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

18

Hello my lovely lovely readers! I've missed you.

"We're not going to lose you this time, Faith," I had promised earlier. Even if it were the last thing I ever did, I was going to make sure it was true. I could only imagine how devastated her father, my Uncle Sodapop would be. Or how confused her siblings, my adorable little cousins would be with her gone. And Emily? She'd never be able to get over it. She was only 18 years old when a little tiny Faith walked into her life. They may not get along the greatest, but for a long, long time, Faith was her little girl, her baby.

She would have a lasting legacy on our school, whether or not she stayed, I just knew it. She was so popular, everyone loved her. Especially the boys.

Even Eli instantly became friends with her, and we've formed our own little gang.

"Why don't you just tell her you don't want to live with her?" Eli suggested one afternoon.

"Have you seen my mother?" She exclaimed. "She's insane! If I told her she'd probably laugh and say my room's already ready!" And that's how we figured out how terrified she really was of this lady. This harmless crazy woman who left her on a doorstep and probably scarred her for life by leaving her in a group of total strangers. No wonder her anxiety was so bad...

"Do you remember living with your mom?" I asked all of a sudden. Right after I realized that. She shook her head. I knew what she remembered, I had asked before.

"I remember her saying goodbye, and I remember the look in her eye and thinking 'something's wrong', but I was so young I figured I was just going to a babysitter's." She spoke slowly, regretfully. "I just don't want to go back to someone like that." I didn't respond, but Eli nodded.

"A mother isn't someone who deserts you and then comes back 13 years later like nothing happened," he said. Faith and I nodded in agreement, and I was suddenly very thankful for my mother.

"So... one week until I'm done being grounded," I said, changing the subject. Eli looked up, putting an arm around me.

"So we finally get a second date?" He asked, sounding excited. I nodded, kissing him. I snaked my arm around his waist, and he put a hand on it. We'd become so close in the past few weeks that I had totally forgotten about the fact that we've only gone on one date. I was thankful that I was still going to be ungrounded, with all of the sneaking around I'd been doing lately. Luckily, I hadn't been caught yet, since my parents work late enough.

I stayed that day at Faith's house all afternoon, though. When the knock came to the door at 6:30, I knew it was my parents. But Eli and Faith wouldn't let me hide.

"So this's where you've been running off to every afternoon," my mom commented. I blinked. She knew? This whole time she had known that I wasn't doing as told? She laughed.

"We're not mad, honey." I was surprised. "Why don't you come home now?" She suggested. I nodded, grabbing my stuff, but something seemed wrong.

"See you guys tomorrow," I said to Faith and Elliot. I hugged Faith and gave my boyfriend a quick kiss before following my parents.

"Dinner's ready," my dad said once we got in. I dropped my stuff and went to wash up.

"Is everything okay?" I asked when I sat down. My parents nodded, putting a plate in front of me.

"I was just thinking... We should really think of a name for the baby soon," my mom said. I looked at her stomach, which had just started getting round recently. I smiled, excited.

"What kind of names are we looking for?" I asked. My mom looked at my dad, smiling. She took his hand.

"And so it starts again, the Great Name Debate," my mom said, laughing. I had no idea what that meant.

"Again?" I asked. She nodded.

"Back when you were little and Emily was pregnant with Nora and Johnny, she and Soda asked us for one boy name for each gender, so your dad and I did a name debate. We keep saying each name that comes to our mind until we like one. We did it for hours," she explained. My eyes widened.

"Hours?" I wondered aloud. They both nodded, and really hoped it wouldn't last that long.

"Ready?" My mom asked, smiling excitedly. I hadn't seen her this happy in a while.

"Go!" She exclaimed. Then, a range of girl names were shouted out.

"Jane!" My mom.

"Claire!" Dad.

"Elise." Me, even though I didn't like it very much.

"Julie." My dad.

"Anna." Mom.

"Jennifer?" I suggested. This was one that I really did like.

"Jennifer," my dad agreed. My mom scowled.

"I'm not naming my daughter Jennifer," she said. I raised an eyebrow.

"Is there something wrong with the name?" I asked, just as my dad told her for what seemed like the millionth time that she needed to "get over it already." She looked angry, but I sat there lost, and too nervous to say anything.

"Jennifer was the girl he took to the dance, Ponyboy. It would be..." Her voice trailed off.

"It was almost 20 years ago, Lydia," he argued. "And we went to that dance. Together." Mom rolled her eyes, going on to the next name. 

"What about Delia? Like Del... Or Delilah," she said. "I'd like something like that better." I nodded. I liked Delia. My dad glared at her.

"Why not just name it Dallas if it's a boy?" He suggested sarcastically. Really, I didn't see any problem with that, other than the fact that that's Johnny's middle name.

"Why don't we?" My mom asked, sounding happy and innocent. My dad stood up.

"I'll be in my room," he said. And just like that, the second Great Name Debate ended.

"I guess what they say about babies saving a marriage isn't really true..." My mom muttered, before dropping her fork and walking away too.

That chapter was really sad, but who else thinks Eli and Hope are goals?
Anyways, I'm so happy to finally be updating again, I've missed this story! Between school (4 more weeks!!), seeing Dan and Phil on a few weeks ago (BEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE), and SEMSBA Festival & practices the past few weeks, I haven't had time to write at all. I also had a really really fun school concert last night and I got to wear a gorgeous prom dress... :)
What do you guys think is happening next? I have all these ideas and I don't know where or when to add them in...