Disclaimer: S.E HINTON OWNS ALL RIGHTS TO THE OUTSIDERS INCLUDING ALL CHARACTERS EXCEPT SARA CURTIS.

CHAPTER 1

" Oh, come on Sodapop!" Steve called out to Soda while he was pulling himself up from the 1960 Chevy Impala that he was currently working on.

Soda sighed and shrugged his shoulders at his long time friend. " Sorry, Steve, you know how it is during the week. Ponyboy has track practice until 4:30 and Darry is working until 5:30, so that only leaves me to do it. If you are willing to wait until Saturday I can do it with you then." Sodapop took a glance up at the clock. He noticed it was almost that time. Steve started grumbling as he pulled himself back under the Chevy Impala.

"Where is Two-bit? Can't he do it?" Soda heard Steve yell up from under the carriage of the car. Soda knew Steve well enough that he was not going to give up on this. Steve was Soda's best friend and had been for years, but since the death of Soda's parents a few months back, Steve was having a hard time with understanding that Soda no longer could just drop everything to go do stuff with Steve. Since dropping out of school and getting the full time job at the DX station, Soda has taken on a lot more responsibility in the Curtis household. Something that Steve was having a hard time with.

"Two-bit is picking up Ponyboy at practice today." Soda yelled down through the hood of the car where he was replacing an air filter. There was no response back from Steve, as Steve was probably thinking of another way around to getting what he wanted. As Soda was slipping the air filter in place he heard the loud honk from outside. Oh, that honk was becoming oh so familiar in his daily routine. He checked the clock up on the wall, 3:29 right on time he thought. Soda shouted at Steve, " Hey, Steve, I have to go out to the curb. I'll be right back."

Steve responded back with a frustrated tone in his voice, " Ok," Soda rushed out of the garage not wanting to keep George waiting another second. As Soda approached the curb he noticed that something seemed to be off today. Usually by now he was already greeted by her.

"Hey, There, Sodapop!" George smiled at Sodapop as he opened the door.

" Hi Ya, George." Soda said with a little reluctance in his voice. George cocked his head back and replied, "She's right there. I can either call her name or it might be better if you just come and do it. I don't want to startle her or anything," Soda slipped through the open door, memories started flooding him as he stepped up the stairs. Gosh he thought to himself how long it had been since he had been on one of these. When he got to the top step he noticed her sitting there. Her head was leaning against the window, she looked so small in that big seat all by herself. Soda thought to himself how peaceful she look. He hated to wake her up, but knew that George had to get going and Steve was waiting for him to return back to the garage. Usually Soda was back by now, his boss wouldn't like that he was wasting this much time while on the clock.

"Sara?" Soda bent down into the seat and placed his gentle hand on her, giving her a little shake on the shoulder, " Sara?" On the second call of her name, he slowly saw her open up those beautiful blue eyes that drove him crazy sometimes. Once Sara open her eyes she knew that voice that was calling her name, but for a second or two she forgot where she was. " Sara, honey, we need to get going." Soda's voice was calm and soft. Just as Sara was used to, but today she seemed to have no energy to move. Soda knew that time was a ticking and didn't have time to keep trying to get Sara to wake up. So he bent down and scooped Sara right up in his arms. Sara grabbed on to Soda wrapping her little arms around Soda's neck, while resting her head on his shoulder. Sara had no intention of getting down and walking on her own into the DX station. Soda almost forgot to grab her book bag. As he started to walk down the aisle he turned back around and grabbed it off the seat. He flung the pretty empty book bag over the shoulder that wasn't being occupied by his little sister's head. " Thanks George. Sorry about keeping you." Soda apologized to George as he tried to manage down the bus stairs with his arms full.

" Not a problem Sodapop, She must of just fallen asleep a little ways back, She is a great kid. Don't mind at all! Actually wish I had a whole bus full of Sara's. It sure would make my day easier. See ya tomorrow, Soda, Sara." George waved goodbye to the two and started to drive off with a now empty bus.

Soda tried to walk quickly back to the garage while shifting Sara's weight in his arms. Not that she weighed that much, couldn't be 40 pounds or more. But Soda wasn't used to it. Usually Darry used his muscles to carry Sara around. Soda had notice that Steve had already put the lift down on the Chevy Impala that they had been working on. Soda quicken his pace towards the bay door. Steve had looked up right then and noticed Soda was walking with Sara in his arms towards the garage. Steve was thinking one of two things must of happened to make Soda carry Sara in off the bus. One, she had gotten trouble at school or two,had fallen asleep on the bus. Sara was known for always falling a sleep in a moving vehicle. Steve knew that Sara was on the same path at Ponyboy. She was doing great in school and seemed to really enjoy it, unlike himself. So Steve was sticking with his second guess, she had fallen asleep on the bus. " Hey, what took you so long?" He asked Soda as he approached Soda and Sara wiping his greasy hands off on a towel.

"She fell asleep on the bus."

"Didn't know that kindergarten took that much out of kids these days." Steve snarled back at the response he had just heard from Sodapop.

Soda being Soda came back with a " Ah,lay off Steve. She didn't sleep well last night. I swear between her and Ponyboy no one in our household will ever being getting any sleep these days."

"Ponyboy is still having those nightmares? I thought since you moved in with him that they were getting better?" Steve followed Soda into the breakroom. There was an old couch that the boys found on the side of the road and dragged in here, just in case anyone wanted a nap during their break. Soda slowly placed a still groggy Sara down on it. He placed her book bag down by the arm of the couch so she could rest her head on it. For the couch wasn't the cleanest to begin with from being on the side of the road and covered in grease and oil marks from the garage, and most of all smelled of gasoline.

"Yah, well, they have gotten better but he still has them." Soda was getting ready to head back out to the garage when he noticed that Sara was starting to come to. He stopped and waited for a minute. " Sara, honey, I have another hour on the clock before Two-bit and Pony come. I need you to stay here. Do you need anything? Snack? Drink?" Soda knew in order to keep Sara out of his hair for an hour he would need to provide her with food and drink.

"No, Soda, I have left over stuff in my bag from lunch." Sara laid her head back down.

"Good then. You stay in here. No sneaking off anywhere, you hear?" Soda started back out to the garage. Him and Steve needed to start on the 1961 Lincoln Continental Convertible.

Steve was still stuck on the previous conversation he was having with Soda, " So, that explains why Ponyboy isn't sleeping at night, why isn't Sara sleeping?" He asked Soda while he was fumbling to find the keys to move the Impala out and mover the Lincoln in.

" Not sure really. She just has been waking up and can't seem to be able to get back to sleep again. So Darry and I have been taking turns staying up with her. She says she is not having nightmares like Pony, but Darry and I are not convince that is the truth. I think a lot had to do with Mom being gone. She was always so good at that stuff. I am sure it will just take Darry and I sometime to get used to Sara's needs and stuff like that" Steve just shook his head back and forth. He just didn't get the new routine now the Curtis parents had passed on. He was trying to Soda's sake, but there was so many things he would do different. Starter would be to stop babying Ponyboy and Sara. Pony is thirteen and Sara is five they can start taking care of themselves. Steve was about to make a comment about this but decided to keep his mouth shut. Instead he jumped into the Impala and shouted to Soda.

"Moving out!" Which was his and Soda's code for move out of the way, car coming out of the bay door. Soda nodded his head and moved back against the wall to look at what the order was for the Lincoln- transmission Soda read. Steve was looking down at the gage of the Impala while he was driving out of the garage, Just at the moment he was ready to accelerate on the gas, he caught a shadow out of the corner of his eye. His foot went straight from gas to the break. Thank goodness Steve had fast reflexes. Because at that moment Sara had stepped out in front of the Impala. " Jesus Christ Sara!" Steve was out of the car faster than a cheetah moving to catch his pray. " What are you doing? Didn't Sodapop tell you to stay put? Why are you out here? You know what could of just happen? I swear you and Pony are exactly the same! You never use your heads! Your always in the way! What the hell?!" Steve just kept going on and all Sara could do was stand there and take it, and be in shock. She didn't mean any harm. She didn't even hear the roar of the engine from the car. But to be honest at that very minute Sara wasn't sure what she was more scared of, almost getting hit by that big ole Impala or Steve who was inches from her facing and screaming and swearing at here. Just as the tears started forming in Sara's eyes , Soda who heard the commotion from inside the garage had just now poke his head out the bay door.

" What is going on out here Steve?" Soda's voice rose a notch to be heard over the shouting. He was now standing next to Steve and the Impala. Steve was fuming mad at Sara at this point. His face had started to turn red, his voice had become very high pitched and his body was shaking with anger.

"Why don't you ask Sara here? Didn't I hear you tell her to stay put in the breakroom? Well, she practically just got run over, by me! She ran right out in front of me while I was getting ready to go park this thing. Stupid kid." Soda had to put his hands on Steve's chest to push him back away from Sara's face. He then got between the two and looked down at Sara for her side of the story.

"Is this true, Sara?" At this time Sara's tears had started flowing down from her big blue eyes.

"I.. Umm..was coming… to find.." Steve broke into Sara's explanation.

"You were told to stay put! Soda, man she can't be pulling this shit! I mean I almost hit her. I was looking to see if the oil light was still on and luckily when I looked up I caught her shadow out of the corner of my eye. Damn it Soda!Steve was still fuming mad because Sara didn't listen to Soda in the first place. But as Steve started to calm down a bit, he stopped yelling and started thinking. What was making him so mad? Was it really because Sara didn't listen to Soda in the first place or was it that something worse could of just happen to the youngest member of the Curtis Family?

" I am sorry, Steve. Really." Sara's shaky voice came out just above a whisper. But still loud enough so that Steve and Soda could hear it.

" Sara, when I tell you to stay put, that is what it means. You don't go sneaking off around the garage when you feel like it. When we are working, we can't be watching you every second. Sara, we have been over this a hundred times before." Soda had turned to Sara, placing his hands on both of her arms, looking right into those dark blue teary eyes. Her auburn hair now falling out of the loose ponytail he had placed it in earlier this morning.

" I was… was jj just coming out to ask you for another snack." Sara stuttered out a reply to Soda. Steve took it upon himself to decide to interject at this point in time… always adding his two cents worth.

"Well, your damn lucky that I saw your shadow and saved your ass!" Soda quickly interrupted Steve's rant before Sara had a complete meltdown

"Steve, that is enough. I think she got the picture. Let's get this car outta here and get the Lincoln in so we can started on it before Two-bit and Pony show up." Soda turned back to Sara, " And you get back into the breakroom and stay there until I come get you. No if's, and's or but's." Soda placed his hands on Sara's back to give her a little push towards the breakroom.

Sara strolled back to the breakroom and looked around for a second, finally deciding to sit back down on the couch. She noticed that she was still shaking a little from the incident that just happened outside. She honestly didn't hear Steve coming out of the bay with the car. She only wanted to ask Soda for another snack. Sara knew the rules about the garage, she knew better than to walk out in front of the bay doors. Ever since her parents had passed away a few months ago, Sara has been getting off the bus at the DX. During track season Pony has practice from 2:15- 4:15 everyday, and her older brother, Darry, who has taken guardianship over her and her brothers works until 5:00- 5:30. Sometimes its even later depending on the weather and overtime. So Soda, has ended up with the job of looking after her when school let's out. He was the only one that could do it. Soda didn't want Ponyboy to have to give up something that he loves to do. And Darry needed to work to support them. Both Darry and Soda had set the rules of when she was at the garage. She knew what was expected of her while she was there. And if she broke the rules she knew there would be consequences to face with Darry and Soda at home. As she sat there on the couch her head was spinning with what those consequences might be. But then again maybe Soda would forget to even mention it to Darry. He sometimes let her and Pony get away with things without mentioning anything to Darry. Maybe he will this time. But as she was sitting there she realized that Steve was involve and that meant that it would come out somehow to Darry. It always did when the gang was involve. She consider the gang as part of her family. Even though they are no blood brothers, she still consider the boys her brothers. They where always at her house, eating there, sleeping there, hanging out there sometimes even using their shower. The gang consisted of Dallas Winston, who was seventeen, and was known around their neighborhood as one of the "toughest" hoods around. Then there was Two-bit Matthews, who was eighteen and the wise crack of them all. Steve Randle, who is Soda's best friend and who is sixteen. Lastly was Johnny Cade who was sixteen as well and best friends with Pony. So with all these extra boys around it was hard for any Curtis member to hide things from Darry.

Sara knew the best thing to do was not to leave this room until Soda came for her. What seemed to her like forever, the door to the breakroom finally open and in walked Soda and Steve. Steve was the first to speak to her. " Glad to see you listen this time Kiddo." Sara grabbed her book bag and stood up to walk towards Soda, but before she reached his side, she turned to face Steve, feeling the need to address his little comment.

" Steve, I said I was sorry." With that said, Sara quickly snuck out the door to the breakroom. Once she entered the hallway she could hear Two-Bit's boisterous laughter coming from outside. She was about ready to run out and greet him, but remembered what just happen and decided that she should wait for Soda. Soda was not far behind her when she felt a hand touch her shoulder. She turned to see Soda standing there with his movie star grin on his face. He spoke softly to Sara.

"Let's get on home there little lady." Than his hand fell from her shoulder and grabbed her little hand and placed it into his and they walked over to wear Two-Bit was waiting with Pony. The boys were talking with Fred Taylor from The Shepherd gang.

"Hey, here comes the little lady that I been waiting on all this time." Two-Bit hollered out. Sara let out a little giggle. She always found Two-Bit to be funny. Two-Bit could always make Sara smile no matter what.

"Hi Ya, Two-Bit" Sara let out a little squeal. She let go of Soda's hand and ran over to Two-Bit and Ponyboy. "Hi, Pony." She added as she reached Two-Bit's car.

" Hi, Sara. How was school today?" Pony was always caring about how Sara's day at school went. He reached over and grabbed Sara's book bag out of her hands.

" Fine. We had P.E. today. We played kickball, and I kicked it way out to the outfield!" Sara said with a huge grin on her face.

"Of course you did, Kiddo. You're a Curtis aren't you? Soda responded to the news as he approached Two-Bit and Pony.

"Are we ready, Curtis Family?" Two-Bit asked walking over to the driver's side of his car. Before he got in, he turned to Sara, " Hey, little lady you want to drive?" Two- Bit and sometimes Soda would let Sara sit in their lap and let her help drive from the DX to home, which was less than a mile down the road. But of course, a few weeks back, Darry found out and he let both Soda and Two-Bit have it real good. Darry isn't afraid to lecture the other boys for their behavior especially if it has anything to do with his siblings. Darry had actually grounded Soda for pulling that stunt, and Soda was quick to remember this.

"Oh, I don't think so. Not after last time." Sara let out a sigh. She never gets to do anything fun anymore.

"Oh, come on Soda! It's just down the road." Sara whined, hoping this would work to get Soda to cave in.

"Look, little lady, I wouldn't be pushing our luck after the stunt you pulled earlier. I would say that was enough excitement for the day, wouldn't you? Now get in the back with Pony." Sara paused for a minute thinking about pressing this issue or not with Soda. The look on his face told her that she better just get in the back with Pony.

"What stunt earlier? Sara what did you do this time?" Pony asked as Sara was starting to climb in the backseat with Pony. She knew better than to give up anymore information to the boys than what was already given by Soda. Sara was really hoping this could be kept just between her, Soda and Steve.

"Never mind, Pony." Soda shot back at Pony.