sandy and soda met when sandy was supposed to tutor soda
sandy was a really smart girl—straight a’s (with an occasional high b), she was well liked by her teachers for being polite and a bit of a goody two shows. she was determined to make a name for herself, not only as a girl, but a greaser girl. her teachers underestimated her because she was from the east side, but she always surprised them with her brains. she wanted to be a teacher, hence why she seemed out tutoring opportunities. one day, it’s evie who comes up to her and suggests it. steve randle’s best friend, she knows evie likes steve well enough, and if evie likes him, then he, and therefore his friends must be pretty okay too, right? besides, she’s seen steve and that blonde boy around on occasion. while she found them to be annoying sometimes, she knew evie thought they’d be a good fit for each other tutoring wise, with soda’s personality and sandy’s patience. well, evie was right. soda was a good guy. evie was a bit too right.
sandy wasn’t a judgmental girl, but for once, she had underestimated someone. the only thing she knew about soda was that he was flunking everything except shop class and gym. she assumed he’d be like all the other jackass kids who seemed to fail for the fun of it (*cough* two-bit *cough*) but on their first session she was absolutely captivated by him. he was an enigma to her-here was a guy who had every opportunity to go and do something with those good looks of his, who could have just flunked for the fun of it like some of his other friends, who could’ve just given up by now…but he hadn’t. he was trying. by god, he was trying so hard it hurt her to see. she could tell pretty quickly that he wasn’t lazy, or stupid like the teachers made him out to be, and how she had unfairly seen him as. he wasn’t lazy, he was trying his best with what little focus and attention he was given. he was trying to push himself to read better, to not make a fool out of himself in front of this smart, pretty girl. he didn’t want her pity. but she couldn’t help it. it tore her up inside to see this boy trying his best, but running around in circles in the process.
as big of an enigma as he was to her, she never gave up on him. he’d expected her to—once most chicks saw past his pretty boy facade and dug deep into his personality, they usually got scared off. but not sandy. in fact, the more she learned about him, the more attached she grew. she didn’t like him for his looks, she liked him for how hard he was trying, for his family, for himself, to prove that he wasn’t as “stupid” as his teachers made him out to be. she found himself being enamored by his flirty one liners, or his joking about getting a kiss after getting a difficult question correct, but she also found that putting this puzzle of a person together was just as interesting.
soon they started dating. their study sessions became less studying and more romantic. she had dug deeper than any of those “one night stands” soda had chalked himself up to, and she had dug deep enough to find that heart of gold buried beneath his playful and brash demeanor. however, even she had gained some out of their relationship. she learned to let go and learn to have fun. being around someone as wild as sodapop and having that presence of someone who wouldn’t judge her for letting the quiet, goody two shoes act drop and allowed her to be herself and be wild for a night. no, sodapop didn’t judge. neither did she. she’d learned not to judge a book by its cover.
thinking about them makes me sick
