Chapter 8

A couple days later, Anya went with me to that place that we talked about. I was a bit nervous but excited at the same time. I was happy about meeting people who knew exactly what I was going through. I told Darry and Soda about it and they said it was a great idea. They would've gone with me but both of them had to work that night. Anya and I met up at my house and we walked the whole way, pushing Davanee in the stroller.

"I think you're going to like this place" said Anya, "there are a lot of nice people there. And they have someplace where you can take your kid if they start to cry. It's kinda cool."

"Sounds like it" I said. We walked the rest of the way in silence. It wasn't one of those awkward silences, it's just that there was nothing to talk about really. Tulsa can be a pretty boring town but then again, what town isn't?

We arrived at the place where the support group was at just before the group started. There where tons of people there with there kids. The scary part was, there where pregnant girls there who looked younger then me. We took a seat in the very last row since all the seats in the front where taken.

"Do you know any of these people?" I asked.

"Yeah. I know a bunch of these people."

"Like who?"

Anya took a minute before pointing someone out to me. "You see that girl over there?" Anya pointed to a tall redheaded girl. She looked to be a couple years older then me. She had a little boy tugging on her shirt tail. "That's Sarah. She started coming here when she was our age when she had Ben."

"Where's the boyfriend?" I asked, even though it was none of my business.

"No one really knows for sure. He was at the hospital when Ben was born but disappeared a few days after. Haven't heard from him since."

Anya looked around the room again and then pointed someone else out to me. "You see that guy over there? That's Stephen. He's the one I told you about. The little girl he's holding is Hailey. His girlfriend had her when she was 17, I think. She died from pneumonia just after Hailey was born." Just as she said that, the group started. A bunch of people got up and gave their testimonies about how hard it was to take care of a baby. I didn't need to hear a testimony to know about that. Then, they asked all the newcomers to stand up and introduce themselves and their kids if they had them. I didn't bother getting up. Anya wanted me to at first but I protested and she gave in. I promised her that I would introduce myself next time, that is if I wanted to come back.

After the group meeting was over, Anya had to stop and talk to everyone and all the kids. I didn't mind really. It's not like I was in a big rush to get out of there.

Just when I thought Anya was done talking to everyone, Stephen came up to us. Of course, Anya had to talk to him as well.

"Who's your friend?" asked Stephen.

"Oh, Stephen, this is Ponyboy. He's new here. Ponyboy, this is Stephen and Hailey." I shook Stephen's hand and waved at Hailey. She hid behind Stephen, poking her head out every couple of seconds.

"This is Davanee" I said, taking the baby out of the stroller.

"Oh, she's yours, isn't she?" asked Stephen.

"Yep" I said.

"How old are you?" asked Stephen.

"14. You?"

"20."

"We better get her home" said Anya towards me, "it's getting late."

"You guys coming back next week?" asked Stephen.

"I don't know, probably" I said.

"You know I'll be back" said Anya, smiling.

"Alright, see you guys next week" said Stephen, picking Hailey up.

I said bye and started to leave when Stephen grabbed me by the arm.

"Hey" he began, "it gets better. You'll start sleeping at night, trust me."

I smiled and said "thanks."

"Baby, Daddy, baby" said Hailey, pointing to Davanee.

"I see that" said Stephen. "I hope you guys come back next week."

"We probably will" I said. With that, we met up with Anya, who was waiting for us at the door.

"What did Stephen want?"

"Oh nothing really. He just said thanks for coming and hope to see you next week. That sort of thing."

"I told you most of those people are nice."

"Yeah, they are. If you don't mind me asking, why do you always go there if you don't have a kid?"

"My grandmother started that group. She had my mom, my adoptive mom that is, when she was 19 and she felt so alone. She thought it might be easier if she knew someone who was going through the same thing. When my mom was a little older, my grandma started the group beginning with five couples and it grew from there. She took me every week until she died about two years ago. She was the only adoptive person in my family who really cared about me besides my brother. So, in her honor, I keep going to the group and make sure everything is going well with everybody. That's what my grandma always did" explained Anya. That was kinda sad. It made me happy to know that I had a family that loved me unlike Anya who was basically alone in the world.

"You never told me you had a brother" I said.

"Tommy. He moved out last year but he calls me every week to make sure I'm ok and he sends me money when I need it. He's in college now and he's got a girlfriend and all, but he comes home a lot too. He says that when he gets a big enough apartment, he's gonna come get me and take me away from our parents. He was always there for me whenever my dad went on one of his drinking sprees. I miss him a lot. Your lucky your brothers are always around for you."

"I know. They've helped me a lot over the past couple of months. I owe them a lot" I said. We talked for a little while longer and 10 minutes later, we where outside my house.

"My brother is home this week and he's coming to pick me up at the park" said Anya, shoving her hands in her pockets.

"I can walk with you" I offered, "it's not safe for someone to be walking home in this neighborhood at night."

"That's sweet of you but I think handle it. The park is only a couple of minutes away. Besides, you gotta get Davanee to bed."

I peeked down into the stroller. Davanee had already fallen asleep.

"You'll be ok" said Anya, "both of you will."

"I know but right now it's just hard especially when you've got three guys who don't know the first thing about babies."

Anya laughed and said "you live and learn. Well, I have to go. My brother is probably waiting on me."

"Well, let me put her down first and then we can go."

Anya thought about it for a minute before saying "ok. But don't take too long. Tommy's probably waiting on me."

I took Davanee inside and put her to bed.

"Will you watch for a couple of minutes? I'm walking Anya down to the park. Her brothers' gonna pick her up there" I said to Darry, who was sitting in the living room.

"Don't take too long. It's getting late" said Darry.

"I won't" I said, walking out the door. I pushed the stroller back into the garage and we left.

"So how old is your brother?" I asked.

"19. He's gonna be 20 in September. He's studying to become a doctor. He's real smart, ya know? He was in the gifted program in high school." She looked real pretty that night. The moonlight made her eyes sparkle in a wired way, bringing out the specks of brown.

"What?" she asked.

I shook my head slightly and asked "what do you mean what?"

"You where staring at me."

"Sorry."

"It's ok. I'm use to it. People stare at me all the time."

'I can see why' I thought. She was pretty, maybe even borderline beautiful. She took her hands out of her pockets and let them dangle lifelessly by her side. I reached down and held her hand in mine. At first I thought she was going to pull away but she didn't. She just smiled a warm smile back at me. I was glad that it was dark out because I'm sure my ears where starting to turn red. When we arrived at the park, there was no car in sight so we sat down under the big oak tree, still holding hands.

"What do you want to be when you grow up?" I asked.

"I want to be college professor. Weird, I know but ever since I was little I wanted to be a professor of some sorts. I might go to Dartmouth to study to become a literature professor. Or I might stay here and go to Oklahoma. What about you?"

"I don't really know. I'll probably stay around here for a little while and go to Oklahoma but I'm not sure. I've got to think about what's best for Davanee. By the time I get to college, she'll be about 5 or 6."

"Those years will go by fast."

"Not too fast I hope." Just as I finished saying, a loud car horn came from around the corner. I turned around to see a black T-bird coming towards us.

"That's Tommy" said Anya, jumping up. We finally let go. "I have to go." The car came to a screeching halt in front of us. I could hear cheap country music coming from inside the car.

"I'll see you later I guess" said Anya.

"Maybe. Hopefully."

"Hopefully? You want to see me again?"

"Who wouldn't?"

Before she had a chance to answer, I kissed her. For a moment, everything felt perfect. Fireworks where going off in my mind. After two minutes or so she pulled back, smiled at me, and got in the car. The car sped off down the road, leaving me in the dust. I shoved my hands in my pockets and smiled slightly, walking back to the house. In a way, it was my first real kiss. I know I said I had been making out with Jamie at that party but we where both drunk and we didn't really feel anything for each other.

I walked home and went straight to bed. I didn't even notice the gang sitting in the living room.