Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders.

4 Years Later

(Andrea's POV)

I was walking out of the local movie theater, my mind on a ride home. It was a nice day, not too hot and not too cold and it was a few hours until sunset. I enjoyed walking by myself because it gave me time to think and clear my head, something not many people do so often these days. But could I walk home? No.

Instead, I had to walk to the music store my brother Josh worked at and hang out there for a few hours so he could drive me home. I didn't understand why I wasn't allowed to walk home alone while it was perfectly acceptable for me to sit in a dark theater surrounded by strangers, but I went along with it anyway just to avoid a fight with my oldest brother Simon.

Me and Simon have never gotten along. All I've ever done was get in his way and he hates me for it. We're total opposites and we're always fighting over one thing or another. It's been that way ever since I met him when I was seven and I don't think things will ever change between us. Oh well. At least I have Josh to talk to.

Josh is the brother I rely on, the one I go to with all my problems. He's always there when I need him and no matter what he always listens to me. Simon's just the guy that signs all the legal papers and pretends to care; as far as I'm concerned, Josh is my only family.

I had arrived at the music store to find my brother talking with a costumer while several people roamed the store. I could tell that Josh would be a little busy today, so I spent my time looking at different CDs, thankful my brother had an interesting workplace.

A few hours later, the store was quiet. There weren't any customers and Josh's boss was on his dinner break. Josh and I spent the time talking about school and movies and stuff. It was fun until the jingle of the bell at the front door interrupted us and Josh told me to go look at CDs again.

I was hidden behind a CD rack when I saw him. The guy who had walked through the door appeared to be nearly six feet tall, around Simon's size. He was wearing a ski mask so I couldn't see his face. I had no idea who he was, all I knew was that he scared me.

What scared me even more was when he approached my older brother, who was at the cash register. The masked man had a brown paper bag in one hand, which he handed to Josh, and a handgun in the other, pointing at my brother's head. "Give me the money" the robber said in a gruff voice.

I wanted to do something-- anything-- to help my brother, but my body wasn't cooperating. I stood frozen in my hiding place, unable to move, or think, or even breathe. My heart was pounding so loud I was shocked that I wasn't discovered.

I just stood there as Josh poured the contents of the cash register into the bag. When he was finished, the man took the brown bag and fled the store. Once the door closed behind him, I let out the deep breath I had been holding and ran towards Josh.

I hugged him while he told me that he was alright, just freaked out. Then, the door opened once again and Josh and I both jumped out of our skin at the sound of the bell.

"What, y'all excited to see me?" a familiar voice asked.

Josh and I both relaxed at the sight of Keith Matthews. He was a friend of our father's and has visited frequently since our parents funeral. He was fifty-two years old and still went by the nickname "Two-Bit". It was hard to believe that he was a full-grown adult since was always telling jokes and stories and acting like he was still a teenager. Although he can be serious when he wants to be, he's usually not.

"Two-Bit, now's not a good time," Josh began.

"Why not? You kids gettin' ready for a party or somethin'?" he asked

"No. I have to call my boss. We were just robbed." Josh explained. The grin was wiped off of Two-Bit's face and he seemed uncomfortable for a moment.

"What'd they take?" Two-Bit asked.

"Money, what else?" I responded.

Two-Bit opened his mouth to say something, but I guess he thought better of it since he just sighed instead. "You kids want me to call your brother and let him know what happened?" he asked.

"Yeah, that'd be great," Josh said, "My boss should be here soon so after we tell him, we'll be able to go home. You gonna stay here, Two-Bit, or are you going somewhere?"

"I'll stick around here to make sure everything's alright. I don't wanna leave you kids by your lonesome to deal with this," Two-Bit assured us. He took out his cell phone and called Simon just as Josh's boss walked through the door.

Josh's boss, Tom Nedley was nice guy, but not very understanding. I felt bad for Josh as Tom invited him to his office to discuss the recent event.

"You look pretty shaken up," Two-Bit pointed out, "You wanted tell me what happened?"

I told him everything I saw and heard. When I was done with my little story, Josh and Tom returned and Simon walked inside.

"Is everyone okay? What happened?" Simon hurriedly asked. Now it was Josh's turn to tell the tale.

When he was finished, Simon turned to me. "The guy didn't see you, did he?" he asked.

"No,"

"Did you have your cell phone on you?"

"Yes,"

"Why didn't you call 9-1-1 or somebody?"

"I-I didn't think…" I whispered. I hated the way Simon always made me feel so small and stupid whenever I forgot something or made a mistake.

"Yeah, I figured that," Simon muttered.

"Hey, lay off her. She's only eleven and that guy had a gun. If she called somebody and he heard her, she could've been killed," Josh defended.

"Whatever," Simon sighed, "It's a school night and it's getting late; let's go home."

"I have to stay here for a while and talk to the cops about the robbery," Josh informed him.

"Fine. I'll save you something for dinner and you get eat when you get home," Simon told him, "What about you, Two-Bit, you want to have dinner at our house?"

"Nah. I just decided to see y'all to see how you've been doin'. It looks like you have a lot to deal with, so I'll check up on you guys again soon." Two-Bit looked at Simon. "Geez, kid. You look more and more like Darry every time I see you."

He was walking toward the door when he suddenly stopped and faced us again. "Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. I think I finally convinced my wife to sell the house in Oklahoma and we might move up here to Seneca, New York." Two-Bit told us.

Later that night, I was lying in bed trying to sleep when I heard Josh in the next room. We both had small rooms connected with a sliding door. I entered his room and asked him what happened.

"Nothing happened. The cops came, asked what happened, and I told them. My boss was pissed off about losing a ton of money and the cops were annoyed because this was, like, the tenth store robbed this week. They just asked for information on the guy that did it and said they'd get back to us if they got any leads," Josh told me.

"Do you think he'll come back?"

"The thief? No way. No idiot of a robber would steal from the same store twice. There's too much of a chance he'll get caught. I think the only reason he robbed us this time is because somehow he must have known that the security cameras were broken and being replaced tomorrow," Josh said.

I looked down at the dark blue carpet. "Do you think it's my fault?" I quietly asked.

"What?"

I looked at him to see that he had confusion written all over his face. "Do you… Do you think it was my fault that the guy stole the money?"

"Andrea… None of it was your fault,"

"But Simon said--"

"Forget about what Simon said," Josh interrupted, "He wasn't thinking when he told you that. You didn't do anything wrong."

I still wasn't entirely sure I believed him. What if Simon was right and the robbery could have been avoided if I had just thought to make a simple phone-call?

Josh must have seen my dubious expression because he said, "Andrea… You didn't walk into the store wearing a ski mask with bad intentions. You didn't pull out that bag, you didn't hold a gun to my head, and you didn't run off with that money. Now go to bed before Simon hears us."

I left his room, feeling slightly better about the robbery. But I was still upset about what Simon said. I always tell myself to forget about Simon and that I don't really care about him. But I never do forget about him. And that just makes it worse when he makes comments like the one he said today.

Author's Note: Thanks so much to those who reviewed last chapter. Please review for this chapter. I would really love to hear what people think of this story.