Chapter Four: Oh, Brother….Stepbrother, That Is.

"Mom?" Anne said at the breakfast table. "Sonia's done nothing except sleep for, like, three days!"

The sad thing was, Anne wasn't exaggerating. Sonia barely ate when she showed up for meals, and she slept most other times. But still. It wasn't like these were normal conditions. Despite himself, Two-Bit empathized with her.

"Leave her alone," Two-Bit said. "She'll be okay. She's just getting over her mom."

Anne glared at him. "You weren't like this after your friends died!" she said almost accusingly. "Why can't she get over it?"

"Would you get over it so easy if me and mom just snuffed it and you had to move across the country?" Two-Bit shot back.

"Stop it!" Hannah slammed her hand down on the table, hard.

Sonia shuffled into the kitchen fully dressed. She cleared her throat before saying, "When can I start school?"

Hannah stared at her. "So soon, dear?"

"Is that okay?" Sonia said reluctantly. "I mean, I have all my transcripts, and I don't want to fall behind."

"That's perfectly okay. You can go to school with Two-Bit today, if you like."

"If it's okay with Two-Bit," Sonia responded, casting Two-Bit a look.

Two-Bit shrugged. "I don't mind," he said. "C'mon, kids, let's hit the road!"

"Oh, Two-Bit, give her a chance to have some breakfast!" Hannah scolded.

"I'm not hungry," Sonia insisted, ducking out before Hannah could persuade her further.

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"Which way to the office?" Sonia asked Two-Bit once they were at the high school. Two-Bit chuckled. "I'll take you, no problem," he said, ushering her down the hall and into the office.

"What now, Mr. Mathews?" the woman at the desk said wearily. Sonia cleared her throat. "I'm a new student here," she said. "I'm enrolling."

"All right. Mr. Mathews, you are excused."

As he was leaving, Two-Bit turned to Sonia and said, "I'll be out front if you want a ride home. If you're not there by 3:10, then you're on your own."

"Okay," Sonia said. "Thanks."

"All right, dear, I'll need your full name. And do you have your transcripts?"

"Yes ma'am," Sonia said, handing her the papers. "Sonali Ganguli."

"My, my," the woman said as she looked over the transcripts. "You were in Pre-Calculus and AP Chemistry? But you're only a sophomore!" She looked up at Sonali. "You don't even look your age! You are sixteen?"

"Yes," Sonia said, slightly alarmed. No one had ever made such a big deal out of it before.

"Well, your English scores show why you haven't skipped any grades," the woman said disapprovingly. Sonia fumed inwardly. She had always spoken and written English the way she had learned it from her mother: broken. It wasn't her fault she was the child of an immigrant. It was good enough to get by with, so who cared if she wasn't Shakespeare?

"Here's your schedule," the woman said, typing it up and handing it to her. "Your teachers will give you your books, and I shall call them right away so they are notified of your joining the class."

Sonia nodded. She glanced at her first class. English.

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Ponyboy sat doodling at his desk. The bell rang, and he quickly closed his notebook and looked up.

"Class," the teacher droned at the front. "This is Sonali Ganguli. She is joining our class from Philadelphia. You may take a seat next to Mr. Curtis. Mr. Curtis, please acknowledge yourself."

Ponyboy raised a hand. The new girl looked Socy, but without the typical Soc arrogance. She looked somewhere between terrified, mortified, and there was sadness in her eyes.

"Hi," Ponyboy said shyly. "I'm Ponyboy," he introduced himself, and then winced inwardly as he waited for her reaction.

There was none. Ponyboy decided he liked her already. "Hi, Ponyboy," she said.

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It was the end of the day. Sonia was rummaging for a stick of gum on her way out when she slammed into somebody. "I'm so sorry," she apologized immediately, and then looked up. "Oh, hi, Ponyboy."

"Hey. Where're you headed to?"

"My…almost stepbrother's picking me up. You?"

"I'm catching a ride with my friend," Ponyboy responded.

They headed out together and stared at each other incredulously when they both approached the same beat-up old car.

"You're the girl Two-Bit's been telling us about?" Ponyboy exclaimed.

"He's been telling you about me? He never mentioned you! Not that we've talked much anyway," Sonia added.

"You're a lot prettier than he makes you out to be," Ponyboy said, and then blushed as he realized what he had just said.

Sonia couldn't hold back a smile, but managed to stifle a laugh. He was so innocent, it was hilarious. "You flatter me," she responded dryly.

"Hey, horse man. Hey, gangrene," Two-Bit greeted them cheerfully, slapping Ponyboy playfully on the back and winking at Sonia.

"Don't call me that!" Ponyboy and Sonia snapped simultaneously. Two-Bit looked amusedly from one to the other.

"I can see you two have already been well acquainted, eh?" he nudged Ponyboy and waggled his eyebrows. Ponyboy cracked a reluctant grin, but Sonia rolled her eyes. He may have been able to keep his mother and Anne rolling, but she didn't find him funny in the least bit.

"Two-Bit," she said, irked, "Shut up, will ya?"

"Okay," Two-Bit said amicably, but did no such thing as Ponyboy and Sonia both clambered into the backseat. Of course Two-Bit had to make a licentious joke about it, and so Ponyboy defiantly slid into the front seat.

"What, my stepsister ain't good enough for ya?" Two-Bit pretended to threaten Ponyboy. Ponyboy wisely didn't respond, and Sonia rolled her eyes in the back.

Two-Bit rambled on until they pulled up to the Curtis house, and Ponyboy got off. Before he headed inside, he ducked his head back in to say, "Hey, Two-Bit, you wanna come to the Nightly Double tonight?"

"Who all is going?" Two-Bit asked.

"Well, just me," Ponyboy admitted. "Sonia, you wanna come too?"

"It's okay," Sonia said quickly. They probably wanted to pick up girls and engage in "unsanitary American habits," as her mother had disparagingly put it. As a result, Sonia had never had a boyfriend or even a date.

"You sure?" Ponyboy asked even as Sonia's heart ached at the memory of her mother's stubborn traditional ways.

"I'm sure," Sonia managed to say around the lump in her throat.

"C'mon, kid," Two-Bit encouraged. "Get out some. Fresh air'll do ya good."

"And what am I breathing now?"

"Aw, c'mon. What are ya, chicken?" Two-Bit taunted. That old jibe never worked on her.

"Nope," she said. "I'm not going."

Two-Bit cocked an eyebrow at her. "For a chick that's supposed to be from the city of brotherly love, you ain't showing much love for your brother," he said, pretending to be hurt.

"Why do you want me tagging along?" Sonia countered. "Girls aren't going to want to talk to a guy that already with a girl. And won't I cramp your style or whatever?"

"I'll leave you two alone and get my own chick," Two-Bit said. "I'm just driving you two there and back. On my time, understand?" he added. "I get, uh, held up, you got to find your own mode of transportation."

Sonia turned her eyes on Ponyboy. "What about you?" she asked. "Don't you stuff to do there like him?" she jerked her head at Two-Bit.

"I don't do that kind of stuff," Ponyboy said. "I'd like it if you came. The movie'll probably be trash, but we can talk."

"Talk, eh?" Two-Bit said suggestively.

Sonia sighed. It seemed that she was stuck. "Okay," she agreed grudgingly. "I'd like to talk with you, Ponyboy."

Ponyboy smiled suddenly. It took Sonia aback. He shouldn't be allowed to be able to do that, she thought, hating herself for being taken in by that smile.

"I'll come by Two-Bit's tonight," he said. "The movie starts at eight, so I'll be there…quarter till?"

"Okay," Sonia said, even as she thought, Oh, brother. Stepbrother, that is.

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Totally lame ending, right? Eh.