Authors Note: Please note this is a sister story, part 3 of 4. This story is a continuation of Family Bond & Coming of Age. The story line chronicles the life of Scout Marie Curtis. I would suggest starting the series from the beginning, but if not here is a little something from her past to get you started:

In my brother's gang they often called me by my nickname, Sissy. My oldest brother Darrel actually gave me the name when I was about seven. All of the boys in the neighborhood wrestled and played rough... Darry always told me to get into the game. One day I told him I didn't want to get hurt and he has called me Sissy ever since. For the longest time my parents thought he called me Sissy because I was the little sister. They were not to happy to hear the truth later that Darry was actually teasing me - Story excerpt from Family Bond

Scout is the 'seven minutes younger' twin sister to Ponyboy, her intelligence and common sense levels are higher than her twin's yet she is more analytical like Darry and less creative then Pony. She is very quiet and shy and not a "greaser girl". She is tough when she needs to be, but prefers to stay clear of violence whenever possible. She gets along very well with all of her brothers, even Darry.

Under the watchful eyes of her brothers she has many new experiences:

I smiled at him and a cool breeze forced me to shiver.

"Are you cold Scout?" My shiver gave James a reason to move closer to me. He took his jacket off and draped it over my shoulders. He stopped the swing and leaned in close to me. "Is that better?"

I looked over at him. He was gentle and my heart started to flutter a little as my hands started to sweat. I had never been this close to a boy and had no idea what to expect or to do. "I'm warm, thank you."

"There you go being all proper again." James dimples reappeared as he grabbed my bottle of Pepsi and put it on the wooden floor of the porch. Then he put his hand on my leg, leaned in close and slowly kissed me on the lips. – Story excerpt from Coming of Age.

If you enjoy sister stories or any story that is written well you may just find this series to be amazing, entertaining and able to keep your interest, others have. I hope you enjoy!)

Disclaimer: This fanfiction entry is based on the book, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. Many of the characters in this story are her creation and I thank her for creating them and allowing so many writers to borrow them for our writing hobby.

Chapter one

The last week of school was always bitter sweet for me. On one hand I was happy to be free for the summer, but on the one hand I knew that in just a few weeks I would be bored and wishing I had something to occupy my time better. Ponyboy totally disagreed with me. He loved the summer because it gave him more time to read the books he wanted to read, more time to draw and write poetry. See that is a big difference between Pony and I. He is the creative one.

The other bad thing about the last week of school is the final exams. I hate those! I don't know why but Pony and I both worry about those tests so most of the gang know not to come around the house the last week of school. If they do they will just find us stuck at the table or laid out in our bed reading and reviewing everything we had already read. The only person who dared to come around was Steve. Half because he would hang out with Sodapop and half because he cared about his grades too. Steve felt comfortable studying with us because we could help him with anything. Last year he and I were in the same geometry class and we did homework together almost every day.

Sitting in my room I stared at the pile of books that were laid out on Sodapop's bed. I sighed heavy and began to stuff them into my knapsack. Today was the last day of school, testing day, and there wasn't anymore I could do except relax and hope I remembered everything clearly.

From the kitchen I could smell bacon and eggs cooking. Darry was making us a 'big test' day breakfast just like my dad used to do for us. He knew food fed the brain and it was an important fuel for the day. I walked into the kitchen and dropped my bag full of books with a thud on the floor. Soda and Ponyboy could be heard in the bathroom fighting over the hair oil and space by the mirror so I grabbed the plates to set the table.

Like clock work Steve, Two-Bit and Johnny came strolling through the door just in time for breakfast. I looked over at Darry and he cracked open more eggs.

"Hey ya'll" I greeted the gang and they answered "hey" back. The three boys spread out through the house. Steve followed Soda to his bedroom, Johnny joined Pony in the bathroom and Two-Bit strolled to the kitchen to see what Darry was making him for breakfast.

"Mmmm, looks good Darry!" Two-Bit grinned and Darry returned the gesture. Two-Bit grabbed seven glasses out of the cabinet and hauled them to the dining room. "Sissy you all ready for the final exams?"

"Yeah I guess so, you?"

Two-Bit laughed. "Shoot girl, I don't care if I pass any stupid test."

"Well you should." I put my hands on my hips. "You're a smart guy, you just don't try."

"Sissy I think you try hard enough for the both of us!" Two-Bit added before he went back into the kitchen to fetch the milk and juice for breakfast.

I yelled to him. "At the rate you're going you are going to be in the same graduating class as I am!"

He stuck his head back through the doorway. "Sounds good to me!"

Before I could respond Soda came strutting into the dining room and dominated the conversation with talk about his 'last day of school party' he was going to throw tonight for all of us. He promised it to be wild and crazy, and with Soda there we knew it would be.

After finishing my last exam early I sat at my school desk and thought about the weeks since the rumble. I hadn't seen or heard from James since that night. Ponyboy had told me that Curly said James dropped out of school, but it was ok because the two of them were working on a plan to get rich with out an education. At home I was sleeping better at night in my own room and I hadn't slept walked. Well at least if I did no one knew about it, not even me.

The bell rang signaling the release of a hundreds of kids for the summer. I climbed the stairs to my locker to grab my knapsack and check to be sure my locker was cleaned out. I pushed through the kids in the hall who were making summer plans and tossing garbage anywhere they pleased. Near my locker, socs row, kids from the other side of town were collecting in front of my locker. Cautiously I moved through the boys being sure to say excuse me and wait my turn.

Slowly the older soc boys moved away and let me open my locker and retrieve my belongings. I didn't look at them, but I knew they were watching me. Without making eye contact I shut my locker and turned to leave.

"See ya later grease!" I heard one of the boys call out and for a second I didn't believe he was speaking to me. Then his friend repeated the comment and a group of socs laughed. I kept walking and didn't respond. My mind thought about the words. It was the first time anyone had ever labeled me as a greaser and I didn't like it. It was also the first time I ever remember having any animosity toward that social group, but now I did and it was all because of just a few wealthy boys.

Steve didn't have a final exam last hour so he split from school early, so I met up with Two-Bit, Johnny and Ponyboy in the parking lot and we walked home together. "So Two-Bit did you even try to pass a test today."

Two-Bit smiled about his presumed unintelligence. "Not unless you call napping in three classes passing!"

Ponyboy rolled his eyes at our friend's comment. "Two-Bit you are crazy! I'll never understand why you bother coming to school at all."

"Me neither." Two-Bit cracked himself up as Ponyboy and Johnny lit up their cigarettes.

We had walked a handful of blocks with nothing important to say to each other. Each of us seemed consumed by our own personal thoughts. At least until a car load of Socs drove by and yelled "Greasers"! The insult was bad enough but then they upped the ante and whipped three empty beer bottles out of their car window at us.

"Look out!" Two-Bit called and tried to shield everyone from the shattering glass. When the Soc's pulled away he called out. "Morons!"

"Everybody alright?" Johnny's soft voice spoke up.

"Yeah I'm ok." Ponyboy answered, "I'm guessing Two-Bit is fine, if not he would have chased that car down and beat those socs." Johnny laughed and the two of them looked at their friend who was watching the road to see if the car was making a return visit.

"Scout you ok?" Johnny asked gently.

"Yeah I'll be fine."

"What do you mean?" Johnny asked and walked over to me. Unfortunately I had decided to wear a summer dress to school and a piece of the busted beer bottle cut the side of my leg and blood was trickling down my skin and into my shoe. "Scout you got a cut."

"I know," I wanted to be tough like Johnny was when he got cut up by his dad. "I'll be fine, I'll clean it up and put a band aid on it when I get home.

Two-Bit walked over and frowned at the wound. "I don't know what the deal is but them damn socs have been coming around way to much and yelling all the wrong things. One of these days we greasers are gonna get them good!"

"I don't understand why they just don't stay on their side of the city." Johnny added. "It aint like we go drivin' into their territory. Hell I don't see why they'd even want to come into ours."

"Just cause they think their tough." Pony answered his friend. "The whole thing is just stupid."

We finished the walk home without seeing the car again. Once we got to our block Two-Bit headed off to his house and when we got to our street Johnny went to his house and Pony and I continued.

Pony walked into the house and went straight to his room. I could tell he was tense about something and I wanted to know what so I followed him. "Pony what's the matter?"

"What do you mean what's the matter?" Pony asked truly annoyed by the question and he stuffed his knapsack up on a high shelf in his closet.

I laid down on his bed and enjoyed the warm breeze coming through his open window. I noticed the sweet smell of the lilac bushes in bloom. "You just seem mad about something."

"Well I am mad! And I don't know how you can't be!" Pony leaned up against the wall and hitched his thumbs into his belt loops.

I looked at him truly confused. "Can't be mad about what?"

"About being yelled at and having things thrown at us for no good reason!"

I had forgotten all about the incident but Pony hadn't. I realized it had probably been bothering him all the way home and he just didn't choose to talk about it. I had also forgotten about my cut and I sat up to be sure it was dry and I hadn't gotten any blood on my brother's bedspread. When all was ok I responded. "Pony… it's just words. You know mom and dad always told us to just ignore things like that."

Ponyboy paused and thought about the many talks our parents had given us about names never hurting us. "Yeah, but this time it was more than names." Pony laid down on his bed and propped his hands under the back of his head.

I laid down on Soda's side of the bed and looked over at my brother. It mad me sad that he was bothered and there wasn't anything I could do to change what had happened. "Don't worry 'bout it Pon. In just a few years we'll be out of here and off to college. We aint gonna be greasers our whole life."

"I know." Pony grumbled. "It just aint fair is all."

I sighed heavy and said nothing. Pony was right, but there wasn't anything either of us could say about fair. There was no clear definition about what fair was. Quietly we laid together and listened to the wind. "I sure like the smell of spring."

"Mmm hmm." Pony agreed as the wind brought in the not so welcome sound of Johnny's mother screaming at him from down the street.

Together we listened in silence and you could hear the woman screeching at her son to get the clothes off the line and then get inside to clean up the house. A moment later a few whacking sounds were heard and Pony and I sat up in his bed and could hear Johnny's father smacking him with something in the front yard. A few times Johnny yelled out that he was planning on doing what he was told but that didn't stop Johnny's dad from hitting him anyway.

Ponyboy and I looked at each other but neither of us spoke. We didn't have too. We had the same thought. What do we know about life not being fair, even with the loss of our parents the four of us still had each other. We had dinner together almost every night and a decent home. Johnny didn't have much of a home and when he went there he had no one who cared about him.