Chapter 1

Primrose Elizabeth Curtis was only 5 and a half when she lost her parents, just over a year ago. She still missed her Mommy and Daddy every day, but she found she talked to them less and less and she could sometimes think about them now without crying. Since they had died her brother Darry, who was then 19, was granted custody of her and her 2 other big brothers. He was the one who took care of her when she was sick, who went to her teacher/parent meetings at school and who tried to make sure she behaved, which was not an easy job.

She was a bright, inquisitive child, whose intelligence sometimes meant she was bored at school and so she got into mischief. She also took after her biggest brother in that she had his fiery temper and this had got her into trouble on numerous occasions. Despite only being her brother Darry was very strict with her and he was always telling her off or punishing her for one thing or another. Her other 2 brothers were less parental but they also took on some of the role when Darry wasn't around. It was tough being the youngest and being so much littler than everyone else in the family. But on the plus side, she was always well looked after and protected.

It was the spring term at school and Rosie, as she was known to pretty much everyone, was in 1st grade. Her teacher, Miss Finch, was in her 20's and had only been teaching for a year. She was sweet and kind, the sort of teacher you remember fondly, but she was getting to the end of her patience with Rosie, who was always getting into trouble or disrupting the class. She was actually quite fond of Rosie, as she knew the little girl was good at heart and could be sweet and thoughtful at times. But for the sake of order and her sanity she was having to be stern with Rosie more and more often.

This particular day they had been learning about volume, so the children were allowed to play with the sand pit and the water trays outside. Rosie was having great fun pouring water from a jug into the measuring cylinders and back again. She was at the water table with her friend Mary and a boy called Toby. He and Rosie didn't get along too well and so she was doing her best to ignore him, but when he took the jug she had been using she couldn't ignore him any longer.

"Hey! That's my jug! Give it back!" she yelled.

Toby just laughed. "It's mine now." He grinned. She tried to grab it from him and twist it out of his hands, but he held on tight.

"Give it back or I'm telling Miss Finch!" Rosie threatened.

"No freckle-freak!" he yelled back, insulting her in the best way he could think of. Rosie was very self-conscious about her looks. She had dark hair like Darry's, which was curly and fell past her shoulders, green eyes like Pony's and in the spring and summer her nose and cheeks were dotted with pale brown freckles. Soda was always telling her how cute they were, but she hated them. When Toby called her that she flew into a rage. She let go of the jug and instead went round behind him and gave Toby a shove, so that he fell face first into the water tray.

"Don't call me that again gorilla-face!" she yelled and then laughed as she saw him struggling to get himself out of the water tray.

"Rosie!" Mary warned "Miss Finch will hear you."

But it was too late, Miss Finch had heard all the commotion and she came striding over to the water tray and helped Toby pull himself out.

"Primrose Curtis, what on earth is going on here?"

"He took my pitcher Maam and then he called me a mean name!"

"And how did he end up in the water tray?" Rosie looked at her feet.

"She pushed me Maam!" wailed Toby, who was soaked from head to toe.

"Primrose, come with me." Miss Finch took Rosie's arm and marched her to the Principal's office.

"Sit down here." She pointed to a chair outside the office. "And don't move."

Rosie nodded. She was scared, Miss Finch hardly ever got this mad and she had never been taken to see Mr Harper, the Principal before. After a couple of minutes Miss Finch came out of the office and told Rosie to go on in.

"Sit down Primrose." Mr Harper pointed to the chair in front of his desk. He was a tall man, as tall as Darry, but about the same age as her Daddy had been. He had short, brown hair and was skinnier than Darry, who was all muscle!

"Miss Finch tells me you have been getting into a bit of trouble lately and today you pushed another student into the water tray."

Rosie nodded, "Yes, but he called me a mean name." she protested.

"That's no excuse Miss Curtis." He said sternly. "If another student calls you a name you tell the teacher, you don't hurt them. Do you understand?"

Rosie nodded and looked at her feet. She knew she shouldn't have pushed Toby, but he had been asking for it. Darry was always telling her to count to ten and cool down before reacting, but she always forgot in the heat of the moment.

"I want you to go back and say sorry to Toby and you will be staying in at recess all week."

Rosie's face dropped. She loved being outside at recess and running around with her friends.

"And Primrose if anything like this happens again I will have to call your brother Darrell."

Rosie didn't want that to happen, so she resolved to try and be extra good from now on. She was really annoyed about being kept in at recess and it really hurt her to say sorry to Toby but she did it.

At the end of school Soda was there to pick her up. That would have normally been enough to put a smile on her face, as she loved time alone with Soda. He was always sweet to her and would even play games with her sometimes, which Pony and Darry rarely did.

"Hello Rosie-Posie, how was your day?"

"Not very good." She grouched.

Soda's lips twitched but he managed to hold back a smile. She looked so funny when she was in a bad mood, but he knew she wouldn't appreciate him laughing at her. "Why what happened?"

"I had to stay in at recess."

"Oh, why was that?" he wondered what his baby sister had been up to now. She had a talent for getting into trouble these days. She reminded him a bit of himself at school, although he hadn't had her fiery temper. He was usually in trouble for playing silly tricks on the other students or the teachers!

"Toby said mean things to me."

Soda smiled "Toby said mean things to you, so they kept you in at recess?"

"Well, I kinda pushed him."

"Rosie! Did he hurt himself?"

"No." Soda saw a grin appear on her lips. "He fell into the water tray." And now she couldn't keep the grin off her face.

"Rosie!" Soda tried to be stern, but he just felt like laughing himself. "That was bad. You mustn't hurt other kids baby."

Rosie huffed and crossed her arms. "Well, if calls me a freckle-freak what am I supposed to do?"

"You tell the teacher. You're not a freckle-freak, he's probably just jealous of your pretty freckles cos they make you look so cute."

"Soda!" she groaned.

"What? They do." Rosie smiled reluctantly. "No more pushing other kids ok?"

She folded her arms again "I'll try, but I can't promise." She said, sounding so grown up.

"You're a monkey!" Soda said, giving her a tickle on her side.

When they got out of Soda's car they went inside and Rosie dumped her coat and bag on the floor by the door.

"Hey Rosie, you'd better pick those up before Darry gets home. You need to hang your coat up and put your school bag in your room."

"No!" Rosie shouted. "I just sat down!" She lay back on the couch.

"And you can get right up again and do what I said, Missy." Soda said, surprised at her tone. She was really getting a bit big for her boots these days. She still lay there looking grumpy and ignored him. He went over and pulled her up by the arm. "Do as you're told Rosie!"

"Let go of me!" Rosie shouted and stamped her foot on Soda's toe. "Ow! You little…Go to your room Rosie!"

"No!" She said again, so Soda picked her up under one arm and deposited her in her room.

"In there! And you will stay in there until I tell you you can come out." He was quite angry now and shocked at her behaviour. She wasn't often like that with him, but he had noticed in the past 6 months, since she turned 6, she had got more disobedient and more wilful. They would have to start cracking down on it now before she got out of control. They didn't want a little brat for a sister. Soda shut the door and walked away. He could hear her banging around in there for a few minutes, but chose to ignore it. Instead he went to make a start on dinner before Pony and Darry got home.

Pony came home around 4.30 after track practice and Darry arrived an hour later.

"Hey Soda! Where are Ponyboy and Rosie?"

"Pony's in his room doing homework and Rosie's in her room. I need to go and tell her she can come out. I sent her in there when we got back from school."

Darry raised his eyebrows. "It's not often you send her to her room. What did she do?"

"Well, she came out of school in a stinking mood and when I told her to put her coat and bag away she refused and then stamped on my foot the little Madam!"

"She's turning into a bit of a brat recently ain't she? I never know what she's gonna do next. Did she say why she was in a bad mood?"

Soda cleared his throat, not sure whether to tell Darry. He didn't want to get her into too much trouble and he knew Darry would be mad.

"She got kept in at recess cos she and another kid got into it over something."

"Man! She needs to control that temper of hers. She can't go getting into trouble at school all the time. She's only 6, what's she gonna be like when she's older?! I'm gonna spend my life in the Principal's office."

Soda laughed "Mom probably felt the same about me and I turned out ok."

"Well, sort of." Darry grinned. Soda slapped him on the arm.

"Hey! I'll go get her shall I? Dinner is ready."

"Okay, I'll go take a shower real quick."

Soda knocked on Rosie's door and went in. She was sitting on the floor playing with her Barbie dolls. She turned around and then when she saw it was Soda she scowled.

"You got anything to say to me?" Soda asked, trying to get her to apologise. She shook her head. "Well that's a shame. Come on and have some dinner now."

She got up and followed Soda to the kitchen. 'Well at least she didn't refuse to come and eat.' Soda thought with relief. Rosie sat at her seat, which had a cushion to make her tall enough to reach the table properly. It was spaghetti and meatballs, one of Rosie's favourites, so at least that was one less thing for her to complain about.

"Hey Rosie." Said Darry.

"Hey Darry."

"How was your day?"

"Okay." She didn't want to mention anything about the incident with Toby as she knew Darry wouldn't be happy about it.

"Soda said you got into it with some other kid?"

Rosie glared at Soda and he shrugged. "Toby was being mean to me Darry, he made fun of my freckles."

Darry's face softened a bit "Well, that wasn't nice. What did you do about it?"

"I pushed him and he fell in the water tray." Rosie looked down at her hands waiting for Darry to yell. He didn't yell, but he sounded disappointed.

"Rosie, you gotta keep your hands to yourself. You can't go around shoving people, even if they do make fun of you. You'll only get yourself into trouble."

"Eat up everyone, this is my special tomato sauce." Soda interrupted.

"Oh no Soda!" Ponyboy groaned. "What's special about it?"

"It's got peanuts and pickles in." Pony rolled his eyes, Rosie made a disgusted face and Darry just laughed.

"What?" asked Soda. "Just try it, it's really good, honest."

They all dug in and actually it wasn't too bad. The peanuts and the pickles gave it a nice crunch! After they had finished eating it was time for Rosie to get bathed and changed for bed.

"Okay Rosie, I'm gonna go run your bath then you can get washed up before bed."

"Oh Darry, I don't want a bath!" she whined.

Darry clenched his teeth, why did she have to argue over every little thing?! "Well, I'm afraid you're having one anyway and you need to wash your hair too."

"No I don't!" she protested. She hated washing her hair.

"Primrose Elizabeth, enough arguing! You are gonna take a bath and wash your hair and if you carry on arguing with me then you can go straight to bed after that with no story."

Rosie stamped her foot crossly but she went off to her bedroom to get her pyjamas ready for after the bath. Darry helped her wash her hair and get dry and then Rosie went into the living room to join Soda and Pony who were watching 'I love Jeannie' on TV. She sat down next to Soda and wriggled herself over so that she leaning up against him. He automatically put his arm around her and pulled her close.

"Hello gorgeous girl. You all washed and ready for bed now?"

Rosie nodded "Uh huh. I ain't going to bed yet though."

"Oh, is that so?"

"Uh huh, Darry said I didn't have to yet."

"Well if Darry said so, that must be right." Soda smiled at his little sister. "That's good for me, cos I get to have a nice cuddle while I'm watching TV."

Rosie giggled and then she remembered she had been cross with Soda that afternoon and she had been mean to him. "Sorry I was mean and stamped on your foot Soda." Rosie said quietly.

Soda squeezed her shoulder. "You're forgiven Mouse." That was the nickname her Mommy had given her as a baby because she was so small and sweet. She said she was like a little mouse all curled up asleep. The nickname stuck and they all called her that from time to time.

"Okay Rosie, time for bed now." Came Darry's voice from the kitchen doorway.

"Oh Darry, can't I just watch till the end of this? Please!"

Darry sighed, he had wanted her to get to bed at a decent time, as he thought at least some of her recent bad behaviour was due to tiredness. Usually she went to bed at 7.30 and was asleep by 8.00. He was hoping to her to sleep by 7.30 tonight.

"Ah go on Dar." Said Soda "There's only 10 minutes left."

"Okay then." He agreed reluctantly. "But then it's straight to bed after that, no arguments."

Rosie smiled "Thanks Darry!"

Darry was amazed when as soon as the programme was over she gave Soda a kiss, said goodnight to Ponyboy and then padded straight off to the bathroom to have a pee and brush her teeth. It was nice when she actually did as she was told without having to nag her or get cross. That seemed to happen less and less these days.