𝙴𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚢 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙼𝚘𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐

Pony's POV

I woke up earlier than usual, taking a shower and brushing my teeth until I thought they looked white. I stared at myself in the mirror, combing my hair slicked back and letting the curls rest at the nape of my neck. I dressed up, pulling on some jeans, a black tee, socks, and my sneakers. And finished.

I was on my way to wake Sodapop and Y/n up.

I didn't have to wake Darry up. He had a clock on the nightstand beside his bed, and he always set it early in the morning. Good thing he did wake up at the sound of it, or I'd be stuck listening to the ringing.

I was surprised to see Sodapop on the couch already awake—he usually needs one of us to wake him up roughly. Soda's not the type who wakes up with a slight shake or a pat on his shoulder; he needs to be shaken to be awake."Mornin', Soda. Seems you woke up early."

"I was 'bout to say the same thing about you."

Y/n had shifted directions, her face now looking my way, still asleep. The blanket had slipped from her shoulder, resting at her waist. I walked over to her and gently shook her, kneeling down."Y/n/n?"

She groaned, pulling the blanket up to cover her face.

Rough one, she is.

"Let me handle this," Sodapop said, getting off the couch.

He kneeled beside her and shook her. "Y/n, Ma's here to pick you up."

She sat up, rubbing her eyes. "Ma'? But I'm at home—" She shifted her gaze to us and blushed. "Oh my God, I forgot I slept here.."

We stood up, helping her fold the blanket."Slept well?" I asked.

She nodded, stretching her arms. "Yeah." She then looked at Soda. "I didn't snore, did I?"

"No, but it would've been funny if you did."

She sighed and gagged. "Do you guys have a toothbrush by any chance? I'll pay for it."

"Yeah, we do, but you don't need to pay for it."

"Oh no, it doesn't sit right with me."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I was taught that way."

I nodded and took her to the restroom. Darry, as if on cue, walked out of his room, smelling clean."Morning."

"Mornin', Darry," we both said.

"Does Y/n have a toothbrush?"

"I was going to look for one."

"On the cabinet, right corner," he said, walking past.

I found it in a box on the cabinet, still wrapped and new. "Here you go."

"Thanks, Pony."

I walked out and saw Darry in the kitchen, pouring milk into a coffee cup."We've still got about twenty minutes before leaving."

"Yeah, but we gotta drop her off so she can change."

"I know that." He took a spoon and stirred the drink. "How come you woke up early?"

"I don't know—guess I didn't want her to wake up seeing me all sprawled on the couch?"

"Sure."

After a while, we waited outside for Sodapop to come out of the shower. Y/n was leaning on the railing of the stairs, looking at the street. Steve had just come into view, crossing the street as he kicked a rock."Why's he not in his car?" she asked, looking back at us.

"Broke down last minute. Asked me yesterday if I could drop him off at work," Darry responded.

Steve leaned on the fence, grinning at her. "Good morning, sunshine."

She smiled. "Good morning, Steve. How's your car?"

"News flies by rapidly, doesn't it?" He sighed. "It broke last night. Good thing I was near work when it did. I still had to walk all the way home."

"Rough."

Sodapop opened the door and walked out. "Ready."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Y/n's POV

Darry dropped us by my house—or Ma's, actually. I told Darry we could walk to school after I was finished. I didn't want him to be late to work.

"Nice house," Pony said.

I grinned. "I know. Ma keeps it clean at all times."

We walked past the small garden in front of the yard and got inside the house. Grandma was in the living room, sitting on her couch and eating pastries off the table.

"Guess you brought your boyfriend home today, sweetie?"

"Grandma!"

She chuckled. "Nice seeing you—?"

"Ponyboy."

She smiled. "Oh yes, I remember your name... the Curtis were unique."

"Yeah, Dad mostly. Darry told me Mom was the one who gave us the normal middle names."

"Well, I'll be right back, Ma. I'm going to shower."

"Go ahead, darlin'. You don't want your sweetheart to have a bad impression of you."

I blushed. I was going to tell her he wasn't my boyfriend, but she was already talking to Ponyboy—offering him pastries, which looked really good sitting on the white china plate. I shook my head and ran upstairs, trying to get ready.

I walked out, seeing we only had around 20 minutes before class began. I rushed to the closet beside the end of the stairwell and pulled out my Converse.

"You have 18 minutes before class starts."

"Big deal," Pony said, not even bothering to stop eating Grandma's pastries.

I hopped over to the couch, trying to put my shoes on.

"I left you breakfast and lunch on the table. You better eat fast."

I ate the breakfast quickly and snatched the lunch bag off the table. I ran back to the living room and kissed Ma on the cheek. "Bye, Ma. See you later."

"Be safe, alright? And if you come up with anything like staying again, call me."

"Yes, Ma! Love you."

I dragged Pony outside with me, adjusting my shoes before walking. He looked at me, almost smiling. "18 minutes... what do you do, check for white hairs?"

"If you keep yapping, your trap will elongate."

When we reached school in a hurry, we had about 3 minutes before the bell rang. Lucky me, my class was only a hallway away. Two-Bit was waiting for us at the entrance, flicking dust off his cigarette. "What took you two so long?"

"She had to get ready."

"You sure, Pony?"

"What are you trying to say?"

Two-Bit cocked an eyebrow and chuckled before walking inside with us. "Calm down, can't you take a joke, thoroughbred?"

I snorted, seeing Pony huff in annoyance.

"Well, got to head over to class. See you two later."

They both waved, and I ran off to class.