It was late at night and Pony could not sleep. He had tried everything; counting sheep, counting backwards from one hundred. A lot of counting. Nothing worked. Zip, zero, notta, nothing. And the worst thing was he had a quiz on Greek mythology first period!

As he flopped back on his pillow he noticed a light on in the family room. It wouldn't have been odd if it weren't one o'clock in the morning. So, he decided to see who was there and get a glass of warm milk (because supposedly that helped). After a minute of slipping from Soda's arms because of his massive cuddling problem (It was bad, some nights he found himself suffocating from his death grip) he ventured out into the family room.

He saw Genki sitting there, reading. She appeared to be almost done the book. She had it sitting in her lap and her head bent forward with her hair just out of her eyes. He had to admit she looked pretty cute.

"Hey" he said as softly as possible, but she still jumped.

"Oh," she flipped her hair behind her shoulders, "uh, hi. Can't sleep?" she tilted her head slightly.

"No, you either?" he asked and she simply shook her head. "Any ideas?"

"I read." She pushed her glasses in.

Pony leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. "I get to engrossed." he sighed, moving himself from the wall. "Besides I got a Greek mythology test first period."

Her eyes widened before she turned herself around and dug through her bag. "I have just the book for you!"

He sat next to her, he had to admit he was intrigued. She handed him a book and he read the title, "Percy Jackson and the Olympian's: The Lightning Thief?"

"It's all about Greek mythology, it's an easy read, and it funny." She smiled.

He sighed and sat down next to her, "it's worth a shot." He looked over at her and noticed the scars on her arm. He could of smacked himself for not realizing, but the more he thought about it he had never seen her without long sleeves. Before he stopped himself he blurted out, "how did you get them?"

"Hm?" Genki looked up from her book (The Prisoner of Azkaban).

"The scars."

"Oh," she blushed, "I used to cut," she whispered. "But since me and Cori made a bet to see who go longer without, I've been clean." She looked down.

"If you ever need help-"

"Just read the stinking book."

"They look so cute!"

"I wanna poke 'em."

"I wonder how they got that way."

"I wonder how much sleep they got."

"Ooh, can I wake them up?"

What the gang and the girls were gawking at was Ponyboy and Genki asleep on the couch. Genki's legs were across Pony's lap (even though she sat next to him), her head on his shoulder, and they both had books in their laps. The gang was surprised but not as surprised as the girls.

Genki's parent were really strict when it came to boys so Genki rarely hung out with them. She had never had her first kiss, heck, she hand never held a guy's hand before.

Cori picked up Genki's bag of books and threw it on the ground jarring them awake. Genki's eyes just fluttered open (because she was used to someone waking her up loudly), but poor Pony jumped up and nearly ran into the coffee table. The gang and the girls laughed.

Genki sighed, "really guys?"

"What the heck?" Pony plopped down next to her.

The group kept laughing until they realized they would be late for work or school.

A month later (to the date) was Christmas Eve. Unfortunately Chevy and Steve had to work that night until 10. They were bored because no one needs gas on Christmas Eve.

They both sat on the hood of a car drinking root beer to pass the time. "So," Steve looked at her, "how's life?"

"Eh." She shrugged her shoulders and toke a swing of her drink. "Hey you want to play first time?" she slightly tilted her head to the side as she looked at him.

This made Steve's heart melt; he really liked Chevy. From her golden hair, her bottle green eyes, her laugh, her smile, the way she bit her lip when she worked on a car, or her vast knowledge of cars, the way she rejected guys again and again. The only reason he didn't ask her out was because he didn't want to ruin the friendship they had.

"What's first time?"

She smirked making him feel like jello. "So, basically you bring up a topic like say first baseball game and I would say Phillies v.s Red Sox at Fenway park then you would say yours then we come up with a new topic."

"Seems simple enough." He shrugged and turned into her. She sat cross-legged face him while he just turned his torso.

After an hour of fun questions they dove into serious questions. Chevy asked the easier one, "first kiss. Mine was Bobbie Lockhart over a fence when I scored the winning pitch."

Steve thought for a moment, "my ex Evie while dancing." He asked the hardest question, "first time having sex. Mine was with Evie at Buck's."

She looked down, "I've never done it."

Steve instantly regretted it, "I'm sorry Chev' I shouldn't have asked it was really personal and all. It's just a I assumed a girl like you could get any guy she wanted. I'm not saying you're easy or anything-" She surprised him by kissing him. Sparks jolted through their bodies.

They lingered for a moment until she leaned back. Before he could apologize she started, "whenever I paly this game with Corvie and the girls don't believe me and laugh. You're the first person not to make fun of me. Thank you Steve." She hugged him.

"They're late." Heather muttered as she stared out the front door.

Soda leaned his head back (because he thought it was easier then turning his head toward the door). "I'm sure they're fine."

Cori piped up, 'they're probably confessing their undying love for each other or making out. Or a mixture of both. Both, definitely both. " Soda turned to look at his girl (he had asked her earlier that month). Luckily, he was next to her and had his arm around her.

"Dude," Blossom turned her head around (because she was sitting sideways on Johnny's lap with her legs over the arm of the chair so she could sketch), "don't put those thoughts in her head."

"I'm going to get them." She walked towards the door to put her shoes.

"I'm going with you," Darry voiced and walked toward her to get his shoes. "A pretty girl like you shouldn't be walking out alone."

So, the duo grabbed their coats and headed for the DX. Cori sighed, "now they're going to confess their love for each other." Everyone besides the two couples, Dallas and Two-Bitt (who were partying) murmured in agreement.

Heather and Darry were walking toward the DX when Darry noticed it. A gold diamond ring on her left ring finger. It just about ruined every one of Darry's dreams of going out with her. He really like Heather and was trying to find a way to ask her out.

"He's a lucky man." Darry said with out really thinking.

"Huh?" Heather was confused.

"The guy who gave you the ring," he motioned to the ring that was probably worth more then he could make.

"Oh," she twisted the ring out of habit, "uh Mike." She looked down. "Look Darry I should probably tell you this since it would be wrong to crush, but you Mike died."

Darry stopped in his tracks, "what?"

Heather looked down. Her hair fell forward covering her teary eyes, "he and Genki's sister husband, Mark were in the same brat when they were killed. I feel bad for Choo she's expecting." She looked to avoid Darry's gaze.

Darry felt like a capital J jerk for asking. He couldn't believe he was so insensitive. She had been away from Mike for so long. "Heather I'm so sorry."

She wiped a tear away, "it's fine you didn't know."

He sighed, "not it's not." He was about to go on when she kissed him. After they parted Darry said, "well that was a strange turn of events!"

It was late that night when Dally and Two-Bitt strolled in for the night. They planned on crashing there and spending Christmas with them.

Dally went to do sleep on Darry's chair when he saw Johnny sitting on it with Blossom (sideways) on his lap. Dally got Two's attention and pointed at them.

Two responded with, "they're cute but Steve and Chevy are cuter." He pointed to couple cuddling on the couch. "Let's try Soda's old bedroom I don't wanna sleep on the floor."

In Soda's bedroom laid Cori and Soda with Cori's hand on her boyfriend's butt. Dally spoke first, "I like her style. Should we try Pony's room?"

Two-Bitt shrugged and they ventured to the youngest member of the gang's room to see Genki asleep on the bed Pony asleep on the floor next to the bed. They were holding hands (this was Genki's first time holding a boy's hand). "Go Pony. Hey where's Heather and Darry?"

The two looked at each other and decided to try Darry's room. Now, neither of them had ever been in Darry's room, it was forbidden, kind of like not pooping at some else's house. The two were surprised to find the two snuggling.

"Everyone looks so cute snuggling," Two-Bitt pouted, "I want to snuggle with someone." He looked at Dally.

"Don't look at me."