A/N: Hey, everybody! :D :)

Guess who's ready to write an awkward, but yet humorous one-shot? That's right, I'm actually writing this one-shot based off "the talk." Be warned, this one-shot is rated PG-13 and it obviously is going to have sexual references. All part of learning "the talk," unfortunately.

Summary: Johnny Cade's twelve-year-old sister, Cassidy, is growing up fast and Johnny feels that it's time for her to learn about "the birds and the bees." Although, Johnny's probably not the best person to give such a lesson.

Reviews are greatly appreciated! Happy reading, everyone!

Johnny's POV

I nervously bit down on my bottom lip and twirled a lose thread from my slightly stained T-shirt around my forefinger. Hazily, I could hear a song by the Rolling Stones playing on the decent sized radio that Ponyboy got permission by Darry to bring outside with him. My jet-black, heavily greased bangs were plastered against my forehead, and dozens of sweat drops were streaking down my beating red face as I slumped on the wooden steps of the Curtis's back porch. Ponyboy was sitting beside me, absent-mindedly smacking his lips as he sucked on a half-eaten blue popsicle, obviously not caring about his reddish-brownish bangs as they chopped down across his sweaty forehead. A ring of blue juice surrounded his lips, looking almost as if he was wearing light blue lipstick. Other than that, he was dressed in a faded purple muscle shirt and a pair of worn out, dark yellow jeans that he had rolled up so everything below his knees were exposed. I actually never realized how pale Pony really was until I noticed the fiery rays of the mid-July afternoon sunlight splatter against his skin.

Ignoring the slight burning sensation that was harassing my eyes from some of the droplets of sweat leaking into them, I kept my focus completely on my young kid sister, Cassidy. She was across the yard from Pony and I, sitting on one of the desperately old swings that were still suspending from the slowly decaying swing set that Ponyboy and I used to take turns riding on all of the time when we were little kids. Slightly swaying herself back and forth in the split breeze, Cassidy flipped through a book that she had recently checked out of the library as she barely grazed the tip of her maroon converse in the dirt patch that surrounded the swing set. I couldn't ignore how she was growing up definitely fast; I always knew that she would eventually, but I never expected the years to fly by like a single blink of an eye. That little delicate girl who used to bolt out into the rain to splash around in gigantic mud puddles and who styled different colored ribbons in her vaguely brushed hair was gone. Now, her thirteenth birthday was just around the corner, and her entire life was already changing more with every passing second. I couldn't help but notice that plenty of boys were starting to look at her a lot more differently and much more often. Not only that, but Cassidy was going through some very - um - physical changes with, like, - uh - her body.

With that new thought fogging up my mind, I began to violently blush to the point where it felt like my cheeks were melting off from the rest of my scarlet face.

"Hey, Johnnycake," Ponyboy's voice suddenly drew me out of my heavy thinking. "You're being awfully quiet. Are you feelin' alright?"

I continued to spin the lose thread from the edge of my shirt around my fingertip, not removing my eyes from Cassidy. Her long, naturally wavy, brunette hair was pulled back in a high ponytail, exposing the bright redness that was decorating her face from the hot temperature. Her childhood features were no longer masking her face, but I could still see the sunlight shimmering against the cherry lipgloss that she had applied to her lips as soon as she finished brushing her teeth earlier this morning.

"I...I don't know..." I released a deep sigh and raked one of my hands through my hair, pulling my bangs back so my forehead was could be exposed. I could feel the sweat glistening on my skin and the hair grease drenching against my fingers, but at that moment, I was too busy caught up in thinking about something that was much more worth my time to bother caring.

Ponyboy took another small slurp of his popsicle and slightly licked his lips. "What's the matter?" The concern that was flooding his tone was absolutely evident.

I nibbled on my bottom lip again, hesitating for a couple of seconds before I literally had to force myself to look away from Cassidy. When I then fixed my attention on Ponyboy, I noticed him miserably failing at cocking a confused eyebrow. Two-Bit and Soda made that trick look beyond simple, but it truly wasn't.

"It's just..." I took down a small gulp to help clear my throat from this slight bump that began to attempt ballooning up. "It's...it's about Cassidy..."

At first, Pony just continued to stare at me, confusion glowing noticeably in his greenish-grayish eyes. In return, I blinked a few times and stayed absolutely silent, the only noise now surrounding us being the same Rolling Stones song on the radio and a few birds chirping as they fluttered by in the clear blue sky.

"Well," stated Pony as he turned his head away from me and stared at my kid sister. "What about her?"

I glanced down at my worn out tennis shoes, feeling like I was on fire as I blinked away a couple of more trickles of sweat after they dripped into my eyes. "...She's...she's changing, Ponyboy..."

"Changing how?"

I rubbed my greasy hand against my slightly torn up jeans, feeling almost guilty over how I was speaking about this to Ponyboy. He might've been my best friend, but he was also a male. "You know...changing..." I was sort of beginning to mutter my words.

Confusedly, Ponyboy battered his eyes and tilted his head to the side, as if he was a tiny puppy who was attempting to learn a new trick.

When all I got in response was silence, I released a small groan of complete embarrassment and spoke up once more. "...Physically, Pony!"

That was all it took for Pony to finally understand what I meant. "Ohh!" His eyes were now huge like two gigantic glass globes. "You mean as in...like her bo-"

Protective as hell, I strictly pointed one of my fingers at Ponyboy. "Don't speak anythin' about my kid sister's body, you hear me?" I caught myself off guard when those words practically exploded right out of me, louder than anything else that I had just previously said. Quickly, I snapped my attention back up and stared across the backyard, a deep breath lunged solidly inside of my chest as I stared wide-eyed at Cassidy. Much to my relief, she hadn't glanced up from her book, which meant she must've not heard me.

"God, Johnny..." Pony sort started to stutter. He gave the top of his muscle shirt a small tug, some of the blue juice from his popsicle leaking down his fingers.

I released the deep breath that was previously trapped inside of my chest and listened to my heart pound in my chest. "She's growing up fast, man." I sighed, running both of my hands through my thick hair. "She's twelve and she'll be out of my life in a blink of an eye...which means...I think it's time."

Ponyboy narrowed his eyes in a thinking manner. "Time for what?"

I shyly twirled my thumbs around each other, feeling the wetness of the drops of sweat dance down my cheeks. "You know...time for her to hear the lesson about physical relationships."

Instantly, Pony's eyes shot gigantic all over again. "Jonathan Cade!" He practically shouted my name to the entire universe, almost like he had just discovered that we were being chased by the devil himself. "You don't really mean that you're goin' to lecture her about the-"

Without any hesitation, I flung my hand over his mouth and kept it pressed against his sticky lips, allowing myself anxiously to go "SHHUSSSH!" while I was at it.

Concern was written all over Cassidy's face when I noticed her now staring directly up from her book and at Ponyboy and I from the swing set. "What's going on?" she questioned, sort of tilting her head. "Johnny, why are you covering Ponyboy's mouth?"

"No reason! We're just jokin' around over here!" I quickly noted, forcing a realistic smile across my face. "Go back to your book, my dear kid sister!"

Cassidy arched an eyebrow, clearly confused, but after a couple of seconds, she slowly glanced back down and flipped to the next page in her book.

"Ponyboy, you got to quiet down!" I exclaimed in a whisper as I hurriedly drew my hand away from his face, wiping it against my knee. My phony grin was no longer plastered on my face. "I don't need the whole neighborhood knowing what's on my private agenda!"

Ponyboy rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm sorry, Johnnycake. I didn't mean to practically yell like that, but it's just...it's the sex talk here."

"Yeah, I know. What's your point?"

"Johnny, Darry and Soda didn't even explain the sex talk to me until sometime last month!"

I crossed my arms over my chest, a hint of seriousness now noticeably intact in my voice. "Look, Ponyboy, it's not like I want to go through with giving Cassidy such a mature lecture, but she's going to be turning thirteen in just a couple of more months. She's changing madly with every passing day, man. Plus I've seen plenty of boys beginning to notice her a hell of a lot more ever since she was little. I think it's best that I get this talk out of the way before anyone possibly tries to talk her into doing anything."

Ponyboy didn't say anything back to me. Instead, he just stared at me, his lips pursed and his face glowing bright red with drips of sweat still tracing down from underneath his hair. I could tell that he was nervous, but what I couldn't tell was why he was the one who was nervous. I was the one who was going to be lecturing my kid sister on everything that is contained in the stage of puberty and of the sexual nature.

"I'll be right back," I noted as I stood up, rubbing slightly at my lower back. "Keep an eye on her until I get her to come inside, okay?"

"Sure," Pony said, beginning to suck on the remains of his popsicle again. "Good luck, Johnnycake."

I slid the glass backdoor open and stepped into the living room, where none other than Mickey Mouse was loudly singing and dancing on the television. An empty glass that had a couple of melting ice cubes inside of it was resting on the coffee table, beside a magazine that was flipped open to a random page that had a young looking Soc girl who was dressed in a tight orange dress that seemed "a little" too short for my liking printed on it.

"Hey, Johnny," Darry greeted me as soon as he peered over his broad shoulder and noticed me now leaning there in the arch doorway. He was in the middle of chopping up a couple of different fresh vegetables, dressed in nothing but a pair of gray sweatpants with a noticeably damp rag resting over his other shoulder. His face was nowhere near as red as mine, but it was still slightly soaked from what I could tell was water and not sweat. But of course I'd still be beating red! I was about to give my kid sister the talk!

"Hey," I sort of mumbled as I rubbed my face with both of my hands, trying to wipe away as much of the sticky sweat as I could.

"What's the matter, Johnny kid?" Dally questioned from where he was leaning against the counter, his forehead glistening with bullets of sweat. I opened my mouth to reply, but before I could get a word out, I pressed my lips tightly back together as soon as I turned my head and saw Dallas sort of panting like he had just got back from a mile long jog, actually rubbing a couple of slowly melting cubes of ice against his strong, bare chest.

"Dally..." I choked down a gag, no matter how much I really wanted it to escape from my system. "What in the heck are you doing?"

Darry rolled his eyes. "He's wastin' my ice." He dropped some of the already chopped up vegetables into a decent sized wooden bowl and began to stir them around with a long spoon.

"It's nearly over one hundred damn degrees out there!" Dally bellowed, drawing in one deep breath after another. "What do you expect me to do? Stand her and find a way to cool myself down, or just melt into a damn, but yet sexy, puddle?"

The eldest Curtis narrowed his eyes, glaring down at the early dish that he was preparing for when Steve, Soda, and Kitten got back from their shifts at the DX. "You could drink the lemonade that I actually poured for you there!" exclaimed Darry, not needing to point at the cold glass of fresh yellow lemonade that Dally was holding in his free hand.

Instead of saying anything back, Dally uncaringly allowed his eyelids to fall halfway, and after rubbing the few ice cubes against his flat stomach for a couple of more seconds, he dropped them into the glass and watched them begin to float in the lemonade.

"Dallas!" I gasped, obviously disgusted. "Was that really necessary?"

A small smirk like grin curled up on the corners of Dally's lips as he stared back at me, obviously ignoring Darry's scowl as he shrugged his shoulders and said, "I'm suddenly beginning to feel much cooler."

"Where's Two-Bit at?" I asked. Not only did I desperately want to change the topic, but Two-Bit had a little sister who was just a year younger than Cassidy. Maybe he could give me some advice on how to lecture a growing up female about puberty and sex.

"He's in the bathroom." Darry replied, but before a couple of seconds could even pass from his response, the sound of the hallway toilet being flushed was noticeably heard. Then after the bathroom sink was used for a few moments, Two-Bit emerged, entering the kitchen in his Mickey Mouse muscle shirt, which he was using to dry his wet hands on, and a pair of slightly tattered jeans.

"God, it's a scorcher out there," Two-Bit softly panted a bit, using the back of one of his hands to clean underneath his rusty colored bangs. "Dally, what's that you're drinking?"

Dally shrugged. "Lemonade, but I'm not drinkin' it. Why?"

Interest flashed across Two-Bit's eyes, as if he was a little kid who had just witnessed Santa flying away in his sleigh during Christmas Eve.

"Can I have it?" eagerly questioned Two-Bit, the sound of his somewhat dry tongue smacking slightly inside of his mouth interrupting his speaking a bit.

A devilish glimmer sparkled in the center of both of Dally's eyes, but he faked an unbelievably realistic smile. He was an even better professional at creating phony grins than what I was, but at least I still passed on getting most people fooled.

"Sure, Two-Bit." Dally replied, handing the cold glass over to the wisecracker of the gang.

"Phew!" Two-Bit flashed one of his gigantic, goofy, and childish grins that practically took over his entire face. "Thanks, Dal!"

As soon as I witnessed Two-Bit take a decent sip of the lemonade, I covered my mouth with one of my hands and couldn't help but release a silent gag. Nonetheless, all Two-Bit did was swallow what was in his mouth as he continued to smile widely, releasing a comforting "Ahhh" before he headed back into the living room. As soon as he left, Darry threw his muscular arms across his chest and spun himself around, glaring sharply at Dally.

"You're sick!" Darry bellowed, but yet at the same time, he wasn't bellowing.

Without any hesitation, Dally flung his head back and released some of his very rare laughter. "Yeah, old news, man! You should really meet my parole officer!"

Knowing that Two-Bit was sooner or later going to discover what Dally did in order to contaminate the glass of lemonade, I could tell that it wasn't going to help anything if I asked him whether he gave Karen "the birds and the bees" lecture yet or not.

After Darry rolled his eyes at Dally's laughter, he turned his head back over towards me and said with a concerned tone, "Johnny, are you okay? You seem like somethin' is bugging you."

I hesitated for a couple of moments, listening to my heart as it began to madly pick up the pace in my chest. "Well..." I brought my hand up to my mouth and I lightly bit down on my thumbnail, nibbling on it slightly. "I...I really need some advice, Darry."

The oldest Curtis almost instantly sat the long spoon down, turning his entire tall and muscular figure in my direction. "Okay, what is it that you need advice on? Whatever it is, I'm ninety-nine percent sure that I have the tips that you are seeking."

"It's about Cassidy..." I continued to bite down on my nail. "...I want to give her the sex talk."

"Oh...I see..." Darry touched his chin and scratched it slightly, the look in his eyes giving it away that he was beginning to think.

I could feel my cheeks beginning to tingle, a new coating of red beginning to smear across them all over again. "I want to be clear with her about the consequences of having sexual contact outside of marriage, but I don't exactly know where to start."

"Well, there's plenty of points where you can start, Johnny. There's birth control, condoms, STDs, pregnancy, periods, the actual process of sexual intercourse..." Darry suddenly stopped speaking, and just as I was afraid of, he must've caught the darkening blush that was exposed clearly on my cheeks. "Are you sure you don't want Kitten to explain all of this to her?"

As much as a large portion of me was screaming YES as soon as I digested Darry's question, I shook my head. "Nah, I want her to hear this from me. I'm her brother and it's obvious that our parents aren't goin' to take the time to explain all of this to her."

Dally had one of his eyebrows cocked while staring at me. "Johnny kid, you know that you don't really have to explain all of this to her, right?"

I shook my head again. "No, I do have to, Dal. She's turning thirteen soon and it's pretty noticeable that her body is going through a lot of different stages right now. She needs to hear what I have to say about this."

"But you don't really need to, Johnnycake." Dally repeated himself, but yet again, I shook my head once more at him and fixed my eyes back on Darry.

"Any advice for me, Darry?"

The eldest Curtis lightly scratched his recently shaved chin again. "If you really want my opinion on this, Johnny, I feel that you should start on explaining as much as you know on what sexual intercourse really is and the truth behind a females monthly friend. That way, you can jump in talking about the pregnancy and STDs and how condoms and birth control don't always work. Just be honest, but also make sure to scare her a little with the truth. Cassidy's a very responsible girl, so I don't think we have anythin' to worry about with her when it comes to any kind of sexual contact, but it's always good to teach a meaningful lesson to young preteens like her."

I nodded my head at nearly every word. "Okay, Darry. Thanks. Would you mind telling Cassidy to come inside so I can talk with her in private?"

"Yeah, sure," Darry answered with a couple of nods. "You can use one of the bedrooms for this lecture. I'll make sure nobody disturbs you two."

"Thanks, Darry."

When the oldest Curtis headed out of the kitchen, I instantly started to scan all around the counters.

"Johnny, what in the hell are you looking for?" Dally asked, pressing one of his hands against his hip.

"Nothing, Dally." I answered, which was partly true, because when I replied, I had already located what I was looking for.

Confusedly, Dallas arched one of his eyebrows again as soon as he noticed what I had snatched up from where it was previously lying beside the wooden bowl.

"A cucumber? Oh, my God, Johnny..." Dally pinched the bridge of his nose, beginning to throw cuss words from left to right underneath his breath.

Ignoring Dally's explicit language, I said, "I'm going to Ponyboy and Soda's room. When Cassidy comes in, please tell her to go there, okay?"

Dally flew one of his hands away from his face and then brought it back, smacking it against his forehead as he said through somewhat clenched teeth, "Johnny, you really don't have to tell Cassidy any of this!"

"Yes, I do! She's going to be thirteen before we know it and I never told her anything about sex before! I have to do this, Dally!"

At first, all Dally did was stare at me, his eyes a little larger than normal and his lips pressed together, but after a couple of seconds of nothing but silence between us, Dally finally released a deep breath and said, "All right."

"Thank you. Now can you please tell Cassidy to meet me in Soda and Ponyboy's bedroom? I'll be waiting."

Dally ran one of his hands through his hair, pushing his bangs away from his forehead. "All right, all right. Go ahead, Johnny. Good luck."

I nervously clutched the freshly green cucumber in one of my hands as I headed down the hallway and pushed open Pony and Soda's already cracked open door. Just as I suspected, a couple of Soda's shirts that were covered in God knows how many stains were cluttered across the floor, but other than that, everything else seemed evenly organized.

I took a seat down on the edge of the nicely made bed and bit down on my bottom lip. No matter how much I was trying to make myself comfortable, I couldn't stop tapping my holed tennis shoe against the floor or trading the cucumber from my left hand to my right. Still hazily overhearing the sounds of Mickey Mouse whistling and the fridge door getting opened up, all I could do was try gathering up all of these different scattered pieces that were individual parts to mention in 'the talk' and piece them together to form the perfect way for me to describe everything to Cassidy. I had to make sure that I described everything correctly to her.

"Johnny?" the gentle and kind sound of Cassidy's voice suddenly made my heart feel like it froze completely in my chest.

"Cassidy..." I literally had to force myself to look up from my lap and stare across the room at her. She was standing there in the doorway, pinning her library book to her hip. Such a beautiful young lady, who was dressed in the nicest dress that she had. It was a strapless, reddish-purplish sundress that went down to the tops of her knees. The skirt sort of flowed compared to the rest of the dress, which perfectly hugged her maturing, newly curvy figure.

Cassidy brought her index finger up to her mouth, and she lightly nibbled at the bluish-blackish nailpolish that was coating all of her fingernails. "Darry said you wanted to talk to me."

I pursed my lips and bobbed my head a few times, nodding. "Yeah, I do." I pat the space that was beside me on the bed. "Please have a seat."

Cassidy drew her hand away from her lipgloss covered lips and walked towards the bed, stepping over all of Soda's shirts that were in her way.

"What is this about?" She smoothed her skirt out beneath her and gently sat down beside me on Ponyboy and Soda's bed, crossing one of her legs over the other like a proper young lady. "I was just getting to the best part in my book. Whatever this talk is about, can't it wait until I reach the climax?"

I didn't need to think twice before shaking my head. "No, Cass, your book will still be here afterwards. This talk is too important to put off until later."

Cassidy sighed, placing the library book aside. "Okay, fine. What is it?"

"It's about you..." I softly drew in a deep breath through my nose and released it through my mouth. "You're changin' a lot, Cass..."

Confusedly, Cassidy raised an eyebrow. Even she could do Soda and Two-Bit's trick so perfectly.

"What do you mean by that?"

I pursed my lips. "I mean...you're getting a hell of a lot more emotional and your body is going through a lot of alterations."

Cassidy's eyes became gigantic, as if they were suddenly too large for her head. "Jonathan!" She flung her arms across her breasts, looking like she was starting to hug herself.

I closed my eyes tightly. "Look, this talk is going to be as uncomfortable for me as it's goin' to be for you!" I exclaimed, knowing that I was already being completely honest.

Cassidy kept her arms crossed, staring at me with her still wide eyes.

It was then my turn to release a deep sigh. "Cassidy, I want to talk to you about certain subjects, starting with guys. Do you realize what's happening to you? You're developing a young woman's body and I can guarantee that plenty of boys are beginning to notice."

"Why do you got to talk to me about boys? It's not like I'm allowed to date yet." Cassidy pointed out, which was one hundred percent true.

I pushed my bangs out of my face with my fingertips. "Because even though you know that you're not going to be dating for another four years, I'm afraid that's not going to stop the guys from acting like typical preteen guys on precious girls like you. They can be unbelievably pushy, trying to convince every pretty girl in sight to do specific types of things with them."

Cassidy didn't say anything back. I could tell from the bright red expression on her face that she was already beginning to grow uncomfortable, but that didn't make me want to stop teaching her on what I knew that she just had to understand.

"Look, Cassidy, when a certain point in maturity arrives in a female's life, it's perfectly natural for her to feel attracted to a male. At the same time, it's no different if a male is becoming interested in a female. But why do boys and girls begin to get these new feelings, you may be wondering?"

"I'm not, actually." Cassidy interrupted me, a hint of aggravation beginning to form in her voice, but I continued like she had never said that.

"It's because when you start to grow up, your body begins to release chemicals that help you become more experienced with all of these brand new feelings. These body chemicals are referred to as hormones."

Cassidy rolled her Hershey colored eyes. "I really don't want to have this conversation, Johnny."

"Cassidy, can we just talk without you cuttin' me off?" I asked, my eyes narrowed a little with absolute seriousness written all over my bright scarlet face. "This is important for you to understand. You're becoming a young woman and it's obvious that Mom and Dad aren't goin' to teach you these serious matters anytime soon."

Wiping as much of the annoyance as she could away from her face, Cassidy rested her eyes shut and turned her head down towards her lap. "Fine..." She spoke under her breath, repeatedly twirling her thumbs around each other.

My God, this was so far a hell of a lot more awkward than what I pictured it was going to be. And what makes it even worse was the fact that I haven't even began talking to her about actual sexual contact!

"As I was saying, getting hormones is all part of becoming a young adult. Though to be honest, females are more than likely to be influenced by hormones than what males are, mainly because unlike men, women receive a so-called monthly friend that's known as a period."

Cassidy smacked one of her hands against her forehead. "Oh, my God, Johnny." Her face was beating redder than I've ever seen it.

Biting down on my bottom lip, I stood up from the bed and walked over to the nightstand. Reaching down beside the lamp and alarm clock, I picked up a sort of small glass jar that was full of dozens of different colored marbles. I could feel Cassidy's eyes following me, but I refused to stare back at her until I plopped myself back down on the bed next to her, showing her the jar.

"Do you know what this is, Cass?" I asked, jingling the marbles around a little.

Arching an eyebrow, she replied, "A glass jar that contains Soda's childhood collection of marbles?"

"Well, yeah...but I'm afraid not in this case," I noted with a slight wag of my forefinger, and I witnessed the confusion begin to glow in Cassidy's eyes as I removed the top of the glass jar and sat it down on the comforter between us. "This marble represents an egg..." I informed as I pinched one of the many different colored marbles and removed it from the jar, showing it to Cassidy. "One of the billions of eggs that a woman is born with."

"Johnny, please don't get into this..."

I raised my eyebrows in rare seriousness. "Cassidy, what did I tell you? This is important. You have to understand what's happening." I kept the same marble, which was ironically red, pinched between my thumb and index finger. "Now a female gets a period because every month, a single egg is released from...um...you know, one of the two hardworking partners that are located inside of the girl's lower body. See, when the egg makes its journey down into the empty womb, it only has one main goal. And that single goal is to be fertilized, which I'll also be explaining about in a moment. So if it hasn't reached its goal, the egg breaks down and dies, which is why every woman has a period when she begins to mature."

Cassidy slid her hands down her deeply rosy cheeks. "God..." She groaned in noticeably returning frustration. "Can I get the chance to run out of the room and ditch this conversation yet?"

Ignoring her again, I dropped the marble back into the jar and tried my hardest to remain calm as I reached for the cucumber. "Now can you tell me what this is?" I ceased the slight shaking that my hand was somewhat going through as I held it up, showing it to my kid sister. I think she noticed it when she first sat down on the bed, but she didn't bother to bring it up.

She shrugged slightly and said, "A cucumber?"

"Again, not in this case," I sighed, knowing that I was beginning to sweat a little again, but this time was obviously because I was beyond nervous. "This cucumber...is representing none other than a male's manhood."

Cassidy's eyes looked as if they were about to burst clear out of her head by this point. "I think I'm goin' to be sick, Johnny!" She placed one of her hands over her flat stomach and gagged. I knew how desperately ill she must've felt; Darry had been the one to give me this talk when I was thirteen-an-a-half, and I felt just as awkward as Cassidy must've.

"As I was saying a little earlier, Cass, there's nothing irregular about a male and/or a female beginning to experience new feelings towards the opposite gender. But when it comes to having any kind of sexual contact, especially none other than actual sexual intercourse, it is a huge responsibility that you are definitely too young to handle. Now I hope you were listenin' when I informed you about an egg waiting to be fertilized in the woman's womb, because that's what I'm about to explain next."

"But I'm not having sex! Is that what this is about? You don't trust me?" I could tell that she was trying to act angry by narrowing her eyes and clenching her fists, but the tone of her voice gave it away that she was clearly more hurt than anything.

"Hey, I didn't say that! I do trust you, but I absolutely do not trust all of these preteen boys who are caught up in spending every second of their free time tryin' to hook up with every girl that they can get a hold of!" God, this was torture. "Now the faster you let me continue this lesson without hardly anymore interruptions, the faster this will all be over."

Cassidy threw her arms across her chest. "But I already know where babies come from!"

"No, you know what every person learns about babies durin' the fifth grade. Not to burst your bubble, kid sister, but I'm afraid that there's a hell of a lot more behind everything that a fifth-grade teacher lectures about a baby resting in a mother's stomach for nine months."

"God, I want to freakin' die right now!" bellowed Cassidy as she hid her face behind both of her hands.

"That makes two of us," I shared in a low voice, and then I continued the dreadful lecture. "Now sexual intercourse is the process of when a male and a female unite their, um...certain physical areas in order to create a couple of tender minutes of complete bliss together. Unfortunately, while women use their hearts to think during the time and most men commonly use their, uhh...manhoods to make their decisions, those few minutes can sooner and most likely will alter the two lives forever." I continued to show Cassidy the cucumber, keeping my eyebrows raised as her and I kept eye contact. "I'm not sayin' that sex is a horrible thing because it isn't, but that's only if it's taking place between a happily married couple. However, if you aren't married and allowing yourself to have sex, there can definitely be a high percent change on an unplanned pregnancy or possibly receiving an STD."

"Do we have to continue with this conversation? Seriously, you're torturin' me!" Cassidy proclaimed. I don't think I've ever seen her beating so violently red before.

I rolled my eyes. "Really? Because I'm pretty positive that I'm only torturing myself here." Continuing to hold the cucumber in one hand, I reached my other into my worn out jeans pocket, and within a matter of seconds, I flipped out my switchblade. "We're almost done, so we can both thank God after I cover a few more topics."

"Johnny..."

"Teenage pregnancy, kid sister." I quickly cut her off, flicking my recently sharpened switchblade open. "Believe it or not, it's happening more and more frequently because plenty of underage people nowadays are caught up in craving nothing but the absolutely thrilling moments that are contained in sex, sex, and of course, more sex. Other than expressing your undying love as husband and wife, sexual intercourse is only an existing activity because babies have to come from somewhere."

Cassidy was giving me a rare death mock stare, but all I did in return was raise my switchblade, beginning to inch it closer to the average sized cucumber.

"For the record," I stated, the tip of my blade now poking the deep green skin of the vegetable. "A female would never do this to a man's equipment." And I ran my switchblade down the cucumber, slicing a wide cut in its skin. "It takes both genders to make a baby, Cass. During sexual intercourse, if a woman has an egg waiting in her womb, all a man has to do is release some...um...sperm." I placed my thumbs on opposite sides of the cut in the cucumber and slightly pulled, somewhat opening the slice and exposing the bright green, clear, mushy looking stuff inside. "See that mushy stuff that's inside there, kid sister? That there is a male's sperm. During sexual intercourse, a man can deliver this to the woman, which means none other than the huge possibility of fertilizing the waiting egg."

"Kill me, kill me, kill me..." Cassidy wouldn't stop muttering that under her breath, still keeping her face hidden behind her hands.

Leaving my switch on the comforter between Cassidy and I, I reached back into the glass jar again and pulled out another glass marble. "It only takes a couple of minutes to allow the following years of your life, if not your whole life, to spoil away, Cassidy!" I exclaimed in complete seriousness, holding out the cucumber in one of my hands and the tiny marble in my opposite palm. "It only takes one sperm to dig its way into one egg to create a baby! And don't think that the answer to gettin' rid of this consequence is having an abortion, because having abortions can damage serious areas of the female's lower body, which can result in difficulties for the woman to ever get pregnant again, or she can deliver terribly unhealthy babies in the future."

Cassidy finally shot her head back up, glaring harshly at me, but I honestly didn't care. This whole chat was for her own good.

"Okay, Johnnycake, I get it!" She bellowed. "Don't have sex until marriage and don't have abortions no matter what! I get it, so can you just stop?"

"Not yet," I shook my head. "I still have to inform you on condoms, birth control, and STDs, okay?"

Cassidy rolled her eyes and released a deep huff of noticeable aggravation.

"Just calm down and hear me out. Trust me, sooner or later you're goin' to love me for tellin' you all of this."

"Johnny, you don't have to tell me anymore!"

I dropped the marble back into the glass jar and placed the cucumber down. "Just listen to me! There's going to be a day when you finally do have sex, and I'm praying to God that day is your honeymoon or something, but either way, you might consider takin' birth control or havin' the guy wear a condom in order to prevent pregnancy..." Suddenly, I stopped myself, lightly biting down on my bottom lip for a couple of seconds before I gently placed my hand on Cassidy's shoulder, giving it a small squeeze. "Cassidy...please tell me that-"

With her eyebrows raised, Cassidy cut me off by saying, "Yes, I'm still a member of the V-card, Johnny."

I hesitated for a couple of seconds, but then released a deep breath of relief and wiped my burning cheek with the back of my hand, nodding slightly as I removed my hand from her shoulder.

"Good," I said with an approving glimmer sparkling in my eyes. "Now as I was saying, the day you actually do lose your virginity will be the day you enter a new world that's full of billions of more responsibilities, and if not being careful, one of those responsibilities just might be raising a child. Condoms are only ninety-seven percent sure to help avoid pregnancy, and on the side of that remaining three percent, condoms are more than likely to break, depending on the size of the guy's package and how hard he is necessarily handling the activity."

"Well I'm definitely skipping dinner tonight." Cassidy informed me, staring down at her lap with her face growing redder by the minute.

"Cassidy, I'm only tellin' you all of this because I love you." I said through sort of pursed lips. "Do me a favor and never take birth control, even when you're thinking that it'll work because you never know if one of the days will arrive when you accidentally forget to take the pill. Only you can be in control of your own actions, which is why as a preteen female who is goin' through all of these bodily changes, I'm going to need you to stand your ground and keep your innocence until marriage. Trading your entire life just for a couple of minutes of relaxing joy definitely isn't a fair or worthy trade. Which reminds me..."

Cassidy immediately released a loud groan, but I continued talking.

"Sexually transmitted diseases. Believe me, I hear plenty of people who joke about them, but they are nowhere near anythin' to joke about. They will leave you desperately debating whether or not you should just go to a doctor and ask them to remove your personal areas, which are burning, itching, oozing, and leaking painfully by this point. Some STDs can be cured with the help of medicine, but others are dangerously fatal. And considerin' that you can't read minds to discover if your spouse in the future had sex as a teenager or anythin' like that, be sure to have him tested before the knot is officially tied in order to keep yourself safe. Be smart in the decisions that you make now, because those decisions determine the rest of your life. So do you understand me, Cass?" I was just thankful that I had finally finished going over everything that was part of 'the talk.'

"Yes!" Cassidy snapped her complete attention back on me. Her innocent eyes were as wide as orbs and I could hear the honesty that was mixed together in her still somewhat irritated voice. "Don't have any kind of sexual contact before marriage because if I'm a week before or after my period, my ovulated egg or eggs could be fertilized and I could become a teenage mother or a carrier of an STD. Use condoms if I want to prevent getting pregnant throughout my marriage, but never use birth control because I could accidentally forget to take the pill. I get it, Johnny! I understand all of it!"

I crossed my arms over my chest, feeling pretty accomplished. She might've been at least the slightest angry with me still, but I knew that she would get over that.

"You'll be glad that I told you all of this at some point, Cassidy. Trust me, I know you will."

Cassidy tucked the few strands that had fell out of her ponytail behind her pierced ear with her fingertips. "Johnnycake, how many times do I have to tell you?" She released a sigh and shook her head a little. "You didn't have to tell me anything about sex or me hitting puberty because I already learned everything that you just explained from Dally a few weeks ago."

Without any hesitation, I could've sworn that I felt my heart take such a gigantic leap that it was about to rip clear through my chest. My face was still beating bright red, but everything above my cheeks looked taken over by how large my eyes had got.

"WHAT?" I practically screamed at the top of my lungs from not expecting that of all things. Quickly, I snapped my head over towards the door and hollered out, "DALLY!"

Within a few seconds, the sound of footsteps racing down the hallway were heard, and Dally stood in Ponyboy and Soda's doorway, still shirtless and wiping his rosy colored face with a damp kitchen rag.

"What is it, Johnny?"

I felt absolutely humiliated. "You didn't tell me that you already gave Cassidy the talk!"

A wicked smirk almost instantly flew across Dally's face. "Hey, I did tell you that you didn't have to tell her anythin', Johnny kid!" He flew his head back and let out a howl of some of his rare laughter once more.

I could feel Cassidy giving my back a couple of small pats, but no words imaginable could possibly describe the utter embarrassment that was overwhelming me.

"Hey, the salad is almost ready!" Darry suddenly announced, appearing in the doorway beside Dally. "Soda, Steve, and Kitten are on their way back from the DX. Soda just called and told me that their shifts got shortened for today. I just need to add some of the...oh, there it is!" Darry's eyes that somehow reminded me of his father's landed on the cucumber. "I was wonderin' where that cucumber went! I need to slice it up so I can add it to the salad."

I immediately flung my hands up to my shoulders and shook my head. "I'm goin' to pass on that dinner! I'm so freakin' done!"

A/N: Phew, that was a lot of work!

I hope you all enjoyed this one-shot and please remember that reviews are greatly appreciated! Please tell me what you all thought!

Thanks, everybody! :D :D :) :)