I had spent hours trying to think of what to say and all I could say was hi? But then again, I wasn't really sure what to say. What do you say to someone who just left you with a baby?

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I already told you. I want to see Davanee" said Jamie.

"I know that. I meant what are you doing here in Tulsa?" I asked.

"I came to visit Peter for Christmas" said Jamie. There was a silence between us. We both sat down under the tree.

"I told my parents about Davanee" said Jamie.

"You did? What did they say?"

"They where pretty mad. They want to move her out to California when we leave. They think that it would be best for her if she stay with her mom, and in my mother's words 'without the father'" said Jamie.

"Wait a minute, your parents think this whole thing is my fault? I'm sorry but you're just as much to blame as I am" I said.

"I know and I tried to tell them that but they wouldn't listen. They think I'm some perfect angel sent for God" said Jamie, "that's part of the reason why I went to that party. I was mad. I was sick of being such a good girl. I wanted to show people that I could be rebellious and the one time that I am, I'm in way over my head."

There was a moment of silence between us. I couldn't really explain why I was at the party. I guess it was because I just wanted to go. I had never been to a really party before. Sure, I've been to birthday parties but no parties that didn't involve a piñata or cake.

"You're not taking her" I said.

"Why not?"

"Because you just can't."

"But I'm her mother. Don't I have a say in what happens to her?"

"Not when you haven't been around" I snapped.

"I see" said Jamie, "I kinda figured you would say that. Well, do you mind if I take a picture of her?"

"I guess there's no harm in that" I said. So I let Jamie take a picture of her. When Jamie put her camera away, she asked "can I hold her?"

I thought for a minute and looked around for Soda and Steve. They were sitting over by the fountain, watching us.

"Yeah, sure" I said, handing Davanee over to her a bit hesitantly.

"She's beautiful" said Jamie, tears coming to her eyes, "God, I've messed up so bad. I'm sorry, Pony. I'm sorry I never told you. You had every right to know. God, I owe the two of you such a big apology." Tears where streaming down Jamie's face. I couldn't help but feel bad for her. In my opinion, she owed her daughter more than an apology for abandoning her the way she did.

"You know, I've been thinking things over. Maybe it's best for the both of you if I leave you guys alone."

"You mean forget about us?" I asked.

"No, not forget. Just leaving you two alone. I thought that it would make things complicated for her if I started interfering when she got older."

"I see what you mean. I think that's a good idea but if you ever change your mind, we'll be here. Maybe she would like to get to know you when she's older" I said. It may seem like I didn't want Jamie to see her ever again, it's just that it would probably be a good idea to wait until she was older.

"Maybe" said Jamie. Just then, we heard a car horn coming from behind us.

"That's Peter. I gotta go" said Jamie, handing Davanee back to me. She gave Davanee a kiss goodbye and said bye. I had a feeling that wasn't the last time we were going to hear from her. I stood there with Davanee and watched the car until it drove out of sight. I heard footsteps coming up behind me.

"That wasn't so bad" said Soda.

"No, it wasn't" I said.

"What did she say?" asked Steve.

"She said that she thought it was best if she left the two of us alone for awhile. She thought it might make things complicated for Davanee if she interfered" I said, turning away from the road.

I walked back to the house in silence while Soda and Steve goofed off. When we got home, I was greeted by Anya.

"How did it go?" she asked.

I took a look around and noticed that practically the whole neighborhood was sitting in our living room. Mark Jennings and Bryon Douglas were sitting on the floor with Two-Bit and Johnny watching Mickey Mouse. Tim and Curly where sitting on the couch, indulged in some conversation that made no sense to anyone else. Darry was sitting in his chair reading the newspaper. And of course, Soda and Steve where right behind me. Everything stopped when I walked in. Everyone stared at me like they were expecting me to tell them some elaborate story.

"I'll tell you later" I said.

Anya said "ok" and took a seat on the floor next to Bryon.

"Oh come on, Pony. Give us all the details" said Two-Bit.

"Later" I said, sitting down next to Anya with Davanee in my lap.

"Oh come on" said Curly, "why don't you tell us what happened?"

" 'Cause it's none of your damn business" I snapped.

"Ponyboy, what did I tell you about cursing?" scolded Darry.

I mumbled a 'sorry' to Curly and Darry. But honestly, it really wasn't any of Curly's business. Or anybody else's. The only people that could know would be the gang, my brothers, and of course Anya.

"It's ok" said Curly, "it's not like I haven't heard that before."

After an hour or so everybody left, including the gang.

"So, what happened?" asked Darry.

"She wanted to take Davanee back to California with her but I said no. She got into the whole thing about her being her mother and having rights. I basically said that she didn't have any rights when she hasn't been around to take care of her and all that stuff. She thinks it's best that she stay away for now" I said.

"That' probably not a bad idea. She did say she would be back though, didn't she?" asked Anya.

"Not really" I said, "I mean, she kinda did say that she wanted to see her again but not for a long time. It's almost as if she wants to forget about us" I said.

"I think it's kinda hard to forget about her daughter" said Anya.

"I dunno. She could always fall down a flight of stairs and get a terrible case of amnesia" I said.

"That's worst case scenario" said Anya.

"Hey, it could happen" I said. Stranger things have happened.

"So, what else did you guys talk about?" asked Anya.

"That was it really. She said she was in town to spend Christmas with her brother. She told her parents about Davanee."

"What do you mean she told her parents?" asked Soda.

"She told her parents" I repeated. I thought that was pretty self explanatory.

"Her parents didn't know?" asked Darry.

"No. Her parents and her got into some big argument about something else and she stayed at her friends house for the whole 9 months or something like that. I dunno, she didn't really explain in full detail" I said.

"But what if her parents try to do something?" asked Soda.

"Like what?" I asked.

"Like what if they try to take her back to California?" asked Soda

"I honestly don't know" I said, and the conversation was left at that. Both Soda and Darry had to get to work and I had a huge test to study for. Anya watched Davanee while I studied. I had to make up a history test I missed when I was sick. Our teacher has this policy where you can make up a test any time you want. I liked that policy because sometimes I couldn't make up all my test within the week I came back.

Anya babysat Davanee that night. Both Soda and Darry had to work late. I gave Davanee and Anya a kiss goodbye before I left. I always do. I had to walk to school that night. I didn't like walking alone in our neighborhood at night. You never know what might happen. It wasn't common that a greaser would jump another greaser but then again, it wasn't unheard of.

Fortunately, I made it to the school without being jumped. Most of my classes went pretty well. I got pretty good grades on most of the test I got back, except for my biology test. I got a 75. That was one test I wasn't going to tell Darry about. My last class of the night was Sex Ed. Mrs. Rose gave us a project. She gave us all a sack of flour and we had to pretend like we were parents. I wanted to laugh when she announced the assignment but I didn't. 'Maybe now these people will have an idea of what I go through every day' I thought to myself.

"Can anyone tell me what the whole point is of this project?" asked Mrs. Rose. Nobody raised there hands. So, I decided to take a step out of my comfort zone and raise my hand.

"Ponyboy?" asked Mrs. Rose, pointing to me.

"I think the whole point is to teach us responsibility" I said.

"That's right" said Mrs. Rose, "it's to teach you guys how to be responsible."

Mrs. Rose went on a little more about the project. Then, at the end of class, she gave us our sacks of flour. Just as I was about to leave, Mrs. Rose pulled me aside.

"Something wrong, Mrs. Rose?" I asked.

"No. I just wanted to ask you a couple of questions, if you don't mind" said Mrs. Rose.

"That's ok. Go ahead."

"Well, first of all, the first one is really more of a favor. You see, the school is having this "sex education" assembly in a month and I'm in charge of it. I thought that maybe it would be a good idea if we got some personal accounts from teenage parents and I was wondering if…"

"If I could give my testimony?" I asked.

"That is if you don't mind" said Mrs. Rose.

"It's ok. I'd be happy to. I don't think these kids realize how easy they have it" I said.

"I think you're right" said Mrs. Rose.

"You know, I don't know if this'll help but I know a couple of people who could giver there personal accounts. I could ask them for you" I offered.

"That'd help me so much" said Mrs. Rose.

"Ok, I'll talk to them tomorrow" I said.

There was a moment of silence between us. I was about to leave but then I remembered that there was something else she wanted to ask me.

"Wasn't there something else you wanted to talk to me about?" I asked.

"Oh yeah, you know, you don't have to do this project" said Mrs. Rose.

"Is it for a grade?"

"Yes."

"Then I guess I better do it. Can you imagine how bad it would look if I failed this class?" I asked. Mrs. Rose laughed a little.

"Yeah, that would be pretty bad" she said.

"Well, I should go."

"Ok, see you tomorrow" said Mrs. Rose.

I said bye and left. Soda was waiting for my outside, in front of the school.

"How'd it go?" asked Soda as we left the parking lot.

"Good."

"That's it?"

"Yeah, that's it."

"Ok."

The rest of the car ride was spent talking about what happened that day.

"Did you talk to Sandy today?" I asked.

"I did see her today and she said she'd stop by the DX tomorrow. You don't mind if I bring Davanee with me, do you? Sandy wants to see her."

"Yeah that's ok" I said, "I trust you."