♡ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ꜱᴀʏ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ♡

prologue : 'cary'

My sister's name was Caroline, but everyone just called her Cary.

She was barely 16 and had long, light brown hair similar to mine, which she usually wore in loose curls. Her eyes were blue-green like Darry's, but unlike his, hers were bright, full of life, and sparkled when she laughed. She was slender like Soda, but she had a good figure and was beautiful. I hated that because she got a lot of looks from guys on the street, sometimes even Socs.

Cary still wore Mom's old clothes and always looked great in them. Besides her hair, she looked just like Mom and acted like her too.

Cary was different from all of the other girls in our neighborhood. She didn't like to drink, smoke, curse, and didn't usually wear pants except on her days off or when we went to the park. That was how Mom always taught her to be, and I liked her like that. 

Despite all this, she had a good head on her shoulders. And that's why I think just about every guy was head over heels for her. Yeah, she was pretty, but unlike a lot of pretty girls (like the Socs), Cary didn't gloat about it.

Cary loved her family, and I know that because she had an opportunity to go to a prestigious boarding school which would basically give her a free ride to college, but she decided to stay with us. Darry wasn't happy about it, but she was dead set on staying. I assumed she'd probably have a free ride to college anyways, with the grades she made.

Even though she loved us and the gang, there was perhaps one thing she loved just as much. A small necklace with a gold chain and emerald rhinestones about as big as pinheads along her whole neckline. It was Mom's old necklace, and she wore it every day. They were real emeralds, but they were so small I doubt anyone would think they were valuable. If it ever broke or got lost I think she would go crazy.

Cary had a specific energy about her that made her seem almost angelic. I don't know how she did it, but anytime she walked into a room the air immediately softened and I was always at ease when I was with her. It was as if a switch was flipped, and even the guys would try to control their swearing around her. She didn't ask them to, they just did. There was just something about her.

Ever since our parents died, Cary had become the gang's mother. After any rumble, we would stumble into the house and she would have a mini hospital set up in our living room with bandages and ointments. "You boys..." she would say as she shook her head. I knew she hated rumbles, but had probably given up trying to get us to stop a while ago.

After school each day, she would make sure I got home safe before going to work at the diner. Usually, she would get home around 7 o'clock, right in time for dinner. Darry would usually cook, but on Fridays, she would bring home food from the diner. Then she and I would sit at the dinner table and do our homework after cleaning the kitchen.

I loved Cary just as much as I did Sodapop, and I know he and Darry loved her loads. The gang loved her, too. Maybe not in the way we three did, but they cared about her a lot. Even though nobody said it, I knew we would protect her with our lives.