Wishes Can Come True

Fight Song

Erin woke up the next morning and found Ponyboy and Johnny at the front of the church. "Golly, that sure is pretty, huh?" Johnny said looking at the sunrise.

"Yep," Erin said from behind. The boys jumped at the sound of her voice. Erin chuckled. "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you."

"It's fine," Johnny said before turning back around. "Too bad it can't stay like that all the time."

"Yeah. Nothing gold can stay." Erin knew what was coming next. The poem. A poem that she knew by heart. People have asked her why she knows the poem. She tells them it's because she wants to. What she doesn't say is that it's because of The Outsiders. Her obsession.

As Ponyboy recited the poem, Erin listened word for word. She was even more mesmerized by it in person. Ponyboy's voice was so calming to her, especially when he was reciting one of her favorite poems.

Erin smiled when he was done while Johnny was fascinated about how he knows that. He only shrugged and told him who wrote it.

Everything that they were talking about remained Erin of the song "Stay Gold" by Stevie Wonder. She was tempted to hum the song, but she knew the boys would ask and probably want her to sing. And she didn't really want to sing in front of these boys. Especially since they say she sings like an angel.

After a while they ended up going back inside and read Gone With the Wind. Erin has never read it before so she enjoys it. She hasn't even seen the movie so she's pretty fascinated by it.

Erin kept her book in her hands. She would occasionally open it and see what new things it says. Other than that she wasn't too concerned about it. She just didn't want the boys reading it. She didn't want to have to explain anything because she knew they probably wouldn't believe her. They would probably make her leave the church and not want to talk to her because she's crazy.

Stop it, Erin! They wouldn't go that far! She tried to tell herself. Nothing was calming her. She didn't need to worry. They wouldn't find out. That's what she was telling herself now. They won't find out. It seemed to help more. So she kept repeating it over and over again in her head.

"Erin." She felt someone nudge her shoulder, breaking her from her thoughts. "Erin." They repeated. It was Johnny.

"Yeah?"

"I was going to ask you if you wanted to read or do something else. Pony wants to play poker, so we could do that if you'd like. Are you all right?"

"O-oh. Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, I was lost in thought. Um...I don't really know how to play...I'll probably just read," She said, gesturing to her book in her hands.

Johnny nodded. "All right. If change your mind and want to play you can. We don't mind teaching you. I can't believe you don't know how to play."

"Yeah. Thanks Johnny. I might join in a minute. I don't know." With that he walked off, leaving Erin with her book. She flipped it open to the newest page. It just had what Erin and Johnny just said in it. When she flipped to the next page her name wasn't there. She found it kind of funny how she can be there one minute and gone the next.

After a while Erin did go and play cards. She hasn't really read the book yet. She doesn't want to just yet. Anyway, Ponyboy and Johnny showed her how to play. They were beating on cigarettes so Erin didn't really care that she was loosing. She ended up giving hers to Johnny since Ponyboy had won. She knew he would get sick soon and she didn't want him to have too many. But she didn't want Johnny to to get sick either.

"You need to try one," Pony said, gesturing to the cigarette in his hand.

"Nah. I don't want to. You know that's bad for you."

Ponyboy only shrugged. "It's calming too."

"You'll get sick smoking so much."

He shrugged again. "I'll be all right. I smoke lots anyways. Probably too much though."

"You're right about that," She said and snatched the cigarette out of his hand. She then ran away before he grad it back. Ponyboy just shook his head and grabbed another one, knowing it was no use to go after her.

"Hey, Angel," Johnny stopped her. "Why don't you sing us a song." He suggested.

Erin stopped and thought about it. "I don't know." She really didn't like singing in front of people. She got stage fright real easily. "I'm not a big fan of singing for people."

"Pleeeeeasseee!" He drug out the word. "You'll sounds great. There's nothing to be afraid of. It's just us. If other people could hear ya they'd tell ya you sound great." Johnny was practically begging now. He wanted to hear her beautiful voice again.

Erin sighed in defeat. "Fine." A part of her wanted to sing but the other part didn't want to. She wanted to sing because it makes her happy, but singing in front of people scared her to death.

Johnny and Ponyboy both sat down with smiles on their faces. Erin racked her brain for a song to sing. Finally one popped in her head.

"Like a small boat on the ocean
Sending big waves into motion
Like how a single word can make a heart open
I might only have one match, but I can make an explosion

And all those things I didn't say
Recking balls inside my brain
I will scream them loud tonight
Can you hear my voice this time?

This is my fight song
Take back my life song
Prove I'm all right song
My powers turned on
Starting right now I'll be strong
I'll play my fight song
And I don't really care if nobody else believes
'Cause I've still got a lot of fight left in me"

She sung the rest of the song to the boys. She got really into it once she got going. She had a smile on her face and the fear she felt when she first started had vanished. She had a feeling of happiness singing to them. Like she wasn't scared anymore and could do it again. But she had no clue if she could do it in front of a big crowd.

When she was done the boys just stared in awe. They've never heard anything like it. It was 2019 music, but they didn't know that, and that's not what made her good. At least that's what they thought. It was her voice. The way it sounded, with its highs and lows; they could tell she was really passionate about singing.

"Golly," Johnny said, still astonished. "That was beautiful."

Erin blushed. "T-thanks."

"You should sing for school. You could probably make good money for singing. Like Elvis," Ponyboy stated.

"Oh please. I'd be nothing like The King of Rock and Roll," She stated.

"Yeah you're probably better," Johnny said. "Can you finish that song you were singing yesterday?" Erin agreed and started singing "Safe and Sound". After she was done she kept getting more and more requests, so she ended up singing a bunch of songs.

"I've never heard any of these songs. Who sings them?" Ponyboy asked.

"Oh...uh. Taylor Swift. Rachel Platten. Some I don't know who sings it."

"I've never heard of them. They must not be that popular," Johnny told her.

Erin chuckled nervously. "Yeah. They aren't that popular. I don't know many of their songs." Lie. Erin knew lots of Taylor's songs, not so much Rachel's, but she couldn't say that. She couldn't let on and risk them getting suspicious.

Erin's stomach let out a loud growl. She hadn't eaten in a few hours, and all she had was a baloney sandwich, so she was real hungry. She walked over to their stash of supplies. "Next time, Johnny, don't buy baloney," She said as she rummaged through the bag, grabbing out the bread and baloney.

"Yeah. All right. I'm tired of baloney too. And it's only the second day and I'm tired of it," He told her. Ponyboy nodded his head vigorously to his response. She knew he was tired of it, too.

After a few hours they finally went to bed. Erin was still hungry from the baloney. She had to force herself to eat it three times a day. After a while of laying on the ground, she ended up getting up to sleep on one of the pews.

She wasn't really looking forward to the next few days at the church.