Chapter 21

I stood in the front yard and stared at the 'for sale' sign for a couple of minutes. How could they do this to me? Why didn't they tell me? I could feel the tears forming already. I whipped them away briskly and marched inside. I saw both of my parents sitting at the kitchen table which was weird because normally my mom was at work.

"What are you doing here?" asked Mom.

"I came by to get some clothes. What's with the sign in the front yard?"

"We're moving" said my dad, a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. He thought he looked so cool with a cigarette when he really looked like a moron.

"I figured that. I meant where are we moving to?"

"New York City. My company wants me to take a job up there. We're leaving in about a month or 2" said mom.

"We're not even gonna wait till Christmas is over? You know how important that is to me" I said.

"Yeah well this is more important. We might actually be able to afford a decent house, you can get new clothes, go to a better school" said mom. I knew she was just saying that to get me to move. My mom was never that nice to me. At times I think she seriously hated me. Both of my parents always told me that they'd prefer Tommy over me. It's not that I don't love my brother or anything it's just that it hurts when you're parents tell you that they'd prefer the other child over you.

"I'm not going" I said, crossing my arms over my chest defiantly.

"Yes you are" said mom.

"No, I'm not."

"Young lady you're going and you're going to like it" said my dad, his voice raising slightly.

"Make me!" I yelled.

Without saying a word my dad stood up and slapped me so hard across the face I stumbled backwards a little, catching my balance before I hit the ground.

"You do not talk to me like that. I'm your father, you show me respect!"

"Why should I? You don't respect me! You hate me! You've always hated me!" I screamed, running back to my room to get some of my stuff. I gathered my things before my parents could do anything else to me. I ran all the way to the Curtis house and didn't stop till I was on there front porch. I stopped breathlessly and looked behind me. I thought surely my parents would come after me but I was wrong. The only thing that was chasing me were the dead leaves. I sighed a sigh of relief. If my dad had found out that I was staying there all hell would have broken loose.

I walked inside and shut the door behind me quietly, thinking that Pony and Davanee were still asleep. And I was right. There's was nobody there, except for Davanee and Pony.

I threw my stuff down on the couch and turned on the TV, turning it down so as not the wake them up. Pony was pretty grouchy before he went to bed so I would hate to see him when he woke up. I decided that maybe it would be a good idea if I went in and checked on him. When I opened the door, I saw that he was sound asleep but sweating a lot. It wasn't hot. I felt his head to see if he was running a fever but he was cold. He started to move a little but he didn't wake up. I tip-toed out of the room and left the door cracked behind me. Then I went in and checked on Davanee. She was still asleep.

I sat down in the living room and thought about how I was going to tell Pony about me moving. At first I thought that dinner would be a good time but then I remembered that there are a lot of people over here for dinner. Then I thought that I would tell him when we went for a walk but it occurred to me that for some reason he wouldn't want to go on a walk. I came up with a couple of other ideas but I always found something wrong with them.

I figured that the best way to tell him was just to come out and say it when I thought the time was right.

I stayed inside the rest of the day. In my opinion, it was too cold to go outside. I'm not too fond of the cold. I'm more of a spring, summertime person.

I was making dinner when I heard feet shuffling down the hall.

"Hey sleepy head" I said as Pony appeared in the kitchen doorway.

"Hey" he said, wiping the sleep out of his eyes.

"Feelin' better?"

"Yeah, a little. What time is it?"

"6:30."

"I've been asleep all day? Why'd you let me sleep all day?"

"I figured you needed it. Davanee's been asleep most of the day too. She only woke up twice."

"Did you give her any Tylenol?" asked Pony as he sat down at the table.

"Yeah, couple of hours ago."

There was a silence between us except for me cooking that is.

"Pony there's something I have to tell you" I began but before he could respond, the baby started crying.

"Hold that thought" said Pony, jumping up. He came back with Davanee in hand. He started to make her a bottle.

"Where are all the bottles?" asked Pony.

"They're in the sink. I washed them today" I said.

"You know, you don't have to do that. It's not like you have to earn your stay here" said Pony, pulling a pink bottle out of the sink. He put Davanee down on the counter and got the apple juice out of the ice box.

"So where is everybody? It's kinda quiet here" said Pony, filling up the bottle.

"Darry is working late. Soda and Steve said they were going out with Sandy and Evie tonight, or at least they were going to try to meet up with them. Johnny, Dallas, and Two-Bit will probably be over here later."

"Probably. They're usually over here around dinner time" said Pony.

"And breakfast."

"Of course, how could I forget? So, what was it you wanted to tell me earlier?" he asked, sitting back down at the table.

"Well, ummm, I don't really know how to say this. It's kinda hard for me to tell you" I began.

"Look, whatever it is you can tell me."

I took a deep breathe. This way harder then I thought it was going to be. So I decided to just blurt it out.

"Pony, I'm moving."

"What!? When?"

"In a couple of months. My parents and I are moving to New York."

"No, you can't go."

"I wish I didn't have but my dad said I have no choice and whatever he says goes" I said.

"I won't let you. There's no way you're going" said Pony.

"Oh, and what are you going to do? Chain me to the sofa?" I asked.

"Hey, that's not a bad idea except we don't have any chains" said Pony.

PONY'S POV

Moving? How can she be moving? Great , one of the only good things besides Davanee that had happened to me since Davanee and she was leaving. It was hard for me to picture things without Anya. I mean , I know we hadn't known each other that long but still , she was my girlfriend. Wouldn't you be upset if your girlfriend or boyfriend was moving far , far away?

"Pony, are you ok?" asked Anya.

"Yeah , I'll be ok. I just don't want ya to leave is all."

"I don't want to leave and I especially don't want to leave you. I like it here , it's almost like home except it's better."

"Are you talking about our house or Tulsa?" I asked.

"Your house but I like being in Tulsa too" said Anya. Just then, we heard the front door slam.

"Anybody home?!" called Soda from the living room.

"In here!" I called.

Soda walked into the kitchen and asked "has the mail come yet?"

"Soda, it's 7:00 of course the mail has come" said Anya, handing him the stack of mail. He flipped through it briskly and once he realized that there was nothing in there for him , he threw the stack on the table.

"So how was work?" I asked.

"Fine. Shouldn't you be getting ready for school?" asked Soda , taking a seat next to me at the table.

"No, I don't have school tonight" I said.

"Why not?" asked Anya.

"I dunno I just don't. I think it was a teacher planning day today or something" I said.

"What does that have to do with anything?" asked Soda.

"Well, whenever they have a teacher planning day for regular school , we have one for night school but I guess in that case it would be called a teacher planning night. So, I thought you were goin' out with Steve, Evie, and Sandy tonight" I said, changing the subject. I didn't like to talk about school. I thought it was boring to talk about school. Plus, I think you get enough school without having to talk about it.

"Sandy couldn't go out" said Soda.

"Who's Sandy?" asked Anya.

"My girlfriend."

"She's not sick or anything is she?" I asked.

"No, the doctor just put her on bed rest" said Soda.

"Well then, doesn't that mean she's sick?" asked Anya.

"No. She's pregnant" said Soda.

"Not to be nosey or anything but it is yours , isn't it?"

"I don't know. Part of me is hoping that it is and the other part is hoping that it isn't" said Soda.

"Does everybody else know?" asked Anya.

"No and I want to keep it that way. Can you imagine what Darry would do if he found out?"

"Keep in mind that I've actually been on the receiving end of that argument " I said.

"Oh yeah. You'll think Darry'll react the same way with me?" asked Soda.

"React to what?" asked Darry. He had just walked in the door and happened to hear the last part of our conversation.

"Nothing" said Soda.

"Come on , tell me" said Darry.

"We where just wondering if you would react to Soda taking night school the same way you did with me" I said.

"You wanna start going to night school?" asked Darry.

"Well, I was just thinkin' about it. I wasn't really sure" said Soda, playing along.

"I don't care if you want to start school again but you'll have to keep your day job at the DX."

"Oh I know" said Soda. There was a brief silence between us. Soda, Anya, and I looked at each other a bit nervously.

"Well, I'm gonna go get a shower" said Darry, breaking the silence.

Neither one of us said anything in response. We waited till we heard the shower running to talk again.

"Thanks" said Soda.

"No problem." I would cover for my brother any time.

"I think I'm gonna go see Sandy tonight" said Soda after awhile.

"I thought you said she was on bed rest" said Anya.

"She is but she's gonna be home alone tonight and I thought she might need someone there. She doesn't like to be alone" said Soda, his voice sounding a bit sad.

"What's wrong?" asked Anya.

"Nothing" said Soda.

"You're scared, aren't you?" I asked.

"What?" asked Soda.

"You're scared that it's yours."

"Yeah, a little. It's not that bad, is it?"

"What, parenting?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"It's not so bad once you get use to it. You'll probably be scared to death but it'll be ok. You wanna hold her?" I asked. I thought Davanee might be good practice for Soda, that is if the baby is his.

"Sure" said Soda, taking Davanee from me. He had held her a couple of times before but not for long periods of time. It's not that I didn't trust him it's just that I don't think Davanee really liked to be held by anybody else besides me and Anya. She seemed to take a liking to Anya. I did too.

Soda handed Davanee back to me.

"Where are you goin'?" I asked.

"I'm gonna go change so I can go see Sandy" said Soda, getting up from the table.

"You're not staying for dinner?" asked Anya.

"I'll just grab something on the way. I might take something to her" said Soda, leaving to go change.

"I hope he realizes what he's getting himself into" I said aloud, hoping Soda didn't hear that.

"What are you talking about?" asked Anya.

"I mean if this baby is his, I hope he realizes what he getting into. It's not all fun and games" I said. When I was younger, parenting always appeared to be so easy to me, like there was nothing to it. No skill involved. I was wrong.

Hey guys, I'm sorry to say that I might not be updating for awhile. I've been out of town for a long time and I have a lot of make-up work for school. And just out of curiosity, how old are y'all?