Curtis and Gang Capers
Now Darry was an industrious student, very diligent and focused (see another fan fiction writer's tale about Darry vs. Soda behavior in junior high)
Soda, Steve and Two-Bit (as well as Dallas when he was living), in contrast, were every teacher's, school librarian's and principal's worst nightmare.
Steve and Dally were infamous for being the most obstreperous boys in the whole school of any school they every attended. Even the principals lost count over how many times times Steve and Dally were in their offices, especially for physical fighting; Dallas not only for that but also for driving stolen motorcycles (e.g. That was Then, This is Now S.E. Hinton, an episode in which Mark steals the principal's car) and "decorating" the desks with gang artwork.
Soda and Two-Bit, meanwhile, though both poor at reading the printed word, thought up and acted out every crazy prank in the prank book, and then some.
They spent group and study sessions drawing goofy hairdo and funny face pictures all over their papers/notebooks (e.g. see Are You There, God, It's Me Margaret Judy Blume, about Philip Leroy), threw play doh and paper wads all over the library, did leap frog alongside the desks, drew silly pictures all over the chalkboards, started not only food fights but also beverage fights, let the garter snake loose in the science classroom, shot water pistols in the halls and Two-Bit once even tried to "dye" a girl's hair with watercolor paint just to get her attention.
Now Ponyboy was apt to daydream in class, chastised for staring into outer realms unknown, unless it was an art class or creative writing class, or perhaps a literature class involving a book that intrigued him. Yet, to state the obvious, contrasted with every other gang member except Darry, Ponyboy, to the teachers and administrators, was a welcome relief, as was Johnny, who was mostly simply slow but very quiet.