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

11

Are you ready for this chapter? I promise you you aren't.

"We really have to ask my parents. I don't want them worrying again that I got kidnapped, and I'm not supposed to be in cars," I reminded her.

"That's your fault, Hope. I tried to talk you out of it," she teased. I nodded.

"Yeah, I know. But it was worth it. If we hadn't have done it, we wouldn't have met Eli," I said.

"Yes, we would have," she argued. "You and I both kissed him at the party!" I cringed at the memory, and the thought that I was kissing the same guy that my cousin had.

"Oh, be quiet!" She exclaimed, reading my mind and playfully smacking my arm. We both laughed, and I took my house key out the unlock the door. Slowly, we made our way towards my parents room, but something seemed off.

"Lydia!" My dad shouted, angrily behind a closed door.

"What, Ponyboy?" She said back.

"We can't do this," he said.

"Why not? We have to, there's no choice anymore! I want this, Ponyboy!" Mom yelled, loud and tearfully.

"We can't, though. We're tight as it is, and we already have a kid that we need to take care of. Can you imagine having our children 16 years apart? Darry and I were only six years apart and we hated each other." My dad said, his voice lower, probably in hopes to calm down. It was the second time I'd caught their fighting, and it was all finally starting to come together.

Suddenly, I finally realized what this is all about. My mom must have wanted another baby and my dad thinks I'm too old for a sibling. Now she was trying to force, or guilt him or something into having another one. My eyes widened, hungry for more information.

"What's wrong with that? Faith and the twins are 8 years apart and they get along fine. Just because you were spoiled and didn't know what to do when your parents died doesn't mean the same thing's going to happen to my kids," my mom jabbed at him. Faith and I both gasped, eyes wide in shock. On top of the insensitivity of her comment, I couldn't help but notice her use of "my", like I'm not Ponyboy's kid, and maybe this baby wouldn't be either. I looked at my cousin.

"She wants another baby?" She asked. I shrugged, surprised that that was all she wanted to know. 

"I guess so. She's never mentioned it before."

"Lydia, we have a child that's already 16 years old!" My dad yelled. "Why should we start over now?" Loudly, my mom sighed. She sounded like she was crying again.

"Age doesn't matter, Ponyboy! Why shouldn't we start over? People have babies all the time and their oldest could be 25!" My mom exclaimed.

"Yeah, maybe when the mother was a slut that got pregnant at 16!" A loud, loud, angry yell. My cousin gasped from next to me, but I was too stunned to react. That was a little far, I though, just as my dad realized that he said.

"Shit," my dad said right after, but it was just barely a whisper. I wouldn't have heard it if my ear wasn't pressed against the door. My mom laughed through her tears. She'd always done that, and it was a skill that I had picked up from her years ago. Suddenly, the room was silent. Faith tried to mouth words to me, but I wasn't even paying attention.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. He knew how bad he'd hurt her. Hell, I could tell too. If I were to have a child at the age she had me, I'd probably be pretty self conscious too. And my child would be two. The maturity she must have had amazes me. I know I couldn't do it, even now.

"Lydia, we just can't do this. It's as simple as that," my father whispered, so softly I had to press my ear even harder against the door to hear.

"Why not?" She asked again, her voice wobbling. This seemed to be the most important thing in the world to her, and I just couldn't for the life of me figure out why.

"Because... I don't want another one. I didn't want one in the first place." My mom didn't respond, and it gave me a chance to figure out if I even wanted a sibling. I expected hear a "Fine!" Or maybe even "We have to!", but nothing came out of the room other than footsteps. Footsteps moving fast. My heart raced and I didn't even have time to react to the hurt of my dad's words before I heard someone leaving the room.

I quickly jumped out of the way, pulling Faith with me, in hopes to make it look like I was just passing through. It didn't matter, though, because as soon as my mom opened her bedroom door, she sprinted to the bathroom. She didn't close the door, but fell to her knees, her head dipped towards the toilet bowl.

"Mom?" I asked, quietly, watching her get sick. I was frozen, completely stunned, and I didn't know what to do. I half hoped my dad would come out and comfort her, because Faith and I sure didn't know how to. I knew he wouldn't, though, because after all of the yelling and screaming that had just gone on, my mom and dad wouldn't be talking for a while.

"I... I think I should get going. Come over when everything's okay if they say you can go," Faith said, so quietly only I could hear her. I was nervous to ask now, especially with mom in the position she is.

I watched as Faith started to walk away, but then grabbed her hand, in sudden need of someone. She spun around.

"Stay," I whispered. And she did. She came right back to my side, and didn't move. Which was good, because in the moment I realized that my parents were not in fact fighting about wanting another baby. They were fighting over the fact that whether they liked it or not, they were having another one. And as unprepared as they were when I was born, they're even more so now.

A/N: Dun, dun, dun! Things are about to go down. You don't know how much I wanted to post this earlier. This was the second chapter I wrote of this story and I couldn't be prouder of how it came out!! So, what do you think's going to happen?