A/N:Thought it was time to include some more of the gang! I tried not to make anyone OOC, I figured Steve was pretty guarded and Soda was Soda :)

August 1955

Darry: 10

Sodapop: 6

Ponyboy: 4

No one dreaded the first day of school more than Sodapop Curtis. Well, except for Margaret Curtis, who had to be the one to get him out the door on time. The morning had been filled with cries from Soda because he had to go to school, cries from Ponyboy because he couldn't, and impatient sighs from Darry, who wanted to be on time.

Sodapop now sat in class, doing his best to listen. The first part of the day hadn't been too bad, they got to play games and talk to each other, but now it was time to be quiet and listen. Soda had never struggled with the social aspect of school, in fact, the problem was usually that he wastoosocial.

The teacher continued giving instructions and guidelines regarding how the year would go, but Soda had something else on his mind. Or rather, someone. He had managed to introduce himself to every single person in his class but one. The boy sat in the back corner of the class, dark hair in his eyes, looking tuff. Sodapop had yet to meet someone in the first grade who didn't want to be his friend, and he figured this kid would be no exception. He just had to make it to recess so he could introduce himself.

After an eternity of the teacher droning on, the bell finally rang. Sodapop was out of his seat and across the room before the quiet boy had managed to stand up.

"Hi, I'm Sodapop Curtis! What's your name?"

The kid responded only by shoving Soda before making his way out of the classroom.

Soda stood, dumbfounded. His older brother had warned him that some people may not have wanted to be his friend, but he hadn't encountered the problem so far. He figured the boy must not have heard him, and vowed to keep introducing himself until the boy was his friend.

He found the boy sitting by himself on the swings, idly kicking the woodchips that covered the ground.

"Hey, I said hi earlier but you must've not heard. I'm Sodapop Curtis!"

Soda held his hand out so the boy could shake it, but found the boy simply kept swinging. Soda decided to join him and sat in the swing next to him.

"I know my name's kinda weird, but I like it. My dad says it's 'unique' but I don't really know what that means. Got a brother named Ponyboy, too. And one named Darry, but his name's pretty regular. He's a 5th-grader, he's really big. He'll play football with us if we want to, though. You got any brothers or sisters?"

The boy continued kicking the woodchips, not responding. Soda had never encountered this problem before, but decided to simply keep talking.

"My mom always packs good stuff in my lunch, so I can share it with you if you want. I can push you on the swings if you want, too. Or I could find Darry and make him push us. He has to be careful, though, one time he pushed Pony too hard and he fell off. He can get us to go real high though. Or we could go start a game of tag or hide and go seek. I'm pretty fast, but I'm not always so good at hiding. Mom says I get 'impatient' but really everyone just takes too long to find me—"

"Geez do you ever shut up?" the boy interrupted.

Soda sat for a moment, dumbfounded, before a huge grin spread across his face. He had finally gotten the boy to talk!

The bell rang, signaling the end of recess, and the boy hurried inside before Soda could follow him. Soda figured they may not be friends just yet, but they soon would be.

Soda once again sat restlessly in class as he struggled to concentrate on what the teacher was saying. He mostly tuned her out until he heard the words "partnering you up" and "working together." He wished he had listened to what the partners would be for, but was excited to get to talk to somebody. His excitement grew exponentially, though, when he saw his teacher leading the quiet boy over to his desk.

"Sodapop, meet Steve. Steve, meet Sodapop. You two will be partners for our art project," their teacher said.

Soda beamed, while Steve scowled.

"Hey Stevie! I can't believe we get to be partners. I mean, we're like friends at this point," Soda said.

"We're not friends. And it's Steve."

"Okay Stevie, whatever you say," Soda replied, smirking.

The boys worked on the project together, Soda mostly talking about anything and everything while Steve did all the work. Eventually, their teacher came to check on them, pleased with the progress they had made.

"Excellent job boys, I'll have to show the rest of the class your work as an example! Good to see you two working so well together," she praised.

Sodapop's smile grew, as did Steve's scowl.

"Wanna come to my house after school? My mom usually makes cookies for the first day and we can play football!" Soda offered.

Steve hesitated for a moment before nodding so slightly it was barely visible.

Soda eventually returned to his seat, ready to endure the rest of the school day. He even caught Steve looking at him a few times. He knew they would be friends soon enough, it was only a matter of time.

— — — — — — — — — —

Soda scanned the crowd in front of the school before finding his older brother, Darry. They were supposed to walk home together, and Darry wasn't too surprised to see another kid with Soda. He smiled as Soda tried to grab the kid's hand, the boy being visibly uncomfortable and pulling away quickly.

"Hey Dar, this is Stevie. He's gonna be my new best friend," Soda said.

Darry rolled his eyes, pretty certain that Soda was the only one of the two of them who thought that.

"I know he's a little much, but I promise he doesn't bite," Darry joked, causing Steve to smile.

Soda didn't seem to mind the comment, skipping alongside the two boys the whole way home.

"Hey Mom, we're home!" Soda called as they entered the house.

Steve scowled at the little kid who ran into the room and hugged Darry and Soda. He hoped the kid wouldn't go hugging him, he didn't like to be touched by strangers.

"Hey boys, how was school?" Mrs. Curtis asked, stopping in her tracks when she saw Steve. "And who is this?"

"This is Steve, he's gonna play football with us," Soda replied, ignoring the first question.

The boys all headed outside to get a game going, even the youngest one. Darry was the best at football, but he let Steve and Soda score all the same and helped Ponyboy to get some points as well. Steve hated to admit it, but he actually found himself having fun. That is, until Darry went a little too rough on tackle and his face ended up in the dirt.

He sat up, in a daze. "I'm ok—" he started to say before he felt blood beginning to drip out of his nose.

The two oldest Curtis brothers rushed him inside, the youngest not far behind. Steve was used to taking care of himself, whether he was sick or injured from his dad after he'd had a few too many. The Curtis house was different, though. Their mom was quick to gently press a washcloth to his face, offering him an ice pack and a cookie. It was pretty nice to be taken care of, he didn't want to leave.

"It's getting closer to dinner, Soda, why don't you walk Steve home?" Mrs. Curtis suggested.

Soda obliged, and pretty soon the pair were on their way back to Steve's place. Steve found himself smiling at whatever Soda was ranting about, glad to have spent the afternoon with him. He stopped, though, once noticed Soda smiling at him.

"So Stevie, guess this means we're friends now, huh?"

Steve replied with a grunt, but by now Soda knew that meant yes.

A/N:Love it? Hate it? Have ideas for one-shots? Or simply something you'd like to see included in one? Leave a review!