The Delinquent's Daughter {An Outsiders Fanfiction - Sequel to Hope}

10

"You coming home with me?" Faith asked as we walked out of school. I nodded.

"Got nothing better to do. We not going to my place?" I asked. She smiled.

"Well, I have plans at five, so we'll go to my house, and you'll have to go then, but until then you'll be fine," she said. Usually, when she comes over, she stays well after dinnertime, until my parents tell her she has to go home.

"Plans with who?" I asked, being nosy. I was allowed to do that, and usually she would give me a response. She didn't this time, just lead me to her car. It's only a few minute drive, so I didn't feel too bad getting in with her, and after one Billy Joel song, we were there. Faith got out of the car and I followed her, waiting as she unlocked the door.

"I'm gonna go make some snacks. Wanna go into my room and put our stuff down?" She asked, handing me her backpack. She went into the kitchen and I walked down the long hallway into her room. A note written on a sticky-note from Emily, her stepmom, was on her door. I took it and yelled to Faith.

"What's it say?" She asked. I read it to her.

"Faith,
Your mom called. She asked if you could reschedule to 4:00 instead of 5. I told her that's fine, but I won't be able to take you, since I have to get Nora and Johnny at 3:30. Your dad will be at work too, if you need anything. Call the DX, or home.

~Emily."

When she heard the word "mom", Faith came running in.

"No," she whispered. I looked up at her, not focusing on the note anymore.

"You okay?" I asked. But I knew without stopping to look at her that she wasn't. She shook her head, and thinking about the note, I couldn't help but feel the least bit hurt that she sees her mom, but never told me.  I didn't know this woman was in the picture, let alone sees her daughter at all.

"What's wrong?" I had to ask her when she didn't explain.

"Emily always goes with me," she said, although I was unsure of the problem.

"So?" I asked.

"So, I hate her," She responded. I raised an eyebrow.

"How can you hate her own mother? And since when do you even see her?" I asked.

"It's a long story, Hope. But it's not important now. Just... be thankful that you have both parents in your life," she said. I sighed, hurt, but I knew she wouldn't understand why.

"Well, if you have to go then, I better get going too," I said, starting to walk away. It wasn't a jab at me, it probably wasn't even meant to be hurtful, but it still was.

"Hope, wait," she said. I turned around.

"I want you to go with me," she told me, her voice breaking. I remember looking her in the eye, and it was almost physically painful looking at how scared she was for a reason that wasn't even disclosed to me. She was crying. Faith never cried.

"Fine," I responded. She gave me a small smile, wiping her eyes.

"I don't get what the big deal is, Faith," I told her, in the most calm voice I could muster. Not that I wasn't calm already, but I didn't want to make her more upset.

"I told you. I hate my mom. She abandoned me, Hope. I was only four years old and my own mother left me on a doorstep," she tells me. "It's always been different for you." And even though she didn't know about Dally, she mumbled it, probably in hopes I wouldn't hear, because she knew the jealously would hurt me.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, going to hug my cousin. She turned away.

"Here's the thing, Hope," I watched as tears streamed down her cheeks and fought the urge to wipe them away, knowing that she wouldn't have liked that. "My mom abandoned me when I was a little girl. So young I was completely helpless. You know that. For the first three or four whole years of my life, my mother was my entire world. She was all I had, and in a flash she was gone. Leaving me at my dad's, who I'd never even met before!"

I had to fight the urge to say something like 'At least it was the right house.'

"I had never met my dad at that point, Hope. And suddenly, he was just... there and my mom wasn't," she continued, sobbing.

"So what happened?" It was the wrong question to ask, it was selfish, but this story, the one where her mom left her on the doorstep had always fascinated me. I just didn't know how a parent could ever be so heartless. I'd heard it from my Uncle Sodapop, who always told us about how as soon as he saw Faith, he knew it was his little girl. How he picked her up and hugged her and cried like he never had before because he'd finally found his baby, the one that'd been taken away from him as soon as he found out about her. I'd heard it from my dad, who always told me about the face Soda made when he saw her for the first time, knowing exactly who she was and how she ran up to him and said "Daddy!" like they'd known each other forever and she'd been seeing him for the first time in a week after a business trip. Hell, I'd been there myself, and I know exactly what happened, but I never miss a chance to hear it from someone else.

"You know what happened, Hope," she said, but still told me. "My mom gave me a hug and said to "tell Daddy it's okay." And somehow, as soon as he opened the door, even though my mom was gone, I knew exactly who my dad was. And I hugged him like he'd been gone and I just missed him, but it was the first time I'd ever seen him, and it was weird. No one was there with me. And I stayed with him forever. I... I never told you that I've seen my mother since then, I guess. The first time was on my tenth birthday," she told me. Her 10th birthday, also known as Christmas Day, and the first time in six years that she hasn't spent Christmas with us. She told me she was sick with the flu, and Uncle Soda and Emily had never said otherwise.

"I... I thought you were sick that year," I said.

"I was. When I told you that, it wasn't a lie. Dad and Emily told me we'd be spending Christmas here with a 'special guest', and I got sick after I saw her. It was such a shock, seeing someone I hadn't in six years, and really never thought I'd ever see again. I just... couldn't handle it at first. I spent a little while with her, and was in bed for the next week," she said, blushing and laughing from embarrassment. It made me feel a bit better that she wasn't crying anymore.

"And Hope? I want you to know why I always kept this a secret. I hadn't seen this lady in forever, and honestly, I didn't really want to. I was embarrassed of her, and angry with her as well as myself, and I just never wanted to see her again. When she came back, I didn't know how to handle it. She just... gave me up, and now she wants me back in her life. I don't think it's right. Or fair," she told me. Looking into her eyes, I think I finally knew what she was saying.

"I'll go with you," I said, through all the nervous energy around me.

A/N: Boom. This chapter was actually the first one I wrote, the way I figured this story out. I'm obsessed with it, so I hope you are too!