One Step At A Time

Summary: When he was only two, a car accident took his leg, and his mother. Now, Ponyboy must learn to deal with life as a fourteen year old with only one leg. With the help six brothers and dad, he's just going to have to take it one step at a time. (Mr. Curtis is alive!)

Disclaimer: No, silly, I never have nor will I ever own The Outsiders. S.E. Hinton owns The Outsiders. *sighs* :( I simply borrow them for my own creative enjoyment purposes.

White collar black wolf: Thank you!

Kas3y: Aww I'm glad that you're enjoying. :) Thank you so much for your continued, kind reviews; they mean so much.

HappierThanMost: I'm glad it was fun! A nice change from how most of the other chapters will be. I love Two-Bits voice, and I was surprised in this chapter. I'm glad that the characters are still acting realistic. Thank you so much for taking the time to leave such a kind review. :)

Chapter 4: First Day Blues

~ Monday, August 29, 1966 ~

"Hey, kiddo, wake up."

Ponyboy rolled over slowly, coming face to face with Darry. He groaned, squeezing his eyes shut unhappily.

"I know, I know. But hey, I'm leaving, and I won't be back till Thanksgiving, okay? I need you to wake up for me."

"Mhmm..."

Darry shook Ponyboy again. "Goodbye, little bro, I love you."

"M'kay, Darry. Bye," Ponyboy mumbled sleepily. He heard Darry laugh before the door clicked shut, and the younger boy was instantly out like a light.

OoOoOoO

Ponyboy woke up to an unusually quiet house, with Darry already back at Oklahoma State and Sodapop unusually quiet. But Soda was always quiet the first day of school; moody, sulking, basically throwing the teenage equivalent of a full-brown temper tantrum. Sodapop was easy going about a lot of things, but school was not one of them.

"Sodapop Curtis, if you don't drag your sorry behind outta bed this instance, I'm going to tan your hide, you understand me?" Mr. Curtis lectured, breaking the silence of the rundown, three bedroom house. Ponyboy could hear Sodapop groaning, and he knew a million excuses were already forming in his head, but not a single one would work. The last time one of his excuses worked he was seven and faked the flu, but Dad found out an hour into his scheme and tanned him so good Soda didn't try to skip again until the fourth grade.

Ponyboy opened up the fridge, assessing its contents with a quick glance before resigning himself to a bowl of cereal. He downed the bowl of Cheerios in about a minute flat, draining the honey cinnamon flavored milk into his mouth before escaping into the bathroom to grease his hair.

"I swear, Ponyboy, you take longer than a girl. If you don't open that bathroom door, I'm going to have to leave you here and take Elizabeth Adams to school," Sodapop threatened a few minutes later. "I have to pee."

Ponyboy rolled his eyes, opening the door so Sodapop could go to the bathroom. He grabbed his backpack and converse from his room, beating Sodapop to his car.

"I swear, Sodapop, you take longer than a girl. If you make us late, I'm liable to just Hotwire your car and pick up Michelle Wilkinson instead," Ponyboy quoted, his sass earning a smack upside the head from Soda.

"Watch it, or I will throw you out of this car. Even if we're moving."

"Aw hush. You're just mad because it's the first day of school."

"Damn straight. But it don't matter anyway- I'm gonna drop out as soon as I find a way to tell dad. I just gotta talk to Mike first about upping my hours," Sodapop declared, starting up his car's engine with a low rumble.

Ponyboy was slack-jawed. "No you ain't."

"Yes I am. Watch me," Sodapop declared defiantly.

"You-you can't drop out, Soda. You ain't a hood-"

"Don't talk about hoods like they're a bad thing. We're greasers, Pony, hoods by definition. I'm dumb, and I don't need to keep twiddling my thumbs when I could be working."

"I can help you, Soda. I'll work with you every night on your homework," Ponyboy tried to reason, but Soda shook his head.

"I ain't any good at school, and I'll never be. Now quiet, this is a good song," Sodapop shushed, leaving Ponyboy silent but devastated.

A/N: A little short, but I felt like it was a natural stopping place, sorry. And I'm still deciding on where I want to take this story, so I needed it stopped there. But as always I'll be updating daily, so you won't have to wait too long. Please remember to review! :)

Stay Gold,

~ Alee XxX