Evermore | Sodapop Love Story | The Outsiders

Chapter 8 | Last Day

"Like mother, like daughter."

When we got home, I saw my mom sitting on the couch, almost as if she was waiting for me. She looked kind of worried though. Ponyboy went into his room, so now it was just me and my mom in the room.

"Sweetie, is everything okay?" She asked me. Something happened to make her ask. Maybe the school called her about me leaving class...

"I'm alright, let's just go. I wanna do some stuff with you before you're gone." I said, trying to change the subject.

"Sweetie, the school called...I know you wanna do something, but being your mother is still my duty...I'm worried." She said.

"Don't worry 'bout me." I said. I was losing the valuable time I had left with her.

"Honey," She grabbed my hands. "We're in this together, we always have, always will be. Maybe soon your dad will be too." She said.

My dad serves in the military. He's a strong man. The reason I need to be strong is for him. He works overseas and I haven't seen him since I was four. He writes, and sometimes, he'll even call, but it's not the same.

"I was so worried about today, I couldn't do the test, so I ran to the bathroom. Mrs. Morris let me sit out the rest of the class..." I felt so guilty, I'm letting her down, and it's her last day here.

"It's okay, let's go to The Dingo, then we can go see a movie." She said. I hate most of the movies, but I want to spend time with my mom, so I'm willing to ignore the fact.

"Alright, let's go." I said, trying to ignore the fact that this would be the last time I spend time with her for a long while. I just gotta ignore it. 

She got up and we both walked out of the house and to the car. One of the last times I will be riding this car. Come on, don't think about that.

I got in the passenger side and I was trying to be extra close to my mom. I couldn't bear the thought of her leaving tomorrow morning. I have less than twenty-four hours with her.

We went to The Dingo together for the first time in forever. I usually go with the gang, or just Steve and Soda. Sometimes I'd just go with Soda. My mom has been too busy and I've been hanging with the gang.

"What can I get for ya'll?" A lady asked. She had glasses, and wore some pretty makeup. She looked kind of young, but also like she belonged to an office job, telling people what to do.

"I'll get a cheeseburger with some curly fries. I'll also take a Pepsi please." I said, then I looked at my mom, indicating that it was her turn to order.

"I'll take a cheeseburger with some onion rings. I'll also take a Pepsi." My mom said. The lady wrote down the order.

"I'll be back with your drinks soon." She said as she walked away. 

"Like mother, like daughter." I joked, holding in my tears. My mom didn't notice. She just laughed. I was silently hoping she was in her own misery so she would stay. I should phrase that differently.

"So, how's school going?" She asked. Very bad attempt and small talk, but let's go with it.

"Great." I lied. "I'm really improving." I don't want to leave off on a bad note. I didn't want to talk about school especially.

"That's wonderful, sweetie, I'm extremely proud of how far you've come, especially with all the changes you've had to go through." I was happy to hear that, but she was proud of something fake, because I've been doing horrible. I haven't improved much at all.

"You'll come back to Tulsa, right?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah, it just might be a while." She said. That assured me slightly. I nodded.

"Alright, just making sure." I had a saddened expression clear on my face.

"Hun, don't worry, we'll be together again, alright?" She asked.

"Okay." I wanted to cry, but I promised myself I wouldn't. I don't need to cry. I need to spend every minute with her before she leaves.

"So, you're gonna try hard, even when I'm not here. You'll never give up." Mom said seriously. I looked at her with determination and nodded.

"I love you, and no matter how far we are, that won't change. I will always try my best." I said, trying my hardest to smile. She nodded.

"I know you will." She said, smiling back at me.

The girl came back with our Pepsi's and placed the cups in front of us. I immediately took a sip of mine. I love Pepsi.

"Thank you." Both my mom and I said at the same time. The girl giggled at the impeccable timing.

"You're welcome, I'll be back with your food, shortly." She said, walking away again. I nodded, even though she wasn't looking at me.

We spent the rest of the time talking. Just talking. I was trying to distract myself from the fact that my mom was leaving soon.

Then, my mom and I went to the Drive-In. We went through the normal way rather than the hole in the fence because that's something I do with the gang. My mom wouldn't be happy about it because she would think we were cheating the Drive-In out of its money. I think they're fine.

There was some beach movie showing that had no plot whatsoever. It was kind of boring, but my mom can like any movie, she was enjoying it. I pretended to and I did my best to pay attention, despite that fact it was hard. It was too boring for me. The good thing is, I knew all the words because there weren't too many confusing ones. I hope we won't talk about the movie after, it's kind of bad.

The thing about movies, I'm not a fan of a lot of them. I like ones that have a plot, maybe they are sad, maybe they have adventure. It's hard for me to get into a movie. Especially beach movies. There is nothing special about them.

She laughed at something and I only just realized now that I zoned out a while ago, so I had no idea what was going on. I sighed, and leaned on my mom's shoulder. I was going to miss this.

We watched a few other beach movies after, all of them the same, no plot whatsoever. I couldn't stay focused on any of them, so I did my best to make conversation about the parts I did see, just so I could talk to my mom. 

I can't believe she's about to leave. I know I'm saying it a lot, but I'm really gonna miss her so much.

Published February 6th, 9:58 AM, EST

1126 Words