Alright, once again because I was really busy with school stuff and editing this five or six times, I finally got this one up. It's leading up to an important part; I PROMISE! The next chapter I already have hand-written and even my friends read it and said it's kind of exciting, so I'm excited what all of you will think of it! :D

The notebook was staring back at me; silently whispering that I should read it's contents. The weird thing is, I'm sort of scared to read it. There can be anything written inside! My hand moved forward to grab ahold of it and then to add more suspense, the doorbell rang. I sighed and looked through the peephole in the door. Linda.
"Good morning!" she cheered giving me a quick hug. Awkwardly, I slung my arm around her, remembering that this was something normal families did. She had a glowing smile on her face. "You would not believe what happened yesterday!"
"What? We all got a million bucks?"

"No! Two-Bit is coming down and for once, by himself!" At that moment, I heard noise from behind me as Soda was clinging onto his foot, jumping up and down.
I. Stubbed. My. Toe!" he yelped and jumped his way into the kitchen. Linda laughed at him, and covered her mouth to keep from continuing.
"How late are you this time?"

"Twenty minutes!" he called, grabbing his hotel jacket from the door knob. He rushed past us then; and started to walk out the door until Linda said, "Your forgetting your shoes." Soda passed Linda a glance, rolling down his car window.
"What!"

"You forgot your shoes!"
"I got an extra pair in the locker at work; but thank you!" We both watched him drive off, almost speeding down the road. I had to laugh then; I had never seen James late to work once and it was a strange sight seeing an adult rush to get somewhere; unless you count the time when Mom forgot I was at the bus stop when I was five and ran from the house to get me.
"I actually came here to see if you wanted to go with me to the library."

"For?"
"Research for school. I have a project due; assigned especially to the girl that screamed and yelled till she got to see her father during the school year. I get to hand in a three page essay on 'The History of Tulsa, Oklahoma'." She shrugged before saying, "Plus when I'm stuck at home I'm bored, so I need something to read."

"Oh I see," I said; trying to see myself looking up books in the library. I couldn't. I wasn't really a reader and never have been. "You should read the book Uncle Pony write; it's the only book I ever really got through."
"I've read it. That was one of the only times Daddy really sit down with me and read to me."

"Oh." I felt envy then; completely jealous that she had such a memory with her father. Would Soda have read to me if I was younger and asked him to? Before I went into deep thought about the topic, Tristan barked at the both of us and Linda went over to him, gently stroking his gold fur, which he seemed to enjoyed.
"You know what's funny? He's old and yet doesn't act it; it's like he's a kid at heart."

"I wish we were all like that," I replied, tugging my shoes on.

"Uncle Soda is."

"He seems like a regular adult; mature, employed-"

"Wait till he's not working. You wanna see a kid at heart; you'll find one in him. Just wait till our parents gang hook up during the summer; they all change. He might also be acting mature around you right now; seeing as how he just found out about being your father. His ways will bend. Anyway, I'll come over in about two hours and then we'll head over." she kissed my cheek, somethings she's never done before, and walked off.

I got bored sitting around his house after fifteen minutes. I figured then that I could start reading that journal, or at least skim through. I picked up the book and opened it up. Uncle Pony wrote a lot of stuff in it, like quotes and pictures of horses. I was beginning to think it was only his book, until I got to one page; a page that a guy named Steve Randle wrote on; which was something about hating the way his father treated him. I could see that many of Steve's thoughts related to mine about James. I could say that he truly had it better though; at least it was his real father and he was paying him after being kicked out of the house. James would ground me; end of story. I flipped the page over to something this guy named Two-Bit wrote; the guy that was going to be visiting us soon. He drew a picture of Mickey Mouse, (which was a better drawing then I could ever do.) and then wrote about how much he loved beer, Mickey, his switchblade and then of course, the gang. It mostly looked like something a second grade student would write with his choppy sentences like,

If there is one thing in the world I love, it's beer. It tastes good. Would Mickey drink beer if I gave him one? I think so.

Etc.

Finally I got to something rather interesting; something Soda wrote which actually took up a whole page....

Mom and Dad were found dead yesterday and I dont know what to do. Im gonna miss them alot.

He attached a picture of him with my uncles and his parents, or, my grandparents.

I am puting this in here cause I never want to forget them. One day, if and when I have kids, Im gonna tell them about Mom and Dad; two of the greatest people in Oklahoma. I will also promise never to abanden them, ever. This will be one promise that I will always keep. I guess Im just pretty damn confused about what Im gonna do without them. Darry told the court hed take care of me and Pony. Ive been pretty tore up about their deaths but Darry said that if I rought it out; it'd take out as much pain as punching would. I guess it works but I still feel pretty lousy. Darry must have told Pony the same thing he told me about writing things out cause he's at his desk drawing horses or somethin.

Ive also been thinking about quittin school. I havent been doing so well, especially in english and math. Dad was tryin to help me before he left with Mom to go to somewhere but it just didn't work. Damn, what am I gonna do without them.

I finished the page then and looked at the picture of them all. They really looked like some happy family that you could pass by walking down the street. I felt bad that he lost his parents when he did. I don't think I could ever imagine growing up without at least Mom leading me through life. I thought about what Linda said about Sodapop being a true kid at heart and began to wonder if it was maybe because he didn't have parents that he was like that. I almost jumped when someone was beeping the horn outside the house. I got up from the couch and carefully put the notebook on the coffee table. I could see Linda and Darry in his car. I looked around everywhere for the key that Soda left on the counter, and locked the door before heading to the library.