Indigo ran to where the tryouts were. She looked around at all the other participants. Among them she saw Lemon Zest, who was looking at Sour Sweet. Sour Sweet waved with a smile. Huh. Never thought I'd see Sour smile for real. Sugarcoat was just staring blankly, causing Indigo to blink. I wonder what her deal is. She thought, grinning at Lemon. She noticed Sunny Flare giving Lemon Zest the stink eye. I wonder what her deal is, too...
Principal Cinch's voice snapped Indigo out of her thoughts. "This first round of tryouts will involve academics." announced Principal Cinch. Nearly half of those waiting groaned.
"The hell did you guys expect, moto-cross racing?!" Sour's voice echoed throughout the room.
Indigo smiled. Actually, that sounds pretty damn cool. I'd be up for that.
"As I was saying..." Cinch continued, pinching the bridge of her nose. "The first round of tryouts will involve academics. The top fifty scores will move on to the next round. To your seats!" All students did as instructed. "And...begin!"
Well, this isn't what I was expecting. Indigo shrugged and sighed. Well, it is what it is. She put all of her concentration into the test and let nothing else distract her until Principal Cinch spoke again.
"Pencils down!" Principal Cinch said, and there was a noise of pencils being put on the desks. "The results of these tests will be posted later today in the hallways." She said as Dean Cadence went to pick up the tests. "Dismissed!"
Indigo left the room. "At least that wasn't as much of an info dump as second period." She thought aloud. "I'm willing to bet results will be posted after fifth period."
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Lunch had started, and Indigo walked over to the crowd of students. "This must be where the rankings are." She said, looking at the posting. She grinned widely. "Top five. Not bad, not bad." She turned around and nearly bumped into Fleur De Verre. "Oh, crap! Sorry, I didn't see you there!"
De Verre smiled. "Don't worry about it." She said.
"Are you here to see where you placed?" Asked Indigo.
De Verre's smile slowly faded as she turned her head away. "I already have a pretty good idea, Indigo Zap." She said quietly.
"What are you talking about?" Indigo said, turning to look at the rankings again. "I'm sure you did just..." She trailed off once she saw where De Verre was ranked. At the very bottom. "...fine." She finished, almost as quietly as De Verre, who was looking away and shaking. "Hey..." Indigo said sympathetically, extending her arm towards her.
De Verre turned around suddenly, tears in her eyes. Indigo stepped back, surprised. "Tests were never my strong suit, Indigo." She said, wiping her eyes. "I can do athletics just fine, but I just can barely pass a test!" She sniffled. "That was the worst score I've ever been given, and everyone's here to see it!" She buried her head in her hands and let out a sob.
Indigo smiled warmly and grabbed De Verre by the hand. "Come with me." She said as she walked away from the crowd of students.
"Wh-wh-where are you taking me?" Asked De Verre as she let out another sniffle.
Indigo looked at her and smiled. "Somewhere where we can be alone." De Verre blushed in spite of herself, but decided not to jump to conclusions.
After a few moments, Indigo stopped in front of a study room. "Come on in." She said, and De Verre obliged. The two sat down on chairs. Indigo looked out the window. "Hey, this room is soundproof, right?" She asked.
De Verre shrugged. "It should be."
"I guess that'll have to do, then." Indigo said.
"So why did you bring me all the way here?" De Verre asked.
Indigo closed her eyes, took a deep breath and sighed heavily. "Before we go on, I want you to promise me that what I tell you here in this room stays in this room. Understood?" She gazed at De Verre, her eyes piercing.
De Verre was a little unsure of where this was going, and was quite frankly more than a little nervous from anticipation. She swallowed, then slowly nodded her head. "Yes. I do."
"Thank you." Indigo said, smiling genuinely as opposed to her well-known grin. She took another deep breath and sighed heavily. "I hope I'm not worrying you, it's just that it's never easy for me to say this."
De Verre blinked. "Honestly, you are, but that's just because I don't know why you brought me here."
Indigo chuckled. "Good to know." She said. "Okay. The reason I brought you here is tell you something that only my parents know about me. I haven't told anyone else, but I'm pretty sure some staff members suspect it."
De Verre nodded, suppressing the urge to tell Indigo to just come out with it.
"I wasn't always this athletic or good at tests." Indigo said.
De Verre's face turned red. She was about to yell at Indigo for blowing this all out of proportion until she saw that Indigo had her face on the table while holding up an index finger, indicating that she wasn't done speaking. Silence hung in the air for several more moments until she finally lifted her head. De Verre stared in shock. In all the time she had seen Indigo Zap throughout her time at Crystal Prep, she had seen her smile, grin, laugh, and even scowl. But now here, in this quiet room, Indigo's face had a look of uncertainty. She was willing to be vulnerable for this person she hardly knew.
"I guess you can tell how hard this is for me to say, huh?" She said, nervously.
De Verre smiled warmly. "Would it help if I held your hand?" She said.
"I'll take anything at this point, I just want to get it off my chest." Indigo said. De Verre reached over the table and clasped Indigo's hands into hers. Indigo closed her eyes and focused on the warmth of De Verre's contact. She took one last deep breath, then exhaled slowly. "I have Asperger's Syndrome."
De Verre blinked. "You mean you're-"
"Autistic, yes. High-functioning, though." Indigo said. "My whole point for telling you this is that if someone who's autistic can go from lazy and a bad test-taker to one of the top athletes and test-scorers in Crystal Prep, then surely you." She said, emphasizing her point by slightly tightening her grip on De Verre's hands. "Can improve. I have faith in you." Indigo paused for a moment, then looked away. "I'm sorry if I blew this whole thing out of proportion."
De Verre let go of Indigo's hands and walked over to her. She gave her a big hug, much to Indigo's surprise. "Don't be sorry." She whispered softly. "What you did was brave, and I promise that nothing you told me will leave this room."
Indigo sniffled. "Thank you." She said, her voice quavering.
The two stood still as Indigo's sniffles turned to sobs.