Chapter 1:
I stepped out of the black thunderbird and straighten out my shirt, not sure if I looked good for the party. My dark brown hair had been set in curlers for hours to achieve the wave it had. I was wearing my blue jeans and red sweater, because if my brothers saw me walk out in anything else, they would kill me!
I was the baby of the family; my parent's last attempt for a little girl had been achieved. When my mom was pregnant with me, my dad became very obsessed with Shakespeare and named me after his favorite character, Hero from Much Ado About Nothing. My brothers have just as unique names as I do, Darry, Sodapop, and Ponyboy. My parents weren't ordinary people and I miss them every day, they died in a car accident years ago.
My brother Darry and Sodapop work full time to keep a roof under our head, Ponyboy and I are in school, and he's two years ahead of me because he skipped a grade. He's the smart one in the family, he's a senior and I'm a sophomore. Oh and I forgot, we're greasers…lower class; I'm popular in my group of friends and I can talk to middle class and some high class, socs, but for the most part they don't want anything to do with me. That's because my youngest brother Ponyboy and our friend Johnny got mixed up in a fight and accidentally killed one of them in self-defense. Sadly the whole incident went from bad to worst, with Johnny and our other friend Dally both dying. It had been a year since then and we were all managing, but things weren't the same without those two. At least we still have each other and our friends Two-bit and Steve.
"Hero!" My friend Susie said to me as she stepped out of the back seat. "Wake up!"
I shook my head, awaking from my daze and turned to her. "Do I look ok?"
She smiled, standing there in a mini skirt and tube top. "You look fine! Besides, what do you care…you have a boyfriend."
Susie hates that she's single and I'm not. I've been with my boyfriend Danny for three months now and things were going great! My brothers were not big fans of him, but I didn't care. I loved Danny, he was 18 and the sweetest guy, when he asked me out he brought me a single red stem rose and every month on our anniversary he buys me a rose for every month we've been together. He's sweet to me and I know he loves him, my brothers just don't understand.
I walked into the party, cool and calm and looking around. My friends that I had gotten a ride from made their way in, but I stayed put, looking for Danny. I found him in a corner, surrounded by people.
I walked up to him and smiled, "Hey cutie…"
He smiled back at me. "There's my baby." He patted his leg and I sat on his lap and he kissed me. "What took you so long?"
"I curled my hair, do you like it?"
"You're beautiful no matter what doll, want me to give you a ride home later?"
I shrugged. "I don't know if the warden (my brother Darry) would like that much."
He smiled at me with a cool and calming grace that was unmatchable. "He's going to get use to me sooner or later, might as well make it sooner."
The party was the same as every party is on a Friday night, drinks and loud music. I didn't drink because my brothers would kill me if I came home with liquor on my breath, but I danced and chatted with my friends. I loved going to parties, I could spend time with my friends before having some alone time with Danny. My brothers refused to leave us alone for a minute when we were over there. Halfway through the party, Danny and I went in search of a place to be alone. We headed upstairs and found a room with a big bed, no one in sight.
Danny smiled, walking in backwards and holding my hand. "I think this is perfect for that…talk we need to have…"
I smiled back at him, letting him lead me to the bed. He sat down and I stood between his legs. "What exactly is it we need to…talk about?"
He leaned in and kissed me and we fell back onto the bed. Some how in the process of making out, Danny ended up on top of me. He started rubbing my side, which he had done before so I didn't mind, but after only a few minutes, his hand started to wonder up my shirt.
"Hey…" I whispered, pushing him off of me a bit. "What are you doing?"
"Hero…you've been teasing me for months with these tight jeans and tops…"
"I'm not sure about this Danny…we've only been together three months."
"I knew the moment I met you that you were going to be my girl. Hero, I want you to be my first, my last, and my only…I know you're scared and so am I, but know this Hero…" He leaned in right to my ear and whispered. "I love you."
I melted! No guy had ever said those words to me and I felt the same way. Danny had confessed his undying love for me and that he wanted to be with me forever. I whispered I loved you too and things…just kind of went from there.
In the movies, they always make having sex seem to be something that took hours. Maybe it was because it was our first time, I'm not sure, but everything seemed to happen so quickly. It did hurt, but in that good way and we had to get dressed right afterwards because I was cutting it close to my curfew. That moment was so perfect, I wish I could of stayed in it forever.
Month Later
It was a beautiful April afternoon, I was sitting at a small diner, drinking a pop and waiting for Danny. It was our four-month anniversary and I couldn't wait to get my roses. But when Danny walked up, he had no roses, just a sad look on his face.
I sat up. "What's wrong?"
Danny sat down with a heavy sigh and ordered a coke before turning to me. "I've got some bad news kid." He paused a moment, taking a deep breath. "I've been drafted."
My heart sank. "What?" How could this have happened? Danny was only 18 he couldn't be a solider!
"I've already been checked, I ship out next week."
"Next week?" I was hysterical and everyone in the diner heard me. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"I didn't want to get you worried over nothing. I tried to get out of it, but the only option I have is to go or run to Canada…which is what I'm going to do."
"Run to Canada?" I shook my head. "No, I won't ever see you, I don't know when I'll ever see you again!"
"That's why I want you to go with me, we'll run away and get married."
I shook my head faster this time. "No, Darry would kill me!"
"That's why we're running away, they won't know where to find us."
"I can't do that! They're my family and I love them!"
"Who do you love more? Me or them?"
"You can't make me choose!"
Danny sat their quiet for a moment, and then stood up. "I think you already have…" He turned and started to walk out.
"Danny!" I yelled at him, starting to cry, but he didn't stop. He got into his car and drove off, leaving me there alone.
Two Months Later
I've got to admit, being raised around three older brothers doesn't make you in touched with being a girl. I mean I did notice the little things; my breasts were tender and started to grow out a bit. Within a while after that, I started getting sick…they call it morning sickness, but trust me you get it ALL the time! I started going to the bathroom little more frequently, I mean, I'm a teenager…my body is always changing and doing weird things, I didn't really think anything of it. It wasn't until Sodapop pointed it out to me.
I was sitting at the kitchen table, playing with the piece of chocolate cake I had in front of me, still feeling depressed. Sodapop walked in and messed up my hair, his favorite thing to do.
"Hey half-pint!" He said as he got in the fridge and pulled out a bottle of pop.
I just sighed. "Lay off…"
Sodapop laughed. "I've enjoyed depressed Hero over crazy Hero. Can you make your time this easy from now on?"
I was confused…my time? I wasn't on that, why would he say that? That's when I actually thought about it; I couldn't remember the last time I even had one. I spotted a bit, but didn't actually had a full period…was that a bad thing? I grabbed the phone quick and dialed Susie's number.
"Hello?" Susie answered the phone.
"Meet me at the park." Was all I could manage to spit out.
"Why? Something wrong?"
"Just do it!"
Susie raced up to the drugstore just as I did; we stopped right in front of each other, both panting. "What's wrong?"
"I'm…I'm not sure if there is anything wrong, I can't remember."
Susie laughed. "Ok so you made me race down here for you to tell me the problem is you can't remember something? Super important emergency huh Hero?"
"Sus…I can't remember the last time I had a period."
She stared at me a minute. "Wait…" Susie shook her head. "Is that actually possible? I mean, Danny left like two months ago, you would of noticed before this…I mean you write it down and everything right?"
"No…by the time they talked about it in school and I had already had one and well, I live with three guys! They're not exactly the most helpful when it comes to that."
"You and Danny used protection, you're fine." Susie kept staring at me waiting for an answer, but all I could do was look at my feet. "You didn't use protection?!"
"It was the heat of the moment, a fling, I didn't plan on sleeping with him!"
"But the point is that you did and you didn't use anything? I thought you were smarter then that!"
"Okay! Enough of the Darry impersonation! I need help!"
Susie laughed. "You've got two options, waiting nine months and seeing if something pops out or going down to the clinic."
"You need a parent for the clinic."
"We'll pay someone or something! I don't know! But it's the only way you're going to find out. Unless you want to tell Darry and have him take you there?"
I felt my eyes widen. "No! I'll take my chances with a friend signing."
Susie and I talked her sister into signing as my mother. Thankfully she promised not to say anything! Sitting in the waiting room of the clinic was torture. The whole room was white, even the metal chairs were painted white! This had to be the cleanest room I'd ever been in. I was the youngest woman in that room and the two older women glared at me from across the room. I wish I had worn all white, maybe I could of blended into the chair then.
The doctor that gave me the exam was probably in her 40's, few standards of gray hair mixed in with light brown, green eyes, and a few random wrinkles on her pale face. When she asked me what I was coming for, I watched her soft green eyes turn to stone, but she was professional. She did the test, talk about birth control, and waiting till marriage…everything I expected her to say. She told me it would take a week to get the blood work back and made an appointment for me to come in to find out.
It was the worst week of my life! It was probably stressed induced, but I was sick to my stomach more. My brothers started to notice and I told them it was just a bug I had picked up at school. I got a lecture from Darry about how I couldn't be missing school because there were only two weeks left. I just rolled my eyes at him; he was always like that.
I know this was only me, but I swear to you everyone at school stared at me! They knew, I didn't know how, but they knew I was at the clinic and I could possibly be pregnant. They all glared at me like I was the worst person they had ever seen! Judgmental jerks! They were all doing the same thing at that party that I was…but their guys hadn't left them. Everyone knew that Danny had split. Maybe they stared at me because of that? I don't know, but I hated waking up every morning and going to this place.
When the day finally came, the only person with me was Susie. I told the doctors my mother was unable to make it and they let me in because they had her signature, idiots. Sitting on that table, waiting for the doctor to come in and tell me the results, I began to shake. My breathing quickens and I felt like I was going to pass out. What am I going to do if I am? How am I going to take care of this child? What are my brothers going to say?
Susie must of saw me freaking out, because she came over and sat next to me, putting her arm around me. "It's okay Hero…just calm down. We don't know anything yet."
I laid my head on her shoulder and closed my eyes as the doctor walked in. "Hello Hero."
I didn't open my eyes; I couldn't! I could tell by her voice she wasn't happy, no matter how much she tried to hide her distain for me, I could hear it. Why did she have to go ahead and say the words? Her voice gave it all away, couldn't she just leave me here to cry?
Ignoring the fact that I wouldn't look at her, the doctor cleared her throat and said those words, "You're pregnant."