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Sodapop was excited for his first day of middle school. He dressed up for the occasion with his horse shirt and horse backpack and even his cowboy boots! He said hello to everyone in the halls; he was going to have so many friends. He sat through boring class after boring class. He hated school, but the first day was always his favorite because they had no class work and he just got to make friends. Of course he had friends already, like Steve who is in all his classes or Twobit, but he is a year ahead. Even Darry was here, but he was about to graduate, and Soda never saw him in the halls.
Soda walked into the cafeteria and grabbed his tray. He looked around for his friends, he found Steve sitting with a group of people, so he joined them. He sat next to Steve. He opened his backpack and pulled out his horse lunchbox.
“What is that?” A kid at the table points to Soda’s lunch box.
“Oh it’s my lunch! My mama packed it for me.”
“No, the box. Horses? Really? What are you five?”
“…I like horsies…” Soda frowns and looks down at his lunchbox. What was wrong with horses?
“Horsies? Oh my gosh you really are five.”
All the kids at the table laughed except two. Steve and some quiet kid, Soda was sure he didn’t even know how to smile. Steve wanted to defend his friend, but he didn’t know how. The other kids were right Soda did act younger than he was sometimes. Steve never minded though, he likes his friend how he is.
Soda stared at his lunchbox, he didn’t like this. No one had made fun of him before, everyone usually liked him! Maybe they just didn’t understand how cool horses are, he should tell them!
“Did you know that horses can run to thirty miles and hour?” Soda was grinning ear to ear now as he shared his horse knowledge. “They can also sleep standing up and they can’t breath through their mouths-“
Steve loved Soda, he really did, but sometimes he didn’t know when to shut up. Soda was always really good at reading people, but as soon as he started talking about horses that went out the window. Steve could see the other kids at the table giving Soda judgmental looks.
“Hey kid, why don’t you take your stupid horse facts and go sit somewhere else” a kid finally spoke up.
“W-what?” Soda looked at the other kid confused, then around at the other kids. He realized he wasn’t wanted here. He just quietly grabbed his tray and walked away to an empty table in the corner. Steve didn’t follow him, not that Soda could blame him. Who would want to be seen with the kid who never shut up about horses? Not even his brothers could stand him rambling on and on. He didn’t get it, why was it wrong to like horses so much?
Soda was so lost in his thoughts he didn’t notice someone else coming to sit at the table with him. They cleared their throat. Soda snapped his head up; it was the quiet kid who never smiled.
“Hi…what’s your name?” Soda was hesitant, this kid was probably going to make fun of him more.
“Dallas Winston. What’s your name?”
Soda had heard of Dallas Winston. There was a rumor going around that he was a true hood from New York and had even been in jail. But right now, he was the only one willing to talk to Soda, so he might as well make a friend. “Sodapop Curtis.”
“Sodapop..?” Dallas tilted his head a confused look crossing his face.
“My dad is a creative guy.”
Dallas just hummed in response. “I liked your horse facts.”
“Y-you did?” Soda looked surprised.
“Mhm, I like horses. I wanna be a rodeo star when I grow up.”
“I wanna be a cowboy!” Soda’s smile returned in full force.
Dallas went quiet. Had Soda messed up again? He hoped he didn’t, he already liked Dallas. Maybe he should just change the subject.
“Do you have any siblings?” Soda hoped this would be a good topic shift.
“No.”
“Okay…I have two. Darry is about to graduate here and my little brother, Ponyboy is still too little to go here. What about your parents?”
“I don’t got none. My mom died when I was little and my dad pretends I don’t exist.”
“Oh…that’s not nice. You can always come over to my house, my parents love all my friends.”
“It’s fine, they let me stay at the stables if I work for them so…”
“You get to work with horsies?!?”
Dallas didn’t even flinch at Soda’s high-pitched shout. “Yeah, I clean their stalls.”
They kept talking the rest of lunch about horses. Soda went on and on and Dallas listened never once stopping him. It didn’t take Soda long to figure that Dallas wasn’t a fan of talking, so he didn’t mind that Soda talked enough for the both of them. Soda was sad when the bell rang and he had to leave his new friend behind. He had invited Dallas again to his house after school, but he said no. Soda was sad, but he didn’t push.
It took weeks of Soda sitting with Dallas at lunch for Dallas to finally accept his invite. In that time Soda learned that the rumors about Dallas were true. Dallas liked how Soda didn’t mind, he still wanted to be friends. He was nervous though to meet his family, because adults don’t like hoods like him. His worry quickly vanished though as they got closer and closer to Soda’s home. That’s when he found out, Soda was from the Eastside. He was considered a hood too, even though sweet Soda was the farthest thing from one.
Soda rushed inside quickly calling to his parents that he had a friend over before pulling Dallas into his room. His room was decorated with horses, everywhere. His bedding, his lamp, his walls, it all had horses on it. Dallas was impressed, he wished he had this much horse stuff. Soda dragged him around the room showing Dallas all his horse things, before stopping at his toy horses. He grabbed a few and plopped onto the floor.
“Let’s play horsies!”
“Alright” Dallas sat in front of him and looked at the toys.
“You can have this one, it’s my second favorite.” Soda handed Dallas a plastic brown Mustang with white markings.
They played together for a bit before they were called to dinner. They were both disappointed they had to stop playing. At dinner Dallas didn’t say a word, even when Soda’s parents asked him a question. That was okay though, Soda answered for Dallas. He didn’t mind. Dallas was thankful. After dinner Dallas had to leave, but Soda promised him they could play again sometime.
“Maybe you can bring some of your toy horsies with you next time.”
“I don’t have any toy horses” Dallas didn’t have any toys, but he left that out seeing the look on Soda’s face.
“Well…you can have this one!” Soda handed him the brown Mustang with the white markings.
“Really?”
“Yeah! A future rodeo star needs a toy horsie.”
Dallas kept quiet about the horrible logic and just took the toy. When he got to Buck’s that night, he put the toy on his bedside table. Even years later that toy still sits there. He never got rid of it, because it was the first gift he was ever given from the first friend he ever had.