This is just a chapter to get started. "Reflections" is part two of "Grown Up!", so if you didn't like how part one ended, read this, cause it didn't really end...

I do not own The Outsiders

Two-Bit POV

Reflections are a funny thing. They show you what you want to see, and sometimes, what you don't. Like what I saw that night. I saw that I was a twenty-eight year old man. That's what I wanted to see. But I also saw that me and my father, Ray Matthews, are exactly alike. We both were drunks, both liked how we looked with beards, and both walked away from the people we loved the most. But I don't want to be like him. I don't want to be like the bastard who left my mom, Kendra, and me to fend for our selves. I hated that guy's guts. I don't want to become my father. So I shaved. That man made my life hell. But, my life was tons better than Johnny's, who's parents beat him every night. Better than Steve's, who's father tortured him then ran him out of the house every other week, then gave him five bucks as an apology. Better than Dallas', who's father refused to take part of his life. I'm not sure about his mother, but Dally lives anywhere he can. At least I've had one parent who loved me and my sister, Kendra. But she died. I'm not sure if it was a murder or a natural death. I don't care right now.

I wanted to show Darry how nine years changed him from the loving, older brother he was to the hard father is has become. I wanted to show Soda and Steve how war can change a guy. Soda went from happy-go-lucky to Mr. Army Major. Steve, who already was hard from his father, grew harder than I could ever be and faster than anyone I know. Johnny, quiet Johnny, became a hard worker. At least he didn't change too much. But Pony, or should I say Michael, changed the most. He went from the little tag-along kid I loved as a brother to a hard working idiot at a supermarket. He went from loving his name to hating it. Even Randy changed. The Soc who used to jump us all with Bob, changed too. And Kendra. Kendra went from my annoying little sister who got joy from picking on Steve and Soda, to a hard working mother of an eight year old son, Toby Curtis. Why does everyone have to change?

I stopped myself before I became my father. But I wonder if I can stop everyone else before it's too late.

I just hope I can.

I want my friends back.

I need them back.

I need them.

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