Best Times Of Our Lives
Chapter Eleven
Disclaimer- I do not own the Outsiders.
Well, this is it. Judgement day. The day that decides how my life will go. Whether I will get to stay or go to hell. The day I have been fearing. The custody hearing.
Andy and I were sitting at a table in the courtroom. Mr. Carmichael and our mother were with us. My dad was also there, at a table on the other side of the room. I turned around to see the whole gang waiting urgently. They looked just as scared as I felt. I locked eyes with Dallas and he nodded his head at me, telling me it was going to be alright. It was the first time I'd seen him in nearly two weeks.
The judge started talking and I turned back around. Time went by. I was asked a bunch of questions about both my parents. Andy and I had agreed that we would say just enough to be able to stay with mom, but not enough to incriminate dad of anything. We just couldn't send him the jail. Things were looking desperate, though, when it was Andy's turn to answer questions. It was obvious that the hearing was going in my dad's favour.
"Can I call you Andy?" the lawyer asked him.
"Yeah," he replied, looking nervous.
"Tell me, Andy, does your mother have a job?" he questioned.
"No, not yet," Andy gulped.
"And, does your father?" the lawyer asked.
"Yeah," my brother answered quietly.
"I'm sorry, what was that?" the man asked again.
"Yes," Andy said, louder this time. "My father has a job."
"So, your father has a steady source of income, and your mother doesn't?"
"I guess."
"It's a 'yes' or 'no' question, Andy."
"Yes," my brother was starting to get angry.
"And, you grew up where your father lives now, correct?"
"Yeah."
"When did you move to Tulsa?"
"At the beginning of the summer."
"So, you and your sister haven't even gone to school here?"
"No, not yet," Andy answered. "But we were planning on it."
The lawyer laughed a little bit. I was wringing my hands nervously, this was not looking good.
"So, wouldn't it be easier if you and Marie just went back and had your schooling at your old school with all of your old friends?" the lawyer asked. I hated it when he said my name.
"No, not really," Andy replied.
"And, why is that?"
"Look, we had to uproot our lives and leave our home and all our friends once before," Andy said and I could tell he was getting really mad. "Don't make us do it again."
"So, you consider Windrixville your home?" the lawyer twisted my brother's words.
"No," he responded forcefully. "We consider Tulsa our home."
"You said you have friends in Windrixville?"
"Not really."
"Care to elaborate?"
"Things changed, we're not friends with them anymore. We have new friends."
"What about family?"
"Nope." that was the truth, my grandparents were dead and neither of my parents had any siblings.
"No need to get angry, Andy," the lawyer said.
"Don't make us live with our father."
"Why not?"
"Because he's a horrible person!" he was going to say it if this guy pushed him any further.
"Why?" there's the push.
"He was hittin' me and yellin' at Marie for no good reason!" my brother yelled and then gasped, realizing what he'd said. A ripple of conversation went through the room.
"Order!" the judge yelled, banging his gavel. "I've heard enough! I hereby place Andrew and Marie Stewart in the care of their mother. Bailiff, take Richard Stewart into custody where he will await trial for child abuse."
The gang were all cheering, glad that we were getting to stay. I looked at my brother. "Oh my God," he mouthed, he may have just sent our father to prison.
"It's okay," I mouthed back, and it was, I didn't think it would be, but it was.
We made our way out of the courtroom and suddenly I was lifted off my feet and spun around. It was Two-bit. When he put me down I was enveloped in a hug from both Carrie and Caryn at the same time. I looked around to see Steve and Soda patting my brother on the back and messing up his hair, my mother was off to the side, talking to Mr. Carmichael. I turned around and saw Dallas, standing outside the group. I went over to him.
"Where ya been?" I asked even though I already knew the answer. He had a fresh scar on his cheek and I could see the remnants of a black eye.
"I got hurt in a rodeo," he answered. "Couldn't do much."
"I know," I confessed, he looked surprised. "Why didn't anyone tell me?"
He looked away. "I didn't wantcha worryin' about me. You had enough problems to deal with," he told me.
"That doesn't matter," I replied. "You know I would have wanted to know."
He nodded his head, still not looking me in the eye. "Yeah."
"You okay?" I asked. He looked up at me, surprised. I guess he thought I would've been mad at him. He smiled at me.
"Yeah," he said. "I'm good. You?"
I wrapped my arms around his neck. "Never been better."
I kissed him then, and I knew. I knew that this was love, even if neither of us had admitted it to each other yet, this was love. And nothing was going to change that. Not now, not ever.
The End
Stay tuned for The Epilogue, I'll either have it up tonight or tomorrow! I hope you like how this all went down! And I also hope that the length of this chapter makes up for the shortness of others!
Rachel
