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It's 45 minutes after school ended, and Ponyboy Curtis finds himself sat in the middle of the living room, his graded schoolwork piled up around him. His hands meticulously flip through each paper, eyes darting around the pages at each and every grade.A, A+, A, A-, so many A's he couldn't even count them. A sweat developed onto his brow as he flipped faster and faster looking for the one paper that was the bane of his existence; The B-. As soon as he finds it his face crumples up, guilt and shame filling his pores. He got the grade a week after the incident with Johnny and Dally, when he was still somewhat delirious and not eating as much as he should. It was an English paper, on vocabulary. Goddamnit, out of everything it was a vocabulary test. He knows better than that. His grip on the paper tightens.Its a Wednesday, on the last week of school. All the teachers had told him how smart he was, how advanced he could be, how he was the best performing student in Oklahoma. But the entire time, that nagging B- kept on popping into his head. How could he be the "best performing student in Oklahoma" if he had gotten a B-? And trust me, he knows he's smart. He's been told that his entire life. "You're our best bet out of this place, Pony. Remember that." Darry had told him, and he had taken it to heart. Out of everyone, he never would want to disappoint Darry. He doesn't tell anyone, but he values Darry's opinion over everyone elses. Whatever Darry asks of him, or tells him, he does. And he's going to get his brothers out of Tulsa.But.. how could he do that with a B-? He starts grabbing the papers and stack by stack puts them into his room. His thoughts consume the abnormally silent house as he stacks, then sits them down, then stacks, then sits them down over and over again until all the papers are picked up and there's no evidence of Ponyboy's anxiety filled task. He turns on the TV and puts it on a random cartoon, waiting patiently until one of his family members comes home.𓊆ྀིᰔᩚ𓊇ྀིSodapop is the first to arrive, Steve by his side and loud laughters following the two. "Hey Pony! How was school?" he asks mid giggle, Steve mechanically walking to the kitchen to grab a snack. "Fine, like always." Ponyboy responds, Soda already seated next to him on the couch, legs sat on the coffee table and eyes locked onto the TV. "Cool, cool. Glory, you should've seen the amount of people at the station today! I guess lots of people skipped today cause its the last week and all. So many girls!" Soda grins widely. "Oh, yeah! Last week of school Pony! Better hope your grades are good, or Darry's gonna getcha!" Steve remarks, walking into the room and flopping onto the floor with a beer in hand. Unbeknownst to them, Ponyboy's eyes widen in fear, darting to the floor. "Ha... yeah. I hope I did good." He mutters, the previous anxiety coming back to him. "We know you did, honey! Don't sweat it." Soda smiles his signature smile, and ruffles Pony's bleached blonde hair. Ponyboy slips out a grin, Two-Bit walking into the house the same moment. "Wooooh! Hey y'all! Hows everybody doin'?" He half-yells, not even looking at the three as he places a 6-pack of beer in the kitchen. "Saw the roof Dar's working on, looks like he'll be home soon. Early for once!" He pulls out a bottle and pops the lid off using the counter, chugging a bit before flopping onto the living room floor almost identically like Steve. "Yeah, bet you're real happy about that huh?" Steve teases, Two-Bit playfully elbowing him in the chest. Steve grins from ear to ear and the two boys quickly lock into the Mickey Mouse episode on. After a couple minutes Soda breaks the silence. "How're you doin' today Pony? Y'know, with the church stuff." He intimately asks, quiet enough only them two could hear. "I'm doing okay. It's still hard but I'm pushing through it." He replies. "That's good to hear." Soda smiles and pats the boy on the back.The door opens with a creak, A tall and muscular Darry walking into the house, his work belt still looped around his hips and his hair messed up from sweaty Tulsa weather. He's holding a chocolate cake in his hands. "Brought y'all somethin' from work. Guess it was someone's birthday, I dunno." Steve jumps up at the sight. "Woah! Gimme." Darry laugh-sighs and hands over the cake. He hangs his belt on the coat rack and takes his sweaty shirt off, leaving him in just a tank top and jeans. He pushes his short hair out of his face and knocks his shoes off. "How was school, Ponyboy? Learnt anything?" He asks, a daily routine for the two. Pony frowns. "Nah, it's the last week of school so they're just giving us free periods for the most part." Soda gasps. "Lucky! When I was in school they made us learn until the very last day.""Yeah, well, in your case they also made you learn in the summer.." Two-Bit butts in. Steve lets out a loud cackle and Soda pouts. "Hey! Not cool." Their banter continues and turns into white noise as Ponyboy silently watches Darry walk into the kitchen and almost instantly start cooking dinner for the 5 of them. He watches him fill up a pot with water, crack the spaghetti in half, stir the boiling pasta, all the while there's one thought in his head; The B-. He sees Darry put so much work into taking care of them, even their friends, yet Ponyboy can't even do good enough in school to get them out of this broke neighborhood. Even though in reality he knows its only a nick in the grand scheme of things, he doesn't want to disappoint his big brother.𓊆ྀིᰔᩚ𓊇ྀི"Hey, Pony, wanna help me set the table?" Darry asks across the room, pulling Pony out of his trance. He nods and walks into the kitchen, grabbing the plates and forks. As he's placing them infront of the chairs, Darry stops him. "Kid, we need to talk."Ponyboy's heart drops. He knows he's been worrying about this all day for a reason. Here comes one of their arguments, where nothing good comes out of it and Pony ends up in tears, crying himself to sleep and Darry stays up all night rethinking the fight over and over and over again--- "I got your report card. All A's, kid brother. I'm so damn proud." Darry gives him a big smile. "Huh? Wait-" Pony pauses, confusion clear on his face. "You're... proud? But- But I got a B-." He questions, feeling like he's being tricked. "B-? Where?" Dar asks, confusion suddenly hitting him too. "I- I got a B-. On an English test. I thought you'd be mad at me, I-" Darry interrupts. "Hold on, you thought I'd be mad at you for one test? That would be crazy for me to ask that much of you. You're so smart, Pony, one grade doesn't change that." Ponyboy's eyes widen. "I just thought you'd be mad. Cause if I get bad grades then I won't be able to get us out of here." He suddenly feels overwhelmed with emotion and his eyes silently fill with tears. "Oh, Pone. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to stress you out so bad. Im proud of you no matter what, kiddo." Darry gives the boy a tight hug, and the dam breaks. Pony lets out silent sobs as Dar rubs his back, reassuring him quietly. After a few minutes Ponyboy stops. "Let's eat dinner, 'kay?" Darry asks, and Pony nods with a smile and a sniffle. They call supper to the other three and they all fill up their plates, talking and laughing and enjoying each-other's company.Darry looks at Ponyboy with a smile, and right then, they both know that everything's gonna be just fine.