The Outsider War: Kat and Mack's Return

Chapter Fifteen

MACK

        It may had seemed like I was being a little over dramatic, but cut me some slack. I loved my parents and I thought they would never lie to me. Knowing that I still had some other family out there killed me, and I couldn't handle it. I used to believe the story about our little brother that got killed in a car wreck, and I used to believe the fact that our parents really were our birth parents, and I used to believe that Kat and I were full sisters. Every thing had been a big lie, and if there was one thing that I truly hated, it was lying.

        So, yes, I went out to the car and cried. I sat in the seat and sobbed to my little heart's content. I murmured things to my self like "Lies, all lies" and "How could this happen". I had only been in the car for a few seconds before Kat came running after me. To be honest, I didn't want her company; not at all. I wanted to truly be alone, to be by myself for once. Kat had always came to check up on me, so I never had any time alone to cry or sob like a normal teenager. When she came up to the car, I stopped crying and began to get angry. "What do you want?" "I just wanted to talk," Kat replied. "Kat," I cried. "All we ever do is talk. We don't ever do anything to fix our problems, we just suck it up and deal with it. Well, I'm done with that! I don't need to talk, I need to solve this!" "And how do you suppose we do that?!" Kat replied. I paused for a moment. I really wanted to say that I wanted to find our real parents, figure out who the three men were that were our dads, and which woman was our mom. I wanted to tell her that we could set out on an adventure to find them all. I wanted to tell her that I knew we could do it because we were The McHolden sisters after all. But then again, were we? 

        I decided not to say that after all, though, because I knew what her response would be. "No, Mack, we can't. Aren't you happy where you are?" she would say. I said this instead, "We can't." Kat looked down for a few paused moments. "Can I be alone?" I asked. Kat nodded and started to walk down the road to home. I guess she was going to leave the car for me to drive. So, here I was; alone and with no solution. 

        It hadn't been very long before Ponyboy came out. He got in the passenger seat beside me and looked over at me. "I don't want to talk," I immediately said. "Don't worry," he said. "I don't plan on making you talk. Just listen." I let him wrap his arms around me and I put my head on his shoulder as he began to speak. "Mack, I understand ya know," he said softly. "You feel lied to, embarrassed, curious even about who your real parents are. You feel like Kat's not gonna understand because she's fine with it. You don't have anything against Two-Bit being your brother, but you feel afraid that when you go back to talk to your parents about it, that you will have to face the fact that they DID lie to you." I nodded as a soft tear rolled down my face. "Don't worry," he repeated. "I'm here." I had a realization at that moment. Here I was, crying about the fact that my parents lied to me and Kat, and the fact that my sister didn't understand. But, I really should have been happy. Happy that I had a new brother, a boy that I really did love here to comfort me and understand, and parents that actually took me in and adopted me when no one else would. What was wrong with me?

        "Oh Pony," I sobbed. "I'm so selfish. I'm looking at all the negative when there is so much positive to be happy about." He looked at me and smiled. It just stared for a few moments and leaned in close. "I do love you," he said. I finally decided at that moment, I was done trying to be a Soc, something I wasn't. I loved Pony and I wasn't going to hold myself back anymore. "I love you too," I replied. We leaned in for a kiss, but before our lips could even touch, Soda ran out. "Hey you guys, where's Mack?" "She left to walk home," I replied. "This late at night?!" he yelled. He sighed, "What direction did she go in?" I pointed to the left where she went. "Mack, that's the West side of town! She doesn't know where she's going!" "Come on," he said, jumping into the driver's seat, pushing me and Pony over. Two-Bit was following right behind him and jumping in the back seat. "We gotta go before something bad happens to her." "Like what?" I asked, afraid of the answer. Sodapop just looked and me and said, "Bad things, Mack. Things even Dallas wouldn't do." Uh-oh. This wasn't good.