Chapter 3

This chapter is sooooo crappy. I'm sorry. Forgive me. ):

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Chapter 3

• A couple weeks later •

Lately, Ponyboy and I have been writing letters back and forth, including pictures and updates on each other's lives in each envelope. He tells me he misses me and Baby and the gang. The best thing is, he only has about two and a half months left.

I've pretty much gotten over the mini depression stage. Now I'm always anxious to whether or not he's okay. But in a letter, he agreed we should have a car. So I took Darry with me to go pick one out a few days ago. Now it's ours.

Johnny and I have gotten over that one moment. I felt awkward about it for about a day. Then I got over it because nothing happened. He's been in and out of the house since. I don't know what he still thinks about it. Maybe he's just busy.

Baby's first birthday is soon too. I feel really bad Pony's gonna miss it. I guess we can send pictures, but it wouldn't be the same. At least she's too young to understand anything. We don't know what we're gonna do. Probably just a family thing. Nothing big. Just a little tiny cake for her.

"Hey, JT, are you about done with that painting?" Darry asks while we're sitting in the kitchen. I'm beside the table with the canvas facing me rather than the boys. Darry, Soda, Dally, and Steve are sitting down with Baby and Tucker sitting up, and they're playing with them.

"Almost. Be patient," I reply, putting the finishing touches on the picture. I add a couple more details and put my paint aside.

"Where'd you learn all this art stuff anyway?" Steve asks.

"Back home, they had a really good class for kids who could do this stuff. They thought I was really good so they put me in the class. I was never really passionate about art until I realized how beautiful it really was, you know?"

"How is it beautiful?" Soda asks. I think for a minute, chewing on the bottom of my paintbrush.

"It's... colors, lots of colors mixed together to create something you have to interpret or feel. You never know whose pain is in that paint. You never know whose life story is being poured out through the colors and patterns. It's one big mystery to me," I reply.

"Well, are you gonna show us, or what?" Dally asks.

"Way to ruin the moment, Dal," I tease. I pick up the canvas. "Alright, ready?" They all nod. I turn it around.

"Wow... That's... amazing," Darry says.

I look down at it again. A single silhouette of a soldier stands tall on the top of a hill with a pink, purple, and golden sunset behind him fading into dark blue and black night sky with stars speckling the scene.

The others nod in agreement.

"Boo!" Tucker says.

"Yeah, Tucker. That's blue," I say, pointing to the color.

"Good job, buddy," Dally tells him.

"Well, we ought to put the kids down," I butt back in. I take Baby and Tucker upstairs and put them in the crib. I go back downstairs and sit at the table with the others. Somehow we get on the subject of Tucker. Dally begins to take the conversation elsewhere.

"Man, I can't believe Sylvia just left him with me," he says. "You'd think she'd keep the kid, knowing how I was."

"But now you got him, and it couldn't be better, I think," I say quietly.

"I know, but that's not my point. How could she do that to him? I remember everything she said. I was up at the stables and all, and she comes up to me, and she says, 'Dallas, we need to talk. I know we ain't going together anymore, but I'm moving.' I asked her what the big problem was. She went to her car, brought out a bunch of stuff and threw it in mine. Then she carried Tucker to me, but how was I supposed to know? She put him in my arms and said, 'He's yours. Not mine. I'm leaving, and I'm not coming back. Take care of him. He was a mistake.'"

Dally puts his hand over his mouth and shakes his head. He kinda laughs to himself and begins talking again as his voice becomes unsteady.

"She said he was a mistake and that he wasn't her problem anymore. When I looked at him for the first time, I thought I was gonna give him away too, but he was already growing up. I couldn't find it in me to do that, you know?" he says. "He was a part of me. I was holding my kid... My son. How could Sylvia not think? He might grow up asking why he doesn't have a mother like all the other kids. He's gonna go through hell with that. I told myself that I wouldn't let that happen like it did to me..."

Nobody says a word. I don't think any of us have ever heard Dally talk like this before. Something must really be bothering him.

"Dally," I say gently. He looks at me. "What's going on?"

He sighs heavily. "Look, I didn't want to say anything, but... I met this girl. She's real nice. We've been talking a lot when I get to see her."

"Well, what's her name?" Soda asks with interest. They're all smiling at Dally like Cheshire cats.

He blushes and looks down. "Elizabeth, but everyone calls her Liz."

"She a looker?" Steve asks.

"Yeah. She's real pretty and all. She's got black hair and these grey looking eyes. Kinda short like JT's size," he describes.

"Anything else?" Darry includes.

"She's been in some trouble too. She ran away from home a couple months ago. She's working at the stables. She trains the horses and all. She reminds me a lot of, well, me. Smart-mouth, troublemaker, but a heck of a person to be around."

"Can we meet her?" I ask with the biggest smile on my face.

"What? You mean here?" he asks.

"No. In outer space. Yes here!"

"No way."

"Please?!" I beg. "Just invite her to dinner here. Be nice about it. You're Dallas Winston for crying out loud. Just ask! I'm sure she'll say yes!"

"I don't know," he says.

"C'mon! Why not?" Steve, Soda, and Darry say together but at a delayed reaction.

"I don't like the idea."

"Pwease?" I ask, puckering out my bottom lip and batting my eyelashes. "I'll cry if you don't. Who knows? She might actually turn out to be my best friend! I need another girl around here that I can actually talk to!" I complain. They laugh.

"She's right, Dal," Darry agrees.

"Thank you!" He nods.

"Do it! Do it! Do it!" we chant quietly.

"Alright! I'll invite Liz over for Friday night. Happy now?" he says.

"Yay!" I reply, clapping my hands together once. "Find out what she likes as soon as you can! I'll cook for us."

"Are you sure though?" Dally asks. "I mean... It's not a big deal, really."

"Sure it is! But... Does she know about Tucker?" I ask. He shakes his head.

"You ought to tell her," Soda says.

"Yeah. And then what? She'll run off," Dallas replies angrily. He frowns.

"Oh leave him alone," I say. "Dally's got a big date, and you're making him nervous!" They laugh.

"Well I'm turning in. Night y'all," he says, getting up.

"Me too. I'm tired," I add.

"Alright. See y'all in the morning," Darry says.

I start going upstairs with a smile on my face. Tonight was good for us, I think. For a moment I actually forgot Ponyboy's gone...