Sunshine Daisy Curtis took a deep breath in and out before stepping into room 326 at the International Institute of Mary Sues (IIMS) with a large smile on her beautiful face. She wasn't nervous at all-on the contrary, she was born ready for this.
Professor Sue Mary, the founder of IIMS, was seated primly inside the classroom.
"Good morning, Miss Curtis."
"Good morning, Professor Sue Mary," Sunshine Daisy replied with a flawless curtsy. No one was more graceful than she was!
"Are you ready for your final exam?" the professor asked. "Once you finish this test, you'll officially be done!"
"Oh, yes, ma'am!" Sunshine Daisy effused. "I am ready to claim my rightful place in the Curtis house!"
"Very good." Professor Sue Mary smiled. "Have a seat and we can get started, dear."
Sunshine Daisy sat down in the chair in front of the esteemed teacher and crossed her ankles delicately, before gracefully placing her hands in her lap.
"Let's begin!" Professor Sue Mary looked the teen up and down. "Let's see. Unnatural eye color-check." She made a check mark on Sunshine Daisy's exam with a red pen.
Sunshine Daisy batted her sparkling purple eyes. They had golden flecks and were probably the most beautiful eyes at the IIMS.
"Improbably shiny, flowing hair with inexplicable natural streaks-check."
Sunshine Daisy tugged her ponytail forward and admired her wheat-gold hair (just like her "twin," Sodapop's!) which, of course, had natural streaks of red and light brown in it. She beamed at the professor.
Professor Sue Mary told the girl to stand up quickly and nodded approvingly at Sunshine Daisy's short, ripped jean shorts, distressed hoodie that said Victoria's Secret Pink all over it, and flip-flops. "Somehow wearing an outfit from approximately fifty or sixty years from now-check. Unique and original name-check."
"My dad was an original person," Sunshine Daisy told Professor Sue Mary proudly. "Two of my brothers are Sodapop and Ponyboy, you know."
"Oh, yes, dear, I do know." Professor Sue Mary smiled down at her star pupil. She flipped forward a page in the final exam. "And according to this essay about yourself that you wrote, you are a perfect blend of all the Curtis boys' best traits-concerned and determined like Darry-"
"Stunning and compassionate like Soda," Sunshine Daisy trilled.
"And dreamy and intelligent like Ponyboy!" The duo finished together. They laughed as Professor Sue Mary closed the exam booklet and placed it on the desk behind her.
"Well, I think that's all, Ms. Sunshine Daisy! It's time for you to go. And let me be the first to congratulate you on becoming a Curtis sister!"
"Thank you, Professor Sue Mary!" She curtsied again, despite wearing shorts. "I am very excited."
"As you should be," Professor Sue Mary said. "It's an honor. Why don't you head home? I'm sure the boys are waiting for you."
That was all she needed to hear. Sunshine Daisy Curtis ran out of the International Institute of Mary Sues as fast as her shapely and flawless legs could carry her.
"Hello? Boys! I'm home!"
Sunshine Daisy didn't bother to knock as she entered the Curtis home-her home. She knew the door would be open. Her oldest brother Darry always said he wasn't afraid of burglars. She chuckled to herself. That was so like him. So determined.
After letting herself in, she immediately came across the three boys wrestling in the living room. She was slightly irritated that it took them so long to notice her. She wasn't used to boys ignoring her, even if these were brothers.
"Uh, can we help you?" Darry asked suspiciously, still holding Ponyboy in a headlock.
Sunshine Daisy was slightly taken aback-she wouldn't have been surprised if Ponyboy had forgotten her, what with him being so dreamy all the time (like Sunshine Daisy herself, of course). But Darry?
"Silly, it's me! Your sister! Sunshine Daisy Curtis!"
"Uh, we don't have a sister," Ponyboy answered blankly.
Ah, there it was: her little brother's dreaminess bubbling to the surface! She already felt at home.
"Ponyboy." Sunshine Daisy put her arm around Ponyboy's shoulders, even though Darry had not let him go yet. "How could you forget about me, your only big sister?"
As the words left her mouth, she tried not to think about the fact Ponyboy had, in fact, forgotten about her once before: there wasn't a single mention of her in that book he wrote, after all. Hmm…
Soda finally pulled himself off the floor and smiled at her tentatively. "Look, it's nice to meet you, Sunshine Daisy-"
Sodapop to the rescue! She thought. He definitely seemed the most open to her so far, not that that was surprising. Soda was notoriously charming. Not quite as charming as Sunshine Daisy herself, of course. But close!
"Soda, I can't believe you could forget your own twin sister!" Sunshine Daisy exclaimed.
This was not going at all how she had planned! She thought back to the IIMS and some of her friends there. Her friend Sherry Potter, twin to The Boy Who Lived in some book series she never read. Or her best friend Kayla, who was (supposedly) the younger and tougher sister of two guys called Dean and Sam Winchester. They sent postcards to her at school sometimes, and they all seemed to be having a great time since graduation! No one had ever mentioned having problems! She certainly wasn't used to that.
Before Soda could respond, the front door flew open, allowing Two-Bit Matthews, Johnny Cade, Dally Winston, and Steve Randall to come in, all talking, laughing, and joking around. But all chatter stopped when they saw Sunshine Daisy standing there.
They stared at her in awe, like a goddess coming to life. They took in her beauty. Her clothes. Her perfect posture. Suddenly, they all stampeded toward her.
"Sunshine Daisy!" Two-Bit was actually in tears. "Is it really you?"
"It sure is, Two-Bit," she answered, hugging him. Finally!
"Your brothers thought that they had lost you, like they did their mom and dad," Two-Bit blubbered.
"No," Darry piped in. "We absolutely didn't think that. We have never seen this girl before!"
"What the hell is wrong with you three?" Steve snapped, joining the huddle around Sunshine Daisy. "She was gone for so long-"
"Steve." Soda hooked his fingers around Steve's arm and pulled him over towards the three stunned Curtis boys. "Buddy. Level with me. You really know that girl?"
"Know her?" Steve echoed in shock. "You're asking me if I know my own best buddy's twin sister-"
"Here we go," Darry muttered to Ponyboy. "Wait for it. He's going to say he has been in love with her-"
"-who I have been in love with ever since I laid eyes on her at your house when we were kids?"
"Told ya," Darry grumbled. Ponyboy just nodded mutely.
"I'll never forget that day," Steve mused. "Me and Soda were playing on the front porch, and your mom came out and said we had to let your sister play too-"
"Okay." Soda groaned and shoved Steve back towards the other boys. "Thanks, Steve."
"And then I saw her." Steve was still talking, even though he was across the room at this point. "She had beautiful wheat-gold hair. Like Soda's, but better. And-"
Darry, Soda, and Ponyboy walked over to the couch where their "sister" was sitting. The rest of the gang surrounded her and were listening and watching Sunshine Daisy with rapt attention.
"So, I just had to go on a journey to kind find myself, you know?" she concluded. The boys nodded in unison.
"Finding yourself is really cool, Sunshine Daisy," Dally agreed.
The brothers groaned. That one sentence alone told them everything: Dally liked Sunshine Daisy too.
The gang fired questions at the newcomer while Ponyboy, Darry, and Soda sat off to the side warily. Johnny sidled up next to Ponyboy.
"Ponyboy," he whispered to his best friend.
"Yeah?"
"I love Sunshine Daisy," Johnny declared in his quiet voice without preamble.
"Johnny-" Ponyboy tried with a sigh.
"Don't you remember?" Johnny went on. "All those nights in the vacant lot and at the church? I'd tell you how…how my dream is to move out of here and be really successful so that I'll finally be good enough for your sister. And maybe…she could even grow to love me."
"No, I don't remember that," Ponyboy answered shrilly, "because it didn't happen."
Johnny smiled and turned towards his friend eagerly. "Yup, it's true. I'm going to start trying really hard in school, go to college, and then win Sunshine Daisy over. We will live in a beautiful country house-"
"Johnny?"
"-with a picket fence-"
"Johnny?"
"-and a couple of dogs!"
"JOHNNY!" Ponyboy yelled.
"What?" Johnny exclaimed, startled out of his daydream.
Before Ponyboy could answer, Johnny's attention had drifted back to Sunshine Daisy. He didn't bother trying to get his friend's attention again.
"Come on!" Two-Bit pulled Sunshine Daisy off the couch. "I'll bet Darry has fixed something great for dinner!"
"Sure, go ahead," Darry said flatly. "We don't already have a lot of mouths to feed."
With eight people eating a dinner for three, no one was particularly satiated at the end of the meal. But everyone was soon distracted by Two-Bit.
"Sunshine Daisy," he began dramatically. "I've known you your whole life-"
"No you haven't!" Soda protested. "None of us have!"
"But, well, because you're blonde, I can't hide my feelings anymore!" Two-Bit declared loudly. "Will you…go out with me tonight?"
"Oh, Two-Bit..." Sunshine Daisy smiled. The gang was clearly into her! This was going great!
"Can we all just-go to bed?" Darry begged. "Forget this day ever happened? Please?"
"You don't think I'm good enough for your sister!" Two-Bit bellowed. "You've been overprotective of her for her entire life! Mark my words, Curtis, I will be her boyfriend!"
"No, I will be!"
"No, me!"
Suddenly, chaos erupted at the Curtis dinner table as Johnny, Dally, Two-Bit, and Steve all started physically fighting each other for the "fair hand of the hottest Curtis," as Two-Bit had put it.
Darry, Ponyboy, and Soda watched in stunned silence.
"Well, boys, I guess we can call it a night," Sunshine Daisy announced suddenly, standing up and stretching.
The four fighters stopped briefly to admire her flawless physique before returning to their brawl.
"Where are you going?" Soda asked, watching Sunshine Daisy make her way towards the front door.
"I'm going to sleep in the lot," she answered, as though it were obvious. "I'm just tough like that."
"You sure are!" Dally yelled as Steve attempted to put him in a full Nelson. "Tougher than me. I really admire you."
"We can't let her sleep out there," Ponyboy whispered. She may have been a total stranger, but she was still a girl.
"Great," Darry groused. "We have plenty of beds."
The boys grudgingly invited their "sister" to spend the night. Sunshine Daisy headed upstairs.
Alone in the bedroom that Ponyboy and Sodapop had unwillingly vacated for her, she thought about her time with the boys so far. Two-Bit, Dally, Steve, and Johnny were clearly in love with her, as it should be.
But how could she convince Soda, Ponyboy, and Darry that she really was their sister?