A/N: Hi there people! This is pretty much my first Outsiders Fanfiction so please feel free to comment and criticize (within reason).
"Ponyboy Curtis,"
"P-pardon?" Keeping my smile in place I blinked away any signs of confusion from my eyes. Had I just heard him say Ponyboy?
"Ponyboy Curtis. That's who you will be tutoring Ms. Cree." Mr. Johnston repeated. Pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose Mr. Johnston focused his deep blue eyes on me. "Is that a problem?"
Clearing my throat, I shook my head, "No, no it's fine. It's just uh, I was just curious what subject I'll be tutoring um, Ponyboy Curtis." Wow. Did I just say that out loud? Turning my eye slightly I scanned the room quickly wondering if I was being filmed. I mean this had to be a joke right? Why would my principal call me into his office in the middle of my lunch period to tell me out of the blue that I will now be tutoring a sophomore named Ponyboy Curtis? Seriously, Ponyboy- if there was a student in this school who had a name like that I'd definitely know.
"Ah, well you will be tutoring Mr. Curtis in mathematics. According to Mrs. Freedman Mr. Curtis is struggling with the in class work and exams yet shows no troubles with the homework. It may be due to the fact that he is receiving help at home which is fine," Mr. Johnston said, pushing his glasses up again he slid a piece of paper across his desk so I could look at it "however, it appears that Mr. Curtis is still struggling with the concepts so Mrs. Freedman has requested a tutor and seeing as how you are part of the tutoring department and specialize in mathematics I've decided to assign you to-"
"Ponyboy Curtis," I finished with a slightly raised brow.
"Exactly, is that alright with you?" Mr. Johnston asked entwining his fingers together and placing them under his chin, "of course you will be compensated for your time, about 5.50$ a month."
Once again keeping my smile I tried to fight off the urge to jump and cheer. An extra 5.50$ every month or at least till the end of the school year was definitely going to help out my college fund! Smiling even wider now I nodded my head, "of course that's alright." Glancing at the sheet that Mr. Johnston had slipped towards me I studied it. Hmm, looks like Ponyboy was struggling with Algebra 2 and Geometry. Nothing too challenging, in fact I was positive that I could come up with a simple placement test before meeting the kid just too see his strengths and weakness in the subjects.
Pulling the sheet into my lap, I folded the paper neatly and tucked it into my book bag that was next to my leg before looking up at Mr. Johnston again, "So when and where will I be meeting Mr. Curtis?"
"Well seeing as how you are captain of the cheer team and have an extra block at the end of every odd day Mrs. Freedman has suggested that you tutor at Mr. Curtis' home- only if you are alright with that and his guardian's approves of course."
Guardian? Does this mean he doesn't have parents? Shaking my head in order to dispel my distracting thoughts I offered an easy smile and shrugged "sure, that's alright with me. I mean my grandma won't mind if I'm hour or two later than usual. I'll just have to check with my boss down at the Dairy Palace to make sure that's fine with him but other than that I shouldn't have any problems!"
"Then that settles that," jotting down some information on a note and sliding it towards me he smiled "I'll inform Mrs. Freedman later today to hold Mr. Curtis back after class this afternoon so you and Mr. Curtis can go over the details and sign the contracts."
Getting to my feet, I slung my book bag over my shoulder and nodded, "okay, thanks. I'll be sure to thank Mrs. Freedman too."
"Of course, now enjoy the rest of your lunch Ms. Cree."
Waving my goodbyes I exited the principal office and started for the cafeteria. Glancing at my wrist watch I noted that I only had about 10 more minutes to get through my the rest of my turkey sandwich before going to P.E. Quickening my pace I dashed into the cafeteria and made my way towards my friends who were luckily still waiting by my abandoned turkey sandwich.
"Welcome back Daphne," Millie Lanes sang as I slipped into my seat next to her. Picking up her diet cola drink my best friend waggled a bleached blond brow at me, "so did you get in any trouble?"
"What trouble could little miss perfect get into?" Sarah Knowles snorted.
"Touché," Millie hummed, "then did that old pervert call you in for some Hanky Spanky action then?"
Rolling my eyes I ignored my both of my best friends' comments and bit into my sandwich.
"Geez, can you lay off the porno during lunch Millie?" Kayla Peters whined while pushing her salad away from her with a scowl "you are kind of making me lose my appetite!"
Rolling her big brown eyes, Millie reached over and plucked a tomato from Kayla's abandoned salad, "sorry princess but it's not my fault that you decided to slather your salad in creamy ranch sauce."
"Yeah but it is your fault that you made me think of cum!" Kayla retorted with a huff.
"And there goes my appetite." I moaned pushing my food away from me.
"Opps," Millie shrugged and reached for my half eaten sandwich which I happily pushed towards her.
"But seriously, why did you get called in?" Sarah asked with a slight pinch between her brows "you didn't get in any serious troubles right? I mean you couldn't have especially since we have cheer nationals coming up,"
"Not to mention we are cheering for the upcoming football and baseball games this season," Kayla added who was now sipping from Millie's soda can.
"No, nothing to worry about, Mr. Johnston just offered me a tutoring position." I coolly answered as I gathered all our plastic baggies and rolled them into a tight, small ball.
"When he knows that you are totally swamped with school, work and cheer practice? Not cool." Millie huffed, "can't he find someone else to do it? I mean it's not like he's paying you a fortune and besides you are busy as it is!"
"No, it's alright!" I replied a little too quickly. Inhaling from my nose I shot an easy smile to the questioning looks of my friends, "I mean I am making 5.50$ every month which is okay. A little extra spending money you know?"
"I don't know, Millie has a point," Sarah hummed, "you are pretty busy and we can't have our cheer captain going all MIA on us just before our big season. In fact we still haven't started with our recruitment!"
Letting out a large sigh my friends all instantly knew that I had completely forgot about recruitment. We were only four weeks into the beginning of our junior year and I was already swamped with work.
"Okay, don't worry about recruitment," Sarah said, "Millie, Kayla and I can handle that but seriously, you might want to reconsider that tutoring thing. It's not like you need the extra money anyway."
Wrong. I totally needed the money but I couldn't let them know that, I couldn't let anybody know that. Luckily before anything else could be said about the tutoring gig the bell signaling the end of lunch went off. Gathering all our trash we threw them in the garbage and made our way towards the double doors.
"We'll talk more about this later," Millie said shooting me a mock stern look "but I'll see you guys at practice later!" Waving her goodbyes, Millie pushed weaved through the throng of students pouring out of the cafeteria along with Sarah towards their English class.
Going in the opposite direction, Kayla and I made our way to the girls' gym locker room and changed into our customary gray shorts and plain white tee shirts. Exiting the locker rooms Kayla gathered handfuls of her unruly curly red hair and secured it into a somewhat neat looking ponytail. Since we were juniors we had co-ed gym class outside on the football field with Ms. Hurst. Yes, our gym teacher's name is Ms. Hurst and boy does she live up to her name.
"I can't wait to see Grant!" Kayla suddenly squealed.
Snapping back to reality I couldn't help but laugh at my friend's dorky yet cute antics. "Didn't you just see him last period in Advances Mathematics- you know that class you are failing right now?"
"Yes," Kayla sang ignoring my jab, "but Mr. Williams makes it impossible for us to even talk!"
"Thank goodness," I joked "It's bad enough seeing you guys make out but it's even worse hear you two talk to each other in your annoying baby voices."
Sticking out her tongue Kayla jogged onto the field with me close behind. Just as we reached the middle of the field where Ms. Hurst was standing the bell signaling the beginning of fifth period went off.
"Okay kids today we are going be playing touch football!" Ms. Hurst yelled causing everyone to groan. Even though I didn't mind playing football I had to admit it was way too hot for us to be running around the field and tackling each other over a football. "Don't give me that attitude people, now give me five laps around the field!"
Sighing out loud I made my way towards the edge of the field with Kayla. Just as we reached the track Kayla suddenly let out an ear piercing screech. Covering my ears quickly, I looked over at her and saw that Grant DeGrandes had his arms wrapped around Kayla and was swinging her playfully around.
"Hey beautiful," Grant laughed as he placed his girlfriend on the ground gave her a quick peck on the lips.
Blushing brightly Kayla giggled, "hey there handsome,"
"Oh gross, enough with the pet talk guys!"
Laughing at my comment Grant bumped my shoulder as we started off in a steady jog "Hey Cree, what's up? I heard you were called into the office."
"Yup, but it was nothing serious, the ol' pervert just wanted to offer a tutoring position." Kayla answered for me,
Shooting her a mock glare I huffed, "why does everyone keep calling Mr. Johnston a pervert?"
"Uh because last year someone caught him reading some playboy bunny magazines in the office with his hands awfully close to his crotch?" Kayla giggled,
"Can't argue with the facts," Grant chuckled, "but are you going to be alright with all the extra work? You aren't going to be giving any half ass cheers at my games right?"
"Of course not, not for the star quarterback," I replied in a sarcastic tone.
"Great," bumping my shoulder again Grant let out a laugh, "but who did he ask you to tutor? Anybody I know?"
Thinking for a moment I tried to recall the name. "Um, I don't think so, he's a sophomore called Ponyboy-"
"Ponyboy?" Kayla echoed, "What kind of name is that?"
"I think it's was a nickname of some sort," I replied slowly. It had to be a nickname right? Sure, people do come up with creative names like Jessica that had a confusing combination of 'k' and 'y' in it but I don' think anyone would actually look at their child and name it Ponyboy right off the bat.
"You mean Ponyboy Curtis? Yeah I know him- he's that greaser in my English class." Grant said with a slight frown on his face.
Halting her jog Kayla let out a wail and shot me a disgusted look, "wait, you are tutoring a greaser? Uh you can't do that!"
Grabbing her arm I urged her to continue jogging before shooting her a look of my own, "why not? We have greasers in our class too and that hasn't been a problem for you,"
"Yeah but you've never tutored a greaser before! And you are literally going to be talking to a greaser. Like literally talking to one- alone!" Stopping again, Kayla did a little shiver dance "I mean gross! You have to go and tell Mr. Johnston that you cannot do it!"
And you have to shut up, I thought. Swallowing my anger I fought the urge to roll my eyes at Kayla's overdramatic reaction. She didn't understand how badly I needed the money but then again it's not like I volunteered that information. But still, if I ever did volunteer such information then I'd definitely be classified as a greaser rather than a soc- which wasn't something that would help me out especially since I happened to be the only black/ Native American girl in East Edge High, Tulsa.
"Kay has a point," Grant said, "besides is it even safe?"
Rolling my eyes this time I snorted, "Well if I go missing at least you know who to go after."
Thinking that I had made a joke, both Grant and Kayla burst out laughing much to my annoyance. Balling my fists I started to run a little faster. I suddenly wanted to ditch the two of them. Even though I wasn't technically a greaser I still didn't like the label and the treatment that came with the label, after all I had had firsthand experience of being treated differently when I first moved here.
Thankfully the sound of Ms. Hurst's whistle sounded across the field which meant that it was time for us to start the football game. Heading towards the middle of the field Kayla tapped my shoulder,
"Seriously though, I think you should reconsider it, y'know, for safety purposes."
"Uh, I'll think about it." Wiggling away from her grasp I avoided further discussion by throwing myself into the game.
Three rounds, five hard tackles and a sore right shoulder later the game was finally over. Jogging off the field I avoided Kayla and Grant who were currently trading spit and made my way into the changing room.
Since today was an even day I only had five periods instead of six; however, I still had cheer practice so it meant that I would still be in school until four and then I would have to head down to Dairy Palace for my three hour shift which pretty much guaranteed that I'd be home by nine at the latest.
Quickly changing into my cheer practice uniform- a large baggy grey top with 'wild cats' written across in burgundy and matching burgundy shorts- I spotted one of the girls on the team and told her to tell Millie to take over captain duties since I had an appointment to get to first.
Taking the stairs two by two at a time I gathered my hair into a high ponytail and secured it with a ribbon. Before heading towards Mrs. Freedman's class I darted into the main office first so I could call Duncan at Dairy Palace to tell him that I'd be an hour late but would make up for it. After wrestling with Duncan over how I'd make up for that extra hour I called my grandma to let her know that I'd be later than usual tonight so she didn't have to wait up for me which she insisted that she still would which caused me to giggle. After leaving the office I headed towards Mrs. Freedman's classroom.
Carefully reading the numbers on the doors I finally spotted room 103. Peeking through the window I could see Mrs. Freedman sitting at her and talking to someone who was out of my view.
Taking a deep breath I opened the door and greeted Mrs. Freedman with a small smile, "Hi Mrs. Freedman, Mr. Johnston told me that I should stop by after my class and come here to meet Pony- uh, Mr. Curtis?"
"Ah yes Ms. Cree," Adjusting her cat-eye glasses, Mrs. Freedman tilted her head towards a student sitting in the corner at the back of the room, "I've asked Ponyboy to wait for you and since you are here I'll just give you two the contracts and let you two discuss the tutoring schedule. Oh, I've also included the syllabus so you can see what topics will be covered."
Taking the papers from her I thanked her and headed towards Ponyboy. Glancing behind me quickly, I noticed Mrs. Freedman was now correcting a pile of what I assumed to be pop quizzes.
Sliding into a seat across Ponyboy I studied the boy before me. For starters, for someone named Ponyboy he certainly didn't look like a Ponyboy. Sitting across me was a boy who couldn't have been any older than fourteen (maybe) with reddish/ light brown hair that was long and slicked back in the signature greaser look. He wasn't very tall nor was he big; however, even from his seat position I could tell that he was probably very lean and quick. When my eyes finally settled on his face I noticed that his own green-grayish eyes were darting every which way across my own profile. For a second I was a little self-conscious but that feeling was immediately squashed by a little bit of annoyance. This wasn't the first time I caught someone looking at me like that.
Like I said, I was the only black/ Native American girl in the school- and probably Tulsa. But still that didn't excuse people from staring at me like I just crawled out from the woods. I had some pretty normal human looking features too. For starters, I had a little past shoulder length, straight black hair that parted in the middle and framed my oval shaped face. I had slightly slanted almond shaped eyes with brown hazel eyes. My skin was an interesting combination of milk chocolate with red undertones. I wasn't the tallest girl around but I do consider myself tall at 5'7. Like Ponyboy I'm pretty lean too but with an athletic build- which often caused people to assume that I'm fourteen rather than sixteen.
Sticking my hand across the desk I smiled my best smile, "Hi, I'm Daphne Cree."
Shaking his head slightly as if to dispel his confusion, Ponyboy hesitantly reached out for my own hand and shook it, "I'm Ponyboy Curtis. Nice to meet you," he mumbled,
"You too," pulling out the letter Mr. Johnston had given me I looked over it, "So I've been told that you are struggling a bit with math, geometry and Algebra in particular."
"Yeah," Ponyboy mumbled again, a blush creeping up from his neck.
"So what exactly about geo and algebra do you find hard?" I asked.
Scratching the back of his neck, his eyes darted across the room and settled on the clock, "I don't know, I just find math in general kind of hard."
"But I heard you don't struggle much with your homework."
Shrugging at my comment his gaze fell on me, "that's because my older brother looks over my homework and tells me which ones I have to redo."
"Hmm, I see." Jotting that down on the sheet before me, I looked up at him again, "okay well once I start tutoring you you're going to have to ask him to stop doing that so I can mark down your progress."
Grunting a reply I couldn't help but notice a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
Ignoring that for a moment I remembered I had to ask him something, "that reminds me, I was told that due to our conflicting schedule that it would probably be best for me to drop by your house and tutor you which is alright with me but I just need to know if it's okay with you,"
Pausing for a moment, Ponyboy's steady gaze studied me for a minute before shrugging slightly, "that's fine with me,"
"Great," Grinning I pulled out the contracts and handed him one, "okay, so the days I'm available for are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 5pm to 7pm- but then again I'm not sure if you'd like talking about math on a Friday afternoon so I wouldn't mind coming by on Saturday but that would be in the evening since I work during the day."
"Um, Fridays are fine…" Ponyboy said thoughtfully,
"If you like we could alternate days?"
"I guess that would be alright too."
"Okay. Your teacher gave me a copy of the topics that are being covered this year so I'm going to basically make a placement test for you to see where you are with the first couple topics and then make up a workbook for you," I explained while taking down some notes, "I'll also be helping you with your homework but mind you- I won't be giving you the answers!"
"I wouldn't have imagined you would," Ponyboy replied with a small yet infectious grin.
Swatting the air in front of me, I wagged a pen at him "good because every student I've tutored in the past has expected me to just hand over the answers. I want you to understand what you are doing so be prepared to buckle down. Besides that there is nothing more I can tell you…so any questions?"
Wiggling a bit in his seat I could tell he had a question in mind. Darting his eyes across the room again Ponyboy scratched the back of his neck, "when do we start?"
"Well since I'm busy today it can't be today but it can be a soon as you are ready."
"I guess we can start tomorrow…"
"Then I'll drop by tomorrow, uh, where do you live though?" I asked sheepishly once I realized I had no clue about where he lived.
Rattling off his information I quickly jotted down everything. "Any other questions?"
Once again, Ponyboy wiggled in his seat. I could tell he really wanted to ask something but for whatever reason he wouldn't spit it out. Finally after clearing his throat a couple times he opened his mouth, "Um, I was just wondering…are you-"
"Am I black? Yes I am but I'm also Native American and no I don't have pet wolves, no I don't live in a tent and yes I said I'm also African American. I'm mixed."
Blushing heavily at my sudden outburst I couldn't help but narrow my eyes slightly at him. I was so tired of people always asking me the same annoying questions.
"That's not what I wanted to know…I wanted to know if you were a soc."
Blinking a few times it was my turn to blush at the fact that I had completely misinterpreted the situation, "Um, yes?"
"And you don't have a problem with coming by my house?"
"No," I answered, "Why, should I?"
Raising an eyebrow at me Ponyboy met my eyes, "well I thought it would…y'know, me being a greaser and all…"
Shaking my head quickly I grinned at him, "no, it's not a problem for me at all, is it a problem for you?"
"No…" Ponyboy said a little unsurely.
"Good, then lets sign these contracts so we can start off our session-um, tomorrow I mean."
Nodding in agreement, we both signed the papers and handed them to Mrs. Freedman who assured us that she would make a copy for each of us and hand the original ones to Mr. Johnston tomorrow.
As we entered the hallway I told Ponyboy that I had to get back to the field for cheer practice and reminded him that I'd be stopping by his house tomorrow around five o'clock for our lesson. After saying goodbye I hurriedly made my way out to the field and joined the rest of the team.
After practice I swung by work and quickly changed into my required candy stripped poufy shirt, crisped white shirt and roller blades before skating around the joint to serve hungry teens their ice cream. For whatever reason Duncan decided that even though I missed an hour of work he would still pay me for that hour and even assured me that I didn't have to make up for it which I couldn't help but feel suspicious about. Luckily eight o'clock rolled around pretty quick and I managed to make it to the bus stop in time for the 8:05pm bus.
When I finally reached home I was greeted with a plate of my grandma's deep fried chicken with mash potato and corn. Devouring the much deserved food I chatted a bit with my grandma before heading upstairs to start my homework.
Just as I was getting through my English poetry assignment I felt the sudden wave of sleepiness hit me. I must have lost the battle to my exhaustion because the next thing I knew was that it was 1:00am and I had drool all over my English assignment as well as pencil stuck firmly to my cheek. Prying the pencil off my cheek I climbed into bed with the promise of taking a quick shower in the morning.
A/N: Hope you guys didn't feel the story was too slow or boring. I promise that the other members of the gang will be introduced in the next chapter! Please review.