I lay there, almost asleep, just floating, until Ben's arms were suddenly around me. He whispered in my ear, obviously not wanting to startle me and cause me to sink and drown.

"Scout, we gotta go in. Darry's getting restless." His face was over mine, and he pulled me over toward him, so my feet sank and my face came to a rest against his neck.

I snuggled up against him and felt him shiver as I kissed his neck. He pushed me away so I was looking him in the face. He shook his head at me and smiled.

"Darry wants us in the truck," he said, as he led me to the shore. "He's been telling us to come in for ten minutes. He wants to get home before it storms. You need anything else besides your towel?" he asked. I saw that Pony and Soda had already packed everything else and were tossing it into the truck. I looked over toward the west and saw the thunderheads off in the distance. We had fallen into the typical Tulsa summer weather pattern: unbearably hot sunny days with storms in the late afternoon that everyone hoped would break the humidity though they never did.

"No," I said, wrapping myself in my towel and letting him lead me over to the truck. I was surprised to see that Soda was driving, and Pony was in the passenger seat – that left me and Ben in the back with Darry and Kevin. The minute we climbed in, Darry stretched out his legs, covered them with the blanket and motioned for me to lay down with my head on his lap, as Kevin and Ben sat on the opposite side of the truck.

I fell dead asleep as we drove home, even though it was only about a ten-minute ride. I wanted nothing more than to be in bed. For no particular reason, I was exhausted. Granted, Darry had come home late and awakened me with his whole drunken stupor situation, but I was uncharacteristically tired. I figured it was probably the heat. It had been getting to all of us, and when we weren't working, we were often napping, even Darry, who rarely napped at all unless he had been working many weeks in a row or something.

As we pulled into the driveway and the truck rattled to a stop, Darry eased up his knees, forcing me into a sitting position. I opened my eyes and immediately groaned and closed them again against the bright sun. Darry laughed and grabbed me under the shoulders, dragging me out of the truck and setting me down on my feet on the ground. I begrudgingly opened my eyes and leaned against the truck.

Soda hopped out of the driver's seat and squeezed my waist on the way by, earning a screech and a smack on the butt from me. Suddenly wide awake, I chased him around to the backyard and tackled him, making sure not to let him roll over any of my flowers. He rolled me over and pinned me down, tickling until I begged him to stop and Darry yelled at both of us to get inside and shower and put some clothes on before the neighbors started talking.

I noticed the clouds coming in quickly, so I ran around Soda and beat him into the house to the shower. I hated being in the shower when we had a storm, so I wanted to get that done with before it was upon us. Darry and Soda always made fun of me – I wouldn't so much as go near water or talk on the phone during a storm- I totally believed all the stories about what made you more likely to be struck by lightning. For a while when I was younger, I had made my Dad sit in our car with me every time we had a storm, since Pony had told me that was the safest place to be. While I figured I would probably get calmer about storms as I got older, I doubted I would ever actually be completely unafraid of them.

Soda was waiting his turn at the bathroom door as I came out and, after getting dressed, I grabbed a Pepsi from the refrigerator and went out to the porch. Kevin and Darry were leaning against the truck talking. I saw lightning in the distance and was about to turn around and head back inside when I saw a familiar car turn the corner. It slowed and came to a stop in front of our house. I saw Darry straighten up and turn toward the car as Alison and Anna both got out. I froze in the doorway while Ali and Anna stopped at the gate. Kevin headed back toward his house and Darry came over to our side of the gate.

"Hi," he said, hesitantly. I saw Anna staring at Darry and had to fight not to laugh. He was still in his swimming trunks, and had taken his shirt off while he and Kevin unloaded the truck. I imagine he looked pretty good to a teenage girl who wasn't his sister. Alison looked pretty impressed too – roofing houses all day does pretty good things for your muscle tone.

"I was hoping we could talk," she said, quietly. "I can come back, I mean, if this is a bad time…"

"No," Darry answered, staring straight at her. "It's fine. Come on in, just let me clean up real quick, and get some clothes on… Sorry," he apologized, motioning to his state of undress… we just got back from the pond. You two can sit with Scout, I'll be right out."

I stared out at them from the porch as they came through the gate. Anna met my stare.

"Darry?"

Anna called to him as he was turning to go inside. I had never heard the tone in her voice right then, a mixture of timidity and humility.

"Yeah?"

"I just wanted to say, I'm really sorry about getting Scout messed up in that party at all… she didn't want to go, but I'm glad she didn't let me go alone. It won't happen again." I actually thought I heard a hint of tears in her voice.

"I hope not," he said, "for your sake, just as much as Scout's. You know, your family – and mine – would be pretty upset if something happened to you, too." I had to give him credit; Darry knew how to take an apology without rubbing your mistake in your face or making you feel worse than you already did.

"I'd like to talk to Scout, too, if that's alright."

"It's fine, Anna. I just don't want the two of you going out alone together for a while, until I trust you a little more."

"I get it," she said.

Darry squeezed her shoulder and disappeared into the house, calling over his shoulder,

"I'll be right back. Help yourself to a drink or whatever."

Alison and Anna both came up on the porch, hesitantly. Anna looked at me, still looking like she was going to cry. "I'm sorry," she mouthed to me behind Alison's back, and I felt bad that I hadn't gotten back to her after she called… I hoped she would understand that things had just been busy. I really hadn't had time to talk to her.

"Can I get you guys a Pepsi, or something?" I asked. I hoped Darry would come back soon, because I could tell both Alison and Anna were nervous. I wasn't exactly sure what had gone down between Ali and Darry, but she definitely seemed to be feeling bad about it.

"Nobody told me there was a party out here," Soda suddenly burst through the front door. "And a party full of beautiful young ladies, to boot!" Soda laughed and, as was his gift, he put everybody at ease.

"I'll take a Pepsi," Ali said, and Anna agreed.

"Okay," I said, heading in to get them. "Soda, behave," I warned him, and he laughed. I knew Anna would be plenty happy if he didn't behave, but he knew better.

I headed into the kitchen to grab the Pepsis, and I stood in front of the sink popping off the tops, watching out the window as the clouds get closer. Lightning struck at the edge of the horizon, and I cringed as the thunder roared not long after. Darry had come up behind me and I jumped at his hand on my shoulder.

"It's okay. Just another storm," he said. "You'd think you'd be used to them by now," he said, taking the Pepsis from me.

"You'd think," I responded, a little bit annoyed at myself for being such a wimp. "You're not still mad at Alison, are you?"

"No… I never really was mad at her. I do hope Anna wises up though, before she gets in any more trouble."

"I know. She knows I don't want anything to do with that."

"I know, baby. I trust you. I'll send Anna back in to your room, okay? I want to talk to Alison alone."

"Okay." I headed into my room, hearing the rain start to beat against the side of the house. I went into my room, closed my windows, and sat on my bed. A moment later there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." The door opened slowly and Anna came in, a look of absolute repentance on her face.

"I'm really, really sorry, Scout," she said, looking straight at me. It was clear she meant it.

"Look, Anna… relax. I'm not that mad about it any more. Just, since you called, a lot has been going on. The state came, I've been working… I went on a real date, with Ben."

She looked at me, shocked.

"No way! What? I mean, where did you go?"

"To a dance, at his church. It was really great."

"So I imagine you have definitely kissed him by now, huh?"

"Yeah," I couldn't help smiling. "We've done some kissing."

"French kissing?"

"Anna."

"So that's a yes… God, Scout, he's so cute!"

I still wasn't completely comfortable talking about my relationship with Ben to Anna. It just felt too… personal.

"What about you? I hope you realize the guys you've picked lately have been losers," I said, realizing I was being blunt but, on the other hand, not wanting to sugarcoat the truth.

"Yeah, I know," she said, quietly. "I mean, it was bad enough the way I felt afterward, hungover and knowing you were mad at me, and Darry was mad at you because of me… then he and Ali got in a fight about it, too… I don't know why I was so stupid, really. I mean, Eddy was never even nice to me, not like Ben is to you, anyway. I shoulda known he was just trying to take advantage."

"Yeah, you should have," I said. "Especially since I tried to tell you."

"I know," she said, just as a thunderclap shook the house, making us both jump.

"Anna, you deserve better, is all I'm saying. I mean, give yourself some credit."

"That's easy for you to say, your brothers would never let a guy treat you bad," she said, a tinge of jealousy in her voice.

"They wouldn't let anybody treat you bad, either," I said, feeling a little tense as the rain picked up against the house and the lightning and thunder continued. The sky looked eerily dark for so early in the evening, even during a storm.

"It's just different, Scout. I mean, Alison's not even in school with me, my Dad's always working…"

"That doesn't mean they don't care, Anna," I said, taking her hand, "or that you shouldn't expect to be treated right by a guy."

"Yeah," I guess so," she said, just as lightning struck, thunder bellowed, and the lights went out. I yelled, despite myself. God, how I hated my stupid fears.

"Scout?" I heard Soda yell in the hall. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry. Just surprised me." Just then the noise on the roof and the side of the house intensified tenfold and I heard Darry and Alison talking with Soda in the kitchen. I looked out the window.

"It's hailing," I said. I hadn't seen hail like that in a few summers. I heard a commotion in the kitchen and suddenly I heard it, loud and clear, the tornado siren. It came from the firehouse down the street, and it meant a tornado had been seen in our county. I felt every hair on my body stand up at the sound.

"Scout! Anna, out, NOW!" Darry yelled from the kitchen. I knew what to do – I had done it countless times before. The siren meant we headed to the cellar until the danger had passed, after which we came out and everything was fine. I knew what to do, but for some reason, this time I froze. Anna opened the door and went out to the kitchen immediately, but I panicked.

It had been my Dad who had always held me and soothed me during the tornado warnings – he was gone. There was nobody to hold me this time. I had always feared the cellar – I feared it even more knowing I was to face it on my own from now on.

"Scout, come on!" Darry was yelling from the kitchen. I willed myself to move, and started for the door but turned back before I left, hearing the wind and hail outside, but unable to leave without what had caused me to turn. I reached into my drawer and grabbed my Mom's ring and my necklace from Dad and ran out into the hallway, nearly running into Darry.

"Jesus Christ, Scout, what the hell were you waiting for? Let's go," he said, pushing me ahead of him through the cellar door and pulling it shut and locking it behind him.

And the wind and hail howled its mockery of me, the coward.

And I started to cry the minute Darry shut the door.

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A/N: Sorry, the writing time has been extremely limited lately. Thanks for checking in if you're still reading. Feedback is awesome. Happy Labor day and... goodbye, summer! :-(