AN: Hi everyone, thank you so much for the positive feedback :)


"Second period, art class." Pony says to himself as he leaves his first period class.

It's Ponyboy's first official day at Crimson Arts, and right now, he's trying desperately to figure out the school's hallways, and he's already gotten lost.

"Room 311...hope I don't get lost again." he mutters, pushing thought the tightly knit crowd of people.

Unfortunately, Ponyboy forgets that the art class is in the electives building, so he has to sprint across campus just to get to the building, and then look for his room, which isn't easy.

Luckily, he was on time with a couple of minutes to spare. He looks around the art room, which is a small auditorium, and he walks up to the teacher, Ms. Holly: she's a woman in her early thirties with wavy rusty colored hair and hazel eyes.

"Excuse me," Pony says, walking up to Ms. Holly, "I'm the new student."

"Oh, of course, let me see your schedule." Pony hands her the schedule and she looks it over, before nodding and handing it back to him, "Okay Ponyboy, we have a seating arrangement, so let me see if I can find you a seat..."

As Ms. Holly looks for a seat for Pony, he notices that a lot of the kids are looking at him, most likely because he's new and nobody recognizes him.

"Alright Ponyboy, there's an empty seat right over there." she points with her pen to a seat a few rows up.

"Thank you." he says, walking up the stairs toward his seat. When he gets there, he notices that there's a bag by the seat next to him, and a book on the desk. He sits down in his seat and reaches into his bag to get a pencil. As he's doing so, he hears the bell ring and from the corner of his eye he sees someone sit next to him.

When he sits up straight and turns his head he feels as though he were mentally slapped.

It's Rainbow.

He feels his face grow hot and he looks at his desk hastily. 'Oh my god, oh my god, she's right there!' he thinks. Carefully, he looks over at her, but she doesn't even seem to notice, she's reading her book.

He looks at her book closely and sees that it's The Pearl by John Steinbeck, he grins, then, before he can stop himself, "That's a good book."

Rainbow jumps slightly and looks at him, "Huh?" she asks.

Pony feels his face go hot again, "The book you're reading, it's a good book."

Rainbow looks at him for a moment before she grins, "I know, I've read it multiple times already."

Ponyboy grins and decides to continue the conversation, "Have you read his other stuff?"

Rainbow nods excitedly, "Yeah, have you?"

"Only The Grapes of Wrath." Pony admits.

"Ooh, I love that one! You should read Of Mice and Men, that one's good too!"

"Alright everyone settle down!" Ms. Holly announces, "Now, today, we're going to be making landscapes. I know for some of you landscapes aren't the most fun to draw, but, this will help you when you want to add a background to a picture, or illustrate a scene in a book or a movie."

Ponyboy leans forward in interest, he likes how Ms. Holly is making things so interesting. He glances at Rainbow and sees that all of her attention is directed toward Ms. Holly

"Today you're going to be brainstorming, and creating a quick rough draft. You're going to be able to use any medium you wish, I would recommend you use something you don't use often, so you can hone your skills...now, any questions?" The room is silent, "Alright, if you need anything, just ask."

After Ms. Holly's instructions, the class gets to work. Ponyboy reaches back into his bag and pulls out a few sheets of blank paper, and he sees Rainbow pull out a sketchpad and a pair of pink and white headphones. She puts them around her neck and plugs them in to a pink iPod Shuffle that's clipped to her lapel.

"I like your headphones." Pony blurts out, Rainbow looks at him again and smiles, "Thanks, I got them for my birthday." She says.

After that there's an awkward silence, "...So, what are you gonna do for your project?" Rainbow asks after a minute.

"Hm? Oh...I'm not sure what I want to draw exactly, but I know I want to draw a sunset." Pony explains, remembering his love for sunsets.

Rainbow smiles again, "I was thinking that too, I want to draw a sunset, but I also want to draw a starry night."

"You like stars?" Pony asks, trying to hide his excitement.

"I love them, I have a book in my dorm that's all about constellations."

"That's cool!"

The two talk about their interests for a few minutes before they start to work on their art projects, "What Medium are you gonna use?" Pony asks, looking over at Rainbow's brainstorm.

"I'm thinking of using pastels, I've used them before, they're really good at blending, and I need blending for the sunset."

Ponyboy grins at Rainbow's knowledge of art supplies and sunsets, "What about you...uh... I'm sorry, what's your name?" Rainbow asks, her cheeks turning a faint pink.

"It's Ponyboy, Ponyboy Curtis."

Rainbow smiles at his name, "Unique name...I like it. My name is Rainbow, Rainbow Swan."

"It's nice to meet you Rainbow." Ponyboy says with a smile.

Rainbow smiles back at him, "It's nice to meet you too Ponyboy."

After class, Ponyboy and Rainbow leave the room together, "What do you have next?" Rainbow asks, looking at his schedule.

"Uh...English, what about you?"

"French...Maybe I'll see you during lunch or another class." Rainbow says, slightly disappointed.

As the two continue to walk down the hall, they hear, "Hey Baby!"

"Oh no." Rainbow groans. Suddenly, an arm wraps around her shoulders, causing her to stop walking, Ponyboy stops also and turns around, sure enough, it's Jay. Ponyboy looks at him, able to see how he looks close up,

Jay is a couple of years older than Ponyboy and Rainbow, he has light skin, brown eyes, a turned up nose, and black hair that's combed back and is spiked in the back. He has broad shoulders, he's thin and kind of lanky, and he has a big head...he kind of looks like the old actor, Warren Beatty, when he was younger.

"Haven't seen you in a while, where've you been?" Jay purrs, messing with a lock of

Rainbow's hair.

"Class," Rainbow says, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice, "And I saw you at breakfast, remember?"

Jay laughs, "Oh yeah," then he rests his chin on her shoulder, "I guess time goes slower when I'm not with you."

It takes all of Ponyboy's strength not to groan and roll his eyes, but by now Jay's finally noticed him, and he's kind of giving him the stink eye.

"Who's this?" He asks snottily, giving Ponyboy a once over.

"He's new here, his name's Ponyboy." Rainbow explains.

"Ponyboy?" Jay asks, making it clear he thinks 'Ponyboy' is the most ridiculous name he's ever heard, seeming to forget the fact that his "girlfriend's" name is 'Rainbow'.

"Jay!" Rainbow hisses, kind of hitting him in the chest, Jay quickly regains himself and puts a plastic smile on his face, "Well, I hope you like it here."

Ponyboy just nods "Well, I gotta go, I'm gonna be late for class." he says, "I'll see ya later Rainbow."

"Bye Ponyboy." Rainbow calls after him, "Jay, let me go, I'm gonna be late for class." Rainbow groans, trying to wriggle from Jay's grip.

"Aw, come on Bow, let me walk with you, I don't like third period anyway."

Rainbow sighs and continues to walk down the hallway with Jay practically glued to her hip, wishing that she was still talking to Ponyboy.

After third and fourth period, Ponyboy meets up with Cameron and they make their way to the dining hall.

"So how's your day been so far?" Cameron asks as they ascend the the stairs leading toward the dining hall.

"Alright I guess...I met Jay, you were right, he is a jerk, and it's obvious Rainbow doesn't like him."

Cameron groans, "Yeah, he's the type of guy that clings to any girl he gets his hands on, and then refuses to let her go, despite the fact that she doesn't like him."

"I know that type, there's this girl in my old town named Angela, and she was like that, she would throw herself at me and refuse to leave me alone, despite the fact that I don't have feelings toward her."

The two reach the balcony, Ponyboy looks around: you get a very good view of the school from the balcony, and you can see the city in the distance, on the balcony are what look like fancy picnic tables made of dark wood, they're thick and look heavy.

Pony starts to walk toward the entrance, but is suddenly stopped by Cameron, who pulls him to the side, "Hold on, look who's comin'." he says. Pony looks at Cameron, confused for a moment before he follows his gaze, and suddenly understands why Cameron is acting oddly.

Bob Sheldon is headed in their direction, and Ponyboy can't help but feel nervous, he's much more intimidating in person. Bob takes long strides and doesn't seem to pay any attention to anyone, and he has an expression that kind of says, 'I run this place and I don't care about anything'. That's when Ponyboy notices a hint of gold on Bob's fingers. Looking closer, Pony sees that Bob is wearing rings, three, heavy, gold rings that sort of resemble brass knuckles.

He passes by them without sparing them a glance, and is followed shortly by Randy and four other guys.

"Holy crap." Pony says, watching Bob and his gang walk into the dining hall, "You were right, I definitely don't want to cross him."

Cameron nods and the two continue into the dining hall.

Once they're inside, Ponyboy once again looks around the dining hall, he saw it last night and this morning, but he can't help but still be in awe: the walls are made of white marble-looking stone, with windows all around, and the floor is made of white marble tiles, a high ceiling with large, gold chandeliers hanging from it, and the same tables that are outside are lined up throughout the entire hall.

"C'mon, let's go get our food." Cameron says walking to the end of the hall, where the buffet is.

"I never asked, who makes the food?" Pony asks as he grabs his plate.

"Oh, Crimson Arts has chefs in the kitchen, one of the chefs is the Culinary Arts teacher, Ms. Hills." Cameron explains, getting himself a finger sandwich.

After Ponyboy and Cameron get their food, they look around for a place to sit, they don't have to wait long, because from all the way across the hall, Two-Bit stands up and waves them over, "Hey, Ponyboy, over here!"

A lot of kids turn to look at them, and all Ponyboy wants to do is crawl under the floor.

"Guess we're sitting over there." Cameron says as he and Pony make their way over to where Two-Bit and the others are.

As everyone eats their lunch, Ponyboy suddenly hears loud, slightly obnoxious laughter from across the hall, looking up, he sees that it's Bob and his gang again: Bob is sitting on the table with his leg up on the seat, with Randy sitting next to him, sitting backward on the seat, grinning as Bob continues to say whatever he was saying before.

Then he hears Jay's voice, his head whips around to see if he's bothering Rainbow again, but he isn't, he's with his buddies, laughing and joking around. 'Then where's Rainbow?'

Cameron looks over at Pony and then looks around the room himself, "If your looking for Rainbow," he says, taping Pony on the shoulder, "She's over there."

Pony looks over to where Cameron is nodding his head. Leaning over in his seat slightly, Ponyboy sees Rainbow walking toward a group of girls: One has curly black hair that falls around her shoulders and dark green eyes, another has dark brown hair that's tied back in a ponytail and gray eyes, and the last one has short black hair and dark blue eyes. They all smile as she approaches.

"I'm guessing that's Rainbow's crowd." Pony says as Rainbow sits with the girls.

"One of 'em." Cameron says, taking a sip of his drink. Ponyboy looks at him and blinks, "One of 'em?" he asks.

"Yeah, I've seen her float from group to group: sometimes she sits with those girls, sometimes she sits with Bob and his buds, and sometimes she sits with her gymnastics friends, she doesn't stay with one group for too long."

'She's a social butterfly,' Ponyboy thinks, watching Rainbow talk with her friends, 'And Cameron said she was shy, she ain't shy.'

After lunch, everyone files out of the dining hall. Cameron and Ponyboy are pushing through the crowd of people before they reach a slight clearing and they're able to walk faster for a moment, that is until Cameron walks right into a girl, causing one of her books to fall from her hands, "Hey!" She yells.

The girl he had walked into is a few years older than them, she's muscular, and has light orange/strawberry blonde hair that's tied into a braid, sharp, dark blue eyes, and a slightly rounded face. She isn't wearing the regular girl's uniform with a skirt, she's wearing pants.

She picks up her book before looking at Cameron with a glare, "Word of advice, look both ways, and pull your head out of your ass before you walk. Okay?" She snaps, before marching away.

Ponyboy blinks and stares after the girl, then turns back to Cameron, "You okay?" he asks. Cameron rolls his eyes, "Yup, just an encounter with Rew Stratford." Cameron says, "That's your girlfriend's sister."

Pony stares after Rew with wide eyes, "That's Rainbow's sister?" he asks in disbelief.

"Mean as a rattlesnake and tough as nails, she's on the power lifting team."

Ponyboy feels the blood drain from his face, 'I really like Rainbow,' he thinks, 'But I'm not sure getting the tar beaten out of me by Bob or Rew will be worth asking her out .'


AN: Describing Jay as Warren Beatty was my grandma's idea.