Family Bond

For new readers to this story please note this is a sister story. Landslide is the fourth story entry with a character named Scout Marie Curtis, aka-Sissy

Disclaimer: This fanfiction entry is based on the book, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. Many of the characters in this story are her creation and I thank her for creating them and allowing so many writers to borrow them for our writing hobby.

Chapter one

I glanced up at the clock on the classroom wall. It was just seconds before the final school bell rang. Everyone was itching to get out of school because the cold winter had finally brought something to the town that we hadn't seen all season, snow. I grabbed my books off of my desk, put on my winter jacket and headed out into the rapidly filling halls of my high school. I always brought my books and coat to my last class because my locker was on the other side of the school building. I also didn't like being in the halls after school. It was always crowded and there were fights all the time.

See, my brothers and I go to high school in the middle of town. Within the school there are two dominant groups, the rich kids, or the Socials, which we call the Socs. Then there are the poor kids, the greasers. Now the term greaser only fits with the guys, because they are generally thugs who dress in jeans and t-shirts and style their long hair with grease. For the girls it's a little different. A greaser girl is trashy looking with her skirt hiked up, her shirt worn tight and a dirty mouth to match. Me, I don't fit either group, but since my brothers are greasers, I am a greaser too.

I headed down the concrete steps toward the parking lot to wait for the others. The Oklahoma winter air blew through my thin coat sending a chill up my back. I had hoped for a better coat for this winter, but there just wasn't enough money in the family funds so I didn't tell anyone I needed one. Standing in the falling snow was one of my favorite things to do. As people flooded out of the building I stood watching the snowflakes falling from the sky. I didn't notice anyone else. Then again I rarely ever did.

I was a bit of a loner at school. I started my freshman year in the spring semester when I was only twelve years old. Being that young in such a big school was scary for me, and I was in many upper level classes so I didn't make any friends.

I remember on my first day of high school I was sitting on the couch at home. My mom and dad were so proud and excited for my first day. I was frightened. The older kids were so tall, and rough and I was afraid I would get trampled in the hallways. Mom was a sharp woman and she noticed my lack of enthusiasm. Before we left she told my oldest brother Darrel, who was in his senior year, that he needed to keep his eye on me. Everyday that semester Darry walked me to my first class and met me everyday at my locker after school. Darry was very popular in school; he was captain of his football team, made good grades and was handsome as well. A lot of the girls, both Soc's and greasers thought he was cute. Best of all he didn't seem to fall into one group or the other, just like me. I was so sad when he graduated.

"Geez it's cold out here."

Ponyboy's voice made me jump as my attention was taken away from the snow and directed toward him. Pony shivered as we waited for the others. Of course he was just wearing a long sleeve zippered sweatshirt. My mom tells him every cold morning to get a thicker jacket, but Pony rarely listens. That's the problem with Ponyboy, he's real book smart but he has no common sense.

Ponyboy and I have a special connection, because we are twins. Even though we obviously weren't identical we definitely shared a lot in common, like our high IQ's. Pony was actually suppose to begin high school the same time I was, but a three week bout with the chicken pox kept him from starting. Both of us love to lose ourselves in a book or a thought. We don't have a lot of friends and we are both gentle people considering the neighborhood we come from.

I laughed, "Of course it's cold you idiot! Its February."

"Yeah and I hope we don't have another day like this one for a long time."

I looked up at him, he was a few inches taller than me. "Well it's the 29th Pony, so I am sure we won't be having another day like this for 4 more years!"

Ponyboy wasn't alone, he was paired up with his best friend Johnny Cade. Johnny had an interesting look to him. His eyes were very dark, almost black and they were shadowed by his long bangs and dark skin. Johnny was a quiet guy who had a really hard home life. His mom always yelled and his dad liked to hit. So for most of his childhood Johnny was at our house, both day and night. My dad tried to talk some sense into Johnny's dad once, tell him to not hit so much and all. It didn't work though, and dad came home with a new black eye. All dad would say when we teased him was "You should have seen the other guy." I don't think my dad hit back. That just wasn't his style.

Pony was getting ready to retort when our sixteen year old brother Sodapop and his best friend in the whole world, Steve Randall, came bounding out of the building. Steve was moving with his semi-cool swagger. He was sixteen, had dark hair and eyes and was just a little taller than Sodapop.

Soda was leaping around. He was always excited to be out of school. He hated school. It was just two much sitting time for Soda. Johnny and Ponyboy laughed softly at Soda who was dancing around in the snow trying to catch flakes on his tongue. Soda always made everybody laugh because he was so full of energy and life. He was handsome too. He was the cutest of all my brothers and he knew it. He was confident and cocky as well as caring. If any of us had a problem we would take it to Soda and he would help us through.

"Come on let's get to the car, it's freezing out here." Steve said as he pulled the collar up on his coat and attempted to light his cigarette in the wind. He didn't carry any books. He rarely did his homework or maybe he just wasn't in any classes that gave homework.

The group followed Steve through the parking lot to his car. Steve gave everyone in the gang a ride to and from school everyday. That made him OK in my book. At least I didn't have to walk or ride the bus.

"Wahoo!" Soda yelled and jumped around. "It's snowing, I love snow!"

"Awe man! We are going to have some fun driving home today!" A voice yelled from behind us. I turned around to find Two-Bit jogging up towards us. Two-Bit Matthews was almost eighteen years old and still a sophomore. His real name is Keith, but his quick wit earned him the nickname since he always had his own two bits to add to any conversation. Two-Bit had a stocky build, brown hair and long sideburns. He was so far behind in school that anyone else in his situation would have dropped out by now. Two-Bit was different though, he loved school and some questioned if he was ever going to leave.

We all piled into Steve's car, I rode in the backseat with Soda and Ponyboy. Ponyboy and I always rode in the back. By the time we were ready to leave heavy flakes were falling from the sky and there was over two inches of snow on the frozen ground and streets. Steve pulled out of the parking lot faster than usual sending the tail end of the car to fishtail back and forth.

Soda, Two Bit and Steve all hooted and hollered with excitement. Pony and Johnny quietly enjoyed the mischief while all I did was tensed up. I was often the timid one and I suggested to Steve. "You better slow down or your gonna get us killed."

Steve heard "you better speed up and scare the girl in the back seat." Then he hit the brakes and sent the car reeling into an uncontrollable 360-degree spin. How we missed hitting other cars, the curbs and a light pole I will never know.

Sodapop threw his right arm around me and smiled with his movie star grin. "Come on Sissy, lighten up and have some fun!" In my brother's gang they often called me by my nickname, Sissy. My oldest brother Darrel actually gave me the name when I was about seven. All of the boys in the neighborhood wrestled and played rough. Most of the time I just watched them play. Darry always told me to get into the game. One day I told him I didn't want to get hurt and he has called me Sissy ever since. For the longest time my parents thought he called me Sissy because I was the little sister. They were not to happy to hear the truth later that Darry was actually teasing me because I wasn't tough enough to play with the wild pack of boys my brothers called friends.

I didn't consider myself a sissy, but I was definitely shy and cautious. You kind of had to be that way in my neighborhood. We lived in a poor area of town on the northeast side. Most of the families there have a hardship of some kind or other. As kids we never really noticed we were poor and different. It wasn't until middle school and high school when we noticed there were so many kids and families out there that had more than us. Sometimes with even as little as my family had I felt we were better off than the rich kids. My mama always said money can come and go, but love from a family sticks with you for eternity. I used to think about that saying when I lay in bed at night. I knew what she meant. I would choose my family over money any day!

I guess I didn't mention it, but my given name is Scout Marie Curtis. My father loved to read books, that's where Pony and I get it. Reading for entertainment has served me well because growing up I only had my brothers and their friends to play with. Most of the girls in the neighborhood were not my age and because I was ahead in school it was hard for me to make friends there. Ever since I was old enough to play outside on my own my parents have made sure my brothers included me in every game. Even when I was included they still played as rough as if I was a boy. In fact, most days of my life I even dressed like a boy. Ever since Ponyboy gained on me in height I wore his hand-me-downs to save the family money. And those hand me downs were well worn because they were Soda's hand-me –downs before they were Pony's. My t-shirts were always to long and the pants I had to cinch tight with a belt and roll up. I never complained. It was a sacrifice I had to make for the family. Besides I was the only girl, so when my parents could spoil one of us they always chose me first. I did have some nice girl clothes, but I saved those outfits for special days at school and dances and stuff.

After more than an hour cruising the town skidding through intersections and doing donuts in half full parking lots I was relieved when we pulled up outside our house. I wanted to be the first one out of our car. The guys were laughing at me, but I didn't care what they thought. I ran up the snow covered steps to my house and swung the front door open. Inside my Darry was already home.

"Are you home early because of the snow?" I asked.

"Yep," Darry said without taking his eyes off the TV, "kind of hard to roof houses with snow on them." Darry was nineteen years old and not good at casual conversation. He was the type of person who was only concerned with the facts, everything to him was black and white. I felt bad for him that he didn't have an active imagination like Pony and I. I also felt bad for him because he had to come home early from work. I knew that bummed Darry out. He was still at home because our family didn't have enough money to send him to college. My dad helped him get the roofing job so he could spend and year or two working and save enough money to go to school later.

I put my books down on the dining room table and kicked off my wet shoes as the other boys came into the house.

Soda was grinning from ear to ear as he kicked his shoes off, both Soda and I hated wearing shoes, and through his jacket on the floor. "You should have seen it Darry!" He began with added laughter. "Steve was fishtailing and flying around out there and Sissy was in the back seat screaming and holding on to me with her eyes shut."

I looked over to find Darry giving Soda his full attention and laughing at the image. Soda was the best at making everyone else laugh, so I didn't mind being the fool to make him laugh too.

"I love snow!" Soda yelped. "I am gonna move to Canada where it snows everyday!"

Pony and I exchanged glances. We both knew Soda believed it snowed everyday in Canada and that wasn't true, but it never did any good to correct him.

Darrel laughed at Soda, he loved that kid. I think it was because as kids he always had Sodapop to play with and Pony and I had each other. Naturally those two spent a lot of time as a pair.

I sat down at the dining room table with Johnny and Ponyboy and pulled my homework out of my book. Pony and I knew the rules, homework had to be before anything else. It has always been that way for all of us kids. The only one who gets away with messing around is Soda. He could never concentrate right after school. He definitely needed time to unwind.

Sodapop bounced off the couch and into the dining room. He put both hands on the back of my chair and leaned in to see what we were studying. "Are you two going to be done in time to make mom and dad their anniversary dinner?"

February 29th was out parents wedding anniversary. Dad said he wanted to get married on that date because it only comes around every four years and he knew he wouldn't have enough money to buy my mother something nice every year. So as tradition the two of them take the day off, dad buys mom a semi-expensive gift and she packs a lunch and the two of them drive to the country where they had originally met at a picnic. Ever since Darry was old enough to boil water to make noodles we have been making dinner for them when they get home. This year Ponyboy is in charge of making the noodles, Darry will make the garlic bread and I will make the meatballs. To assure the dinner comes out nice we only let Sodapop open the spaghetti sauce, but even he can make that into an event.

"Yeah, we can make time for that." Pony assured him.

The front door swung open and everyone looked to see if it was our parents. Dallas Winston stepped into the house. "Whoa! Look at all that snow! There has to be about three inches out there." Dallas, nicknamed Dally, was a tough kid who had probably the toughest life of all of my brothers' friends. Dally was full of anger and hate because he had a tough life and no real family to take care of him. He lived in the bad parts of New York where gangs were real and the fights were deadly. By the time Dally moved to our neighborhood he had already been in jail and had a police record that was more than two dozen pages long, and that was just at age 12.

Soda swaggered over to the window to check out the fluffy white snow that had piled up. As mischief filled his mind he looked back over his right shoulder. "Hey ya'll, who wants to get in a snowball fight?"

Everyone jumped up.

"Yeah let's do it!" Steve hollered. "Soda you're on my team."

I looked over at Pony to see if he was planning on ditching his homework and then towards Soda. "I'm on Darry's team!"

"Johnny and I are with Soda!" Ponyboy claimed his stake in a team much to Steve's dismay. Steve hated that Soda always let Ponyboy tag along with everything they did.

"Darry stood up, alright that means we have Two-bit and Dally!"

Everyone grabbed their coats and bolted out the front door into the cold snow.

The game really had no structure, every one just started grabbing little piles of snow with their bare hands, packed it into snowballs and whipped it at someone not on their own team. The object of the game was to hit as many people as you could and as hard as you could. That's why I wanted to be on Darry's team. He was stronger then any of the others.

Dusk set in and our breath could be seen coming from our mouths as we dodged behind poles, trees and vehicles to avoid being hit. I found the safest spot was behind Darry and that's where I stayed. I would pack the snowballs and cradle a pile of them in the crook of my arm and he would fire them at the others. My team dominated as Two-Bit, Dally and Darry kept the other four under fire. Soda tried to flank us several times only to be pelted with snow. That didn't bother him though. He loved the action and competition.

In all the commotion I just barely heard the phone ringing inside the house. I took off from my safe spot behind Darrel to run inside and answer the phone. My trip was cut short by my over active brother who had come sliding down the sidewalk and accidentally collided with me. I flew in the air head over heels and landed on my back with a thud.

Immediately the game stopped as everyone looked to be sure I was ok. Soda army crawled over to my side, his reckless smile temporarily gone. "Scout you ok?"

I looked up at his serious face and had to laugh. "Yeah I'm alright!"

Soda stood up, yanked me to my feet and declared, "play ball!" as he tossed a pile of snow down the back of my shirt.

"Soda knock it off, I need to get the phone."

My brother let me go and I skipped up the steps into the house reaching for the phone and diving into my father's favorite chair at the same time. "Hello?" I said while I tried to catch my breath. "Hello?" I repeated and waited for a reply. The caller was no longer on the line.

I stood up and shook more snow out from under my shirt and looked out the window at the boys roughhousing in the street. Darry was shorthanded without me, but it didn't matter because he had grabbed a hold of Soda and was using him as a shield as he closed in on Ponyboy and Johnny.

"RETREAT!" I heard Ponyboy yell and he and Johnny took off to the end of the street. Where Johnny's house was.

Inside the house was warm so I didn't return to play with the boys. I wandered into my room and exchanged my cold, wet t-shirt with a dry one. Then I headed into the kitchen, filled a pot with water and set it on the stove to boil. I grabbed the meat out of the icebox and flopped it into a bowl, threw in a few eggs, salt, pepper and dried bread crumbs and walked out to the dinning room table to mix up the ingredients for meatballs. That is when I noticed the red flashing lights outside our home. Emergency lights were never a good sign in our neighborhood.