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

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Faith let me tell my story. She listened carefully, trying to soak up everything. I told her that we were still cousins. We were still sisters and best friends no matter what. She agreed, but then she realized what seeing his grave meant. That Eli was there. And he had found out before her.

She was hurt, and she didn't talk to me for the rest of the night. Not wanting to get caught by her parents the next morning, I was out of her house the next morning before she even woke up. I walked to school, waiting by Eli's locker. Alexandra Valence approached me before he did.

"So I hear we're going to be cousins," she said, smiling strangely at me.

"Are we?" I responded. I had never thought of it that way. She nodded.

"My dad... If that's even what I should call him, is marrying Faith's mom. That kind of makes us related," she said. I rolled my eyes at that logic. It wouldn't even make her and Faith related, and I knew my cousin would never want someone like Alex as her step-sister.

"That's too bad," I said, because I really didn't want her to be my family. She looked at me for a second.

"I always used to be jealous of you," Alex told me. "You had a father, one that loved and cared about you, and a mother, and apparently another father somewhere around. And I'm sure he cared about you too, Dallas, in some way. Or at least would have. My mom said he would have loved you. But she doesn't even love me, so how would she know what that feeling is?" She asked. I stared for a second, taken by surprise by her words.

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

"Of course you are. But you're so selfish that you don't even know what you have with your parents. You're lucky to have two that care about you so much," she said. I was confused. I knew that she lived with her single mother, but she always seemed so happy... She always seemed so mad at me. Always wanting to rub in the slightest bad thing. Always wanting to rub in Dallas.

"You bullied me for so long, Alex, I don't know how I didn't realize it was out of jealousy. I always thought you just didn't like me," I told her.

"Not completely jealousy," she said, a small smile appearing on her face. "And... I didn't mean to call you selfish." I didn't totally understand what that meant. Or why she was doing this, really.

"So why this sudden change of heart?" I asked. She shrugged.

"You just looked like you could use a friend today." I debated this, and finally decided to be friendly. If she had noticed that, maybe she wasn't so bad. But maybe there was also the chance that this was a trap.

"How did you know?" I asked. She smiled.

"You usually have Faith or Eli with you. Today you're all alone. And you look pretty depressed too."

"Oh," I said. I hadn't realized that I looked depressed.

"So what's going on?" She asked me. I stared at her. So suddenly we were all buddy buddy? I wasn't buying it, something was off.

"Our little drag race a few months ago ruined my life," I told her, emphasizing how bad it really was.

"I'm sorry about that," she said. "A drag race was pretty childish, I guess. Especially since I don't have my license." She laughed, and I stared at her. She was a Freshman, of course she didn't! How did she even get ahold of a car at her age?

"I lost everything because of it," I told her. She laughed.

"Because of that, or just because you're dumb?" I looked at her, appalled.

"I..." she looked genuine, so I finished the sentence the way it should have been. "I made some dumb choices, yes, but that was the start of it all." She nodded.

"I'm sorry... If you really think it was my fault, I'm sorry I got you into it," she said. I smiled at her, sending her a silent thank you.

"So..." She said after a moment. "Do you... want to maybe hang out after school?" Her question took me by surprise. Even after "making up" after all this time, I wasn't sure what her sudden interest in me was.

"Uh, what would we do?" I asked, trying not to be rude. She shrugged.

"We could go to the mall," she suggested. I nodded.

"I guess so. Where should we meet?" I asked her. She smiled at me, and looked genuinely happy, to my surprise. I wasn't nearly as excited, but any excuse to get out of the house was a great one.

"Over here is okay," she said. "Now, I gotta get to class. She you later?" She asked. I nodded, just as Faith walked over to me. I smiled at her.

"Hey," I said. She looked at me, but said nothing. I gave her a weird look.

"Everything okay?" I asked. She didn't say anything. I sighed.

"Okay, well..." Suddenly Eli's arm was around my shoulder. He kissed my cheek and greeted Faith and I good morning. Faith scoffed, then walked away.

"What's up with her?" Eli asked. I shrugged, I didn't really want to talk about it. Especially since it might get Eli upset too.

"I slept over last night, and she got mad about something I said," I explained simply.

"What'd you say?" He asked me. I shook my head.

"It doesn't matter. I gotta get to class." I started to walk away, but he followed me.

"Am I waking you home after school?" He asked.

"No, I have plans." He didn't ask what they were, surprisingly, but he did say something to annoy me just as much.

"Hope, you're still grounded. Don't do anything to get yourself in more trouble." I sighed, tired of it. I didn't need to hear it from everyone.

"Yeah, thanks, Eli," I said. And then I walked away.

A/N: Heyyy, it's been a month! How are you? I go to school and then work and then sleep and have been way too tired to update, so this chapter sucks. I've been working on and off with it for a few weeks now and it hasn't even been edited yet. Why do you guys not hate me?
Also, what do you think about Hope and Alex? What are your thoughts on her change of heart? Faith being mad at Hope? Tell me everything you're thinking.