I know...a lot of people are against sister fics. For awhile I was too, but I realized if written correctly, they could have a lot of potential to introduce a new perspective to the story that we know so well. I know that a lot of us writers are female, so adding someone who we can relate to better than a teenage boy, but still experiences all the same plot, could be a benefit. My character will not be a so-called 'Mary-Sue'..she won't be one-sided (or at least I hope not) So if you decide to give this fic a chance go ahead, if not, you don't need to…
I've been reading a lot of sister stories. They are what inspired me to write mine. If you notice any bombarding similarities between mine and another author's...lemme know. I'll credit them without hesitation. I'm not here to stir up drama, just to enjoy myself, have a past time. :)
Hinton owns everyone except my little Jo (or Jenny). Proud to say she's all mine ;)
I realized that Science was my favorite class on my first day of 7th grade. The way it brought everything together into making sense satisfied me. And I needed some more things that made sense.
I was pretty smart for my age; not smart like Ponyboy, but smart … mostly I was good at memorizing things. So Science was perfect for me. At least it wasn't English, which Pony was good at, where you had to guess and choose at everything when there wasn't even a right or a wrong. I hated that.
In Biology, I had all the words and definitions I needed down to a tee ...I hardly ever had to ask my brothers for help in that class.
Not that I ever really asked for help in any of my other subjects. I liked to do things on my own. I was fine with Darry or even Soda...but when Pony tried to butt in I got annoyed. My brother was too smart for his own good.
I guess sometimes I just didn't realize how lucky I was. Sure we were poor … but nobody in East side Tulsa had any money. And both my parents lived under the same roof, and they didn't hit us kids or each other ...for a greaser, that was rare.
In my family, I mostly hung out with Mom. My brothers were always going out with Dad and doing some strictly 'boy' things...hunting, fishing, whatever. I used to pitch a fight whenever they left, but now I didn't really mind it because it left me time with just Mom. If there was one thing I wanted... it was more privacy. For there to be less than 5 people in my house at one time was a miracle. Not that I didn't love my family, God knew I did...but they could sometimes be overbearing. I spent a lot of time at my friend Grace's house to escape it all.
My brothers were a part of this 'gang'. It wasn't really a gang-gang...not one of those organized ones that you heard about – getting into fights, and being arrested. Mostly it was just a bunch of boys who treated our house like their own. A few of them didn't come from great families, so Mom had started leaving the door unlocked for them at all times. I guess word must've gotten around ...it spread pretty quick in the East side. Now our house was a safe haven for boys with black eyes. I didn't exactly mind it; it was just that there were always boys everywhere.
Another thing about Mom – I could never ever think of her without kids. Even when she was younger, she told me, she had 2 little sisters that she looked after. Sometimes (in that rare time we had alone) she'd tell me stories about her growing up. She'd talk a lot about her sisters. It made me want one.
Mom's mom, my grandma, had died when Ponyboy was a baby. I hadn't been born so I never knew her. But I was named after her ...Josephine. Mom got to choose my name, since my Dad had already named my brothers. Somehow he still got his way though; he always called me Jo. It was a safe bet that no one knew my actual name because Jo sort of caught on. Only Mom and a few of my school teachers actually call me Josephine. I liked that better; Jo made me feel like a boy. And, Jesus Christ, I had a brother named Sodapop. How did I, the girl, end up as Average Jo?
I always felt like I didn't know Dad well enough. We never really spent much time just me and him. Like I said, he would take the boys out hunting a lot. I got left at home. It wasn't that I wanted to hunt in the first place … in fact I probably would've said no. Not because I was a sissy, but because I couldn't stand the idea of just killing things. We hardly ever ate what my brothers shot anyways. So what was the point?
Besides, Dad's main priority was Darry. Even Soda and Pony got left out because of him sometimes. The 2 of them looked like brothers. Some people even thought they were. Dad still looked Darry's age, and he could still throw a football. Darry had followed in his footsteps playing linebacker.
He was sort on a high horse about the whole football thing. Honestly, I never got picked on by the socs a lot, and it was probably because Darry Curtis was my brother. No one wanted to mess with him. Not that Darry was a soc by any means...but he wasn't entirely a greaser.
Sometimes it felt like he thought he was too good for us. If we had more money, I had no doubt Darry would have been 100% soc. Sweater vests and all. In fact he used to hang around with one called Paul Holden up until last year... I didn't know what happened. 50/50 it probably had to do with Darry being a so-called greaser.
My other brother, Soda, was pretty popular too. Just not in the same way. People liked him just because he was Soda. I strongly believed there was only one person like him on the Earth. Plus...he was handsome. It sounded weird, even to me, but if I wasn't Soda's sister, I would definitely have a crush on him. A big one. They call it a crush for a reason.
Out of all 3 of my brothers, I got a long with him best. It was impossible not to...unless you gave him a good reason. With me and him there was something I didn't have with Darry or Ponyboy. He just knew me best. I only ever told Soda how much I hated people calling me Jo. I couldn't remember when, I was probably really young, but he started calling me Jenny. Nobody else called me that; I was only Jenny to Soda. Even though Jenny sounds nothing like Josephine, Soda could have cared less. It was always Jenny to him.
Lately though, Soda was hanging around with Pony more and more. The 2 of them got along as well as I did with Soda ...maybe even better. I got why. Ponyboy was Soda's kid brother. He had just turned 13 … he was growing up. They went out and did 'guy' stuff and like always I was left behind.
Soda had this friend named Steve. I didn't know him too well but we both a agreed on one thing; Ponyboy. Steve thought (well he didn't actually think it. He told everyone out loud everyday) that he was a 'pain in the ass tag-a-long'. I didn't exactly think that ...I never asked to go anywhere with Soda or Steve, so how would I know. But I did think my brother was cocky.
He actually should have only been one grade ahead of me (we're one year apart) but because he's so smart the teachers promoted him straight to high school from 7th grade. And even though the material he was getting now was supposed to be harder he still got all A's. My 100% Biology quiz that Mom had taped to the fridge looked weak compared to his honor roll certificate…which was framed.
(I took the quiz down last week. Nobody noticed.)
If that wasn't enough...he ran track...and he was good. He broke first-place ribbons and got medals and pats-on-the-back which I never got. Track meets took 3 hours, and every Wednesday, I had to say no to plans so I could go watch my brother win another stupid race. If that wasn't enough to tick a person off, what was?
It wasn't like Pony was there when I came in 2nd in the Spelling Bee in 5th grade, or anything. Mom and Dad showed up for that...but it was sort of wiped away after the fact. My ribbon was collecting dust somewhere in my closet shelf. A track meet stuck around the house for an entire week. Until the next one.
What annoyed me most about Ponyboy though, was how he acted when people told him how good he was … at everything. He got all quiet and sort of blushed. He might as well stand up and start bragging about how humble he was. I had to admit; Pony was a quiet kid. I wasn't. I mean, I would never be as extroverted as Soda...but at least I knew how to accept a compliment.
Sorry for that chapter. It was necessary...I wanted to sort of introduce the character all in one before I started to write out the plot. (Which you know will be interesting. But I promise not to throw a bunch of gross nonsense action on you all at once…)
If you seriously just read all that, you seriously can review. ;))