AN: Hello everyone, and welcome to my new story! Before we start I'd just like to say a few things. First of all, depending on how I update, this story may contain spoilers for "The Gold Girls" (Which is on hold at the moment). Second, This story is inspired by another story "Windrix Hall" by Zayhad over on Deviantart, so if you like, go and read her story too ;). Anyway, I've rambled enough, hope you enjoy my story.
Ponyboy sighs as he leans his head against the back window of his brother's Ford truck, watching the cars, buildings, and trees pass by them as they drive.
Ponyboy, Darry, Soda, and Johnny are on their way to Crimson Arts Academy, where Darry has a new job, and where the rest of the gang will be attending school.
They had all broken up into groups and had taken different cars to get there: while Ponyboy, Johnny, Soda, and Darry are taking Darry's truck, Dally, Steve, and Two-Bit are taking their own cars.
Ponyboy adjusts one of his earbuds and drowns out the conversation between Johnny and Soda, they're talking about Crimson Arts. Pony never told anyone this, but he's beyond nervous to go to this school. And it doesn't help that Johnny has the school's brochure and is insisting on telling everyone about all of the cool things the school has.
Ponyboy's intimidated beyond belief because Crimson Arts is hands down one of the best schools in the country! And he and his friends are just a group of poor, troublemaking kids from the wrong side of the tracks.
From the corner of his eye, he sees Johnny pull out his phone and look at a text, "Dally's there." he says.
"How on Earth did he get there so fast?" Pony asks, turning to face Johnny.
Johnny merely shrugs, "I dunno, it's Dally, that's all I can say."
"What I want to know is how on Earth Dally made it into a school like this." Soda pipes up from the passenger seat, "I mean he's smart and all, but he breaks laws left and right!"
"Because it's the only school that'll take him," Darry says, "I read that Crimson Arts is big on...'second chances' if you will." He explains, doing the air quotes, "Apparently they sometimes take in bad kids that people pretty much give up on, and sorta straighten them out."
"So it's like some of those boys' schools?" Soda asks, "Where if the bad kid acts up they kinda smack 'em around?"
Everyone in the truck looks at Soda oddly.
"Yeah...sure." Darry says, making a left turn.
Ponyboy rolls his eyes slightly and he turns to stare out the window again, watching as fewer and fewer buildings, and more trees appear. He sits up a little straighter, 'Are we leaving the city?' he thinks, 'I thought the school was in the city.'
He looks around, no, he can tell they're still in the city because he can see buildings, but they're surrounded by trees.
Darry takes another turn and Ponyboy has enough time to catch a glimpse of a fancy neighborhood entrance sign that reads "Crimson Court".
When Darry turns on to Crimson Court, Ponyboy sees that it's sort of like a gated community, there are houses lined up against the road, nice houses at that. It's surrounded by trees also, Ponyboy feels like they're driving through the countryside instead of the city.
"Some Crimson Arts students and staff live here with their families, instead of staying at the dorms." Darry explains.
"Then why don't we just stay here?" Soda asks, looking at all the nice houses.
"Too expensive."
As they continue down Crimson Court, Ponyboy notices that there are fewer and fewer trees appearing, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion, he looks toward the front window and sees that they're approaching a clearing.
"Now, I just want to let you know, while you're taking your tour, I'm going to be in the main office filling out some paperwork." Darry says as they reach the clearing and make a right turn.
"There it is!" Soda says excitedly.
Ponyboy and Johnny both lean over in their seats to catch a glimpse of the school, Ponyboy feels his eyes go wide, it's huge! And he's only looking at a part of it!
But as they drive closer, the school gets bigger, and bigger, until they reach the also very large parking lot.
"There's Dally." Johnny says as they pull into the lot. Dally's leaned up against the back of his car, smoking a cigarette.
"I should tell him there's no smoking on school grounds," Darry says as get gets out of the truck, "Even though he won't listen."
As Ponyboy gets out of the truck, he can't take his eyes off the front of the school, it has to be one of the biggest, and most beautiful schools he's ever seen.
"Hey Dally, how'd you get here so fast?" Johnny asks.
"Sped." Dally says simply, taking a drag of his cigarette.
"Of course you did." Darry says with a roll of his eyes, "And there's no smoking on school grounds, by the way."
"There's Steve and Two-Bit!" Soda says suddenly, pointing toward the entrance of the parking lot, where Two-Bit and Steve's cars are pulling in.
It's at this time that Ponyboy takes notice of the other vehicles in the parking lot, pretty much all of them are either brand new and clean, or very expensive.
He turns around to look at the vehicles he and his friends have: Darry has an older Ford pickup that belonged to their father, Dally has a banged up, red Nova, Steve has a white 80s Firebird, and Two-bit has a black beetle. Not to mention all of them are covered in dust.
Then he turns back to look at the other cars in the parking lot, a little ways away he sees an expensive looking Mustang that's such a bright blue he thinks it might put his eyes out, in another direction he sees a large black Ford Raptor that he finds more than a little intimidating, and a few rows away he sees a shiny red Corvette Stingray.
He can hear the guys having a conversation nearby, but he isn't focusing on them, he's now focusing on the front of the school. Sighing, he slowly makes his way toward the front.
As he walks toward the school, he looks around at the surroundings: the fence that's around the school is made of bricks but at the top there's fancy iron fencing, but when it reaches the pathway that leads up to the school, there's a gap with an iron archway above it, the archway has many fancy iron designs with a rose in the middle.
Pony walks through the entrance and looks around at the courtyard: the grass is a crisp green and is cut neatly, there are a few hedges in the middle of the yard and, against the school, there are huge bushes, covered with white roses.
Ponyboy grabs his elbow and gulps as he looks up at the school itself: it's a little over three stories high, and it's a unique shade of brown, Pony can't tell if it's made of wood or rock. There are white, marble steps leading up to two large double doors, with two marble columns that go all the way to the roof that has a large clock.
But what really seals the deal is the large, stained glass window that's above the doors, it's made mostly of shades of blue, but in the upper left corner of the window, there's a sun, and in the middle of the window, there's a white rose.
'They sure make a big deal out of this rose.' Pony thinks, looking around.
In the distance, he suddenly hears Soda, "Hey, where'd Pony go?"
"He's already making his way to the school." He hears Johnny say.
Ponyboy keeps staring at the school as he hears the others walk up behind him. Soda walks over and stands next to him, putting his arm around his shoulders, "It's a pretty school ain't it?" Soda asks.
"Y-yeah." Pony stutters out, while thinking, 'More intimidating really.'
They all walk up the marble steps and reach the two large double doors, 'These doors are three times the size of our front door at home.' Pony thinks. Darry steps in front of everyone and pushes one of the doors open, it doesn't creak like Ponyboy thought it would, it opens smoothly.
They all walk into the foyer and Ponyboy is once again in awe as he looks around the room. The walls are a dark red with red and gold banners, along with the school crest hung up, the floor is made of black and white tiles that you could see your reflection in, there are huge, dark wood stairs directly in front of them, more huge double doors mirroring the other ones, fancy trophy cases just filled to the brim with awards and small monuments, and there are fancy, gold chandeliers hanging from the high ceiling.
"Pony? You coming?"
Ponyboy snaps out of his little trance and looks at Soda, who is on the staircase along with the others, but the others have gone ahead. "Oh, uh, yeah! Yeah, I'm coming, sorry!" Pony stutters out, rushing up the stairs after Soda.
They walk up two flights of stairs before they reach the main office area, "We're supposed to go in here." Darry says, leading them down the long hallway to a door. When they head inside, Ponyboy looks around and sees that it's a counselor's office. He looks on the desk that's in the room and sees a nameplate that has "Anna Woods-Guidance Counselor" written on it.
"Like I said before, I'm going to be filling out some paperwork while you guys are on a tour of the school so you won't have to deal with any of that…" Darry suddenly looks at his watch "She said we were going to meet about now, I don't know why-"
Just as the words leave Darry's mouth, the door opens and two people walk into the office: A woman in her mid 20s with long brown hair and glasses, and a boy wearing the school uniform.
"My apologies for being late, I was having a difficult time finding a student who would give the tour." Ms. Woods explains as she walks over behind her desk.
"It's alright." Darry says.
"Anyway, this is Cameron Davidson." Ms. Woods says, nodding her head over at the boy, who is now standing by her desk, "He'll be giving you a tour of the school."
Cameron is about Steve or Soda's age, kind of tall with a slight build, black hair in a pompadour style, and brown eyes.
"Nice to meet you." Cameron says, nodding slightly.
"I assume they have everything they need?" Ms. Woods asks Darry suddenly.
"Yes, all they need is their schedules and dorm numbers, that's another reason why I'm here." Darry explains.
"We'll work on that. Mr. Davidson, you and the other boys can go while Mr. Curtis and I work out this information." Ms. Woods says to Cameron.
"Yes Ma'am." Cameron says, making his way to the door, he looks back at the others and nods his head, indicating them to follow.
As all of them leave Ms. Woods' office and walk back down the stairs, Soda starts up a conversation, "Thanks for giving us this tour Cameron!" he says cheerfully.
"I should be the ones thanking you," Cameron says, looking over his shoulder for a moment, "I get to get out of Physics for this." he chuckles as they come to the other set of large double doors in the foyer. He walks forward and pushes one of the doors open, allowing them into the school's courtyard.
Ponyboy can't help it, his jaw drops at the sight, unlike the front of the school, the other buildings are made of clean, red bricks, the concrete has a fancy, tile-like pattern and is almost white, there are benches around the edges of the court, along with a few potted evergreens, and right in the middle of the courtyard is a fountain.
"These two buildings are the core class buildings, ya know, English, Math, etcetera." Cameron explains gesturing to the two buildings on the sides of the courtyard, "And this building," He gestures to the building on the end of the courtyard, "Has the Culinary Arts class on the bottom, and the dining hall on the top."
"Convenient." Soda says, grinning.
Cameron leads them to the end of the courtyard, where there are two concrete paths, on either side of the Culinary building. "This path goes to the electives buildings," Cameron says, nodding to the path on the right, "The student dorms and apartments are also in that direction, and this path," he nods to the left path, "Leads to the...sports area: the gym, pool, track, ya know." Cameron rolls his eyes.
"This place is like a college." Pony says, looking around.
"Well buddy, it almost is, Crimson Arts collaborates with a few colleges, and there are a few college credit courses you can take." Cameron explains.
Pony is about to open his mouth, but is cut off by the bell, but it doesn't sound like a bell, it sounds like chimes.
"Oh, uh, I suggest we get against a wall." Cameron says, ushering them to the wall of the Culinary building, "We're gonna have to wait this out, the passing period can get pretty crazy here."
Sure enough, there were already a few students racing across the courtyard in order to avoid the upcoming wave of students. Pony watches as more and more students flood the courtyard, some rushing to get to class, some lollygagging with their friends, and some having a quick make out with their partners.
Ponyboy rolls his eyes and turns his head for a moment before he looks back so fast it almost hurts.
"Wow…" he breathes out.
He's looking at hands down the most beautiful girl he thinks he's ever seen: she has long, wavy blonde hair, bright green eyes, light tan skin, soft pink lips, and long straight legs that compliment her curves. She's wearing the girl's uniform along with white socks that go slightly past her knees, and black heels, and she's holding a black and pink messenger bag with a sequin covered heart and peace signs.
Cameron, who had heard Ponyboy say "Wow", looks at him, then follows his gaze, "Ah," he says, looking at Pony with a grin, "I see...Well, bud, you sure have great taste in ladies..."
Pony can't take his eyes off the girl as she crosses the courtyard, "I burn, I pine, I perish…" He breathes out, Cameron looks at him, "Of course you do… and uh, I hate to burst your bubble, but there's something you should know-"
Just as the words leave Cameron's mouth, a boy who has his knee up on one of the benches and is talking to his friends, grins and reaches over to pull the girl against him, wrapping his arm around her waist. Ponyboy draws back like he was slapped, 'Of course,' he thinks bitterly, 'No girl that pretty would be single.'
"Keep watching." Cameron says, seeing Ponyboy's expression.
Pony looks at Cameron for a moment, confused, before looking back just in time to see the girl wriggle from the guys grasp, glare and him and say something Pony can't hear before marching away.
"...What, just happened?" Ponyboy asks, confused.
"It's a long story, I'll tell you about it later," Cameron says, "Right now we gotta finish the tour."
After a quick tour of the rest of the school, the group makes their way back to Ms. Woods' office. "Ms. Woods, we're done with the tour." Cameron says as they enter the office.
"Thank you Mr. Davidson, you can head back to class."
Cameron says goodbye to Pony and the others before he picks up his bag and walks out of the office.
"Now boys," Ms. Woods says, picking some papers off her desk and handing one to everyone, "These are your schedules, you start your classes tomorrow, you can pick up your uniforms and dorm keys in the room at the end of the hall, and you can go get your things to move into your dormitories, if you have any questions just ask."
"Come on everyone." Darry says, leading them out of the office, "Thank you Ms. Woods." he adds.
"You're quite welcome Mr. Curtis." Ms. Woods says just before the door closes.
Ponyboy and the others make their way down the long hallway until they reach a door with a plaque that reads "Student Resource".
Darry walks forward again and knocks on the door, they all hear a slightly muffled "Come in", before Darry pushes the door open.
When they walk into the room, Ponyboy looks around: there are stacks of boxes each labeled with different contents, displays of the different uniforms hung up on the walls, along with the letterman jacket, sweaters, and t-shirts, advertising the different extra-curricular activities.
"One moment please." a voice says from the back of the room.
They all wait for a moment before a man in his mid-thirties, walks from the back and behind the desk that's at the front if the room.
"Sorry about that," the man says, "This place is always cluttered."
"Shoot man," Two-Bit says, cracking a grin, "You think this is messy? You should see our houses!"
'Don't tell him that you idiot!' Ponyboy thinks while halfway hiding behind Soda.
"So what can I help you with?" the man asks, overlooking Two-Bit's remark.
"We're here to pick up our uniforms and dorm keys." Darry says.
"Last names please?" the man asks.
"Curtis."
"Randle."
"Cade."
"Mathews."
"Winston."
The man whistles quietly before turning and walking into the back for a minute or so, before he comes back with a two-wheeled dolly stacked with boxes, "Here are your uniforms, you get five, the fifth's an extra because you don't have to wear your uniform Friday, everyone calls it 'Casual Friday'." the man explains, handing everyone a box.
"I'll get your keys, be only a moment." the man says before disappearing in the back once more.
"At least we don't have to wear these stupid uniforms every day." Dally says, eyeing the display of the uniform on the wall.
"Yes, but you have to wear it most of the time so you better get used to it." Darry says just before the man comes back with a handful of keys.
"Let's see here...Curtis, Cade, Randle, Winston, and Mathews." the man says as he hands the gang their keys, "The room number is on the back. Is there anything else I can help you with?" he asks.
"No, we're good, thank you." Darry says
"Anytime." the man says as they turn and leave the room.
"Now, because you enrolled later than the other students, I had a difficult time finding dorm rooms so we had to improvise." Darry explains after they look at their room numbers, "Ponyboy, Johnny, you're going to be staying with Juniors."
"So none of us are going to be in the same dorm?" Pony asks, feeling slight panic build up.
"Don't worry Pone. Johnny and I are just down the hall, if you need anything don't be afraid to come get us." Soda says, clapping Pony on the shoulder.
Ponyboy doesn't say anything, he just nods and walks after the others.
"All we need to do now is get our stuff." Darry says as they start down the stairs again.
They quickly go to their cars to get their stuff and are on their way back when the bell rings, "That was the dismissal bell." Darry explains after looking at his watch, "For the younger kids anyway. A good amount of upperclassmen have evening classes that end at six instead of four-thirty."
"Do we have evening classes, Dare?" Soda asks, gesturing to himself and the older guys in the gang.
"Not unless you signed up for them."
"Thank God." Soda sighs.
"You gonna head to your room Pony?" Soda asks as the gang makes their way up the dormitory stairs.
"Yeah," Pony says, "I'll see you guys later."
"Alright." Soda says cheerfully, "See ya, Pone."
"Bye Pony." Johnny says.
Pony just nods and continues his way down the hallway. As he walks down the hall, he looks around at the place: the walls are white and covered in posters, bulletin boards and a map of the dorm, the carpet is dark red, the doors are dark wood and by the doors are very small white boards, some have names of the students who live there, some have pictures and messages, and a couple don't have anything.
"Okay let's see...203, 204, 205!" he says, stopping at his dorm, he looks at the whiteboard next to the door to see who his dorm mate is, but all it says is 'knock before entering', "Figures." Pony mutters.
He puts one of his suitcases down and is about to reach into his pocket to get his key but stops, "I'll knock. Just to follow his wishes." he says, reaching up and knocking on the fancy wood door.
He picks up his suitcase again and waits politely for a moment before the door opens, and he comes face to face with Cameron Davidson. They stare at each other in shock for a moment before Cameron starts to laugh, "Well how about that, I knew I was getting a dorm mate but I didn't know it would be you, come in!"
Pony grins also before he walks into his dorm room and looks around, the dorm is a bit bigger than he expected, and is practically symmetrical, the floor is wood with a dark red rug, the walls are still white, and there's a desk in the middle of the room against a wall that's practically all window.
The left side of the dorm is blank, he takes a guess that it's his side of the dorm. He looks over at Cameron's side of the room: the wall has posters about technology, some bands, the school pendant, and some Shakespeare, his bed has a maroon blanket and a few white pillows on it, and there's a laptop sitting on his bed.
"Make yourself at home." Cameron says, sitting down on his bed.
Ponyboy sets his suitcases and backpack on the bed and opens them, pulling out his clothes, "There's a closet right there." Cameron says, pointing to said closet.
Ponyboy turns to the closet: it's a few feet away from the bed, it has a curtain-like door, which is open, some coat hangers, and a few clear drawers for shoes and accessories.
"Thanks." Pony says.
After a while, Pony finally has his clothes put up and is now putting up his posters and pictures, but he has to borrow some tape from Cameron.
"You sure do love sunsets don't ya?" Cameron asks, looking at all of Pony's sunset pictures.
"Yup." Pony says, picking up another poster.
As he finishes taping up the next poster, he looks out the window for a moment, and promptly does a double take, there she is again, the girl from earlier, she's walking toward the girls' dormitories.
"There she is again." Pony says, Cameron can't see out the window, but he knows who Pony is talking about, and he suddenly remembers something, "Oh yeah. I was gonna tell you about her wasn't I?"
Pony turns around and jumps off his bed, then sits down, "Yeah."
"Well, first of all, her name is Rainbow Swan, Freshman," Cameron starts to type something on his computer, "Hang on..." after a minute, Cameron shows Ponyboy his laptop: it's the school's website, and he's looking at the extra-curricular activities page.
"She's on the Gymnastics team, ribbon dancer." Cameron explains.
Ponyboy looks at the picture of the team and sees Rainbow in the middle of all the girls and, like the others, she's wearing a silver-y-white, sparkly leotard with her hair put up in a bun with a silver ribbon, and she's holding a rainbow ribbon in her hand, she's also the smallest girl there.
"What's her personality like?" Ponyboy asks, handing Cameron his laptop back.
"I'm not exactly sure, I don't have her in any of my classes, but from what I can gather, she's really nice, but shy."
Pony nods, "And that guy she was with earlier?"
Cameron rolls his eyes, "That was Jay Carlos, there are many words that describe him, I use the words, 'jerk' and 'moron'."
Ponyboy draws back slightly as Cameron continues, "He isn't Rainbow's boyfriend, she doesn't even like him, they went on a few dates and now the moron thinks he owns her." Cameron rolls his eyes again, "But at least he isn't as bad as Joey Don."
"Joey Don?" Pony asks in disbelief, "Like, Joey Donner, from 10 Things I Hate About You?"
"Carbon copy." Cameron groans, "Ya know it's rumored that his father, Joey Don Sr, inspired the character?"
"No I didn't." Pony says.
"Anyway, we're getting off topic, Joey Don is hands down the biggest playboy in the school, he's been trying to get into Rainbow's pants ever since he laid eyes on her. Luckily for all of us who like and want to protect her, she hates his guts."
They both laugh, "Seems like she would love to date a model." Pony jests.
"To tell you the truth, Joey doesn't have the highest of popularity or respect, he's shallow and stupid, so if you cross him, it ain't a big deal, same goes for Jay."
Cameron suddenly turns serious, "However, there is one guy that you want to avoid crossings paths with at all costs...and that's Bob Sheldon."
"Who's he?"
Cameron pulls up a picture on his laptop and hands it to Ponyboy, "He practically runs the place, he has it all: Good looks, good grades, he's the football captain, he has money, a reputation, and no limits."
Ponyboy looks at Bob's picture, even in a picture he looks intimidating. He's standing in the middle of people who are all smiling at the camera.
Bob is the biggest guy there, he kind of resembles Darry in a way, he's tall, muscular, he has jet black, slightly shaggy hair, tan-ish skin, and narrow, cold, brown eyes so dark brown they're almost black.
"However," Cameron says suddenly, "Your girlfriend practically has him and his buddies wrapped around her finger, they all love her, no one really knows why. But he and his gang hate Jay, cause they know what he's like."
"I'm guessing she's pretty popular also, seeing that Bob likes her so much."
"Yeah, she has a lot of friends, but she isn't the most popular girl, because she keeps to herself and doesn't flaunt around, saying what people want her to say, pretending to be everyone's friend, like Bob's girlfriend."
Ponyboy nods and looks back at Bob, and he notices he has his arm wrapped around someone's shoulders, "Who's that standing next to him?"
"Oh, that's Randy Adderson, his best friend. Randy's probably the only sort of limit Bob and the others have."
Pony looks at Randy again: he's shorter and thinner than Bob is. He has light tan skin, big, light brown-ish hazel eyes, honey blonde hair that falls slightly past his shoulders, and a toned body with long legs. He looks a lot nicer than Bob, his eyes aren't hard and cold and his smile isn't cocky, he's holding up the peace sign with his fingers.
"He looks nice." Pony says, handing Cameron his laptop.
"He is, I say he's the nicest, and deepest guy in the group. He's kind of a hippie but not really, I mean he wears his hair long, doesn't like fights, and wears a peace medal sometimes, but he's proper also, you can kinda see the 'hippie-ness' but it ain't over powering... or, in other words, he's a real laid back rich kid."
"...Yeah, I can see it." Ponyboy says, while thinking that Randy kind of looks like one of those 'California dream boats' girls fall all over.
"Okay, I think that's all of the important people for now...Hey, I just realized, what's your name? I never asked."
Ponyboy inwardly cringes before he says, "Ponyboy Curtis."
"Hmm, cool name."
"...Thanks." Pony says happily.
"Anyway, it's almost time for dinner, wanna head down?" Cameron asks, standing up.
"Yeah, I'm starving." Pony says, jumping up and following Cameron out of the room. As the two leave the dorm, Cameron turns back to face Ponyboy.
"Oh, I almost forgot ...Welcome to Crimson Arts Academy!"
AN: I'm planning on posting illustrations and character designs on Deviantart and/or Instagram someday, I'll let you guys know when I do.