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

31

I told Alex about my plan later that day, and she immediately decided that she couldn't go alone. She said she would run home to get us some clothes, and then we could get going. I said no, it was now or never. That was when Eli approached. I hugged him and said goodbye, and he told me he was worried about me. He demanded me to tell him what was going on. So I did.

"I'm running away, Eli. Between our fight, Faith not talking to me and my parents fighting, I just can't take things here anymore."  He asked no questions.

"I'm coming with you." Immediately, I shook my head.

"Eli, you can't." But he wouldn't take no for an answer.

"I'm coming," he told me, and that was the end of his deciding. 

"Coming where?" Faith asked, coming up behind me. I looked over, surprised to see her associating with me. We hadn't said more than a few words to each other in the past few days, and I couldn't remember the last time we had gone this long without talking. It might have even been before I knew her. 

"Nowhere," I told her immediately. She would just tell her parents if she found out, and say she was trying to protect me. But right now, I didn't want protecting. I wanted to get away. 

"Where are you going?" She repeated herself. Her happy, wispy tone was still there, but I couldn't tell if she was sad or annoyed that I wouldn't tell her. 

"Faith, let it go," I said. I thought that since things were already awkward, it couldn't get any worse, but maybe I was being a little rude.

"You're going somewhere with Alex and Eli and you're not even going to tell me where? You tell me everything, Hope. What's going on?" She asked. I sighed, then shrugged.

"I'm leaving, Faith. I'm leaving tonight I'm not sure if I'm going to come back or not," I said to her. She gave me a sideways look.

"You're...?" She stared. I realized immediately what she was asking, and shook my head. 

"No!" I said. I then lowered my voice, "no, I'm running away, and they're going too." She took a half second to breathe before responding.

"So am I." And it was settled, I was running away with two of the people I was trying to get away from, and my ex-bully. 

We decided to go to the train station that night, because if we had taken Eli or Faith's car, someone would have noticed too fast and we would have been caught. I couldn't go home to my house for clothes, but when we got to Faith's, there was a pile on her desk for me. I wondered how long my family expected me to be away, but said nothing as I shoved it all in a borrowed tote bag from my cousin. She chose a few outfits for her, then snuck out before her parents could see, and went to Alex's house for the same thing. It didn't take long, and we grabbed the outfits she had bought me, plus a few other things that she didn't show me. 

We went to Eli's next walking to and from each place, and he almost had a hard time leaving. He packed his bag and we walked out together, but he stopped in front of his house. His parents weren't home, and you could tell he didn't want to leave. I put my arm around him.

"You don't have to go," I told him.

"Yes I do."

"Not if you don't want to."

"I'm not leaving you alone."

"I'll have the girls."

"I'll miss you too much."

"You'll miss home too." He seemed happier in his home, no matter how his parents did or didn't treat him, than I ever had. Maybe because he had always, always lived here. Maybe they had made it feel like home. Not that my parents hadn't, but it had just been different lately. I spent a moment thinking about them. Would they miss me? Probably. Did I care? Maybe it would bring them closer together. . . Not that that was the reason I was doing this. Well, not that alone at least. 

Eli took a deep breath, and I could feel him thinking about his response. "I just stared feeling connected to this home. I had just started finding the pictures of Johnny, they're all buried in the attic. I've just stared learning about him, and it's not like I'm giving up on this for good, it's just disappointing to know I'm not going to be able to for a while," he told me. He draped his arm around me. 

"I'll be fine," he said a second lately. I didn't ask if it was true, because I was almost sure it wasn't. The four of us barely talked on the way to the train station, but I did ask if anyone brought money. They all said no, they hadn't even thought of it. 

"I brought... maybe enough for a few days of food. But not nearly enough for four train tickets." I sighed, a new plan forming in my mind. We were going to have to sneak on to a train.

"Where do we even want to go?" I asked them. We had anywhere in the country, really, if we could pull it off.

"California," Alex said immediately. Eli shrugged. "Close to home," Faith said. As upset as Eli had seemed, Faith was going to have the most trouble with this. She was my little goody-two-shoes who told her father everything. He was her best friend other than me, and she tried her hardest to be the best role model she could be for her siblings. She would miss the two of them more than anything. 

"Let's just... go in and see what happens," I decided. It wasn't hard to get into a train station, they didn't have much security. Getting on wasn't the worst thing in the world either, but staying on was going to be a struggle. Sitting next to Eli, with Faith on my other side and Alex next to her, we made our plans. We were leaving Tulsa, and we weren't going to look back.

A/N: Oh my gosh, that was so bad. But I don't even remember the last time I wrote something, so I guess it's something. I'm so sorry I haven't updated in a while, I guess life's just been getting in the way... This last week has probably been the most stressful one of my entire life. I'm not sure when the next time I'm going to get to update is, but I have a four day weekend coming up, so I'll try to then, but otherwise, Happy Thanksgiving. I guess I'll see you guys in the next update. I love you all and thank you for sticking with me! -Katy