de facto 〖 ponyboy curtis 〗

one.

Jo-Lynn

Jo-Lynn looked up at the clock on her wall, dreading the moment the long hand reached the twelve, meaning she would have to leave the comfort of her bed and get ready to face the crowd of people that would line the halls of the school. Most days, she was alright with it, but most days, she doesn't wake up before the alarm. Those always seem to be her bad days.

She closed her eyes and tried her hardest to drift back to sleep, seeing as she had around ten minutes left, but instead surrendered to her brain, standing up and stretching while making her way to the small bathroom shared by her, her mother, and her older brother, Calvin.

He hadn't woken up yet, lucky for her, which meant she'd get a chance to shower. Morning showers felt more refreshing to her, they woke her up. She and Calvin got ready at around the same time, though,  and he hated having the bathroom wet after her extensive showers.

She got into the shower after covering her hair with a cap and turning the water on. It burned her skin before she switched it to cold. She hummed to herself whatever song came to mind while lathering herself hastily. In half an hour, not counting her shower and the time she took to wake her brother, Jo was ready to walk out the door.

She was, then, rushing him. The first period teacher was notoriously impatient and intolerant and it was gut wrenchingly embarrassing to have him call you out upon walking in late. "I don't get why you're so excited to go to school. I hated school and I ain't even go to a white one."

"I ain't excited, but I don't like gettin' in trouble, so I need you to hustle, yeah?" Jo says with a sigh, gripping on the strap on the beaten up backpack impatiently. He replied, but she stopped listening, instead focusing her mother's footsteps nearing them. Jo hurried and said good morning to her, placing a kiss on her cheek. Calvin followed and they both said quick goodbyes to her as well, finally getting out of the house.

"How's school been anyway?" Calvin asked his sister, filling the silence that had enveloped the car during the first half of the ride.

She shrugged, replying after a moment of thought. "It's alright, I still ain't got many friends, but the classes here are much better." Jo-Lynn used to go to the school that all of her friends now go to. The black school. Jo hated it there, even though she had friends. It had been fourteen years that she was able to go to the same school as the white kids, and she felt that she should use that privilege even if very few others did as well.

Not to mention that school made for a more convenient drive. Her brother would drop her off at school, then straight to work without being late.

Calvin nodded, and they fell into silence again, Jo-Lynn watching the houses pass by them, or rather as they passed. She saw some of them and felt a little better about hers, and chuckled lightly to herself. She thought about how she used to feel. Everything that she thought kind of went out the window when she actually witnessed it up close.

"Okay, have a good day. I can't pick you up today, boss got me workin' kinda late, but I got some change for you to take a bus." He dug into the pockets of the stiff, khaki work pants that he loathed and gave her a quarter and a dime.

"Thanks," she mumbled, stepping out of the car and trudging up the stairs of the school, ignoring the catcalls and looks she got from the group of boys who sat out in front sometimes. Her ideal way of dealing with things at this school was to ignore it. In the end, she knew she was probably smarter than those boys who took joy in making her feel small. When she got to class, she took her usual seat and immediately began to impatiently tap her fingers on the wooden desk.

The boy who sat next to her came in late and felt the wrath of Mr. Ainsley. She actually enjoyed that boy's presence more than others'. He was no doubt the kindest boy she'd met at her school so far. After, timidly, explaining what happened to Ainsley, he took his normal seat and immediately said hello to Jo, apologizing to her for the guys who were disrespecting her. They were his associates, as he called them the first time he met her.

That was the only interaction between the two besides a shy wave in the hallways or outside after the school day ended, but it was enough for Jo-Lynn to think about him more than she should have.

edited: 4.14.18