Chapter 2

"Come on, Lady!" I opened the back door and called.

Lady was my dog. My parents had got her from a seeing-eye-dog place back in Chicago last Christmas. She was only with me when I was alone in the house or if I was going outside. Mostly, she stayed in the back yard.

Tediously, I wrapped her harness around her. I was thankful that I was the only one awake; my Mom would have never let me go outside by myself. She was way too over-protective, as most mothers are.

"Lady, do you see my cane anywhere?" I asked her. "My cane, girl, go get it."

She left my side for a moment, and came back, dropping my cane in my extended hand. "Good girl." I patted her head.

"What are you doing?" A voice from behind me asked as I opened the front door to leave.

"Brian!" I hissed, "Just tell Mom that I went on a walk, okay?"

"Sure, whatever." He knew that I was going to be in trouble, but I was a little too stubborn to listen to him.

I left and began making my way down the street. I continued straight, afraid that if I turned, I wouldn't be able to get back.

Lady seemed grateful for the walk because I could feel her tail wagging at my side. It was nice having her around, I knew I was safe.

People drove by, and I felt very self-conscious with my walking cane. I debated hiding it in a bush and coming back for it later, but then I tripped in a pothole and almost fell on my face. I figured I'd hold on to it for a while.

A half of an hour later I found myself in a park, on a swing with my shoes off.

"Joy?" I jumped.

"Who is it?" I don't know why I was so scared.

"It's Pony, I met you last night."

"Oh..." Feeling slightly stupid, I settled back on my swing. "Well are you going to sit down?" I asked, after he didn't move.

He shuffled over and sat on the swing next to me.

"I heard you guys got rained out yesterday."

"Yeah," He gave a little chuckle, "I didn't think it would, it didn't say anything about rain in the weather report on TV."

"They're always wrong."

"Are you okay?" He asked after a minute.

"I'm not lost if that's what your asking."

"Oh," He said. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach that I had answered him a little too harshly.

Lady began to wag her tail again, "What is it Lady? Is someone coming?" I could hear someone in the distance.

"That's my friend, Johnny." Pony said.

"Is he nice?"

"Yes." I could hear the foot steps moving closer. That kid must've walked kinda weird, or maybe he was just lazy, because I could hear his feet dragging across the grass as he walked.

"Hey, Pony, what's up?" Johnny's voice was barely more than a whisper.

"Hey, Johnny, this is Joy, Brian's sister."

"Hi." He said, I smiled and then I wondered what a smile looked like.

"I should be going home, my mom's probably worried." I stood and grabbed Lady's harness. "You guys can come if you want, Brian must be looking for you."

We walked back to the house. Trying to avoid the cracks in the sidewalk, I walked extra carefully. Not that it helped, I must've tripped about 5 times on the way back.

"GREASER!" Someone shouted out the window as a car sped by.

"Greaser," I asked, "what does that mean?"

Pony and Johnny were silent.

"We're Greasers."

"Me?"

"No, not you."

"Us, it's because we use grease in our hair."

"Oh, that seems like a dumb reason to call you a greaser." I had a feeling that there was more to being a Greaser.

We walked in silence the rest of the way back.

"Brian! Pony and Johnny are here!" I called up the stairs as soon as I entered the house. Brian was down the stair in a second.

"Hey guys, let's go, before my mom gets hold of Joy." He laughed, "Good luck Joy!"

"Thanks Brian." I muttered.

"Joy Carson! Where have you been?" Mom came in the room, (or was she standing there all along?)

"Mom, I was just on a walk, geez!"

"By yourself?"

"I was there Mrs. Carson." Pony said before I could answer her. His voice surprised me, I thought that they had already left.

"Yeah, Mom, Pony was there." I told her, trying to get out of a grounding.

"Fine," She gave in, "but next time you wander off like that, you're going to be punished."

"I'm almost 15, Mom!"

"Well, it's dangerous, you can't see!"

"Oh, thanks for telling me, I hadn't noticed."

"Don't be a smart-mouth." She stated simply as she traveled back toward the kitchen.

"Mom, I'm going out," Brian called after her.

"Good, I'm coming, too."

My brother didn't argue and I found that odd.

Really, really short and boring today. I'm sorry, but review and I'll be sure to put up a more interesting chapter tomorrow! Thanks!