//------------------------------// // Ten Years Ago // Story: A Small Dose of Sugar // by Shadowmane PX-41 //------------------------------// I was a very peaceful little girl, living with my mother and father in a secluded and cozy part of the town. A rather far cry to the Crystal Prep student you all know today, I'm well aware, but times were much different back then. People weren't as conflicted and torn by news and small little squabbles as they are today in this fractured world. No. For most of us, it was nothing more than peace and prosperity. "Yeah. Must've been pretty nice, huh? Nothing like what we've got now," Sour Sweet groaned. "Indeed. But let's not spend too long admiring the past." Sugarcoat folded her arms around her chest. "The sooner that I sate your cravings for the remnants of my youth, the sooner that you'll all feel better, we can finish our lunches, and move on with the rest of our days." Anyway, one story that I can recall for you was the one where I had learned about how to lie. Obviously, nowadays, I find the whole concept of deceit to be a blemish on the world that needs to be stomped out immediately, but as a child, I was quite taken with the idea of saying something to cover my tracks after I'd done something wrong. I was walking around the house with my teddy bear when I hapened apon a— "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Stop right there!" Indigo Zap pushed her hands out in front of her. "You never told us you had a teddy bear, Sugarcoat." "Didn't I?" She tilted her head and gawked at Indigo. "Funny. I would've thought that every child would have had one. Something to keep them occupied if their parents aren't around." "That, or cartoons." Lemon Zest raised her index finger. "Cartoons were super-duper fun back as a kid! Plus, when you had some toys to play with, it was like you could do the actions on-screen with them!" She threw her hands up high into the air and waved them around. The other Shadowbolts only gave Lemon Zest stares as she brought her arms back down and pressed them against her hips. Their attention soon returned to Sugarcoat, who shook her head and took another deep breath before she continued. "What was it like, Sugarcoat?" Sunny Flare broke the silence. "The teddy bear, I mean." "Well, I'm not sure that I would agree with these statements now, but back when I was a kid, I used to carry it wherever I go." Sugarcoat tipped her hand at Sunny Flare and coiled her fingers, almost as if she was holding the bear once again. "We never threw it out after I grew up. Instead, I gave it to my little sister, Fudge Numbers to look after." "What should we do today, Mr. Cuddles?" I said, as my eyes scanned the room for something to play with. "Mr. Cuddles?" Indigo Zap had trouble repressing her laughter. Tears were practically flowing out of her eyes as her cheeks began to bloat. Eventually, she released all of the air she had captured and laughed as loud as she could, throwing herself onto the ground as she did so. "That's gotta be the best thing I've heard all day!" Sugarcoat's entire face turned beet-red as she watched Indigo Zap laugh and wiggle around on the floor in reaction to her teddy bear's name. She herself managed to keep her composure in the face of the buzz-saw-haired girl's merriment, but had no idea just how long that it would last. For a while, she thought about changing her name and remodelling herself in the worst case scenario that ended with her being mocked and ridiculed by everyone else at Crystal Prep until graduation. "Alright... Alright. I think I'm calming down." Indigo Zap wiped the last tear from her eye as she stood back up and caught her breath again. "I'm over it now. Go on, Sugarcoat. Tell me more about what you did with Mr. Cuddles that day..." She let a few more chuckles slip at the end of her sentence. "Hmmph!" Sugarcoat pouted at Indigo and stomped her foot on the ground. Pushing her glasses to her face, she closed her eyes and pushed her hands together. "I am zen. I am calm. There is nothing for me to get angry about. Anger leads to self-destruction..." she said to herself over and over again as she let the emotions inside of her head dissipate entirely. "Alright. Let's continue with the story, shall we?" When I was a kid, it was easy for me to get distracted with bright and colourful toys. Most of the time, I would usually gawk and stare at pink things like I had been hypnotised by someone to adore it. I'll have to take a study on how that works in the future someday. It would be fascinating to know what drives us as a species to examine things like that. One day, hearing my stomach rumble, I waddled off towards the kitchen for some food. My usual diet was healthy food, candy, and the meals that mother and father cooked for me. Mother talked about bringing some friends of hers around for some coffee and snacks, so, I saw a giant jar of cookies laden on the kitchen worktop. "Look, Mr. Cuddles! Cookies!" I said with a massive grin plastered onto my face. "Let's try and get some!" And without another word, I walked over towards the edge and tried to reach the jar. Unfortunately, due to my rather diminutive stature, I couldn't even jump high enough to reach the cookie jar's lid. But that wasn't going to stop me from acquiring food for me and Mr. Cuddles. I eventually found a small stool that Father used when he wanted to do some feather dusting on the top of the cabinets. Knowing that I couldn't stave off my hunger pangs anymore, I went over and dragged it across the floor towards the jar. The noise it made was quite unbearable, but me and Mr. Cuddles put up with it just fine. As soon as we put the box into place, we climbed on top and opened the jar, treating ourselves to our prize. "Before we go on, what kind of cookies were they?" Lemon Zest butted into Sugarcoat's mental image of the story and returned her to reality. "Macadamia nut? Chocolate chip? Those really good ones that you can get from the bakery downtown? Dang it, woman! I need to know ASAP!" She grabbed Sugarcoat's top and shook her like a ragdoll. "Lemon Zest, I hardly think that the smallest details matter in a story." Sugarcoat pried Lemon's hands off of her clothing and patted down the crumples and creases that had been afflicted to the fabric. "It's common knowledge that in every piece of writing ever created, you're supposed to show the important parts as well as you can and simplify the insignificant stuff." "Yeah, but if cookies are part of your story on how you used to lie as a child, then wouldn't it make some sense to answer Lemon's question?" Sunny Flare raised one of her eyebrows and tilted her neck closer to Sugarcoat. "Why do you think cookies are such an important plot thread?" Sugarcoat blinked at Sunny and Lemon Zest as she alternated her gaze between the two of them. "Let's just say that they're whatever flavour that you want them to be and leave it at that. I was barely lucky to even remember the fact that it was cookies. For all I know, it might've been pieces of candy, or some fruit for that matter." "Yeah, girls. Leave Sugarcoat alone." Sour Sweet walked up to her side and wrapped her arm around Sugarcoat's shoulders. "She's only nineteen years old, after all. Stuff about when she was a little squirt is hard to remember these days. Especially when the world's gone down the drain with all of these politics and scandals!" "Thank you, Sour Sweet." Sugarcoat couldn't help but grin slightly at her. "You know, out this whole rag-tag group, I consider you to be almost like a friend instead of an acquaintance." "Wow. That's pretty high-praise coming from you." Sour's eyelashes fluttered as she turned to face Sugarcoat. "You really mean it? You're not saying that because I snapped halfway through that sentence?" "I do mean it. In fact, next to Sunny Flare, you might be just as sensible as I am." Sugarcoat smiled and patted Sour Sweet's shoulders gently. "Even when you deal with bouncy kindergarten-minded kids like Indigo Zap and Lemon Zest, it makes me feel both proud and humbled to be in your presence." "Thank you, Sugarcoat!" Sour Sweet's mouth erupted into a big smile as she pulled Sugarcoat into a tight hug. "I promise that I'll try my hardest to keep you as a friend." "As will I." Sugarcoat nodded. "Now. Will there be any further interruptions?" She looked at the other three Shadowbolts, who merely looked down at the ground and slid the tips of their shoes on the crystalline floor. "Good. Let's get back to the story." Me and Mr. Cuddles were enjoying eating the cookies. At the time, my childhood imagination thought that he was alive, so I made a rather humorous and entertaining attempt in trying to feed him. But in the end, the harsh reality was that he was nothing more a plush toy meant to keep an infant, toddler, or child entertained. Quite weird when you look back on it, actually. I thought that I would be able to close the jar and get off scot-free, but as I reached to pick the lid up and put it back onto the jar, the front door opened and I began to fumble around. In my haste to get the jar back on and put everything back where it was, I ended up dropping the jar on the floor altogether, causing it to shatter and spill the contents all around me. If that situation were to have happened when I was an adolescent, I would have owned up to my mistakes, bowed to mother or father, paid off whatever I owed them, and moved on. But since I was a child, I hadn't evolved that far up to be mature about anything yet. So, I did what only children of my age did when everything went bad. I looked around at the mess, cried, and ran off as fast as I could back to my room. Sure enough, mother did come through the front door and saw the mess. I wasn't there to see her reaction, but if I knew her like I think that I knew her when I was young, she probably would've been shocked, maybe even mortified at the mess and that her friends were going to be devoid of the treats that she had promised them. I spent the next few minutes curled up in bed, safe underneath the protection of the soft fabric as I clutched tightly to Mr. Cuddles and a few of my other stuffed animals. I didn't know what to do back then. I was young, stupid, reckless, and everything that's the exact polar opposite of who I am now. "Oh, good. That means that you were fun when you were younger." Indigo Zap remarked snidely, jabbing a finger at Sugarcoat. "Very funny, miss Zap." Sugarcoat deadpanned and shook her head. "But if you don't mind, I happen to have the highest grades out of any of us in this little circle of people, so I would watch your mouth, if I were you." "Yes, Indigo." Sunny Flare turned towards Indigo and looked straight into her eyes. "Sugarcoat has A-pluses in every subject of every class here at Crystal Prep. The only thing that she doesn't have that Twilight did was the amount of extra credit that had been put into her work." "Heck, Sugarcoat was number one in the top twelve rankings for the last Friendship Games!" Sour Sweet threw her arms out towards her sides. "Don't you think that you're making fun of the most successful student at Crystal Prep?" "Nah. I'm just saying the truth, like she does." Indigo put her hands behind her head and shrugged. "I know that Sugarcoat's so smart that she could practically run the world or something like that. It's not insulting someone if it's true, y'know." "Anyway..." Sugarcoat rolled her eyes. I heard footsteps approaching my door, and my grip on the toys grew tighter and tighter with every passing breath. Since father had been at work and our pet dog was outside, mother could have quite easily backtraced the spilt cookies and shattered jar back to me. She came through the door and stood underneath the frame. She watched as I quivered in the bed and quite quickly rushed to my side. "Sugarcoat," she said, "what happened down there? Why are you in bed? It's not bedtime for another seven hours." "Mama..." I replied. "What are you doing here?" "Well, I got all of my shopping done faster than I expected, so I came home to see how you were doing." She walked over to me and plucked me from my cocoon of bedsheets, sat me up, and gave me a gentle kiss on my cheek. "Then I saw that my jar had been broken and all of those cookies had tumbled out." I thought I knew what was coming the second her gaze tensed up at me. "Did... you drop the cookie jar, Sugarcoat?" "Uhh... No?" I'll admit. My first attempt at lying seemed very pathetic at that. How I even managed to even comprehend saying no to something I'd done is a mystery in itself, to be honest. "Of course you wouldn't." My mother simply gave me a grin and tousled my hair. I had been expecting to get a punishment of some description, not a sense of comfort. "It was my fault for putting it too close to the edge like that. I should've paid more attention." From there, the rest of my day seemed very hazy. I had done something terrible to mother's evening, yet she didn't suspect me at all and I had been able to worm my way out of trouble with a simple no. I didn't know what else to say there. If I had said that I'd done it, things might've turned out quite differently. I don't know what else to say. I lied and got away with it. "So, is that the end of the story, or what?" Lemon Zest twisted her wrist around in a circular motion. "Yes. I managed to avoid being punished by mother and father, simply by denying what I'd done and lying about the broken cookie jar." Sugarcoat finally broke out of the story and came back to reality. "Now, how do you all feel? Have I given you the relief that you wanted?" All of the other Shadowbolts gave Sugarcoat some time to let the story sink in. After the way she told it, they could almost see exactly where she had been coming from. However, they were more distracted by the thought of their friend as a little kid to think of anything else major. The four of sighed and gave big, goofy grins once they came back to Crystal Prep with the deafening screech of the bell. "Well, what do you know? Right on time." Indigo Zap watched as the other students began to take their trays and leave the room, dropping off any trash into the receptacles along the way. "But before I go, can I just say that that was a really good story, Sugarcoat?" "Yeah, dude! You've really made me feel better." Lemon Zest nodded and slid her headphones back onto her ears. "Thanks for that, girl!" "Hmm..." Sunny Flare scratched her chin as she brought her food over towards the trash bin. "It was a good story and all, but we barely got to see you and how you were like then, Sugarcoat." "What do you mean?" Sugarcoat asked as she followed the other girls down the stairs. "Well, you told the story really well and all, but judging from how little character traits we got, it seems like any old child could've done that and gotten away with it," she said. "If you have any more stories about your childhood that you'd like to share with us at our next break or free period, I'd very much love to see some development; flesh young you out a bit more." "I admit. Looking back on it now, it does seem pretty strained and broken down when you think about it." Sugarcoat rubbed her forehead once she had deposited her tray and walked out of the cafeteria. "The blame for that can be shifted onto Indigo Zap and Lemon Zest, seeing as how they interrupted me and gave me no time to make myself up as we went along. I promise that—if there is another moment where I need to regale you with stories of my youth—that I won't be just your generic little kid." "Alright." Sunny Flare went her separate way along with Sour Sweet. "I'll be sure to look forward to your next story then, Sugarcoat." She waved her off before the crowd of CPA students swallowed the two of them from her view. Sugarcoat, having finally returned to her isolation, walked off to her next class, tapping the textbook in her backpack with the tips of her fingers. Despite how she had come out of a story from her childhood, she still needed to be on top form for the upcoming lessons and examinations that she would face. On the cusp of victory, she couldn't afford to let her guard down for anything. For she was Sugarcoat, a soon-to-be-valedictorian in many different areas. And she was determined to keep it that way.