Disclaimer: I don't own The Outsiders

He was late, again.

Even though the Will Rogers high school was just a few blocks over, Two-Bit insisted, for unknown reasons, to pick Ponyboy up at 7:55am, leaving only five minutes to get to class. For the third time that week, Pony stood on the porch, wrapping his arms around himself tightly for the much needed warmth against the chilly October breeze. Looking up, he saw many storm clouds clustered together right in front of the sun, threatening to rain and blocking any warmth of from the sun's rays.

"Great, this is just fuckin' great," Ponyboy muttered to himself as he kicked a loose pebble off the porch and down the walk, "Why the hell does Two-Bit have to come so late? Darry'll skin me if he finds out I was late another day."

If matters couldn't get any worse, Pony barely felt the drop of water that found its way to his nose. He wiped it off on his hand and looked at it. Four more drops plopped silently on his open palm, and he squinted up at the sky once more, realizing that, it was now in fact, starting to rain, hard.

He groaned and plunked down on the now soggy porch step, head in his hands. This was just what he needed on top of everything else that was going just peachy for him this morning.

A screeching halt, followed by the re-revving up of an engine caught Pony's attention, as he jumped up in alarm and backed up a few steps in the porch. He wanted to be out of the way if the car happened to come skidding to a stop on his lawn.

Of course though, less than five seconds later, Two-Bit's car came into view as it sped around the corner, fishtailing out of control due to the numerous puddles that had now covered the street. The rust-bucket started to slow down a few houses down the road, and finally, it sputtered to a stop, and back-fired right in front of the house.

"Well howdy Mr. Curtis, how would you like a lift?" Two-Bit drawled casually after he had rolled down the passenger window to yell out to him. Ponyboy didn't need to be asked twice as he scrambled to his feet, just barely grabbing his book bag, and hopped into the seat. He wasn't happy though. Just from the run from the house to the car, he was soaked to the bone, and all the time he had put into getting his hair just right was now just a waste.

"Come on, Keith; let's just get a move on," Pony grumbled as he slumped low in the seat and crossed his arms heavily over his chest.

Laughing, Two-Bit stuck the keys in the ignition once more and it took two tries to get the engine revved up and on the road.

As the car came to a halt at a red light, Two-Bit turned his attention to Pony, who was mumbling curses under his breath and kept his gaze transfixed on something out the window.

"You know kid; you don't have to sit there lookin' like a sour puss. It's just school. Shoot, we still got 'round 10 minutes before class starts anyhow."

"It's 8:05 Two-Bit!" Pony cried helplessly as he threw his arms up in frustration, "Class started five minutes ago, and we still have another five minutes until we get to school. Darry'll kill me if he knows I was late another day."

"Aw, c'mon Pony! He won't kill ya, right away. He'll probably beat ya black and blue, and then kill ya!" Two-Bit doubled over in laughter, just as the red light turned green, so he had a difficult time driving and almost ran right into the telephone pole. Luckily, Ponyboy jumped out of his seat quickly and jerked the steering wheel back on the road, but not before a chorus of honks and shouts filled the air.

"Jesus Christ Two-Bit! Get yer damn eyes back on the road, will ya?" he hollered desperately and continued to look out the window.

Wiping tears from his eyes, he mirthfully slapped Pony's knee in affection, while keeping eyes fixated out the windshield.

"Lighten up Pone, it's Friday any who. Aren't you supposed to be happy on Friday's?"

"It's Wednesday!"

xXxXxXxXx

Slamming his locker shut, Ponyboy trudged through the hallways milling with people, towards biology class. No matter how hard he tried to be invisible, the squeaking of his shoes and his drenched apparel made him anything but. When he breathlessly arrived at first period, 10 minutes late, the teacher immediately noticed him, scowled in disgust and told him to go to detention. He'd never been there before, but he complied, not in the mood to put up a fight, and started on his way. Before he left though, he swore he heard a soc tell another soc that he probably got caught up in doing drugs and didn't want to leave. Sometimes, he hated being a greaser.

Ponyboy reached the classroom early, so he dropped his books on the desk with a thud and sat down heavily in the chair. Rubbing his hand over his temples, he sighed loudly and cursed the headache that started to creep up on him. Today just wasn't his day. He just hoped that biology would go by smoothly so he could get on with his day and go to the DX to get a Pepsi. He craved a Pepsi.

The bell rang shrilly, causing the pounding in his head to multiply. Even though his head hurt like there was no tomorrow, he managed to keep his head up and a smile on his face. He didn't want any more whispers on top of the ones he got on a regular basis.

That smile turned to a gawk as he saw Martha Jensen enter. After all of the day's events, he'd forgotten she was in this class. Her brown hair cascaded down her shoulders in cute little ringlets, and her blue eyes sparkled gleefully as she laughed at her friends joke. The yellow dress she was wearing had a nice white collar, and a bow at the top, and the bottom had a lacy pattern. Man, she looked so good in yellow. The best part was that she sat right beside him, and he could smell the distinct smell of the perfume she wore – April Showers (He'd overheard her talking about it one time). The only downfall was that she was, in fact, a soc.

When Martha finished talking to her friends, she sat down in her seat and gave him a genuine smile before paying attention to the front of the class. He knew they weren't friends but she was the only soc he could think of that hasn't hassled him yet. I guess she didn't judge people until she knew them. Maybe that was the reason he was so attracted to her.

After a few minutes, the familiar odor of flowers and rain filled his nostrils and he glanced at Martha out of the corner of his eye, knowing that it was her scent he smelled. They've barely spoken a word to each other since the beginning of the year, but he still got nervous. His hands started to sweat, so he quickly wiped them on his jeans, but it didn't help. His jeans were already wet.

"Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Sorry for the short delay, but now we're back on track. Today we are dissecting worms. I want everyone to come to the front and grab a worm and a knife to dissect with. Once you have one, we'll go from there." Mr. Hendricks bellowed from his spot in front of the class as he pointed down at the table in front of him, which held many dead, purplish worms.

Martha just stared unbelievingly at the table, her eyes wide and her nose scrunched up in pure horror. You could tell she loathed having to cut open an animal, let alone touching it, so Ponyboy decided that he would get one for her. Maybe it would put him in her good books. He shuffled silently to the front of the class, grabbed two worms, which were thankfully in containers, and headed back towards their seats, where Martha was still staring at the front of the class, grossed out beyond belief.

Pony cleared his throat, just loud enough for her to hear. Startled, her head spun toward him and there eyes locked. He felt himself blushing, so he looked down, and stuttered, "U-um, I, uh, g-got you you're worm, so you don't have to go and…um…get it."

Her face went from curious to gracious as she grinned, thanked him and took the container from him, making sure to keep it as far away from her as possible before placing it on the table. Sitting down, he slumped in his seat once more. She grinned at him. She had the most beautiful smile he'd ever seen. The only thing ruining that perfect moment was the fact that there was a dull pounding in his head, causing him to put his head in his hands, trying to rid of it.

"Now, that everyone has there worm, it's time to dissect! Isn't that fun?" Mr. Hendricks said gleefully, but it was only met by a few groans and one boo.

He frowned, "Come on kids! Lighten up. To start, take your knife and slowly start to cut down the middle of the worm. Make sure you cut it right. I don't want anyone to come cryin' to me about an amputated finger."

If that was supposed to be funny, no one laughed, but everyone did what was told. Martha, though thoroughly disgusted, had no trouble guiding her knife in a perfect line down the middle of the worm, along with everyone else, while Pony's wouldn't work. No matter how hard he pressed, the worm stayed in one piece. After a minute or so, he got frustrated. His headache was getting worse and worse, he was soaked and he was miserable. Martha was the only one to get him to smile today, making his infatuation grow. Maybe she was different than other socs. Maybe she didn't care about social class…

Maybe…

"Argh!" Ponyboy grunted in frustration. Thoughts of the worm and Martha clouded his brain, making his mind fuzzy. Without thinking, he flicked out his switch to cut the worm. Hell, it was a lot sharper than the knife's they had to use. They were made for kindergarteners. He was about to use it to cut the worm, until he noticed Martha staring at him, a repulsive look on her face. It was the same look he received almost everyday from the socs. It made him feel like he had no purpose on this planet.

"They are right, you are a hood." Martha spat, each word filled with hatred. To make matters even worse, she said it loud enough for the whole class to hear. Everyone dropped there knifes and started laughing, and the whole class was filled with socs. He blushed like bad and bowed his head, avoiding all the eyes staring at me.

'Just when I thought this day couldn't get any worse. Any chance with her is out the window…' He thought sadly.

She didn't give him a second glance before she grabbed all of her materials and walked quickly toward the other side of the classroom to sit with a red headed girl.

There were a few more shouts of "greaser!" and "no good hood!" followed by another round of laughs before the teacher cleared his throat, gave everyone a stern look and continued with the instructions.

Pony didn't continue though. Slowly, he closed the six inch switch he borrowed from Sodapop occasionally (without Darry knowing), and stuffed it back into his back pocket. He felt like pond scum. He felt lower than pond scum. He was plain humiliated, and that didn't help the nauseas feeling he already had.

Suddenly, he felt the presence of another person beside him, so he raised his head slightly to see Jenny sitting in Martha's spot. Jenny hung out with a crowd of socs that always made a habit of pushing him in the hallways, but when he thought about it, she never said or did anything. She was only there.

He'd never talked to Jenny before, but, boy, she was just as cute as Martha. Her blonde hair was cut in a cute bob. She had green eyes.

Without saying anything, they just looked at each other, locking eyes, until she finally broke the gaze by reaching over him to grab his knife, and carefully guided it down the worm, making a perfect incision. Pony just started at her curiously, while she grinned at him and sat back. It was then he realized she had brought her materials by him and started to do her own work.

Boy did she ever look good in purple.

If you're looking at this, you're at the end, so please review and tell me what you think. FLAMES ARE OPEN.