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

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"We got a call from the school," my mother told me as soon as I walked into the house. Not even a hello, or an "I'm glad you're okay", "thank god you're back", or anything like that.

"Yeah?" I asked, trying to play it cool. "What'd they say?" My mother glared at me.

"They said you weren't in class, and I told them that couldn't be because I watched you walk out the door earlier to go to school. I rushed home from work and called your father to come home too. Then we got a call from your uncle. You left before he could take you home?" She asked. I nodded, feeling a little bit ashamed. I wished I had stayed with Eli. I loved being with him, and when we walked toward my front door, we could hear my parents arguing. I clung to him, asking him to come with me. He said no, I could do it. I asked if I could later. He said no, I needed to now. So I did. I wish I hadn't.

"You know, you worried him pretty bad. He was ready to go out and look for you, but we told him you'd come back when you were ready," my dad spoke. I nodded.

"I thought you ran away, Hope," my mom said, bursting into tears. I tried to remind myself that she was pregnant and this was the new normal, but just the thought of her, my own mother, crying hurt my heart. I felt tears well up in my eyes.

"I'm sorry, Mama," I said. She nodded.

"So am I." I felt sick to my stomach trying to figure out what it meant, why she was sorry too, and then my dad spoke again.

"Should we talk about your punishment now?" He asked. I knew why she was apologizing right then. She hated punishing me.

"What's the point?" I asked. "You know I'll just break it again." I'd already snuck out while I was grounded, so knowing me, if he told me I couldn't do something, I would still anyways.

"If you do, we'll have to think of something much more severe. Obviously grounding you isn't enough, so I've decided to try something else," he said. My stomach dropped. I was nervous.

"Please don't, Ponyboy," my mother cried. What was he going to do, hit me? I didn't think he could... I didn't think he would.

"Hope, I'm sorry, but you can't go to prom this year." My eyes widened.

"WHAT?!" I exclaimed, yelling louder than I ever had. My father glared at me.

"Please don't yell, Hope," he said. I frowned, biting my lip to keep it from quivering.

"But Dad!" I said. "Eli asked me today. Please don't take it away from me. Please?" A tear ran down my cheek, but I didn't wipe it. Maybe it was better to see me cry anyways. Maybe he'd feel bad. He looked at my mother.

"Ponyboy, you can't take this away from her. We went to prom together," my mom said. "We can think of something else. Anything. Prom's too important." He looked at her for a second.

"We had a two year old when we went to prom and she couldn't even handle being grounded for a week!" That was low, even for him. I tried to blink my tears away, but they just kept coming.

"You can't take this away from me, Dad. It's a once in a lifetime thing that you and I will both regret forever," I told him. My mom nodded in agreement.  She couldn't stop crying either.

"I'm sorry, Hope, my decision's final. Please go to your room," my dad said. I stood right there, staring angrily at him. My dad never used to be like this. He always used to be happy. I have memories of him from when I was really little. He used to read me stories, and push me on the swings. I used to sit in his lap for hours watching TV. We would play together at the playground and he would take me to work with him.

"You're the worst father in the world," I spoke, my voice sounding like venom.

"I wish Dallas was still alive. He never would have done this to me," I told him, sticking around to see his reaction. I didn't know if my words were true, but if he were as dangerous as he was made out to be, maybe he'd even be proud of me.

I had never seen my dad look the way he did. He looked like he'd been shot in the chest. My mother looked horrified. My dad sat down, putting his head in his hands. Mom put a hand on his shoulder and looked at me.

I didn't smile, I couldn't. I was proud of myself for getting to him, but I had never meant to hurt him. It's not like I'm heartless. I sighed, watching the scene unfold in front of me.

"Room. Now." So I ran to my bedroom and slammed the door. I listened to my parents quiet talk for a little while, and when it turned into yelling and fighting, I couldn't take it anymore. I grabbed a pair of clothes for tomorrow and climbed out my window towards Faith's house. I knocked quietly on her window so I wouldn't get caught.

"Hope?" She exclaimed. "What are you doing here? And why weren't you at school earlier? I waited for Eli and you at the end of the day, but neither of you showed up. I was worried," she told me. I frowned, feeling bad that I forgot  about her. I explained to her how we had skipped and went to Johnny's grave. And I figured now was a good a time as any to tell her about Dally.

"And at that grave, we saw another guy, right next to him. Dallas Winston," I explained. She looked down.

"Do you ever wonder... if maybe he were still alive, would he be Uncle Dally for us?" I shook my head.

"Maybe for you, but for me.... He would be dad."

A/N: This was going to be up last night but I had a weird allergic reaction to tomatoes while I was writing it and I kinda got sidetracked when my lip started swelling. So, that was fun... I'm okay, by the way. I even went go a friends house after😂