Chapter 18

Patrick's POV

I sit on the floor and look over the notebook. It was old, and the cover was stained a little from coffee from the looks of it. The title read "The Outsiders" by "P.M Curtis." Those were Dad's initials. That's how he signed everything.

Under Dad's name was the date. November 5, 1967. That was almost 30 years ago. I open the cover and see that he got an A+ on it. I flipped to the next page, and read the first line.

'When I stepped out, into the bright sunlight, from the darkness of the movie house, I only had two things on my mind, Paul Newman, and a ride home.'

It was my Dad's handwriting, more sloppy but his hand writing. I smiled and felt the page. I looked up around the room and sighed. I laid my head against the wall and thought about what was going to happen. The State was going to take me and Mikey, or hopefully we stay with Darry or Soda, J.D stop working for Buck and go to that college she wanted to go to. I think she wanted to be a nurse. She would probably forgive Eric and they would live happily ever after, have a bunch of kids and grow old together. I wanted to hate what was going to happen, but I knew that it was probably what was best for everyone. Me and Mike living with Darry while J.D got to live how she wanted. It seemed right.

Someone knocked on the door and opened it. It was Soda.

"Patrick, what are you doing in here?" he asks coming over to where I was.

"Nothing, just thought I should come in." I said. He nods.

"What is that you got there?" he says. I give him the notebook and let him see it. He looks at the cover and smiles.

"I remember this. You're Dad wrote this when he was about your age. Patrick you should read this, I think you would like it." Soda hands it back to me.

"Any news on Mikey?" I ask.

"Yeah, the nurses said that he should be in the room any minute."

"We should go then." I say quietly.

"Yeah, come on kiddo." He says patting my shoulder.

J.D's POV

I filled out the forms that the nurse gave me as I waited for Mikey. I needed to call that Valance women, get her help with all this. If I was going to lose my brothers, I needed to make sure that either Darry or Soda got them.

Patrick left for a few minutes. I knew that he needed to blow off some steam. Soda went to call Aunt Rachael.

After about twenty minutes, there was a knock on the door. I looked up and saw a man in a mask and wearing one of those hats that doctors wear.

"Excuse me Miss, I believe that you called?" he removed his mask and I smirked when Eric smiled at me.

"What are you doing in here you goof?" I ask as he closes the door and takes off his mask and hat.

"I thought that you could use some company other than your family. Speaking of which, where are they?"

"Patrick left for a bit and Soda's calling his wife. Where did you get the outfit?" I ask.

"Supply closet. Remember when you did this for me when I busted my leg on my motorcycle?" he says sitting by me.

"Yeah, only family could see you, but I had to know you were okay." I said.

Eric took my hand and pulled it to his chest. He smiled at me and kissed my fingertips.

"Eric… don't." I whisper.

"Why?" He asks quietly.

"Because, just….. not here, not now. I need to be the responsible one for my brothers. If i didn't have to worry about them, we'd make this work. We'd leave this town and grow old somewhere. But we can't, and I'm not sorry for that. I want to be the responsible one for my brothers, because there all I got left."

Eric smiled and took my other hand into his.

"Then I'll wait. I'll wait so that I can be the responsible one, and take care of you. And be your family and we'll have our own kids. And we'll live happily ever after, just like we said when we were kids."

I smiled and kissed his cheek.

"I'm sorry, for everything." I said.

"Me too." He whispered in my ear.

Reviews are appreciated.

Also, I want to start a new story, but I'm not sure which one to start. If you guys would help me, that would be great. Please tell me which one you guys think you would like me to start.

What is it wasn't Johnny with the knife, what if it was Ponyboy?

Ponyboy gets in trouble and has to clean the attic. He finds a journal that dates back to the 1800's.

Ponyboy is walking down the street a year after the fire. He sees a boy in the shadows with dark eyes, hair, and skin. There's no way it could be Johnny.

While coming home from school, Pony gets hit by a car and has an out-of-body experience. What does he see?

Also, I'm going to write a one shoot of my other story, Becoming Dallas Winston. I don't know what the title's going to be, but look out for it!

Sincerely, JCLS.