Dsiclaimer: The Outsiders is not mine and neither are these characters. Please don't sue.
A/N: Thank you so much for reviewing! Many of you have already guessed at, or requested to see, someone from the gnag make an appearance. Well that time had fianlly come! Please hang in there with your questiosns, the answers will come! I noticed not as many of you reviewed so I made this chapter longer and put more in it than I would have liked. I even tried to up-date sooner. Yes, there's another new character but they just keep poping up. To my very vauled reviewer, K.L. Vern: I do carefully check each document for errors, but they tend to slip by even with my spell and grammar check. Thank you for pointing them out as it helps me from making the same mistake again. Hope it's improved. Enjoy!
Babygirl
Chapter 4: Forgotten
I knew it was the right thing to do, but I just couldn't. Dad says-used to say- that's how you know it's the right thing, but I could not seem to bring myself to ask to quit ballet and take etiquette. I could yell and scream and kick Curly Shepard in a game of soccer; I could play a practical joke on Dallas Winston; I could face Darry with a detention; but I could not talk to a couple Socs! What was I turning into, a chicken? Two-Bit would have clucked at me. Then I couldn't do go talk to them because I was laughing at the image of Two-Bit clucking.
Nelly and I had tried helping Miles at recess to learn a few things about baseball, but all we succeed in doing was giving him a black eye that looked permanent. To help him avoid further humiliation we told his father, as politely as you please, that he was defending us from some older boys. That earned him a rare pat on the back. He smiled at us from the car. The next day his eye was still swollen so we figured if he couldn't catch the ball with two good eyes he wouldn't catch it with one. Instead, we sat down on some bleachers and drew on a notebook.
"Okay so here's the dugout, the pitcher's mound, home, the catcher, first, second, third and outfield. Those are the important parts of the field. The rest is pretty obvious: short-stop, left field, and all that you can figure out. Okay, now about the time..."
We explained it as best we could and because Miles was smart and had two experienced teachers we concluded that lesson was the most progress we'd had so far.
"Maybe if you play with a rubber ball, you know tossing it and such, your coordination will improve." I suggested. "My brother, Ponyboy, had an annoying habit of doing that when he was bored."
"You have a brother named Ponyboy?"
"Yeah." I answered.
"That's, um, an original name."
"Her name's Babygirl, brainless, did you really think her brothers would be Bob and Joe?" Nelly snapped.
"No. Of course not. I mean... I like it." He grinned apologetically.
"Me too." Nelly said. "I like your other brother's name better: Sodapop. I wish that was my name."
"Original, like Babygirl, but nice." Miles offered bashfully.
"Well, my dad was an original person..."
"Hang on, what's you other brother's name?" Nelly interrupted out of curiosity.
"Darrel, or Darry." I answered simply.
They looked at me for a while and Nelly cocked her head slightly.
"That's just weird." Just as I began to laugh hysterically, the school bell rang and we rushed inside for classes.
I couldn't help but notice many students looked distressed.
"Children." began Sister Treadwell, "I am sure all of you know what today is."
"Yes, sister Treadwell." we automatically chorused.
"Then when I call your name you will come up to the front of the room and receive your report card."
'Oh.' I thought. 'That's what today is.'
I listened intently for my name.
"Connor, Miles."
'Here it comes,' I thought. But I was mistaken. My name was not called. I blinked in surprise.
"Dank, Leroy."
"They missed me." I hissed to Nelly.
"What are you talking about? They haven't called you yet."
"But-"
"Shut up before we get in trouble."
I shut my mouth and thought about how annoyed I was with her bossy attitude. In fact, I was so annoyed that I stopped listening. Suddenly, I felt someone nudge me hard in the ribs.
"Ow!" Everyone turned to stare at me. I looked around, puzzled.
"Miss Densey?"
"Opps." Realization dawned. Unfortunately it dawned a little too late. A snigger seemed to spread around the room as a blush spread across my face.
"Yes. 'Opps' indeed." scolded sister Treadwell, but only half-heartedly. Eagerly, I scurried up to the front of the class and took my report card from her with a meager thank you.
As we waited on our rides in front of the school, I exchanged cards with Nelly and Miles. Well, Nelly wasn't actually waiting on a ride, but she stood with us everyday in spite of the fact it was breaking a rule (or maybe because it was). She leaned against a stop sign with a very Dallas Winston scowl. At that moment, I realized Nelly was tough enough to hang with our gang easy. She probably wouldn't even be afraid to meet Dally, and that was saying something. Then I imagined what it would be like if Miles met Dally. I bit back a laugh at the image of him shaking in his high waters looking up with his most bashful expression through his dorky glasses. Looking down at the card before me I forgot the images and smiled.
Nelly, who was by no means stupid but lacked interest, had improved in all her classes. I wanted to say well done, but knew she'd take it as an insult. So instead I offered: "That'll get you out of some trouble for a while." I tried to scoff. She actually did scoff.
"What trouble?" she said rolling her eyes and folding her arms.
"Switch." I said, and we did. Now I was looking at Miles' card. Wow. He blew Pony out of the water, and that was the smartest person I knew.
"Miles! Kid, you didn't tell us you were a genius!"
"I'm not." he replied quickly and louder than usual but I wasn't sure if it was because of indignation or the banging of hammers repairing the roof behind us. Nelly snorted in response.
"Yeah. Of course you're not. You're practicably retarded... and I'm a lady." We laughed and Miles blushed.
"Miles," I said resting a hand on his shoulder as Soda might have done to me. I attempted to copy his speech I'd heard him give Pony. "Don't be so embarrassed. You're very intelligent, be proud. I wish I was that smart. People who say negative things about it are just jealous that what comes easy to you comes hard to them. Mark Scruto is an awesome baseball player, but makes ruddy grades. He wouldn't hang his head about his ball playing skills and you shouldn't about your grades. Hey, that reminds me, could you tutor me in math?"
Miles' eyes had brightened and his blush had darkened, but he nodded in agreement and handed me back my card. His father was honking the horn. I waved bye while Nelly saluted. Curious, I looked for our car-darn it!- I mean Milly and Eugene in the Cadillac. Oddly, there was no sign of them. In spite of myself, I began to get nervous.
When mom and dad had not arrived to pick me up I knew something was wrong... Ever since, if Pony was late I went into a panic. I knew better, but it still happened. Luckily, only my brothers knew about this and they kept it a secret. It was the only time I really showed I was afraid, so it was acceptable I guess. I looked around anxiously and saw Nelly was already walking away.
"Nelly!" I called.
"Yeah?"
"Hang around a while?"
"Scared?"
"No!"
"Relax I was just kidding. Got left, huh?"
"Hmm."
"It's okay, I've been forgotten loads of times." For some reason I felt a sting of anger.
"I wasn't forgotten."
"What do you mean? Ain't no one here is there? That means you were forgotten. It happens when no one cares." Now I was mad.
"People care about me!"
"Yeah. That's right, your new parents just love you, don't they?"
I shook my head. Why was she yelling? I sure didn't do anything. "No, but my brothers do."
"Sure. They're here, huh?"
"Well, no..."
"You think they haven't forgot about you yet?" I was so shocked and hurt I didn't know what to say. Her face wasn't even sorry it just looked so...smug.
"You know what Nelly?" I took a step forward, but so did she.
"What?"
"Forget you."
I walked away to behind the building the men were working on. I sat down of the grass and hugged my knees to my chest breathing heavily from anger and panic. I tried to concentrate on the tapping and thudding of hammers to calm myself with the rythum but worries kept seeping into my head.
What if I'm left here?
Bang. Bang.
What if she's right?
Bang.
What if my brother's don't remember me?
Bing. Bang. Bing.
What is she's not my friend anymore?
Whack! WHACK!
What if I'm supposed to be somewhere else and forgot?
WHAM!
I can't breathe.
I can't breathe.
What if I die back here and no one knows...
Whack! Bang. Bang. Bang.
'What is wrong with that idiot roofer? It sounds like he's trying to beat something to death.' I looked up out of frustration and curiosity to the man randomly assaulting the roof. I gasped.
I took in my breath deep to yell out his name, but Darry held a finger to his lips. He climbed down the ladder silently and looked at me oddly. I didn't care what he was thinking or if he missed me at all. I was so happy he remembered me I ran to him and hugged him like there was no tomorrow. It probably wasn't comfortable on his back to be squeezed like that, but if it hurt he sure didn't say anything.
"Hey, Baby. How you doing?" he asked in a choked voice.
I tired to tell him "terrible". I tried to tell him I hated pink and dresses. I tried to explain I had no friends. I tried to tell him I wanted chocolate cake for breakfast. I tried to tell him I missed him and wasn't going to let go no matter what happened so don't even try. I tried to, but nothing came out. Nothing.
A cough behind me brought us back to earth and our reunion to and end. There was sister Treadwell, eyes narrowed and hands planted firmly on hips.
"Babygirl," she said softly and I registered that she used my first name with a bit of surprise. Was she on my side? "Eugene is waiting for you. Release Darrel and go." Before I could protest Darry straightened and pried my hands off his neck. He wasn't stopping her from making me leave. He was telling me to leave. So I did. I ran. I ran to Eugene waiting alone in the car and slammed the door, not looking behind me no matter how much I wanted to see Darry again.
A/N: Please tell me what you thought! I do know basically where this is going but am open to any and all suggestions and ideas. Just let me know how I'm doing and if you liked it and I'll up-date soon! Thanks you so much!