Summer Lovin' ✰ Ponyboy Curtis

Will Roger's High School

After about a week of unpacking and settling in, I decided to start school. I ran into the gang more and more, and liked hanging out with them. Except for Dallas, he drove me nuts.

I was walking around with them, just taking a walk. We were walking around the block, but Dally and Darry weren't there. Darry was working, and Dallas was at some party. I couldn't care less, though. Darry was nice, but I was glad I could walk around with them without getting hit on all of the time.

"Hey, are you starting school soon?" Ponyboy asked me.

"She should," Two-Bit mumbled, "she's dumber than a box of bricks!"

The rest of the boys chuckled.

"Shut up," I said, "and, yeah, I start tomorrow."

"Great!" Ponyboy exclaimed.

I blushed a little.

"So, Jennifer, how do you like it here?" Johnny asked me.

"I like it. It's different from New Jersey," I said, looking around, "but I like it."

Johnny nodded.

. . .

"Jennifer! Hurry up!" My dad shouted. I was in the shower, and I was running late to get to school. My dad was going to drive me, and then go to work after that, so that made him late, too. I'm going to walk to school the rest of the year, but my dad wanted me to have a ride. Not really sure why, he just did.

"I'm hurrying!" I called back.

When I got out of the shower, I slipped some clothes on and grabbed my coat. My dad was sitting in the car, waiting. I hopped in the passenger seat, and my dad drove away. We sped down the street, blowing dust behind us. I saw Ponyboy walking to school, he was carrying his backpack and a few textbooks.

"Dad, stop! Can we drive him? He's one of my friends!" I shouted.

"Sure, go get him," my dad said, stopping the car.

I opened the door and shouted at him, "wanna ride?"

Ponyboy nodded and sprinted up to the car. He jumped into the backseat and slammed the door shut.

"Hey, thanks. I was running late this morning, and Darry was yelling at me to get to school," Ponyboy explained.

"No problem," I said, smiling.

"So, who are you? I'm Jennifer's dad, call me Peter," Dad said.

"Hi, I'm Ponyboy, it's nice to meet you," he responded with a smile.

"Nice to meet you too, Ponyboy," my dad said.

When we got to school, we hopped out of the car and walked towards the big building. There were lots of kids around the front yard, throwing papers, pushing each other around, and screaming at each other. High school... can't wait.

"Well, this is Will Rogers," Ponyboy informed me.

"Great," I mumbled.

"So, those are Socs over there, messing with that Greaser," he explained, "stay away from them. Those are Socs, over there too, Bob Sheldon and Randy Anderson. They're really popular Socs at our school, but stay away from them."

"Glad I have my own tour guide," I exclaimed.

Ponyboy chuckled. "Those are real hoods, basically a worse-version of a Greaser. I would stay away from them, too."

"So, I should stay away from everyone?"

"Basically."

"Great," I chuckled.

"Oh, there's Johnny!" He exclaimed, walking over to Johnny.

Johnny was in a corner, away from the noisy crowd. He was chewing on his fingernails, which he seems to do a lot when he's nervous.

"Hey, Johnnycakes," Ponyboy said.

"Hey, Johnny," I exclaimed.

Me, Ponyboy and Johnny were starting to be really good friends. Johnny was starting to open up to me, but he is still pretty shy.

"Hey!" He cheered, "where have y'all been?"

"My alarm didn't go off," I informed him.

"Yeah, I was running late, Darry practically pushed me out the door," Ponyboy explained, lighting a cigarette.

Everyone in the gang smokes, a lot. I don't smoke, I never really tried. My father would kill me if I ever did. Not that I want to.

The bell rang, and kids ran inside the building. I followed, sticking close to Ponyboy. It seemed like a big school, and I didn't want to get lost in the crowd of kids.

We walked to Ponyboy's locker, and he told me I have the locker right next to him. I opened it, using the combination that he gave me. I took my backpack, that currently was filled with nothing, and shoved it in my locker.

The bell rang again, and I slammed my locker shut. "We have first period together!" Ponyboy cheered.

I smiled at him. I never really realized before, but his eyes were really pretty. They were a really nice greenish-grey color. He had really long eyelashes too, they were really dark.

"Okay, come on," he ordered. I followed him through the hallways of kids arguing and messing around. We finally approached a door and walked in. There were rows of desks, with one larger desk at the front of the classroom. In the chair, sat a small, old woman who appeared to be our teacher. "Sit over here," Ponyboy demanded, pointing to a desk next to him. I sat down in the chair next to Ponyboy, as I was told.

The rest of the school day felt really long, but it wasn't too bad. Ponyboy and I had all the same classes, except for last period, but I had it with Johnny. The teachers weren't too nice, but there were a lot of kids in all of my classes, so I didn't get picked on.

The final bell rang, alerting us that the school day was finally over. I grabbed my textbook, and walked out the door, next to Ponyboy. We walked through the hallways, and outside.

"So, was it too bad?" Ponyboy asked when we got outside.

"Nah, it was alright," I admitted.

We walked down the steps and turned onto our street. I looked down at my shoes. My white converse were really dirty by now; they looked grey.

As we walked down the dirt road, this town seemed to feel more and more like home. I think I might like it here.