As I stepped into the DX for my Friday night shift, I looked at my best friend with concern. Soda was leaning on the counter with his chin resting on one hand, looking like he was trying his best to stay awake. This wasn't the part that concerned me—falling asleep at two-thirty in the afternoon at the DX wasn't very hard to do. People were still at work and most of the girls who hung around to flirt with Soda after school were still at home fixing themselves up. What worried me was that Soda had looked just as tired last night when we were closing up even though he was usually pretty energetic, even at that time of night. Plus, he looked kinda pale. I decided to pass it off as just not sleeping well. Ponyboy was probably having nightmares again. The kid needed to grow up and stop relying on Soda so much. "Hey Soda," I called, hoping to snap him out of his daze.

"Hey Steve," he answered, trying to hide a yawn.

I walked over and leaned against the counter. "What's up? Late night last night?" I knew it would bug him if I mentioned my guess about Pony's nightmares right off.

"Nah, I went to bed early last night. Slept till after Darry and Pony left, too. Guess I've been working too much or something."

That didn't sound like Soda to me. He'd always been practically bursting with energy, ever since I'd met him. I let it slide, though. Maybe he really had just been too busy lately and was crashing. I know he'd picked up a couple extra shifts while Brad, our supervisor, was away on vacation. "Try this. Maybe it'll help wake ya up." I threw him a chocolate bar, figuring he could use the sugar rush.

"No thanks. Not really hungry." He pushed it aside. Weird. Soda was always hungry, especially when it came to chocolate. Maybe I should talk to Darry when our shift was done and see if he's noticed anything.

The night wore on and Soda looked worse every hour. By the time we locked the doors at 10:15 he looked just about ready to pass out. We walked real slow the two blocks to his house, Soda dragging his feet the whole way. When we got there, he went right to his room without even saying hi to Darry, who was sitting in his favourite chair reading the newspaper. He looked at me apprehensively. "What's up with him?"

"I dunno. He's been practically falling asleep all night. I was hoping you knew what was wrong." I looked at Darry, hoping he could shed some light on his brother's strange behavior.

He looked at me, concerned. "He slept for forever last night. How can he be tired today?"

I shrugged. "He said he's just been working too hard this week, but I don't buy it."

Darry got up and made his way down the hall to Soda's and Pony's room, me following right behind him. He opened the door and we found Soda fast asleep on his bed, still dressed in his DX uniform. He'd managed to get his shoes off, though. Darry walked over to the bed and tried to shake him awake. "Soda. Soda, you gotta wake up." He managed to get a groan out of Soda, and after another minute of shaking he woke up.

"Mmm…what's wrong Darry? Why'd ya wake me up?"

"We're worried about you," Darry answered. "Steve said you barely made it through your shift. That's not like you and you know it."

Soda sighed. "It's nothing, Dar. I'm just tired, that's all. I'll be better tomorrow." Darry looked at me and I could see he wasn't buying it either. He put his hand on Soda's forehead and frowned.

"Soda, you're not fine. You've got a fever, and I'll bet that it didn't just start. You're staying home tomorrow." Soda started to argue, but he'd barely even opened his mouth before Darry gave him a look that shut him right up.

"Fine. But just tomorrow. I'm going back on Monday."

Darry didn't answer. I knew he didn't want to let Soda go back to work till he was one hundred percent better. He didn't need to answer, anyway—Soda had already fallen back to sleep. Darry got up and motioned to me that we should leave. When we were back in the living room, he turned to me. "Steve, can you find someone to work Soda's shift tomorrow?"

"Sure, no problem Darry. I'll drop by after work to see how he is."

"Thanks. And thanks for getting him home tonight, Steve. Night"

"Night." I turned and left the Curtis house feeling a bit better about my best friend. He probably just had the flu and now that he was home and Darry could take care of him, he would be fine.