The Outsiders: A New Place

Chapter 17

it was the day i was finally getting out of the hospital, and i couldn't be happier. i hated being in this small, cramped room infested with sickness. even though when i did return back to the curtis house, i would be bedridden for a month but i really didn't mind, at least i would be with my new family everyday and i would be in a familiar place.

i was with pony, soda, and darry when they checked me out of the hospital, and the nurses insisted that they take me out to darry's car in a wheelchair.

"i can walk, i really dont need it." i protested.

"well, you aren't supposed to walk unless you have to, so we will wheel you out." i sighed in frustration and rested my head on my hand. i still had a pretty big headache that never seemed to go away, and the wheelchair almost made it worse.

"how's it feel to be a cripple?" soda said, hitting my arm playfully.

"shut your trap curtis, before you end up in one of these too." i replied, laughing.

soda smiled at me and held his hands up in defense while darry helped me into the car. i sat in the backseat with pony while soda and darry stayed in the front. as we were driving away, pony turned to me and whispered "happy you're finally coming home."

i smiled and felt my cheeks turn red and whispered back "im happy to be home." a few minutes later, we pulled up to the curtis house, and it was a nice sight to see since i had been in that stuffy room for a week. when i got out of the car, i took a deep breath of the warm, fresh air. i started walking when soda scooped me up and held me in the cradle position.

"soda, i can walk on my own." i said giggling.

"i know you probably can, im just following darry and pony's orders."

i rolled my eyes as we walked in and i was laid down in ponyboy's bed, and darry and pony walked in after me and soda. i got comfy under his covers as i was reminded about what i can and cant do.

"no reading, no running around or doing anything strenuous, and no listening to loud noises, even though i dont know how you would even hear loud noises." darry explained. i nodded my head as the boys all left. i sat there for a good thirty seconds in silence, then got bored.

"what can i do with this concussion? this is so boring!" i wondered out loud.

i tried taking a nap and eventually did fall asleep, but not for very long. i sighed in frustration and desperation and thought about what i could do. i remembered i haven't stretched in a while, i couldn't even remember the last time i stretched. i laid on the bed and slid into the splits, scrunching my face in slight pain as i went down. it hurt at first, but i eventually got used to it and ended up falling asleep in the splits.

i woke up to find the gang in my room staring and laughing at me, and at first i didn't understand why. i looked down and saw i was still in the splits and i heard two bit say "you comfy there princess?" i came out of the splits and darry approached the side of the bed.

"i told you not to do anything active!"

"i wasn't, i took a nap. and besides, it gets boring in here, i got nothing else to do." i shrugged and laid back down. the gang looked at each other and headed out, with pony staying.

"so i heard you were bored?" he said, smirking.

"yeah, cant do much except nap and talk." i replied.

pony came and sat on the bed next to me, slowly reaching his hand over to mine. i saw what he was doing and how he was hesitating about it and before thinking, i grabbed his hand. i felt his eyes look over at me, but i kept looking at our now intertwined hands.

"so, school will be starting up again next month, would you want to go to school? you'd be with me."

"depends, how are the other people in your school that i don't know about?"

"it's infested with grease-hating socs, and not too many greasers. luckily im one of the smarter ones, and put into the smarter classes. saves me from some extra bullyin' from the socs." pony explained.

"back at my old school, i was one of the smarter ones too. we didn't really have a distinguished line between the poor and the rich like you guys do, its pretty much just middle class and third class all fading into each other. being athletic and a cheerleader helped put me higher on the social scale though."

"must have been nice not having to deal with socs everyday, i wish we were middle class." pony said, sighing.

"yeah, the middle class has it all. they aren't rich and mean like those asshole socs, but they do have money so they aren't classified as greasers." i looked down to see our fingers still intertwined.

"you would probably be ok at my school though. you're athletic, you don't really look like a greaser, and if anyone does give you trouble you can hold your own." pony said smiling.

"thanks pony, ill think about it." the room went silent for a couple moments after that, then a crash was heard from downstairs. me and pony looked at each other and pony bolted out the door. i wish i could go with him and see what it was all about, but if darry saw me out of this bed he would flip.

pony came upstairs soon after and said "it was just steve, he accidentally dropped a chocolate cake pan."

"of course he did." we both laughed and pony came back to the bed. we sat in silence until i thought of a subject that has been on my mind ever since i met pony.

"im sorry if this is a touchy subject, but what were your parents like? what happened to them?"

"they died in an auto wreck. my dad looked just like darry, only without those harsh, icy eyes. my mom looked just like a girl version of soda, with lively eyes, just like soda's."

he paused, then continued. "they were really amazing, they never meant to hurt anyone on purpose. you would have loved them, they would have loved you."

i looked and saw that his eyes were shiny with tears and i said "pony, this is a sensitive topic for you. dont say anymore, ok? they did sound like amazing people."

he lifted his head up and looked at me with his light green eyes and smiled. "what did i do to deserve someone as amazing as you?"

"i should be asking you the same thing." i laid my head on his shoulder and eventually dozed off.

Ponyboy's POV

she laid her head on my shoulder and we just stayed that way in silence for a while. later, i heard her breathing go slowly up and down and i knew she was asleep. i smiled to myself and laid my head on her head. really, what did i do deserve someone as amazing as her? her personality was just amazing, she put others before herself, she was tuff and tough, she was strong emotionally and physically, and she was just gorgeous. ash is everything i could ever want in a girl. before i knew it, i was slowly falling asleep too with my head rested on hers.

hey guys! i hope you all had a merry christmas and i didn't update because i was spending some time with my family. dont forget to vote, comment, and follow, and thanks for reading!