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

23

"Eli!" I squealed. It had been three days since the dinner incident. The weekend passed and I didn't hear from him. He wasn't at school yesterday, and he didn't call. I was too nervous to call him, thinking maybe he was mad at me, or maybe this was too much and he couldn't talk to me. I was starting to get worried, but I didn't want to go to his house, in case he was mad at me. I figured he needed time, just like I did when I heard about Dallas. Which, I still hadn't told him about. Or Faith for that matter.

He looked at me from across the hallway with a small smile forming on his lips. I was so eager I ran to him, and he pulled me into his arms, both hands around my waist, for a kiss. I had noticed him as soon as I walked in the school, and ran to him immediately. The past three days of not hearing his voice at all had hurt my soul, and it felt amazing to be in his grasp once again.

When he put his arms around me, I felt a spark of electricity run through my body. He looked into my eyes, and I couldn't help but grin as I looked back into his dark, smiling eyes.

"Hey," he said. I couldn't express in words how relieved I felt. I hugged him a little tighter, letting the weight of the lies and secrets lift off my shoulder. The whole world was gone, left behind for a moment, like every time I was around him. We stood in a busy hallway, but I couldn't hear anything. He leaned against a locker, and I was facing him. My hair kept blowing from people passing by, but I couldn't feel a thing. Just the energy around the two of us.

"Hi," I responded. "I thought you were mad at me," I spoke softly. He didn't respond in words, he kissed me instead.

"I'll take that as a no," I joked, halfway ruining the moment.

"I was mad at everyone at first," he admitted. "My own parents lied to me. I didn't leave my room for a while after they told me everything. They didn't even ask me to come out, or tell me to go to school. I came for you. I missed you, Hope." My heart beat was fast and loud, echoing in my ears when he stopped talking, and I just hoped he couldn't hear it.

"How are you?" I asked. "After all of this," I wanted to add. I wanted to make sure he was handling it all okay, because God only knew how hard it must have been knowing that your parents had lied to you your whole life.

"I wish we had more time to talk," he said over the sound of the warning bell. We had two minutes to get to class. He looked like he had more to say.

"I can't be here," he said after a minute, more quietly. Something seemed wrong. I put my arms around him.

"Why don't we go somewhere?" I suggested.

"Skip?" He asked. I nodded, smiling. The first time it came up, I was scared. Now, I wanted to go.

"Do you want to?" I asked. He looked around, taking my hand.

"I just need to talk to you," he said. It sounded urgent. He needed to get it all off of his chest, have someone to talk to.

"I can't be here yet," he admitted. I nodded.

"So let's go."

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

We took Eli's car, even though I wasn't even supposed to be in one, still.

"Are you sure this is okay?" He asked. "I don't want to get you in any more trouble." I shrugged, trying to pay attention to the Duran Duran album playing in the background.

"I'm just gonna... drive," he said. "Is that okay?" I nodded, singing along with the music. Eli intertwined our fingers, and I looked over at him, one hand on the wheel, one on my lap with me. He seems focused on the road, so it probably wasn't the best time to talk. But I knew we were going somewhere specific, and I wanted to know where. He only shrugged when I asked, and about 20 minutes later, we pulled up to a cemetery. He got out of the car first, and then I did, and he came over and took my hand.

"I... I found a paper," he said. "It had the address of the cemetery, and where Johnny's grave is... and I decided I had to come... but I couldn't do it alone." He lead me to a small headstone reading "Jonathan Andrew Cade," with his birthdate above it and death date below. Nothing else was written, it felt boring and sad.

I looked around, and my eye caught the one next to it. The stone was bigger and it said "The toughest hood in all of Tulsa." Below it, "Dallas Tucker Winston" was etched, along with a birthdate, and a death date the same as Johnny's. I couldn't take my eyes off of it. The date, the thing about the tough hood, his name, everything. A cold wave of something washed over me, and I had to sit down. It was only then I noticed the tears streaming down my face.

"He was only 17," I said, pointing to Dallas. "We're 17." I said the second part much quieter. Eli sat down next to me, putting an arm around me.

"Dallas Winston," he said, putting me a little closer on the road to hysterics. He probably had no clue what was going on, but I noticed his face getting streaked with tears too. We sat together, looking at the headstones. I rested my head on his shoulder, and his laid on top of mine. We were together, and that was all that mattered. I decided it was finally time to be honest tell the boy I love the truth about me.

"Eli?" I spoke softly, my voice shaky as I pointed toward's Dally's gravestone.

"That was my father."

A/N: How's Eli going to respond to this one? Find out next time on the next installment of The Delinquent's Daughter!