Pepper Ann

By: Aaliyah-Charity

A/N: Hey! I'm having writer's block on my other stories so I just decided to do one of my story ideas, but most of them are already done by other writers! But this one isn't! You know that show Pepper Ann? I decided to mix her in with 'The Outsiders!' No one has done that yet! This is just going to be one of those fun stories so just read it and drop in a review, 'kay? Oh, and if you have trouble thinking of Pepper Ann as a real human person, do what I do! Just think of a red-head you've seen before, like Kansas from the movie 'Sugar and Spice' or Keri Russell! I don't know if that'll work, but oh well. Oh, and another warning, this will not be exactly like the show because Pepper Ann does NOT play instruments, but it's my story! But she will have the same friends and enemies, though. Ah, just read it or you'll be stuck reading this! (And if you hate Pepper Ann, sorry, but there isn't a Pepper Ann section on this site, and when I was first forming stories for 'The Outsiders', all the girl's names was going to be Aaliyah-Charity, and DON'T tell me I'm too old to be watching that show, please.) Also, after this story, read the sequel, Happy Ann! I'm not done with this story yet, of course, but I just wanted to put up the sequel, too.

Disclaimer: I do not 'The Outsiders' or 'Pepper Ann,' unfortunately.

Chapter 1: Introducing Pepper Ann

I was sitting at the kitchen table just studying a piece of music I got from the band teacher for the piano, piccolo, clarinet, saxophone, trombone, trumpet, and tuba parts, trying to decide which ones I wanted to play, when my brother Ponyboy came in.

"Hey, Pepper Ann," he said to me as he walked on by, "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to decide which piece I want to play for the band competition and concerts. They're all really good parts, though," I explained to him. He looked at me kind of funny and went to the livingroom. None of my brothers ever understood my interests in music. I don't think even my parents did when they were alive, although they were supportive. You can't deny that I've been working very hard to play these instruments. Darry doesn't like my music very much, he tells me to stop playing all the time. We have a pretty decent relationship with each other, but only because I had made an effort. I don't practice when he's around and I stay out of his way, unlike my other brothers. Maybe that's why we don't have a close relationship. Who knows why he doesn't like me, maybe he's a sexist or something. I always watch my brothers have fun with each other and their friends, and I feel a little left out. I'm not really close with any of them, at least it doesn't feel that way. Maybe it's because I don't go to Ponyboy's school. There's a better hospital at the next two towns fifteen miles away, so I take a city bus to and from another school. I'll explain why when I introduce myself.

My name is Pepper Ann Curtis. My full name is too long to mention. I have red hair and blue eyes like Darry's only more blue. I'm fifteen, right in the middle of Sodapop and Ponyboy. I have asthma and epilepsy. I have seizures every couple of years, and I have to take these disgusting pills, but I've seen other people that are ten times worse off than me. My school that I go to is two towns away from where I live, though. It's a Science, Math, and Music School, which is good for me, except for the Math. My parents paid for me to get my education there because of the hospital. They asked my brothers if they wanted to get tuition there too, but they declined. I'm always quiet in the town I live in, but at the town where I go to school....I am very loud and always speak my mind. Especially if I'm with my two best friends, Nicky and Milo. Nicky's totally book smart, and Milo's an art freak. I do have an enemy, Alice Kane. I hate her, I hate her! She lives in this town, too, and rides the bus with me. She's always showing off and everything. She always beating me at everything, except for at Band, Drama, and Chorus. She can never take that away from me. Never. I don't know anything about the town I live in, only that my brothers and I live here, Ponyboy goes to school here, and Sodapop works at a gas station and Darry works here. Other than that, I'm clueless.

So I'm sitting at the kitchen table when my brothers' buddies come in and make all sorts of noise. They completely ignore me like I'm a freak, but oh well. Sooner or later I make a great topic for them to talk about. They probably think I can't hear them, but I can. It's not flattering to here things about you like, 'She's as quiet as a grave,' or, 'She's so wierd,' when afterwards they talk about some hot babe from their school who was defintely NOT wierd to them. They don't know me that well. Once Darry even told me to stop living in my music and get normal. If he even knew me at all. If any of them knew me at all. I so very much wish I could have one of those lovely sister-brother relationships, but I just don't. The only thing I do in that house I live in is practice my instruments and even though I hate to admit it, that's the only time I feel really loved in this town. Only time I really get with them is when Darry goes to my school so my teachers can rant and rave about me. They never been to any of my concerts and I never see what they do outside of the house. I don't know where anything is in this town except for the bus station. But let me get back to you, alright? I really wanna decide soon what I want to play so I'll just practice them.

"HEY, PEPPER ANN! YOUR FRIEND IS ON THE PHONE!" Sodapop yelled at me. I rushed out to get it before Two-Bit could harass one of my friends on there like he did a couple of times earlier.

"Hello?" I said into the reciever.

"She talks!" I heard Dally sarcasticially say.

"Yeah, but only to those people she goes to school with," I heard Soda say.

"Pepper Ann, we have so much to plan! What are we gonna do?" Nicky said in her soft voice.

"Don't worry, Nicky, we have plenty of time. All we have to watch out for is Lice Kane and her lice colonies," I cracked up. I have a very wierd sense of humor.

"Pepper Ann, I'm quite sure that Alice Kane does not have lice," she said.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah....," I replied, "Hey, Nicky, I have to find out what instrument I should play before Darry comes home, so I better let you go."

"Okay, but Pepper Ann, I really think you and your brothers should establish a better relationship," she advised me.

"Nicky, that's all good and all that ya care for me and all, but I'm telling you, my brothers and I have absolutely ZERO chance of being close. They are WAY too preoccupied with their own lives that they don't care about mine," I told her, "You'll see when you come home with me tommorow."

"Oh, yes, tell Darry I thank him for having the added burden of another two people in his household for the upcoming day," she told me to do for her and Milo.

"Believe me, Nicky, he won't even know you're here," I assured her, "Unless he yells at us to stop playing our instruments."

"Alright, bye, Pepper Ann," she told me before hanging up. I looked at the clock and my eyes went wide. Darry was going to be home soon and I had to hurry and practice before he yells at me to do some meaningless chore. I grab my trumpet and close the door so no one will complain and start practicing, pronto. Then for the next few hours I'm on my peak of practicing when suddenly I hear-

"PEPPER ANN! WHY HAVEN'T YOU TAKEN OUT THE TRASH!!!!" I heard Darry yell very very loud at the door.

"Errrrrrrrrrrr," I growl, and yell just as loud, "COMING!!!!" Why do I have to take this from him every single solitary day?! This is injustice and it's not fair!

"Errrrrr....I bet Yo-Yo Ma's parents don't make him take out the trash whenever he's home," I grouch as I take out the trash, "And he's younger than me, too, and he's a child prodigy."

"PEPPER ANN! CLEAN UP THIS MESS OF INSTRUMENTS IN YOUR ROOM!" Darry screamed from across the house.

"I'm coming," I say kind of tiredly, you know, the way your voice gets when you're tired of something?

"Are you okay, Pepper Ann?" Sodapop asked me.

"Yeah, I guess," I told him, but it was kind of surprising that he actually cared. I packed up all the instruments and piles of music, and soon I had to do my homework. I always do it at the kitchen table where Darry's cooking or something.

"Is your friends still coming over?" he asked me.

"Uh-huh, Nicky said these exact words. 'Oh yes, tell Darry I thank him for having the added burden of another two people in his household for the upcoming day,'" I repeated what she said to tell him.

"Well, at least someone has some courtesy. You should be more like her," Darry told me.

"That's what everyone says," I told him before we heard a big bang from the livingroom and Darry rushed to see what it was.

Soon I finished all my homework, and pretty soon we all had dinner and was in bed, ready to go to sleep and rest for another day....

At four o'clock in the morning when my alarm clock rang, I had to really force myself to get up. The only thing that got me out of bed was the thought of in an hour Ponyboy and Sodapop would be up talking about guy stuff. Plus the bus was coming in about an hour and ten minutes.

I dressed in blue jeans, a yellow turtleneck with a blue-jean jacket over that with black high-heeled boots with my red hair in a blue twist- tie. Usually I would wear something like a purple shirt with a yellow skirt with olives on it, but I really don't like skirts or dresses that much, unless I want to look nice. And I don't look too bad in what I have on now. And besides, it's getting to be cold weather. I'm glad I don't go to one of those schools that require girls to wear dresses. I see no point in that. But I'm not totally feminist like Kelly, one of my friends. She says that just encourages sexual harrassment. I just think that's old-fashioned and some girls just look better in pants.

As I went towards the bus stop, I saw a very drunk girl coming outside of a crummy apartment that I always passed. She was wearing a very short skirt and a very very tiny top that didn't even cover everything. If anyone asked why I never liked wearing skirts unless I wanted to, I would just tell them that I've met a lot of girls that does enough skirt-wearing for this world. And why is most girls bleaching their hair blonde? It's just- oh, wait, the bus is coming, never mind!

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