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Ponyboy felt his heart drop looking at the cast list.
He had auditioned up as a joke; he did not expect actually to get cast. Ok, maybe it was not entirely for a joke, but Curly dared him to do it! Speaking of which, Pony could hear him laughing behind him since he did not get a role (Probably because he was caught trying to set one of the stage pieces on fire as a joke).
So now Ponyboy was stuck as Joseph in their school's production of the nativity. Hopefully, none of his buddies who went here come down this hall.
Curly was trying to say something through his fit of laughter, "Ha! It's going to be so hilarious seeing you in that ridiculous beard," He gasped.
Ponyboy then elbowed him hard in the stomach. "Shut up, you're the reason for this!" He shouted, which drew two weird looks from the other students. "Also, look, most of the other people on here are Socs," he added.
Curly's laughter had finally died down, and he pulled out a cigarette. "Eh, don't worry about it if they had wanted to be in the nativity, they probably just did it to make themselves look good since they were not strong enough for sports,".
Ponyboy leaned his head against the wall and groaned. "I have track though," Which is not entirely true since winter hear got snow a lot, so most practices had to be cancelled. He put his head in his hands. "What am I going to tell the gang?" He said miserably.
"I dunno, just tell them your brothers seem like they would be ok with that, also you don't have to do it," Before Ponyboy could respond, Curly cut in again. "Anyways, I gotta jump," Curly said unhelpfully. "Can't wait to hear your singing voice!" he shouted as he walked away.
Pony flipped him the bird and thought that he was going to kill Curly. He then sulked all his way back home.
Once Ponyboy got some, he immediately went to his room. Thankfully, his brothers were not home yet since Sodapop picked up an extra shift, and the house Darry was working at was far away.
He took out his homework, hoping he would get lost in it and take his mind off this whole play thing, but it was to no avail.
Pony still did not want to tell the gang that he got the role in some dumb play. The gang would tease him mercilessly, especially Dally. Even if they did not, they would want to come see him perform, but he did not want to make them do that, especially his brothers. Darry is already so tired from a day a work, he probably would not want to see his kid brother perform in some useless play.
It was fine, he could come up with some excuse. Ponyboy supposed he could reject the role, but that would be rude. Yeah, that is it. He could lie and say that he was just staying after school for some tutoring for Algebra help. Though that would leave questions for Darry since he normally helped him with his math. He did think that he could say track, but then remembered all the snow.
There was not much time to decide since rehearsals started tomorrow, and thankfully, there was not much time until the actual performance. Ponyboy hoped not a lot of the school would go, and definitely hoped not a lot of greasers would go. Hopefully, Curly did not blab.
Before Pony realized how late it got, he heard Sodapop calling out for dinner. Six o'clock already?. Ponyboy hoped his brothers would not see right through him.
In the kitchen, there was chicken and potatoes served. Ponyboy saw Sodapop quietly eating dinner, which was unlike him. Must have been a hard day. Darry also seemed to be quiet. Darry had just been able to afford a tree this year, and they hung up old ornaments with some broken ones. This will be the first Christmas without their parents.
Once Pony sat down, Sodapop asked him, "How was your day anything happen?"
The good thing was Ponyboy was a heck of a good liar. He just shrugged. "Nah it was alright though,". Oh, right, need to think of an excuse. "My math teacher recommended that I get a little extra help in Algebra, so I will have to stay after school for a couple of days or weeks," He tried to add casually.
At that, Darry scrunched his eyebrows. "I thought you were doing better in that class,". He said accusingly.
Ponyboy just shrugged again, trying to hide his nervousness. "I duno she just suggested it. I won't be home too late,".
Darry still gave him a skeptical look, but he thankfully did not push it
The rest of dinner went without any more questions, just with some mindless chatter between the brothers. Ponyboy let out a relieved sigh once it was over.
Ok this could work.
The first two weeks of rehearsals went well enough.
Even though Ponyboy was the only greaser there, none of the others seemed to care. They did, though, seem surprised someone like him would want to participate in this. There were only a few others since the nativity was a small production. The teacher, though, was a bit too loud. Pony thought he would have to dose a whole bottle of aspirin after he interacted with her.
Surprisingly the his singing was not all that bad, even though he blushed all the while doing it. I'm a grease, I'm supposed to be tuff.
None of the others figured out he was doing this yet. Sodapop did, though seem disappointed in the vagueness that Ponyboy left when he explained what he did after school, and it did make him feel bad. He did, though, come close when he was in the library with Johnny. He had asked him if he wanted to hang out after school to see a movie.
"Sorry, but I have to go to tutoring," Ponyboy felt ashamed for lying to Johnny. They never lied to each other.
"Come on, can't you miss one day?" Johnny complained. Ponyboy really could not miss today, they were going to have a dress rehearsal.
"Sorry," Ponyboy muttered, not being able to make eye contact with his friend. He felt the same burn in his face. If he told Johnny, he would surely not tell any of the gang, right? No it was too risky.
But the moment he looked up and saw Johnny's big eye that seemed hurt, Ponyboy knew Johnny knew he was lying. Ah screw it.
"Um," He started. "Actually, I'm doing something else," Muttered. Johnny looked at him expectantly. Ponyboy then took a deep breath.
"Ijoinedtheschoolplayforthenativityasajokebutactuallygotaroleandimembarrasedtotellanyone," He said quickly and blushed.
Johnny looked at him with shock for a second, then gave a small smile. "Why would you be embarrassed to tell us that sounds great?" Johnny asked.
Ponyboy sighed. "greasers are supposed to be tuff, not in some dumb school play you guys would make fun of me," He explained.
Johnny shook his head. "No, we would not. We would be proud of you for doing something like this, and it's not dumb," Johnny gave him a reassuring smile. Ponyboy could not help but smile back.
"But you guys are also so busy with your lives, it's just a waste of time to go to a stupid play," Pony retorted.
"I doubt your brothers would think that I think they would be more upset if you did not tell them," Johnny reassured. He then stood up to leave. "Please tell them I won't do it for ya,"
Ponyboy thought about it. "Alright, I will,".
"I'm counting on it,".
To be fair, Ponyboy did mean to tell the gang. The time, though, seemed never to come up.
By the time he had told Johnny, it was only a week till the performance. He did consider telling the gang, but then thought that it would be better if he told his brother first instead. What he did not account for is how busy they would be this week.
He was going to tell Sodapop one night when he had finished his homework, but Soda came home late after hanging out with Steve after work and collapsed on the couch.
Then he thought he would tell Darry when the two of them were sitting at the table, while Darry was looking over the bills and Ponyboy was discreetly trying to review his lines.
"Hey Darry-" Ponyboy was then interrupted by his brother's groan.
"Ugh, I did not expect the bill to be this high, especially with the gifts I will probably have to pick up extra work," He said mostly to himself. "Sorry, what were you going to say, Ponyboy?" Darry then asked.
Ponyboy then averted his gaze to not show his shame and disappointment. "Nothin, never mind," He responded.
Right, he should not go as far as to keep his brothers from their work with all they have done for him. It did not even bother Ponyboy that much.
Before Ponyboy knew it, it was the day of the performance. Ponyboy would admit that he did feel a little nervous. He had nearly messed up the dress rehearsal when he almost forgot one of his lines and almost ruined the entire scene. Also, the beard was scratchy.
He made an excuse to his brothers that he was going to someone's house for a study group, so he would not be home until later. They thankfully bought it.
When Johnny and Ponyboy were walking out of the school, Johnny decided to bring it up.
"Hey, I saw on a flier that the performance was today, but I have not heard any of the gang talking about it. You told your brothers, right?" All Ponyboy could do was look down in shame.
Johnny just sighed in disappointment, but before he could go on, Ponyboy interrupted him.
"Look, my brothers are always so busy, and I don't want to be any more of a burden on them, and it's fine, it's not a big deal," Ponyboy explained.
Johnny just frowned, clearly not content with his response. "Ponyboy," Was all he said.
Ponyboy could feel himself start to get angry. "It's not a big deal, you get it!" He exclaimed and then stomped away like a child.
Of course, since nothing could go right for Ponyboy, he crashed into the reason for his problem.
"Curly," Ponyboy gritted out.
"Whoa, what's up, Pony? You on your monthlies right now?" Curly retorted.
Ponyboy just pushed him aside. "I don't want to talk right now,".
"Ohh, the big performance is today, and I would watch, but I'm banned from the auditorium," Ponyboy didn't even want to know why.
Ponyboy just continued to walk away, but of course, Curly just followed him. "Y'know, I think it's neat that you will have a whole 'pack' of people there." With that, Curly finally left Ponyboy alone.
At last, the night of the performance came. Ponyboy was a bundle of nerves after he had fully dressed in his costume. He desperately hoped he would remember all his lines.
Ponyboy then overheard a conversation between two of his fellow performers who were looking out the curtain.
"Ugh, my parents brought my baby brother to the performance, and he is going to cry the whole time," The girl who was playing Mary complained. Samantha? Susan? whatever.
"Really, my parents forced my sister to come home from college to see me, but hey, they promised to take me to a fancy dinner afterwards."
Ponyboy does not understand why they're saying that gave his stomach a bad feeling. He then felt a big wave of disappointment. This is my first time actually putting work into something different, and no one I care about is going to see it because of my stupid nerves.
He walked over to the curtains and thought there was nothing he could do about it now. He was, though, surprised by the sight that greeted him when he looked out the curtains.
In the rows, he recognized a familiar group of boys. Holy shit, they actually came. Ponyboy seemed to be radiating with excitement in his seat, Darry was studying the pamphlet, Dally was flirting or annoying one of the students, Johnny was nearly falling asleep, Steve pulled out a camera (To which Ponyboy groaned), and Two-bit seemed to be in an intense staring contest with a baby.
Ponyboy smiled as they took their places behind the curtain.