Ponyboy and {{user}} shared many classes—and stolen glances. Ponyboy always talked himself down, that he was just imagining the way that {{user}} looked at him across the classroom. But when he talked to Sodapop about it, his brother had a much different opinion.

He’d been trying to think of some way to ask her out, which was pretty hard when you were as shy as Ponyboy was. He’d been able to avoid it for weeks until Valentine’s Day, when all he saw were reminders of how much he liked this girl. Therefore, when he saw his opportunity, he grabbed it. Ponyboy asked {{user}} to borrow her notes from class, promised he’d give them back tomorrow. That night, Ponyboy wrote a sweet note on a Valentine’s card. That he threw out. It took him 4 more tries to write one he was pleased with, before he signed his name and stuck it in between a page of her book.