"Vada Curtis, are you listening?"

My head shot up, snapping me out of my day dream. Sometimes I get lost in my thoughts, but I just can't help it. I guess I'm a lot like Ponyboy in that way and it annoys Darry something fierce.

"Yes, Mrs. Morris." I replied and looked around and saw everyone's stares, making my cheeks go red.

"I know there's only three weeks left of school, but it's not quite summer yet. Now, pay attention." She reprimanded and gave me a hard look.

I quietly nodded and Mrs. Morris turned back around to write on the chalkboard and continue the lesson. I stole a glance over at my best friend Jenny and she gave me a small smile, knowing how embarassed I was. Jenny had been my friend for as long as I can remember. Her and her parents didn't live in the same neighborhood as me and my brothers and they didn't struggle with money like we did, but they weren't rich and had always been very nice to me. I couldn't wait for summer vacation to come and spend all of my time playing with Jenny, just like we do every summer.

Soon enough it was finally the end of the school day and Mrs. Morris dismissed us. Jenny and I walked down the hallway and out the front doors of the school together.

"Mrs. Morris seemed real grumpy today." Jenny said.

"Mrs. Morris always seems real grumpy." I giggled.

"If Mrs. Morris was one of the seven dwarfs, she would definitely be Grumpy!" We both started laughing out loud, the thought of Mrs. Morris as a dwarf has us rolling.

When our laughter died down I turned to her with a smile and said, "If you were one of the dwarfs, you'd be Happy."

She smiled back, but then started giggling again. "Well, you'd be Dopey!"

"Hey!" I playfully shoved her as we both laughed some more. We heard a car horn honk and looked over to see Jenny's mom pulling up the car to pick her up.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow!" She started walking towards the car and her mom, Laurie, waved at me. I smiled and waved back.

"See ya!" I yelled to Jenny. She got in the car and her and her mom drove off.

I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder and it made me jump. I turned around and saw Two-Bit who let out a loud laugh.

"Well hey there, Miss Vada!"

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and smiled up at him. I liked Two-Bit. He was one of my brothers' friends and always made me laugh. Even though he was 8 years older than me, he never seemed to mind talking to me and would sometimes play games with me when I was bored.

"Hey, Two-Bit."

He laughed again. "Man, you should have seen your face!"

"It wasn't funny!" I said, but couldn't keep my own giggles from escaping my mouth.

"You ready to head home?"

Two-Bit helped my brothers out by picking me up and giving me rides home from school when Darry and Soda worked and Pony had track practice at his school and couldn't walk me home. Darry was never very fond of the idea of me walking home by myself, even though I was eleven. It made me kinda angry, but I didn't mind rides home with Two-Bit.

"Yeah, I'm ready."

"Then let's get outta here."

We walked over to where his truck was waiting and hopped in. On the drive home, Two-Bit was telling me his crazy stories of what he had done at school today and, even though I didn't really believe half of what he said, I enjoyed listening to them anyway. We pulled up to my house and he stopped the car.

"Thanks, Two-Bit." I said as I closed the door to the truck. I started walking up to the house and turned around and gave him a wave.

"See you later, Little Curtis!" He yelled through the open window of the truck and took off.

I walked inside, taking off my shoes and set my backpack on the floor. It was heavy today. Mrs. Morris gave us quite a bit of homework today and I wasn't looking forward to it. I got decent enough grades, but it was Pony who was always the smart one. Darry was always pushing for me to get A's like Pony did, but sometimes I just didn't understand stuff. School could be hard.

I sat on the couch and watched tv for a while until I looked at the clock and noticed it was already four-thirty. My brothers would be coming home real soon. Darry wouldn't be too happy if he knew I haven't done my homework yet.

I sighed and frowned as I got up off the couch to grab my backpack and headed off to my room to try and do my homework.

When I got into my room, I climbed up on my bed and took out my books and my notebook, deciding to start on Math. I copied down the problems, but once I started to try and solve them, I just couldn't focus. We were learning about fractions and it confused me to no end, not that I was really listening in class today anyway. After staring at my notebook for what felt like hours, I heard the front door open and Soda and Pony come inside the house. Seconds later there was a knock at my door was opened to reveal Soda.

"Hey, Vada, how was school today?"

"Hi Soda. It was ok. I don't know, I couldn't really pay attention today and Mrs. Morris sort of yelled at me." I didn't have a problem telling this to Soda. I told him everything. And I knew he wouldn't tell Darry.

"Aw, I don't blame ya. It happens!" He smiled and walked in, sitting down next to me on my bed. He looked down at my notebook and saw I hadn't done any of the problems yet. "You having a rough time?"

"Yeah...I'm trying, Soda, I really am!"

He squeezed my shoulder. "I know you are, kiddo."

I heard the engine of the car as it pulled up to the house and knew Darry was home. I sighed and looked at my notebook again.

"I just don't get it."

Soda gave me a sad smile. "It'll be okay...How about you ask Darry for help?"

"Maybe." Depends on how upset Darry would be with me. I'll admit, this had happened a couple times now within the past two weeks and he didn't take too kindly to it. He said he was tired of me "slacking off" and said I was to do my homework when I got home from school. I didn't understand why since I'd have all night after supper to do it, but those were Darry's rules, and I would just get in trouble when I tried to argue about it with him.

We heard Darry walk through the door and Soda stood up from his spot on my bed. "C'mon, we better go help Darry with supper. I'm starving!"

I got up and followed him out to the kitchen, afraid of what Darry would say when he asked if I had done my homework. But I was also glad to not have to be staring at my notebook anymore.

At least for a little while.