My Greaser Girl

chatper 7 // home

SAM

I didn't sleep at all that night. How could I? I'm not going to be able to see the gang for a while now. And I'll have to tell them right before I leave. God this is going to be the worst few weeks of my life.

I knocked on the Curtis's door and as always, Soda answered. It was pretty early but all three brothers were awake. Johnny was there too. He basically lived at their house and I don't blame him given his family situation.
"You're here earlier than usual." I went inside and they were all sitting on the couch. Ponyboy asked if I had been crying, I guess my eyes were more red and puffy than I thought. I didn't know how to tell them because I didn't even get a proper explanation as to why I had to leave.
"C'mon Sam, you're gettin' us worried" Johnny said and I could tell they all were.
"I have to go to Oregon." Their faces all dropped and I could tell they were so confused. They were waiting for me to say something else.
"I don't know why I have to go, but I know I'll be back in a few weeks."
If I didn't use up all my tears last night I would be crying right now. I knew my mom was waiting outside for me so I had to hurry up and say my goodbyes. I really didn't want to go. But I knew I had to. Ponyboy told me to try write to them.

With that I was in the car, preparing myself for the worst weeks of my life.

PONYBOY

I couldn't believe it. I never knew anything about Sam's mother, but I could tell she despised her by how reluctant she was to go with her. I just hoped she wasn't gonna be gone for too long.

For the next week I barely did anything. Just school. Everything seemed boring without Sam. She hadn't wrote to us yet. I know because I checked everytime the postman came, and told him to double check incase it got lost.

Another week went by and still no letter, no sign that she's okay, no nothing. We were all starting to miss her now, even Dally.

Another week passed, and finally. A letter.

Hey Ponyboy,
      Sorry I haven't been writin', I hope you guys weren't worryin' bout me too much. Anyways, tell the gang I said hey. I only have to spend 4 more days here. Well only 2 by the time you're reading this. I miss all of you so much.
                          -Sam

I rushed to tell the gang. Everyone was glad she was okay and excited that we were gonna get to see her soon. I hope these two days aren't gonna be as long the last 3 weeks were.

SAM

The past 3 weeks had been absolute hell. I was just happy I was gonna be home in a few hours. My mother offered to drive me home but I couldn't stand a long car ride with her. I think 3 weeks was enough. Plus the train was a shorter journey and I just wanted to be home as soon as I could be. I really missed my dad and the gang while I was gone. Ugh I'm gonna have to catch up with school too. But that's not my main priority right now. I tried to read books to distract me from everything so hopefully that'll help with school.

My dad was waiting for me at the train station. I still didn't know why I had to go to Oregon but I knew that it wasn't his fault because he would've done anything he could to get me away from her. I ran over and hugged him as soon as I saw him. He had tears in his eyes and he couldn't stop apologising.
"It's okay dad. I don't know why I had to go, but I know there was obviously a good reason."

He took me back home and as soon as the car stopped I ran to Ponyboy's house. I really hope they're home. I knocked, even though I knew the door would be open. To my surprise, Johnny answered the door. He looked so shocked when he saw me, almost as if he was about to cry. "Sammy!" He hugged me and when he let go Soda had already lifted me up and was squeezing me so tight I could barely breathe. When he let me down, my eyes went straight to Ponyboy. He was standing at the bottoms of the stairs. I jumped into his arms and he nearly fell over.
"Sam, I missed you so much."
"I missed you too Pony."

When we pulled away from the hug he had a sudden worried look on his face.
"Sam what happened your face?"
Oh yeah. I was hoping they wouldn't notice how cut up and bruised my face was.
"Just people I knew from back home, it's not a big deal." It wasn't a big deal and I didn't want them to worry.
"You got jumped?" Johnny asked.
"Don't worry, I left them lookin' worse than I do." I wasn't lying when I said that. I was a pretty good fighter. I was used to getting in fights from living in Oregon.
"Well you look tuff." Dally said while messing up my hair.

Two-bit suggested that we should all go to the drive-in movies later and everyone agreed that it would be fun.