Family Is Found (Sequel to Running Towards Home)

CHAPTER 12

PONY'S POV:

I'm waiting for Sam outside of school so we can walk home. I saw her leave the track during P.E., and she didn't come back to class. I didn't see what happened, but I saw Cherry holding her nose, so I'm guessing Sam had something to do with it like usual.

"Sam!" I call out when I see her. She comes jogging over. "What happened? I never saw you come back to class." I say. I grab her hand and we start the walk home. "Cherry was trying to bruise me with the frisbee, so I threw it back and it just happened to hit her face. She made a big deal out of it, and Ms. Muldroe sent me to the principal's office. I got the regular talk about respecting boundaries, and how I have to apologize to Cherry, which I don't plan on doing."

"Well, for what it matters, I'm proud of you for doing that," I say, kissing the top of her head. "Tell Darry I got sent to the office, and I don't care how much I love you, I will kill you." She says. I know how Darry can get, I usually get the brunt of his anger. "I won't tell. But only for a price." I joke. She raises an eyebrow. "What will it take?" She asks, a smile playing on her lips. "A kiss." I say. "If I must." Sam jokes, and she kisses me.

"Break it up, you two! No PDA!" I hear a voice shout. It's Soda and Steve, walking home from the DX. "What are you guys doing out? Skipping work?" Sam jokes. "Nah, we closed up early. No one was coming in." Steve says. They start walking home with us. "My feet hurt," Sam whines. "Is this your way of asking for a piggyback ride?" I ask. "Maybe." She says, and she jumps on my back.

"Hey, no fair, I want a piggyback ride too!" Steve yells. "No way." Soda says. Steve just jumps on his back. "Steve, when did you get so heavy? You need to lay off the cake!" Soda says, out of breath. Steve whacks the back of his head. "Run, my loyal steed, run! We must beat them to the house!" Steve yells. Soda starts running, as fast as he can. Which, in this case, is not very fast because he has Steve clinging to his back like a monkey.

"C'mon, Pony, we can beat them!" Sam says, and I start sprinting. Sam is heavy, but not as heavy as Steve. I soon pull ahead of Soda. "No, Soda, we can't let them beat us!" Steve shouts, but it's too late. We're already at the door. "We win!" Sam says, and she jumps off my back. She high fives me, and then gives me a kiss. Soda and Steve arrive, and Steve jumps off. "Soda, do I get a kiss?" he asks. Soda puts Steve in a headlock. "This good enough?" He says.

"Yup." Steve gasps out, and Soda lets him go. "You had an advantage! Sam is small!" Soda says. "I'm not small, I'm fun-size." Sam says, and we all laugh. We head inside, and Two-Bit is already sitting on the couch with a beer, watching mickey mouse. "When did you get here?" I ask. Two doesn't even look up from the TV. "I ditched last period, came here." he says, and goes back to intently watching the TV. I walk to the kitchen and grab two glasses of chocolate milk, one for me and one for Sam. I bring them out, and hand one to Sam. Then Soda grabs my glass of milk. "Aww, thanks Pony, so thoughtful," He says, taking a big sip.

I sigh and go grab another cup. I walk back out and sit on the ground next to Sam. "Can we watch something else, Two?" Steve asks, grabbing the remote and changing the channel. "No, mickey!" Two whines. Steve groans and goes back to mickey. We sit and watch it together for about an hour, until Darry comes home. "Homework, all of you." He says. We groan, and turn off the TV. I pull out my english homework, and start reading the poem my teacher gave me. I can barely pay attention to it. Sam is working on her math, and she is struggling.

"Pony, how do I do this one?" She asks, and I look over. "You have to factor and multiply." I explain. She starts working on it again. "I hate math," She mumbles under her breath. "Can someone help me with dinner?" Darry calls from the kitchen. "Yes! Yes I can do that!" Sam calls out, scrambling to the kitchen, eager to get away from her math. I don't know if she knows how to cook, seeing as she's only made a couple of chocolate cakes and some pasta. Hopefully dinner doesn't suck.