A/N Constructive criticism and flames are welcomed and appreciated.
Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton!
Pony, Soda and I stare out the window of our new foster home watching the rain fall out of the bleak gray sky and the pitter patter against the window. I am standing by the window while they sit on the couch. My brothers and I do not like it here because of the lonely feeling that sits uneasily in the house. Our foster parents leave us alone to do what we want to. Most kids would enjoy this. We, however liked it when our parents did stuff with us.
We wish that the state let us stay with our older brother, Darry. He would make sure things didn't turn out like this. I turn to glance at my brothers. I really don't know how Soda feels about all of this since he is seventeen and Pony and I are only six. He use to grin, laugh and bake cakes with Mommy and play with us but now he looks sad all the time and doesn't play with us much anymore. I'm not sure he likes to bake cakes anymore.
Pony gets up off the worn couch to come and stand with me by the window. He really thinks Mommy and Daddy will be back. I kind of hope deep down inside that they will too, however I know that they most likely won't. I sigh and straighten his worn out gray shorts and white t-shirt that used to be Soda's. I put my arms around him waiting for Soda to join. Instead, he gets up and turns on the small TV. Pony and I just stand there hugging each other. I try to fight back the tears but fail.
My head hurt and I was hungry. I didn't want to say anything. I feel bad that Soda has to do everything for us. My stomach didn't hear me telling it to stop growling and Sodapop looked up at me. I bit my lower lip to stop crying. I didn't want to say anything.
Soda goes into the kitchen to find something to fix me and Pony for dinner which would be peanut butter and jelly with milk. I can't remember the last time our foster parents went grocery shopping for us and brought us something other than this to eat. Our foster father drinks all the time except when the nice lady from the government decides to stop by for a visit. He would never hit us or anything, but him and our foster mom fight all the time.
He gets violent with her sometimes, which makes us go upstairs and we sit in our rooms. Sometimes the fights get so bad that we sit in our rooms for a whole night. It's scary to think about him hitting her because you never know if they are going to come in and hit you next. Whenever things do get bad I just try to think of Mommy and Daddy who I am very close to and I never will forget. They always made sure my brothers and I never went without anything and that we would all be taken care of. But here, things are different. We don't get much of anything.
I hear Soda mumble at night about how our foster parents are only doing this because they get money from the state from us. I really don't know all the details and I'm sure I don't want to.
"Mary Elizabeth and Ponyboy Michael, how long are y'all going to stare out the window?" Soda says, breaking me from my thoughts. Running my fingers through my dirty blond hair, I focus my blue eyes on him. Grabbing Pony's hand, we walk over to the couch and climb on it.
"Come on you two. Come sit at the table. We don't want to get peanut butter all over the couch." Pony and I walk into the kitchen and step on dry cereal which Pony had dropped all over the kitchen floor this morning and didn't pick up.
"Pony honey, you were supposed to pick up your mess this morning." Soda says calmly. Pony ignores him and he sighs as he bends down to pick it up.
"Soda, after we eat can I go play at Karen's house because I'm tired of playing with boy's," I tell him and Pony sticks his tongue out at me.
"Pony, Karen is my best friend and I can play with her if I want to!" I said with a cry.
"Mary, you and Pony better knock it off or I am going to send y'all to your rooms," Soda warns us. I shut up and put my plate in the sink.
"Please can I go to Karen's Soda?" I beg, throwing my arms around my big brother. Soda shakes his head no.
"Why can't I go Soda? Pony always gets to go to Steven's house," I whine.
"Well, we have to clean up the house so the foster parents don't yell as much tonight," Soda answers.
As soon as we are done eating, Soda finishes most of the house chores, while Pony and I clean our rooms. Our new mommy and daddy like to have things neat when they get home. I hate the way we are living now with hardly any food or toys. I hope someday Darry will get permission to take care of us and finally get us out of here.