Freshman and Sophomore
By S.M. Scott

A/N: I do not own the Outsiders.

Chapter Thirteen
Love is also suffering Pt.2

I felt like I was stuck in Alcatraz. No friends over, no hanging out with friends, I could only go to school if I went outside of the house. If it was for anything else, it could only be what was Dad and Helen's say-so. Thank goodness grade nine would be finished after two more days, and I knew I passed everything, I even passed Algebra. But somehow, the victory didn't seem so sweet now that I was deprived of going to the Maritimes, and very possibly of ever seeing Ponyboy again even as friends. I was down in the dumps.

Janie didn't help much, as far as hearing all about Louis went. Janie wasn't too explicit with me about it, but there was something different about my older stepsister. I guess it was because she was finally shown what it was to be a woman by Louis, as only a cheesy romance novel would have written in it. I really suck, I may never get that chance with Ponyboy. I might as well wear a paper bag over my head and be an invisible pariah among Socs, or everyone else at school.

Maybe the Arts Club would accept me next year into their brethren when I'm a sophomore. No matter how wierd many other crowds think they are, I'd be at home I think, because I love art, and grade 10's and up at West Brentman fortunately can apply for this extracurricular activity.

Then one day, while I was still serving my grounding sentence, Helen got sick and tired of what she termed "my sulking around the house." Both Dad and Helen specifically asked to see me one evening, as soon as they came home from work. "Tania," Dad said. "We know how upsetting all of this has been. So upsetting that you aren't speaking to us..."

"You're speaking to me now, so I might as well speak to you. What is it, Dad?" I asked bitterly.

"I do not appreciate the way you answered, Tania. Nevertheless, we have decided that you will go to the Maritimes after all. But, I must warn you that when you go, you are only staying in Prince Edward Island. Your mother's sister, your Aunt Linda, and your Uncle Patrick have decided that they would like you to visit for three weeks, they haven't seen you since your mother's funeral. They also have a potato farm, and cattle. Your aunt is expecting a baby to arrive any time soon. They need you to help them on the farm. You might as well leave the fancy dresses and fashions of the 60's and break out the overalls, you'll be needing them more where you're going than anything to throw yourself at the Island boys."

Ugh, was Dad smoking something less legal than cigars? I don't throw myself at just anyone. There's only one Ponyboy Curtis in the world, and he sure won't be in P.E.I, Canada. He and his brothers can't afford that. Lovely. I get to spend a summer hauling out potatoes, feeding cows, milking them possibly, and cleaning out the barn and keeping it sanitary for the animals.

I'll also be seeing Anne of Green Gables this, Avonlea that in every country store. Anne of Green Gables is extremely popular there, since P.E.I is where Lucy Maud Montgomery was born and raised. I used to like Anne of Green Gables and I used to think she was a real orphan. I was dissappointed to find out she didn't exist except in the books and movies made of her. I outgrew her when I was nine. Now that redheaded orphan seems pretty annoying.

Anyway, I still had one more day of school, and my English exam to sit through. So, I got through the English, and Mr. Syme wasn't there, so Mrs. Edaman, an English sub, oversaw the examinations. I was confident I passed that without a doubt. I knew Ponyboy would have passed his.

My grade nine English class and I were sitting in the study hall, with all the other students who'd finished their exams in the afternoon, and Two-Bit was goofing around and throwing balls of paper at some students who had held their own in our student orchestra. Snake was pretty much following his lead, and Steve. I guess Steve just got out of his written auto mechanics exam, and Snake, the same thing. I don't what Two-Bit just wrote, or if he intended to pass grade eleven this year and get serious about graduating before he was 20 and they had to kick him out. Two-Bit sure is lazy.

I just continued on with reading my copy of Tess of the D'Ubervilles. Then, when it was 2:15 (exam days are shorter than regular school days) We all left with the bell for our summer vacation. But before I could go anywhere, Mary Jo, extremely observant of what was going on between me and Ponyboy said, "Tania, don't be so ridiculous. You are going to have to talk to Ponyboy and say you're sorry, since you lied to him about that dinner AND got him in trouble."

With that, Mary Jo and Britney both dragged me toward Ponyboy and I decided to force myself to say something, since nothing else would get Mary Jo and Britney off my back. "Ponyboy, I'm really sorry about what happened last Friday. You must really know how stupid I feel."

"It's all right," Ponyboy told me. "I mean, Darry isn't all right with it and he says I'm lucky he didn't consider grounding me the whole summer. But, there's nothing we can do to change what happened." Right again. But why isn't he mad at me? It would be a lot better than this, this effort to carry on as though nothing happened, and yet being what? Hurt? Disappointed?

"I didn't mean to lie to everyone, and I don't like to lie. It was just that...you were the first boy I ever really more than liked. And most of the time, nothing makes sense anymore. It's just that...I'm really sorry." I said miserably.

"Well, I heard from Randy that you are going to stay with some very hardworking relatives on a farm in P.E.I this summer. Maybe it's not such a bad idea that your Dad and Stepmother came up with. I think it would do you a lot of good to get away. Maybe, being away from each other a while is the best thing for both of us."

Ponyboy had finally packed away the last of what he was bringing home from his now empty locker. "I'll see you later, Tania Abigail." With that, he left and joined Two-Bit, Samson, and Snake. He called me Tania Abigail, and I usually hated it when my grandparents did that. But for once, I didn't think it was babyish at all. It just really hurt, like a serious blow to the heart. It was one of my first lessons in love, that it was never easy, and was also suffering.

Dear Mary Jo:

I ended up starting the trip to the Maritimes with Dad, Helen, Janie, and Allison, but they left me to pay for and get on board a ferry in Cape Tormentine, New Brunswick to travel to Port Borden in P.E.I. I would meet my Aunt
Linda and Uncle Patrick in Borden and they would drive me from there to the MacIntyre Family Farm in Cavendish.

While on the ferry, I thought about how the ocean stretched so far. I thought about other places I would love to go someday if I ever had that chance. Then, I saw the Island, and the sun was just beginning to set, and I could see the bright red, rusty colour of the P.E.I soil already. I thought it was quite beautiful in its own way, while Helen said she didn't care much for Prince Edward Island.
Then, the ferry stopped at Port Borden, I saw to the suitcase of clothes and other things I brought, and there was Aunt Linda and Uncle Patrick. Aunt Linda and Uncle Patrick are expecting to have their first baby. Aunt Linda was happy to see me, and Uncle Patrick had said there'd be lobster for us at dinner, but Aunt Linda couldn't have any, she was going to go for something else. I loved the lobster.

The room they let me sleep in was upstairs and has a nice view from the window. I slept with the window open, and I ended up thinking, just before I fell asleep, that P.E.I really was one of the most beautiful provinces in Canada, though the smallest. The small protected by the great. I didn't know what to think, however, when Aunt Linda woke me up at 7o'clock in the morning, and said all cheerfully, "time to rise and shine, Tania. Uncle Patrick has been up since 5 in the morning and it's time you went downstairs for breakfast." I got dressed, ate, and then, Uncle Patrick and Aunt Linda told me I had cleaning to do in the barn, and then there was more to be done in the house, and weeding in the front and back gardens. I was on my feet all day, until two in the afternoon, and I was finally left to do my own thing. Nothing else worth mentioning yet, but I will write to you again when I can.

Your best friend.
Tania

P.S: My poor feet are so blistered. That's how busy I have been.

End of Chapter Thirteen.