Worth Waiting For

Chapter one: This is it

Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to S.E. Hinton.

This is it, no turning back now, Cassy thought to herself as she rang the doorbell on the old weathered house. She tucked a lock of her dark blonde hair behind her ear, a nervous habit she had picked up over the years. Blinking her deep green eyes she stood, becoming increasingly impatient and uncomfortable. Maybe this was a bad idea. Just as she was about to leave, the door creaked open to reveal a small boy that looked about fourteen but she knew he was older. Behind him she could see a proud woman with frown lines creasing her face, sitting on a couch seemingly ignoring that she even had a door.

"Hello?" The boy addressed her looking a bit confused. He reminded her a bit of a lost puppy….

"Um, hi, my name is Cassy." At this she noticed the woman bristle but she never looked up from the book she was reading. "Um, I actually came here to talk to you; Johnny right?" The boy nodded mechanically, not taking his eyes off of her. "Could we go outside for a sec?" Once again, he nodded. She saw the subtle movement of his hand feeling his pocket for something, a blade. She could see the handle sticking out at the top. The poor thing must not have it easy, she thought rhetorically as she noted the prominent scar on his cheek. They sat down side by side on the porch. He took out a cigarette and stuck it in his mouth. After a few seconds of his fruitless search for a match Cassy took out her lighter and lit it for him.

"Thanks," was all he said. She smiled back at him broadly, if only just to make him feel more comfortable.

"Now, where to begin? You're probably wondering why I'm here and I plan on answering that but there are a few things I need to explain first for you to understand." She waited for his nod of understanding before she continued. "Well, I've been living the past year here in Oklahoma, but I just moved to Tulsa last week. Before I lived in Oklahoma I lived in New York in an orphanage. I was put up for adoption when I was five, you would have only been two. I swear, this does have relevance," she said at his questioning stare. He nodded for her to continue. "Well, I might as well get straight to the point. My name is Cassandra Cade. I'm your big sister." She waited a moment for it to sink in. "Well, not legally anymore, but biologically I am." Once again, all he could do was nod. She could see his mind working at a mile a minute.

"Why did they give you up for adoption?" he asked suddenly. She scowled at this so profusely that he thought he had offended her.

"Mr. Cade wanted a boy, and two kids were too expensive, he would have had to have given up drinking." The last part was said with such malice Johnny almost flinched. She sighed. "Oh well, what's done is done, I'm really here because I want to get to know you, see how you're doing and such."

"I'm doing as well as can be expected with parents that wish I didn't exist, and make it a well known fact," he stated bitterly. Sighing, he rested his chin on his hands. "I have great friends though; they're the closest thing to family I've got." She smiled brilliantly at that.

"I'm so glad to hear that, my friends are how I got through life as well." She looked up at the clouds passing over the blue sky above them when another thought seemed to come to her. "I almost forgot!" She handed him a piece of paper. "Here's my address and number, don't hesitate to come over if you need anything, even if you just want to get away from your parents." With that she stood and stretched her arms above her head. "I have to head for work now, so I'll see ya later k?"

"Yeah," was his reply as she headed for her car. It was a red Cadillac Deville. It was an incredibly tuff car that he knew anyone in the gang would kill for.

He could see the physical resemblance of his mother in her. She was tall with long legs, blonde hair and green eyes, skin more on the fair side. Johnny looked more like his father so he didn't look a lot like Cassy. As she drove away he found himself heading for the Curtis house. This was big news after all.

Soda and Two-bit were sitting on the front porch, both with soda cans in their hands. They chatted and laughed noisily until Johnny came into view, though the wide grins never left their faces

"Hey Johnnycake, whatcha doin'?" Two-bit asked with his trademark grin.

"I have something to tell you guys, where's Pony?" Soda chuckled a bit.

"School, where else?" Johnny mentally slapped himself. That should have been obvious. He took a seat next to Two-bit and sighed.

"So what's up?" Soda asked a bit more seriously than before. Johnny looked at them appraisingly and after a moments hesitation he explained the whole story to them. Two-bit gave a low whistle.

"You're kidding me Johnnycake, you got a sister?" Two-bit asked in disbelief. "How old?" Johnny quickly did the math in his head.

"Well she said she was five when she was put up for adoption, and I was two so that would make her 19." Johnny nodded to confirm this to himself.

By the end of the day all the greasers knew about this little tidbit of information. The Curtis brothers, Two-bit and Johnny were all seated in the living room of the Curtis home. The house itself wasn't much but the familiarity gave it a nice atmosphere that all the Greaser's appreciated. It was their refuge, their 'safe place' so to speak. The only difference this time was that Two-bit had yet to turn on the T.V.

"So Johnny, what does she do for a living?" Soda asked. Johnny scrunched his brow in thought.

"I dunno, she didn't really say all that much else. She gave me her address and phone number though so I could ask her anytime. She doesn't live that far away either just two blocks. She has a really tuff car too. A Cadillac Deville, so she can't have a too low paying job," he surmised. That got Darry's attention. The Cadillac Deville was his dream car.

"What colour?" he personally liked blue.

"Red." That was good too in Darry's opinion. "I think I'm gonna go see her tonight, maybe she'll let me stay there?" His eyes glistened with hope at this new idea. Soda shrugged.

"Well she gave you her address so she probably will. Bring her over tomorrow, she sounds interesting." Johnny nodded.

"I'll see what I can do."