Introduction

Sodapop Curtis looked out the window of his house. He felt numb. Johnny had just died, and he had a hard time processing it. Ponyboy and Darry, his brothers, were upstairs talking to Dallas Winston, who was extremely depressed. They had found him running from the police, and brought him home. Soda was thinking about how their lives had been turned upside down, and he just didn't know what to do.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a young girl walking quickly down the street, with her head bowed. She carried a backpack and seemed terrified. Soda soon saw why. Riding slowly behind her was a red mustang with five Socs in it.

They were yelling things at her and she was turning bright red. Finally she turned around and yelled something angrily back at them. One Soc jumped out of the car and advanced slowly toward her. That's when Soda knew he had to do something.

Soda's POV

I sprang up from the couch and yelled for Darry and Pony. They came running down the stairs.

"Listen, there's this girl," I started, but stopped. They had already seen her.

"Dally, we'll be right back!" Darry called up the stairs.

"What's going on?" Dally asked, sounding exhausted.

"Nothing. Try to get some rest, okay?" We raced out the door.

When we got out there, the Socs were circling her slowly. I could see the fear in her face as she looked at the glinting switchblade that one held in his hand.

"Please just leave me alone," She asked imploringly.

"No way." He replied. "No one talks to me like that!"

"Well, maybe if you learn how to talk to a lady, no one will." She snapped.

"Oh you little . . . " He lunged toward her. She ducked and he fell forward. She put her foot on his back and pulled a switchblade from her back pocket.

I felt Pony stir beside me. He hates violence when women are involved. I grabbed his shoulder. All of a sudden, Darry ran out into the group. Pony and I followed. I got a sudden chill. Whether it was from the cold weather or the fight, I still don't know.

Darry reached out and grabbed the girl. She screamed and he clamped his hand over her mouth.

"I'm here to help you. Go over next to the house . . . We'll take care of these guys." Darry told her. She gave him a grateful smile and walked over to the spot.

She stood there for a moment, looking uncomfortable. She turned to the fight and watched it for a while.

Samantha's POV

I watched the boys run toward the angry Socs. I was very happy to have found the three boys. I knew that they could help me with more then getting out of scrapes like this.

Anyway, I really hate to get into fights. I think they are dangerous and no good. But when I saw that the youngest boy was having a heck of a time, I couldn't not help them. So I ran to him.

He was fighting a big ol' guy and he was being beat up big time. So I jumped up on the Soc's back and pulled his hair. He yelped, and the kid punched him as hard as he could. He fell to the ground and started running to the car, which started driving away. I sat down on the ground, exhausted, freezing and still frightened.

Soda's POV

I watched the girl plop to the ground and decided to do the same. When my hand brushed hers, I realized that she was shivering.

"Here, take my jacket," I offered. She smiled at me.

"Thanks." She out my jacket on over her torn shirt and smiled peacefully.

"Thanks," she said again. That's when I felt it. She reminded me so much of someone. I couldn't quite figure out who, but I felt very close to her already, as if we had known each other for a long time.

"Darry Curtis," Darry stuck out his hand. She shook it. Pony and I offered her our hands, which she also shook. She didn't mention our names when we gave them to her. She just smiled. I took a good long look at her. She had huge ocean blue eyes and hair light brown hair with blond highlights. She was dressed fairly nicely, and carried a backpack. And she was very pretty. Beautiful, in a low key, simple way.

"I'm Samantha," she said. "Thank you all for helping me. They would have squashed me easier than a bug if you hadn't shown up."

"No problem," Darry said easily. He never minds helping people out. "You're not from around here, are you?"

"No, I'm not," she said. "I'm glad I ran into you, though. I need to find someone and I think you can help me."

"Who are ya looking for?" I asked. I figured that if she thought we knew the person, we probably did.

"Johnny Cade," she told us, and my blood ran cold. "I'm his twin sister. I was given away at birth, but I want to find him. We've been keeping in touch for years now."

"Johnny?" I asked weakly. I wondered who was going to break the news to her. I hoped to God it wasn't me.

Pony and I looked at Darry. Since he was the oldest, it made sense that he should tell her.

"Um, Samantha?" Darry began.

"Yes?"

"A few weeks ago, something happened that you should know about. You see, your brother, well, he did something amazing." He launched into the story. I watched as Samantha's face changed at each part of the story: Horror when Darry told about the murder, sadness about running away, and a rapturous joy when she heard about him being a hero. Darry stopped at the part when we had found out that he was in critical condition.

I watched her face pale. Her eyes grew wide and her mouth opened slightly. Out of instinct, I reached over and gently took her hand. As I rubbed it, she looked at me with her wide, troubled eyes.

"He's dead, isn't he?" She whispered.

"Yes," I said softly. "But he died a hero." Samantha bit her lip and began to cry softly.

"I'm sorry," I whispered into her ear and took her into my arms. She just cried into my shoulder.