𝘙𝘌𝘋 (The Outsiders) ·Sodapop Curtis· [Finished]

Chapter 30

Sodapop' POV

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I sat in front of the boys getting ready to talk to them about joining the Coyotes. All of us. Only Darry and Two can join right now, but the rest can be pups until age eighteen.

"Elle talked to me," I exhaled, "she wants us to join the Coyotes." All of them groaned and rolled their eyes at me.

"Soda, it's cool that you're back together but we can't just join the Coyotes." Darry put his paper down. "You know that."

"They aren't up against the Key Men anymore. She got the leader and some others arrested for almost killing her, shooting me and killing Camilo Smalls. She's doing pretty good leading guys."

"Look at yourself, Sodapop. You can't move your arm. That's her fault, man. If she wasn't such a tease to all other gangs in town we wouldn't have you with a hole in your shoulder. I said no." Darry sounded angry.

I sighed, "I don't see the problem in joining."

"Serious? Sodapop gangs aren't about authority and that's all the Coyotes is. It's about sticking together and caring for one another. And I'll be damned if I have to answer to a kid anyway."

"They aren't just authority..." I huffed. "It might look like that but I've been around them. They aren't too different than us. All those guys care about each other. Hell, you should have seen the uproar when they found out Camilo passed. They had the lobby blocked off because of the Coyotes."

Dallas gruffly chuckled, "we said no, man. Won't you just listen? The Coyotes don't have anything new for us. We don't belong there."

"I can't marry Elle without being a Coyote..." I confessed. Truly it's the only reason I agreed to join. I didn't tell her that though, it might scare her away. I'm not sane without her. I go nuts at the thought of us breaking up again.

The boys laughed loudly and Steve cocked an eyebrow, "what? Marry her, Sodapop you guys are 16."

"I love her."

Darry stood up, "you don't know what the hell it takes to be with someone for so long."

"I've been with her a whole year already," I mumbled.

"One year isn't remotely the same as the rest of your life. You're not marrying Elle." Darry walked into the kitchen.

"You haven't been in a relationship since you graduated," I snapped. "What do you know about love?"

"Listen here," Darry had veins popping out of his forehead as he walked towards me. "I am too damn busy caring for yours and Ponyboy's asses to be worrying about a girl like you do. I knew you weren't bright, Soda but I didn't know you'd be thinking about marriage at this age."

"Leave him alone, Darry." Ponyboy stood up as well.

"Stay out of this Ponyboy you don't think yourself." Darry snapped.

"Aye," I stepped in front of Pony, "leave him alone. He does his best and you need to start seeing that."

"Oh give me a break," Darry rolled his eyes.

"Won't you guys quit the damn fights in front of us? Most of us hear enough of this at home and we don't need it from you guys." Two-bit joined in.

Darry glanced at everyone in the room before taking his cap off and tossing it to the ground, then walking down the hallway. "You aren't joining the Coyotes and you aren't marrying Elle."

I too walked down the hall and slammed my bedroom door. I heard Darry yell something at me but I couldn't tell what he said. A couple minutes later Ponyboy came into the room.

"I didn't know you were thinking about marrying Elle," he sat at his desk. "If you wanted to tell us, that wasn't the way to do it."

"I was gonna wait until both you and her graduated. I don't plan on abandoning you guys," I sighed and laid on my bed, "I don't care what Darry says, Ponyboy. I really don't. I love him, and I'll tell Elle I can't be a Coyote as of now but as long as she's a Coyote, I plan on being one sooner or later."

Ponyboy opened his book, "I think it'd be pretty cool to be a Coyote," he smiled, "it's dangerous and I like that."

I chuckled and sat up to look at him, "that's my kid brother alright," I stood up and walked over to him. "Don't know about this though." I nudged the book and ruffled his hair. "That can't make us related, right? Who... who's adopted?"

Ponyboy laughed, "we're not adopted, Soda," he playfully pushed me away and put the book down. "You like cars and I like books. That's just how it be I guess."

"Yeah and Dar likes being an ass," I muttered and chuckled.

"You and Elle, you really gonna marry her you think?" Ponyboy changed the subject.

I nodded, "as long as Elle agrees. And as long as I can move up from just working at the DX. Me and Steve talk about opening our own shop sometimes. It'll take a lot though, and he wants to graduate before."

"You think you'd get customers?" Pony seemed interested now and he closed his book.

I chuckled, "yeah, sure. As long as we do it right. We have ideas, Ponyboy. I may have been failing all my classes before I dropped out but shop was the one I was pretty damn good at."

"I can do the business side for you," he seemed excited. "It can be like a family business! You can pass it to your kids, or my kids or Steve's kids or something," he took out a piece of paper and started scribbling notes or what I thought was notes. "What do you think?" He put the paper out in front of me.

"Curtis n Randle Mechanics" I read. He sketched out a shop sign in just 30 seconds and it had me in awe.

"Boring name, kid," I chuckled and shook my head, "I like it though. I'll talk to Steve about you joining our team someday."

Ponyboy nodded and pulled out a notebook. "I'll start designing the place. Tell me when you have a name, and I'll get a job after school to start saving up for the buy."

"No, Pone. You can be involved but you know Darry won't allow you to get a job. During school, you need to focus only on school."

"I won't tell him. Plus, school doesn't start for another couple weeks. I can get a job right now." He closed his book and stood up. "I'll be back, tell Darry I'm going out," Pony grabbed his coat with a grin on his face and ran out of the room before I could stop him. I shouldn't have said anything to him because now he won't stop.