laurie, are you okay?" He brought my head up to look at his. I felt my face heat up. I was going red.

I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders all at once. "Just, be careful, okay?"

He gave me a puzzled glance and said slowly, "Okay."

Steve began to call Soda over so Soda rushed what he said. "Meet me here at three." He gave me a quick kiss and sprinted over to help the customers.

I thought it would be better if I didn't go home to waste time. So I just went back to the park, and sat back on that jungle gym. I lay back entirely on it and closed my eyes, but the sun still shone warmly on my face. It comforted me though. I had almost fallen asleep when I heard loud voices coming closer. I sat up quickly to find Two-Bit with Johnny and Ponyboy.

"Hey Laurie." Pony said to me.

I climbed down and brushed myself off just in case I had dirt on me. "Hey guys, what's up?"

"We're just taking a walk," Johnny explained.

"Wanna come?" Two-Bit offered. I was started to wonder when he was going to say something.

"Sure," I said without thinking. We started walking but then I remembered, "Do you guys have the time?"

Pony looked at his wrist. "It's two."

"Why got somewhere to be?" Two-Bit chimed in.

I laughed. "I'm meeting Soda at three."

"Oh!" Two-Bit winked to me. "You're meeting Soda."

I playfully glared at him. We walked around the town a bit just talking and laughing. It felt good though because I hadn't been able to laugh all morning. Not since what happened with Bob. But that's why I like the guys, they made me laugh (well most of them did) and I had fun with them.

At two forty Pony suggested we start walking to the DX. It got pretty far from the gas station, I didn't even know where we were. We stopped walking at a few points to laugh really hard at something Two-Bit said and by the time we got to the DX, Soda was just getting ready to leave.

"Aw, Laurie you brought these bums with you?" He joked.

"Yeah, well they followed me." I joked back. I looked at the guys' faces and Two-Bit had a fake hurt look. I smiled at him.

Steve came over and joined us so we started to leave. Soda fell into step with me. "So what'd you wanna talk about?"

I had actually forgotten about that, I didn't think it was possible but apparently it was. "I don't think right now is the best time." I whispered to him.

He nodded and reached for my hand, I took it without question. We walked with the guys for a while and then when we reached the Curtis' house, the guys went inside but Soda and I didn't.

"Let's go to the park." Soda suggested.

"Alright." I practically knew how to get there by heart now, this would be my third time there today.

"So, about what you wanted to talk about…" Soda prompted.

"Right. Um, I don't' really know how to put this." I scratched at my forehead. "My cousin, the one I told you about, he was at my house last night." I hoped Soda would catch on.

"So?" Clearly he didn't.

"So, he knows I was with you. Remember what I told you?"

Soda thought for a moment. He caught on finally.

I took that as my cue to continue. "Well he says I have no more chances and that he's gonna put an end to this. I tried to tell him he can't pick my friends but he won't listen. Now I don't know what he's planning or what he's gonna do. I just don't want any of you guys to get hurt." I spoke quickly to get it all out.

"Laurie," He said and stopped abruptly. "He's not gonna do anything, and if he does it won't matter as long as it's just skin against skin."

"What?" I panicked. "You're willing to fight him? No, no fights. I don't like fights. Not even if it's just 'skin against skin'." I shook my head.

"So you're gonna stop?" Soda asked curiously as if he didn't think I could, though I didn't think I could either.

"I'm not going to have to stop it, because there isn't going to be a fight," I said assertively.

I hoped Soda would agree and say 'Okay, no fights' but he never said it. He just continued walking. We reached the edge of the park and he paused again and looked at me. I didn't notice what he did at first. Then I saw it. A blue mustang was just sitting at the side of the road. Suddenly, three guys (all Socs) got out. Bob, Randy and another guy whom I didn't recognize.

"Soda, can we go please?" I asked urgently.

He didn't say anything back so I tried to walk away but he still had my hand, and he wasn't going anywhere. "Soda," I begged.

He had an angry face and as the Socs came closer, I felt him tense up. Bob came right up to Soda and me.

"Why do you keep harassing my little cousin greaser?" Bob asked with a glare. Randy and the other guy just stood beside him with their arms crossed. They had the same glares as Bob.

"Bob, go away." My voice hardly came out.

"Laurie, don't stand near that trash," Bob tried to pull me away but Soda wouldn't budge.

"I ain't the trash here. Laurie's not going with you," Soda said calmly but you could hear the anger in his voice.

"Oh," Bob had an evil grin on his face. "I think she is." Bob was about to take a swing at Soda when I stepped in between them.

"No! Bob, you are going to leave and I'm not coming with you! You can't live my life!" I found my voice and made sure you could here it this time.

"Laurie, get out of the way!" Bob hissed at me.

"Laurie, you're gonna get hurt standin' there." Soda told me softly but there was still a tinge of anger for Bob.

Without Soda keeping hold of me, I was caught off guard and pulled back by Randy. Bob took his chance and punched Sodapop right smack in the jaw.

"Stop!" I screamed from Randy's clutches.

Soda hit Bob back and when Bob recovered he made a bull charge for Soda and knocked him to the ground.

"BOB! Get OFF HIM!" I was still screaming, though clearly not being heard. I was too busy trying to fight off Randy that when I looked back at Soda and Bob, I noticed a third body, but it wasn't a Soc. It was Dally. I stopped fighting or a moment and noticed that I was being shoved to the other Soc that was there and Randy started in on the fight. I kicked the guy holding and he fell to the ground obviously not expecting my violent attack.

I ran over to Bob and Soda (who were now standing again thanks to Dally who pulled Bob off Soda) and went in between them again. I ducked just in time. If I would have stayed up a second longer Bob's fist would have hit my face. I put my hands on both their chests to push them farther away.

"STOP FIGHTING!" I yelled. Even Dally and Randy had stopped. But that could be because Dally had hit Randy to the ground. "JUST STOP, BOTH OF YOU!" I took a moment to breathe. "This fight is ending now! I don't care if I have to hit someone to do it. Bob, you are going to get lost and leave me alone. I don't care if you don't like them, because I do. I don't care what you think. But you are going to leave me along for once in your life." I turned to Soda. "You knew I didn't want you to fight. But you did it anyways." I shook my head. "I thought you actually cared about what I thought." I didn't give him a chance to say anything. I walked to Dally.

"Thanks for the help." I told him as he nodded. I walked away quickly then. I didn't hear any more punches being thrown so I thought that was a good sign. I did however hear footsteps coming at me. They came closer and closer until… Soda grabbed my arm and whipped me around.

"Laurie I do care about what you think, but I wasn't gonna let your cousin push you around." He looked at me sincerely. "I'm sorry."

"You should be." I put a hand on his cheek. "Don't do it again." I brought his face down to mine until his lips touched mine.

Bob stalked over to us. "I'm not happy about this." He glared at me. Then he turned to Soda, "If I see you, this'll happen again." He warned. "Don't think I'm okay with this, cause I'm not." He walked to the car and Randy and the other Soc followed.

Dally came over and started scolding Soda about starting a fight with the Socs without him. I laughed and we started walking back to the Curtis' house. When we told Darry what happened he wasn't too happy, but he was glad a blade wasn't pulled.

* * *

Things were a little different after that whole scene, though I didn't have Soda with me at school I still saw him everyday. He asked me to go steady with and I obviously said yes. On an even brighter side, Bob pretty much ignores me. It gets kind of awkward when our families get together to have dinner. Speaking of my family, they met Sodapop and think he's a really good guy. They hardly see him though because most of the time I'm at his house. I've become really good friends with Pony, Johnny and Two-Bit. Dally and Steve are still growing on me. Darry is kind of like a big brother, but that's only because he's always asking me how school is and if I finished my homework or if there were any at all. And if he knows about an upcoming test, he tells me to study and when I get the test back, he asks what my grade was. The guys have become like family to me.

Pony tells me that he's never seen Soda so happy with a girl. I hope that's true because I know I've never been so happy with a guy. He told me loved me. And I love him too. I can't wait until high school ends to see what life will bring.

So that was the last of my story. I felt like having her look back on it and just do a bit of a recap at the end, I'd been planning that for a while. If there are any errors, please bear with me because I was writing this from 10-12. No it does not take me that long to write, I was also on msn talking to people =D. I really hope you liked my story, thanks to everyone who have read my story and please take the time to review the last chapter.

Keep on the look out for another Sodapop Story because I have already started the first chapter, so if you're interesting just look at my profile. Thanks so much!