//------------------------------// // Proms and Promise // Story: How Bow met Windy // by Applefai //------------------------------// Bow wakes up with the gentle rays of the sun hitting his face, he lazily drags himself out of bed and gets dressed in his most decent, but comfortable clothes before running down stairs. “Morning mom,” he called out as he sat down at the kitchen table. “Morning, son” his mother replied back to him, placing a plate of flapjacks and eggs in front of him. Bow began to eat his breakfast, savoring the fluffy, sweet disks. "Hey, there, little bro, ya ready for your first day of your senior year,” a voice asked as they ruffled Bow’s hair from behind before sitting next to him. “Morning, Blaze, yeah, I’m ready, I can’t wait to join the Buckball team again like you did every year,” Bow replied as he continued to eat “That’s good, maybe you will join me in the trophy cabinet of fame,” Blaze playfully replied as he received his own plate of flapjacks and eggs. "But you know you don't have to follow in my footsteps, you know?" Blaze asked. "I know, but I just love the sport, I hope to go pro in college," Bow replied as his brother smiled. After breakfast, Bow stepped outside and prepared to take off to school, but before he did he turned around and gave his mother a big hug and a kiss goodbye. "See you when I get home," he said before leaving for school.  Once at the school, Bow watched as the other pegasi came in swams before he made his way to the quad where he saw other upperclassmen helping out new students and handing out their schedules. Once he had gotten his schedule, he made his way to his home room and took his seat. After getting settled into class, lockers were assigned and Bow wasted no time in going to his to put his textbooks and stuff in, he continued to go about his day waiting for Buckball try-outs to start up. When the bell rang, Bow quickly made his way to the field, and joined the other eager hopefuls in trying out for the team, a series of test and examinations followed and at the end of the day, Bow was sweating like a hog and panting, he quickly grabs a shower in the school’s locker room to wash off the dirt and sweat before he heads home. The next day at school, Bow quickly approaches the bulletin board and looks at who made the team. When he sees his name he is so overcome with joy that he lets out an excited yell and jumps for joy. When he starts walking to homeroom he is so lost in thought over making the team that he accidentally bumps into another student causing their books to land on the floor. “Oh, I’m sorry, I was lost in thought, here let me help you,” Bow said as he bent down on his knees and helped the student pick up their books “My name’s Bow Hothoof,” He said as he introduced himself, handing back the student’s books. “Yeah, I know,” the student replied, the voice soft and delicate. Looking up to greet the voice, Bow blushed bright red at who he saw, a pair of bell bottom jeans and a tie-dye shirt met his gaze as he saw Windy Whistles staring at him.   Windy giggled at his blush as she stood up. “It’s nice to finally talk to you, I was just a bit shy. I mean you're the star defender in buckball and there's talk you may get a scholarship to the best college for it,” Windy said as Bow got to his feet and handed her her last book. Bow let out a sheepish chuckle as he began to rub the back of his head. “Yeah, but I'm not that great, and it's a bit funny that you were shy to talk to me," Bow replied as Windy arched a brow. "Oh? And why is that?" Windy asked as she clutched her books to her chest. "Because I was kinda shy too, it’s Windy, right?” Bow asked. “It sure is, but why would someone as confident and as popular as you be shy of somepony like me?" Windy asked. "Because there's talk about you as well, you're the head of the class and a shoe in for valedictorian, I'll be lucky if I get salutatorian, I guess I just feel intimidated by your smarts," Bow said as he blushed, Windy doing the same as the last minute bell started to ring.  After the quick introduction, Bow made his way to class, where he along with the other students quietly worked. The next class was no different except for one thing, Windy was plaguing his mind, his heart would skip a beat and he found himself sweating bullets. The school day flew by almost instantaneously and soon Bow was on his way to his first Buckball practice of his senior year. He stood on the field as the coach took attendance. “Alright, we need to get you all in shape before a game, so drop and give me twenty," the coach demanded. Following the order, the whole team hit the ground and started doing push-ups, their hands laid flat on the ground as their hooves dug in firmly as they started their exercise. Bow looked over to the side and noticed  the cheerleaders meeting for practice a few yards down. Bow's jaw dropped as he saw Windy in her uniform and blushed bright red, their school colors were on full display on her pom-poms and skirt. As he gawked at the cheerleaders, he lost his grip and fell straight down, the coach noticing this stood over him. "Well Mr. Hothoof, you just earned another twenty push-ups!" the coach yelled. "Yes, sir," Bow said as he regained position and started doing the exercise over again. Bow starts to wonder why she would all of a sudden join the cheer squad, he would always see her at practice just a few yards away, but with her head buried in a book. He glanced over to see her practicing the pyramid and each maneuver she did made his heart skip a beat as he witnessed her practice the cheer routine with the other cheerleaders. Bow remembered that even before she was a cheerleader, he thought to himself countless days to himself, “I’m gonna ask her out,” but in the end would succumb to his cold feet. The days of his highschool life seemed to fly by and soon it was time for prom, Bow had a week to get ready for it and hasn't even asked a girl to accompany him,  he had been preoccupied with preparing for his last game, had already taken the pre-SAT’s and SAT’s to pick a good college, and had gotten scholarship offers for Buckball. He had finally decided to ask Windy out, and when the last bell rang he left class and found Windy by her locker. He approached her with sweaty palms and his heart pounded in his chest. “Windy?” Bow called out, his voice threatening to give out as she turned to make eye contact. “Yes, Bow. What is it?” she asked as Bow started to sweat bullets and his heart threatened to leap into his throat. Bow gulped as he tried to compose himself, finally gritting his teeth and closing his eyes. “Would you like to be my date for the prom?” he asked, causing Windy’s mouth to fall agape. After a few seconds of deafening silence, Windy finally spoke "I don't know, Bow, I didn't really plan on asking anyone," she politely said as she closed her locker. Bow looked down, a little devastated, but trying to understand, from the corner of his eye he saw a prom ticket in Windy’s binder. “You want to go as just friends?” Bow asked as he looked up. “I’m not sure, I was just looking forward to going to prom by myself just to say I went,” she said as she held her binder to her side. “You know what, sure, let’s go to the prom together as friends,” Windy said, accepting his offer.  Maybe we might find someone special there and it’ll be fun not to worry about romance.” she said as Bow smiled. “Only if you really want to,” he said as he walked down the hall with her and to the quad.  "I do, it'll be nice to not worry about romance, also prom is a one time thing and I don't want to regret not going," Windy replied as she prepared to go home.   “Ok, I’ll pick you up that night,” Bow said as she handed him her address and took off. "Wait, would you mind if I escort you home?" Bow asked as Windy blushed. "Do you think I need some stallion to take me home?" Windy asked jokingly as Bow started to stammer. "N-no, I didn't mean it like that, I-I just……," Bow tries to correct himself. Windy starts laughing as she approaches Bow. "I'm yanking your chain, I know you didn't mean it that way, I don't mind if you want to escort me home, come on big guy," Windy said as she took off.