Cut My Lip

Thirteen

The next few weeks weren't so good for us. Our payments were higher for no reason, and it was almost Christmas.

So I'd ended up having to work a third job. My schedule was something like: restaurant from 1:00 pm to 9:00 pm, a movie theater ticket saleswoman from 9:30 pm until 12:30 am, and librarian from 7:00 am to 12:00 pm.

Darry didn't get a third job, but he was always working overtime at both his jobs, and so was Soda. Johnny had started practically living in our house; since Pony was usually home alone, Johnny came to keep him company.

Me, Soda, and Darry were now constantly exhausted and pretty irritable. At least Soda got Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays off.

"So how's w-" Two-Bit started.

"Not now, I have to go to the restaurant," I sighed. I'd just stopped in for a second to grab a snack, but no one had gone grocery shopping that week. I handed Soda $3.00. "Can you go shopping, hon? We don't got anything to eat here."

"Sure thing," he nodded.

"Thank you. See y'all later,"

Soda's POV

"Glory, she and Darry are gonna kill themselves working this hard." I said after she was gone.

"You mean they haven't already?" Dally asked. "It's a miracle Annie hasn't dropped dead yet."

"I feel bad." Pony frowned. "You three are working so hard and I ain't doing anything."

"You're also fourteen. Don't worry about any of this, Ponyboy, we're gettin' along just fine." I told him. I was upset that he'd figured out that our money problems were this bad.

Obviously he knew, but I didn't think he knew this much. The expression on his face told me that he didn't feel any better about this whole thing, and I glanced away.

.

I woke up at two in the morning to get water from the kitchen. When I walked past the living room, I saw Annie and Darry curled up together on the couch.

I smiled slightly and paused to cover both of them in a blanket. Both of them stirred slightly before they stilled again. I smiled again and went back to bed.

Annie's POV

I woke up to see that me and Darry were snuggled up together on the couch, and someone had covered us up with a blanket.

I glanced at the clock and saw it was 8:30. "Shit!"

"What?" Darry asked, still half asleep.

"We're both late for work!"

"Shit!"

Both of us were the were rushing around to get dressed. We ran outside and got in my car, since Soda had to take theirs. I'm pretty sure I broke a few laws in the hurry to drop him off at work and then get to the library.

.

"Annie, are you sure this is a good idea?" Steve asked me, watching as I put four spoonfuls of sugar into my coffee.

"It's fine. Not only will it give me all the sugars I need for the day, so I won't have to eat, but it also supplies energy." I said before I chugged the whole thing.

"Aren't you allergic to coffee?" Dally asked, and I paused.

"I only get hives, it's fine." I brushed it off as I poured another cup of coffee.

"Yeah. No." He took the coffee from me and moved me away from the counter.

As I walked outside to head to work, I heard a door slam, someone falling over, and very loud cussing. I paused, about to head back inside, when I realized I was going to be late.

Not my problem. I just got in my car and went to work.