“Yes!”
Vinyl slid her phone from the pocket of her white zip-up hoodie as she awkwardly stuffed her ridiculously shaped blue plastic spoonful of extremely sugar laden cereal into her mouth. The loud crunching, the dripping milk from her chin and spoon, and her total lack of spatial awareness as she demolished her cereal caused her mother to sigh heavily and put her no-spill thermos full of coffee down on the kitchen counter. “Vine, can you get some of that in your mouth next time? I swear, the older you get, the more you eat like a toddler.”
“Yes!”
“And slow down! With those energy drinks you chug everyday, I can’t understand how you’re so hungry all the time.”
With tremendous effort, Vinyl looked up from her phone to meet her mother’s gaze. Instead of wiping her mouth with something appropriate like a paper towel or napkin, Vinyl chose the more eco-friendly option of loudly slurping the dribble of milk going down her chin with such force that her entire back arched. “Yeah, sorry mom.”
As Silver glanced down at the face of Vinyl’s phone, she scowled slightly, perhaps in disappointment to see her daughter so engrossed by an image of an angry cat face with its head shaking and mouth scrunched up. “This is why you can’t even eat with your mouth over the bowl?”
“Yes!”
A message notification popped up on screen, covering the cat’s forehead. Vinyl immediately snatched up the phone and slid her now wet finger across the screen. It took several tries to unlock it, but she was rewarded with something that caused her to giggle, making her spill milk in a dribble down her chin onto the counter. “Oh come on, Vine!” Silver, exclaimed as she grabbed a paper towel and started wiping the surrounding surface. “You’re old enough for a driver’s permit, and you can’t even eat like a normal human being.”
“Sorry, mom. It’s just, I started showing memes to Tavi, and she’s putting these funny filters around them. See?” Vinyl holds up her phone to Silver. There’s an undeniable excitement and adoration in her eyes as she explains the situation.
With an even bigger sigh and a long roll of her eyes, Silver grabs another paper towel and wipes her daughter’s face, earning her a complaining whine from Vinyl. “When I was your age, we used to give each other candy or pick flowers.”
Vinyl hurriedly defends herself by turning her head away and wiping her face herself with the back of her hand. “Yeah right, you? Flowers? I call bull.” She shakes her head and starts pouring more cereal into her bowl.
“Oh no no no you don’t! That’s your third bowl, and you need to eat something decent.” She quickly snatched the bowl up and dumped the contents in the sink before retrieving a banana from the fridge. “Here, eat this. You need something with vitamins.”
“Oh gross. Who eats the top of a banana split by itself?” Vinyl whines as she dramatically reels back from the sight of the fruit. “That’s like drinking orange juice by itself without the vodka.”
“Yes!” Vinyl’s phone exclaimed in agreement as it frantically vibrated itself off the counter.
“UGHH…” Silver palms her face and slides her fingers through her naturally glistening silver hair. “Well, at least you're not failing any of your classes.” She says as she watches Vinyl fall out of her stool while reaching for her phone. “And is that her voice as your ringtone?”
“What?” Vinyl asks as she pops her head up while climbing back onto her stool. Her electric blue hair now scattered about every which way until she finally combed it to one side only after checking her phone again. “Oh, you mean Tavi’s?” With a rapidly growing blush across her face, Vinyl began straightening herself up with a nervous forced giggle. “Uhhh...heh...yeah that’s her voice. I forgot I left that on. Didn’t want to miss any of her messages.”
With a slow shake of her head and grin across her face, Silver picks her coffee back up and gives her daughter’s hair a wild ruffling. “It’s really cute how much you love that girl.”
“Moooom!” Vinyl quickly fends off her mother’s attack and frantically fixes her hair, taking careful consideration to keep her favorite pair of sunglasses perfectly square atop her head. “Don’t say stuff like that...It’s weird.”
“You better finish getting dressed before you miss the bus.” Silver says as she checks her watch. “I have a long double shift today, but I’ll be home all day tomorrow. If you need anything, message me tonight, and I’ll pick it up on my home in the morning.” With another roll of her eyes, Silver steps out of the kitchen towards the front door. “And don’t forget to give Tavi back her laundry I found in the drier.”
“MOOOM!!” Vinyl, now nearly petrified with embarrassment, quickly pulls her sunglasses over her eyes and stiffly gets up from the kitchen counter. She quickly marches towards the stairs of their small house, banana in hand, the hood of her sweater over her head, and nothing else on other than striped knee high socks with a firework pattern on them and a pair of pink and blue intimates that sported a screaming unicorn blasting rainbow lazer beams all across her rear end. If the clash of colors was any indication, at least her mother was relieved her daughter did at least plan to put something else on too.
Vinyl could hear her mother laugh as she exited the front door, but her blush continued to burn her cheeks and tingle her ears with the same intensity. She immediately went to her room and found a purple skirt to shove herself into very hurriedly. She had found the skirt on sale one day during Christmas break while shopping for different amplifier plugs at the music store, and as soon as the reflection of her matching colored sunglasses met the skirt on display, she knew it had to be hers. Now, this particular skirt was one of her favorites since Octavia happened to compliment on their first day back to school.
As soon as she remembered back on that moment, Vinyl began to blush just as intensely again. “Accckkk!” Although totally alone, Vinyl pulled her hoodie over her eyes, making her sunglasses fall onto the floor in front of her. I do love that girl...damn do I love that girl…
“Yes!”
“AHH!” Vinyl nearly fell back onto her bed as her phone decided to be a hot potato in her hands. She fumbled her phone back into her hands after heartlessly letting the banana fall onto the sheets. Once she managed to open the lock screen, she was greeted by another revision of the cat meme, this time with a heart filter that read DAMN UR CUTE. “Awww..” Vinyl immediately sent back a few heart eyed faces in response. She pulled her hoodie off her head and closed the messaging app to stare longingly at her custom home screen of Octavia giving her a little peck on the cheek with both of them looking at the camera. Lyra just so happened to be in the background holding a lunch tray as a shield and a ruler as a sword while standing on the lunch table, yelling at the ceiling. At the end of the lunch table was Bon Bon, eating her chicken salad with an impressive level of indifference. Seems as though she’s gotten quite used to Lyra’s antics.
A knock on the front door snapped Vinyl’s eyes away from her phone towards the stairs down the all. She slid her phone back into her hoodie pocket and began approaching the stairs cautiously. The knock wasn’t unnerving because of how early it was in the morning, but by the fact that it kept to a rhythm and didn’t stop. If fact, it sounded a little familiar, which only made it slightly disarming.
It wasn’t until Vinyl heard an even more familiar voice yell out “MYYYY SHARONA!” did Vinyl breathe a sigh of relief and walk downstairs to the door. During mid intro, Vinyl swung the door open and was greeted by Lyra with arm raised, poised to hit the door again.
“Hey, V! Ready for school?” Lyra asked with a ridiculously carefree smile. Her hair had grown out even more over winter break, now slightly above her waist. A very warm looking pair of rose colored ear muffs. She wore a forest green parka that looked perfect for the icy cold evidenced by her visible breath. A frilly blue skirt covered her bottom while a pair of cozy looking orange leg warmers that matched her eyes also made Vinyl very aware of the bitter cold entering the open door and assaulting her lack of layers.
“Get inside before I freeze my nuts off, dude.” Vinyl said as she pulled Lyra inside and shut the door as quickly as she could. A disorienting shiver nearly buckled her knees before she stuffed her feet into her low cut tattered skate shoes and slid her arms into her bright red fleece jacket. “And don’t bang on my door like that! I was in the middle of getting dressed and almost fell down in my underwear!”
“Well you would’ve been one sexy patient for Octavia to visit in the hospital then.” Lyra retorted without any reservation or shame. “Besides, you were supposed to meet me at my house today, not the other way around. Figured this way at least you won’t forget to give me back my mic.”
Vinyl’s eyes grow wide in realization before she nods her head. “Ohhh right right, yeah sorry I totally would’ve forgotten if you didn’t remind me.” She turns back towards the stairs and slowly jogs up to her room with Lyra in tow.
“Spending all morning texting Octavia, huh?”
“W-What? No, no I didn’t that at all. I was talking to my mom, actually. About her shift at work and stuff.”
“Oh, your mom gonna be gone all night again? We should totally all sleep over tonight. She still have any of that green apple vodka?”
They both enter Vinyl’s room, clothes and cables for musical equipment all kicked to one side of the room with a small foot traffic heavy trail through the mess leading to the bed. “You not supposed to know about that, so stop bringing it up everytime you’re here. One of these days, my mom is gonna overhear.”
“I’m not so sure that’s exactly what you’re worried about your mom overhearing.” Lyra snickers as she sits on Vinyl’s bed and starts bouncing up and down, making the bed springs creak a bit. She then, in her best yet crude imitation of Octavia’s accent, screams out “Oh, Viiiiinyl! Oh Viiiinyl! Aye-um almost air!” The banana so easily forgot now sprang up and smacked Lyra in the face. “What the…” With an abrupt smirk and a loud giggle, Lyra held the banana up. “I’m not that far off, am I?”
Damn it… “N-No, dude it’s...whatever, just give me that!” Vinyl scowled and blushed with angry embarrassment as she began shoving scattered but barely used textbooks into her backpack, almost making the mistake of putting the banana in first. “Real innapropes. We’ve only ever kissed. That’s it. Plus, you’re gonna make my neighbors think weird stuff if you keep that up.”
“Oh relax, V. Everyone’s at or on their way to work. Oh hey, my mic.” She unplugs a somewhat sturdy portable usb microphone from Vinyl’s laptop beside her pillow and wraps the cable around the body of the device. “You like it? It captures a lot of sound in one direction, so you don’t pick up a lot of stuff in the background.”
“Yeah, I was kinda surprised. Seems like a pretty good buy for what it is. I might have to get one.” She recalls why Lyra bought the microphone. “You still like playing the harp?”
Lyra gets up from the bed and follows Vinyl out of her room back downstairs to the front door. “Yeah it’s pretty fun. Honestly never wanted to play anything until I started playing it in music class before the summer. That and my parents were like, freaking out that I was actually interested in something that they bought one online. Sort of a beginners one with colored strings and stuff, but I like it.”
“I was kinda surprised too. Well, that and you totally changed your look over the summer.” Vinyl says as she locks the front door and begins walking to the bus stop with Lyra beside her, both of them with their hands conserving warmth in the pockets of their overcoats.
“Pretty sure I told you why I did that, I think.”
“Yeah, you did. Trust me, I was there for that and you dragged me all over the mall looking for a new wardrobe as if I know alot about chick fashion.” Vinyl says with a giggle, happy to enjoy her friend’s embarrassment for a change and not the other way around as usual. This subject, however, Vinyl would never tease her about. She knew it took some real courage for Lyra to approach her about it. “I didn’t know you could be such a romantic, Lye.”
“Don’t call me that, V.” This time, it was Lyra’s turn to blush as she put her the oversized sleeves of her parka over her face. “O-Only Bon Bon gets to call me that. How would you feel if I started saying ‘Tavi’?”
“I’m just teasing you, dude.” Vinyl said with another giggle. “But I mean, you really classed up. Was it because I started getting all lovey dovey over Tavi when she showed up?”
“W-What? No, I mean, I don’t know…” Lyra lowered her hands and adjusted her backpack a bit while kicking a patch of snow from the sidewalk corner into a gutter. “I just wanted to be...cuter. You got Tavi all cute and stuff, and I figured that…” She turned her head to Vinyl, her blush now replaced with an indignant furrowing of her eyebrows as she bumps Vinyl in the shoulder with her own. “You already get it, so stop making me say it.”
“Yeah yeah, alright.” Vinyl let out one last giggle before giving her longest friend a nudge with her elbow. “But dressing more girly like Bon Bon might not be enough.”
“Can we talk about something else, please?” Lyra asked as she drove her hands deeper into her pockets. “Like how your mom is gonna be gone all night and the four of us should totally hang out.”
“Ok ok, fine we can do that, but you gotta bring your controllers with you after school.”
“You don’t want to play spin the bottle?”
“Now you knock it off.”
“Seven minutes in heaven?”
“You’re about to get seven minutes with your face in the snow.” Vinyl says with a slight tingle in her ears. She tried her best to sound agitated, but the wavering little flutter in her voice suggested that she rather enjoyed the idea. That and our longest kiss only lasted like...ten seconds. I mean, I got to touch her butt at least, so that was pretty-
“Really, that’s the best you could come up with?” Lyra asks, breaking Vinyl’s internal contemplation. “You guys have been dating for over a year, and you barely hung out over Christmas break. She might go for it if you ask her.”
Vinyl took much longer to reply to that statement, also suggesting that she may be actually considering the idea. Seven minutes...just straight kissing and feeling her so close and… Her face turned bright red almost instantly as she caught Lyra’s expectant and amused gaze. “W-What? No way! S-She’s way too proper and stuff to...I-I mean, I’m not like that!”
“Mhm. Sure. You just like watching her walk away.” Lyra said, earning herself a snowball down the back of her parka.
-o0o-
In contrast to the January cold, the inside of Canterlot High was well heated, making nearly every student congregate inside during lunch. This meant each club room, recreational classroom, the cafeteria, and even a few of the hallways were filled with students. The noise of everyone’s conversations would’ve been much too loud if each little group hadn’t spaced themselves out, and Vinyl and her group made sure to do the same. They had found themselves their own unofficial spot at the end of the hallway outside the music room between the instrument storage room and the backdoor to the theater stage. It wasn’t much, but it was perfect for four people and their belongings.
With Vinyl and Octavia sitting very close together facing one door, and Lyra and Bon Bon facing the other, all four girls eagerly ate as they chatted.
“I’ve read the book, and the pacing makes more sense in the book than the movie.” Bon Bon said as she daintily nibbled on her peanut butter sandwich. “You didn’t even make it through the whole thing, so I don’t know what you’re complaining about.”
Lyra sighs and puts her half eaten yogurt down for a moment. “Well can you just give me like...and idea on how to start the book report? I already sorta skimmed over a wiki on it, but that didn’t even make sense.”
“Here, let me see what you have.” Bon Bon takes the barely started paper from Lyra’s lap and eyes it for a moment. This gives Lyra the welcome opportunity to scooch herself over to her, their thighs almost touching. Bon Bon doesn’t seem to notice, whether that’s a good or bad thing, only she knows. “Ok, soooo...you don’t have a thesis statement, probably because you didn’t even get through the whole plot.”
“I know that, Bonnie...I just need to stretch out like a big part of it for two pages and then fill in the rest with-”
“How much?”
With as much forced surprise as she could muster, Lyra brought her hands up and shook her head. “Oh no, I should probably do this one on my own.”
“Yeah, and if you do that, then I’m gonna get a call the night before and end up doing it for you anyways, so what are you offering?”Bon Bon returned Lyra her paper and apathetically rested her elbow on her knee and her chin in her palm. Wearing her favorite white dress, her long navy blue and fuscia pink hair curled at the ends, and her soft lemon complexion complimented by the same navy blue shade of lipstick, she struck an admirably pretty pose while using a doting expression towards Lyra.
“U-Um…” Lyra quickly turned away, trying to appear very pensive in thought to hide her blush as she nervously tapped a finger to her chin. “I have ten bucks and a half finished punch card to the Sweet Shoppe.”
“I’ll have it done by third period.” Bon Bon said before taking another bite of her peanut butter sandwich.
Vinyl couldn’t help raise an eyebrow as she popped the last fruit chew into her mouth and cracked open a fresh energy drink. “Hey you charged me twenty bucks for my chemistry worksheet.”
“I’m not even in chemistry. I’m taking biology first, so there’s a surcharge for subjects I haven’t taken yet.” Bon Bon flicked a piece of her bread crust at Vinyl’s face.
Octavia made the most adorable distressed squeak as she shielded her face with her hands. Having taken the most comfortable on the floor possible, between Vinyls legs with her back leaning against Vinyl’s chest, she found herself a civilian casualty of the skirmish. “Oi! Not me, not me!” As the bread crust fell onto her lap, she immediately swept it off onto the floor before brushing any more crumbs off her boldly tight fitting white jeans that she may or may not have taken a liking to after borrowing from Vinyl. She still continued to sport a white blousy dress shirt and purple bow tie that matched her pupils. “Vinyl...you have to protect me. I can’t finish my cucumbers if I’m your human shield.” She said as she tilted her head back and looked up at her with her giant purple eyes.
Bon Bon, without even turning her head, gave Lyra a smack on the knee, having anticipated some barely witty remark about Octavia’s lunch. “No.”
“What? I didn’t even say anything!” Lyra complained as she overtly dramatically rubbed her knee.
So cute...damn it… Vinyl swallowed hard on nothing as she blushed. Her pale complexion, as always, betraying her. “S-Sorry, babe. I’ll use my kung-fu next time and rabbit punch the next piece of bread right back at her. If you want, you can have my banana instead.”
Another smack landed on Lyra’s thigh, and the mint haired girl actually had her lips parted that time. “Yep, yep...you were right to do that.” She said as she rubbed the back of her head.
As a gift to express her gratitude, Octavia brought a slice of cucumber up to Vinyl’s lips. In response, Vinyl happily accepted the gift and squeezed her arms around Octavia’s waist very tightly for a moment. “A-Ack, Vinyl!” Octavia exclaimed as her eyes grew wide from the near strangulating hold. She gasped softly as Vinyl released her hold. Both girls blushed faintly and smile at each other for a long moment.
“Anywayyyy.” Lyra suddenly spoke up, a faint blush also across her face with a faint expression of jealousy. “Vinyl said she was feeling lonely this morning and wants everyone to stay over at her place tonight.”
“I did not say that, dude!” Vinyl loudly interjected. “But yeah, my mom is working all night tonight, so if you guys wanna hang out, that’s cool with me.”
“On a school night?” Bon Bon asked, raising an eyebrow. “Which made up project are we working on this time?”
“Diorama?” Vinyl suggested.
“We’re not in fourth grade, V.” Lyra said with a roll of her eyes.
“Science project, then?” Bon Bon asked.
“I think we’ve tried that one.” Vinyl admitted. “At least twice this year, and there’s only four of us, so it might be a hard sell for your parents.”
“How about a music project?” Octavia added as she neatly placed her empty plastic bags once containing her lunch into a rather remarkably sensible and functionable looking bento style lunch box bound in the center with a leather strap. Not only did her lunch box of all things speak to her family’s affluence, but it also seemed somewhat old and well cared for. It even had what might possibly be mistaken as some sort of European coat of arms embossed into the leather.
All the girls looked at each other, waiting for someone to interject with a valid reason to shoot the idea down, but none came. “Yeah, I guess that could work, but I don’t play any instruments.” Bon Bon said.
“Didn’t you take piano lessons when you were in middle school?” Lyra asked. “I think we were supposed to play something together that one time for a school play.”
“I guess...but if I tell my parents that, then they might sign me up for lessons again.”
“Whatever’s the matter with that?” Octavia asked.
“Nothing. I just didn’t like taking lessons after school.” Bon Bon raised her eyes up to the ceiling as she recalled something. “Well, after I met you two and made some friends. It was more fun to just hang out.”
“Awww.” Lyra slowly wrapped her arms around Bon Bon’s shoulders and hugged as tightly as she can without restricting her breathing.
“Ok, ok, knock it off….ugh.” Bon Bon complained with a sigh as she turned her head away. Despite putting on airs of annoyance, she offered no resistance to the embrace. In fact, based on the rosey tint of her cheeks, her display of annoyance might suggest a masking of possible enjoyment of the affection. She waited for Lyra to finish the hug before continuing. “What about you, Octavia? Will your dad be ok with it?”
Octavia nodded and blinked hard for a moment as Vinyl brushed a lock of her bangs around her ear before jabbing her girlfriend in the cheek with a finger. “My father wishes for me to stay out of the manor as much as possible while it’s being renovated. Most of the staff are furloughed on half pay, and my father is back overseas.” No one said anything for a moment, choosing to tread lightly on the subject of Octavia’s family. After a moment, Octavia spoke up again.
“So my house after school?” Vinyl suddenly asked.
“Maybe a couple hours after. I want to stop by the bookstore and drop a few things off at home. Plus, my parents are real sticklers about dirty dishes” Bon Bon said, holding up her plastic tupperware she once housed her lunch in.
“Works for me.” Lyra said.
“Yes, your paper.” Bon Bon smiled and rolled her eyes as she got up from the floor and rubbed her legs for a moment. “I’m gonna get to class early before someone takes my favorite lab table.”
“I’ll walk you.” Lyra said almost immediately she jumped up, instantly regretting it as she got a bit lightheaded after sitting for so long. She teetered for a moment as she balanced herself with a hand on Bon Bon’s shoulders.
“You good, dude?” Vinyl asked as she slowly stood up, making sure not to bump Octavia with her knees as she did so before slinging her backpack over her shoulder. She also rubbed her legs, feeling a radiating warmth to the rhythm of her heartbeat slowly reach her toes. She then extended a hand to assist Octavia in standing, and afterward they held hands.
“Yeah, my bad. My legs are totally asleep. We should find a table next time.”
Bon Bon gave Lyra a slight nudge to keep her from leaning to far and to help her stand up straight. She then patted down the seat of her dress to rid herself of any possible dust. “Remember, 10 bucks and the punch card.”
“Yeah yeah, I won’t forget. I’ll bring them to Vinyl’s. I’ll throw in an extra five if you get me an A.”
Bon Bon rolled her eyes and giggled. “I’m holding you to that.” She said as she waved goodbye to everyone and began walking down the hall with Lyra. “But no promises. I’m getting it done during class, so worst case, a B minus. I at least know how to format a paper.”
Lyra proceeded to then, in decreasing volume, insist that she at least get a B plus. Both girls continued to debate the future results of the assignment as they walked away. Vinyl looked to her girlfriend with a smile and softly cleared her throat, her voice now a tad nervous as she squeezed Octavia’s hand a bit harder. “So, want me to walk you to you locker?”
“Always.” The cellist said with a wonderfully cute smile. “Besides, I wish to talk to you about...something.”
Such a statement may have given Vinyl some anxiety, but the slight blush on Octavia’s face and a returned squeeze of her own hand filled her with a bit of giddy excitement. “Oh? What about, babe?”
“Well…” Octavia pulled Vinyl’s hand behind her hip, signalling her girlfriend to step closer. With over a year of close friendship behind them, Octavia had become much more outspoken and upfront in her displays of affection. She’d grown too, evidenced by a somewhat jealously well proportioned figure that filled out Vinyl’s pants slightly better than she herself could. “I was rather hoping that…”
So cute...damn it… Vinyl let go of Octavia’s hand and placed both of her own on the cellist’s waist while returning the blush much more intensely. Both girls smiled at each other, and Vinyl planted a quick little kiss on Octavia’s cheek, knowing she was waiting for one before continuing her sentence.
“...Would you take me to the mall sometime and...help me shop for some clothes? I’d be ever in your debt…” Octavia said as she beamed a very happy smile up at Vinyl who stood a couple inches taller than her. “It would seem...I’ve grown out of most of my wardrobe.”
Answering the question right away was entirely impossible as Vinyl’s imagination ran rampant. She could already picture Octavia stepping out of a dressing room, displaying herself in a new outfit of her choosing. As Octavia’s face turned from embarrassed to expectant, Vinyl brought herself back into herself and softly cleared her throat while glancing at the ceiling. “Y-Yeah, sure totally. I’d be happy to help. I mean, whatever, you know. It’s no biggie.”
“Mmnnn.” Octavia wrapped her arms around Vinyl’s neck and hugged herself tightly to her girlfriend for a long moment in gratitude. “Thank you, thank you oh so very much, Vinyl. I’d be too nervous to shop for myself on my own.”
Vanilla, and a hint of cinnamon. She smells so good...I love this girl so much...I wanna burst. Vinyl returned the embrace by circling her arms just as tightly around Octavia’s waist and found herself inhaling deeply. Her eyes closed as she lifted her girlfriend off the ground for a split second while maintaining the hug. A small rush of exhilarating heat exploded from her chest that moved down her torso and up her neck into her head, and she received a bittersweet peck on the cheek as Octavia pulled back so their eyes could meet. “I-I’m always willing to do stuff for you, babe. H-Heh.” She barely choked out coherently as she blinked hard a couple times.
“Can I buy you lunch that day as a thank you?” Octavia asked, her face now bright red as she made broken eye contact. It would seem the embrace might have been a tad too much for her too. “I-If...that’s ok?”
It took every effort she could muster not to pick Octavia up and plant the wettest and loudest kiss on her girlfriend’s cheek. She’s so cute… She thought as her fingers nervously tapped against Octavia’s slender waist. “Yeah, totally. I’m down. We’ll make a date of it then? Maybe a movie too?”
Octavia nodded very enthusiastically and gave another quick hug. “Yes please.” She said as she rested her hands on Vinyl’s shoulders. Her face deepened its shade of pink as Vinyl’s nose almost touched her own. “U-Um...Vinyl? Someone might…”
Vinyl glanced to her right down the hallway. The occasional student passed the hallway’s entrance while the open theater classroom and music classroom doors echoed with the conversations of other students inside. For now, the coast seemed clear for an actual kiss, but Vinyl dutifully hesitated. “I can wait until after school if...that’s what you want.” She said, trying not to sound disappointed. She watched as Octavia went through several facial expressions. Apprehension first, relief second, and resolve third.
“It’s isn’t..actually. I really...do want to.” Octavia said in the sweetest of melodic voices that seemed to be carried along an intoxicatingly accent heavy crescendo as her voice increased in volume. “S-So...if you’d please, V-Vinyl?”
“I love you, Octavia.” Vinyl suddenly heard herself say in a somewhat hoarse whisper which Octavia barely heard in its entirety. She leaned forward the remaining couple of inches so their lips could meet, and as she felt the sudden warmth and plush softness of Octavia’s kiss, her fingers dug slightly into her cellist’s sides while her feet shuffled ever so slightly to counteract a slight shiver that started in her lower back.
As the kiss finally ended, both girls took a slow breath. Vinyl could only surmise that her own blush had to be even brighter as she gazed up Octavia’s beaming face. “I-I love you too, Vinyl.”
-o0o-
Vinyl awoke abruptly in a haze as she lifted her head off her desk in Mr. Doodle’s class. He was yammering on about something related to the early capital city of Fillydelphia as she rubbed her eyes and stifled a yawn. With great effort, she reached into her backpack under her desk and carefully cracked open the tab of a fresh energy drink. It made a quiet little hiss for a long moment before she brought it up to her lips. She was forced to resign herself to the remaining hour of class as she glanced at the clock, realizing her nap did not in fact propel her into the future as she had hoped. Just ten minutes? Come on, man...
The classroom door opened slowly, and a rather awkward girl with sunflower yellow eyes and matching mid-shoulder length unkempt hair walked in, disrupting Mr. Doodle’s grouchy ramblings. The girl wore a plain green skirt, a sky blue button up long sleeve collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and a simple necktie that matched her yellow eyes and hair. She was significantly taller than the rest of the students, and Vinyl had to admit she was also significantly more developed. She smiled apologetically, having realized that she had interrupted his lesson.
“Is there a reason you’re interrupting my class, Ms.?” Crank asked, his chin resting forward in agitation.
“Sorry, Mr. Doodle.” Said the strange girl. “I think I got lost.” She held out a slip of paper which Mr. Doodle took. Vinyl watched with true apathy as Mr. Doodle read the slip and waved dismissively towards the back of the classroom. The straw haired girl began walking towards the empty seat beside her in the back of the classroom.
Vinyl sat up a bit straighter, realizing the rest of the class was staring at the new girl approaching the back, and she began to wonder what was so fascinating that made this somewhat plain girl capture the attention of the entire class. As the new classmate approached and sat down in the chair next to her, nearly missing her seat and falling onto the floor, she realized with a certain level of embarrassment and shame why. I probably shouldn’t stare either...am I staring? I think I’m still looking at her… Come on, dude, do something! Vinyl whipped her head forward and took a long swig of her energy drink.
“Only water in class!” Came an angry and gruff voice. “We’ve talked about this, Ms. Scratch.”
Smart move, dumbass. “Ah, yeah my bad, Mr. Doodle.” Vinyl immediately responded as she placed the half empty can under her desk. “I forgot.”
Either Mr. Doodle had forgotten this very excuse had been made at least once every week, or he simply could care anymore than doing the bare minimum as a high school. Without any more to say on the matter, he scoffed and returned to the lesson, using a yardstick to point indolently at the whiteboard to nothing in particular on the old map of the city. Vinyl sighed softly with relief, both at being left alone with her energy drink and because the rest of the class stopped looking at her and the stranger in the back. That was super awkward. Speaking of, Vinyl stole a glance towards the newcomer beside her who was in the process of unpacking her brown canvas shoulder bag that reminded her of a mail carrier’s satchel just without any logos or identifiable markings except a single word written in silver marker on the flap. Derpy?
“Hi.” The girl said very quietly with a smile and a slight wave. Now making direct eye contact, Vinyl could see very clearly the curiously odd lack of centering in the girl’s eyes. One pupil seemed to look at her sunglasses atop her head while the other met her gaze.
“Uh, hey.” Vinyl uttered, relieved that at least there was one eye she could politely make eye-contact with.
“Can I borrow a pencil? I think I lost mine.” She said, a bit louder than necessary. A couple other students glanced back at them while Mr. Doodle continued droning about something related to the early days of city planning.
“Sure.” Vinyl reached into her backpack and retrieved a pencil for her. As she was holding it up for her to take, she watched as the clumsy girl paused for a moment to visually find the object. Yikes...maybe next time I’ll just put it on her desk. She’s kinda cute though...
“Thanks.” With a big smile, the girl began writing in almost comically large and slightly staggered letters on a piece of notebook paper.
I mean...at least she takes some kind of notes. I’m probably gonna cram for the test and skate by with a C… Vinyl relaxed as the excitement of the moment passed, and she snuck another sip of her energy drink before resting her chin on her hands. Her eyelids started to feel heavy again which came as a bit of surprise since the caffeine usually woke her back up after lunch, but she didn’t think anything else of it as she fell back into a light sleep on her desk. With a few other students always doing the same in Mr. Doodle’s class, the hour passed by much more quickly.
She was again stirred from her slumber by something lightly jabbing her shoulder. She turned her head with half closed eyes and looked up to see the same smiling face and her pencil held out to her. “Huh?” Vinyl stifled another yawn, but this time unable to keep her lips closed. She took her pencil and examined it unnecessarily for a moment as she pushed the fog out of her head. Oh, right.
“Thank you.” The girl said, her smile growing. She did in fact look cute. Her facial features and figure were well proportioned, and her plain outfit actually complimented her color scheme.
Vinyl began to feel a bit guilty over her internal reaction to the girl’s eyes, now realizing she had overlooked so much more about her new classmate that appealed to her. Is she new? I don’t think I’ve seen her around before. “You’re welcome. My name’s Vinyl, by the way. Sorry I didn’t ask for your name earlier. I sorta fell asleep.” She took a second to look around the room. The clock was nearly at the top of the hour, meaning class was about to end once the bell rings. Mr. Doodle was gone, probably to use the restroom like clockwork every third period on even days. The rest of the students had taken advantage of the relaxed atmosphere to chat amongst themselves.
“It’s ok. You looked tired. I’m Ditsy.” She said as her eyes slowly traded their visual positions. This nearly made Vinyl laugh. “You’re Vinyl Scratch, right?”
“Yeah, that’s me. How’d you know?” Vinyl asked, quite confident that she had never seen or even hung out with this girl before. So why does her bag say Derpy?
“You were the sound music girl person at our middle school dance.” Ditsy said as she stuffed her roughly scrambled notes into her backpack.
Due to the size of the lettering, Vinyl was able to easily glance at them. Despite the rather crude and infantile handwriting, the words actually spelled some long multi syllable words that she knew she’d never be able to spell let alone knew what they meant. “Oh, you mean the DJ? Yeah, that was my first ever gig. Was kinda nervous actually.” She said as she rubbed the back of her head and smiled a bit. “Well, really nervous. Super nervous. I think I went way too overboard on the glowsticks.”
“It was a good time. Your music was fun.” Ditzy remarked as she closed her messenger bag. “I didn’t really dance, but the lights and the music were super cool.”
“Oh, thanks!” Vinyl blushed slightly, beaming with pride for a moment as she tossed her wild hair and ran her fingers through her electric blue locks. “I put a lot of work into that show, so...thanks, Ditzy.”
“Mhm!” Ditzy nodded and beamed even more, looking very happy that she shared some joy with someone.
Huh...she is actually pretty cute. The end of third period bell rang, and the overwhelming clash of desks being nudged and scooted around the floor immediately drowned out the bell as the class got up from their seats and made their way to the door. Vinyl did the same, pausing to stretch her arms out over her head as she yawned very heavily. “Um, so are you a new student here?”
“No, I just transferred to this history class last minute this semester. I was supposed to take it last year, but um…” Ditzy seemed to lose a slight sliver of glint from her smile for a moment. “Well I had to leave school for a while.”
“Oh, sorry to hear that. Did you get sick or something?” Vinyl asked as she picked up her backpack and brought it up to her shoulder without putting it on. She may need to maneuver the backpack a bit through the mad rush of students leaving school. She almost forgot to pick up her now flat energy drink from under her desk.
Ditsy began following Vinyl out of class, sticking close behind. She appeared to be very nearsighted due to the careful steps she took around the desks. “Kinda. I started having headaches and ended up seeing a doctor after Christmas break last year. After that...I kinda had to take some time off.”
“Sounds...serious?” Vinyl replied, somewhat confused as they exited the classroom and entered the hallways. “You had to miss, what, like a year of school or something?”
“Something like that. It’s ok though. I’m doing much better now.”
“That’s cool. Glad to hear it.” Vinyl said as she turned a corner to make her way to her locker. “I guess that explains why you’re sorta taller than me.” And then some… Vinyl internally lamented as she compared her own assets to Ditzys.
“Mhm.” Keeping just a few paces behind, she continued to follow Vinyl down the hallway.
She’s still following me. Why is that? “Sooo...is your locker around here?” She asked as she approached her own locker. With a very practiced hand, she input the combination and began stuffing books inside without much regard to organization.
“Um...I’m not really sure. My old locker belongs to someone else now, and I haven’t gotten a new one yet.” Ditzy awkwardly stood next to her a bit too closely and shook her head. “I’ll ask Vice Principal Luna about it tomorrow.”
“Oh, ok.” Vinyl shut her locker, relieved that her backpack now felt much lighter with just the essentials inside. She made a mental note that she was down to her last energy drink. I don’t think they’re as strong as they used to be. She thought as she immediately polished off the remnants of the can still in her hand before tossing it in an arching throw into the trash can across the hall. This earned her a thumbs up from a rainbow haired girl in track shorts carrying a soccer ball which she returned with the same enthusiasm while sliding her sunglasses over her eyes. Chicks dig me, dude. “So, I guess uh… I’ll see you around. I’m gonna meet up with my friends.”
“Oh….sure. Ok, I’ll see you around.” Ditzy said, her face losing a great deal of its usual happy sweetness to it. She clutched the shoulder strap of her messenger bag and visually sighed. At least, Vinyl thought she did. It was hard to hear anything quiet over the sound of the students rushing through the halls.
Damn...She looks sad. Probably doesn’t have any friends…She’s really nice...cute too, but I mean... Vinyl shrugged for a long moment before turning to the taller girl, struggling to meet her gaze again as those eyes shifted their positions once more. “You wanna meet them? I mean, if you’re not doing anything. You probably have like an after school thing to get to.”
“No, not really. I mean, I don’t have any plans or anything.” Ditzy began to smile again, much to Vinyl’s relief. “Are you sure it’s ok?”
“Yeah, it’s fine. They’re nice girls. Come on, I’ll introduce you.” Vinyl motioned for her to follow as she made her way to the side door through the same theater and music hallway she had eaten lunch in.
Once they stepped outside, Vinyl was greeted by the cold winter air tempered by the sun shining in the cloudless sky. She zipped her hoodie up and approached Lyra and Bon Bon standing next to an outdoor trash can. Lyra had her backpack on the ground beside it with her eyes glued to a small stack of papers in her hands. “Yeah… this looks great! I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about here, but it sounds sorta smart and stuff.”
“If you actually read the book yourself, or at the very least, watched the movie, you might be able to follow along.” Bon Bon said as she pulled her blue and fuscia jacket tighter around her waist. “You know how hard it is to write a paper and make it sound a little dumbed down?”
“I’m not that dumb, Bonnie.” Lyra said with a scowl towards Bon Bon’s rather amused smirk. “But thanks. I really appreciate you doing this for me.”
“Hey guys.” Vinyl threw up a hand and exchanged a high five with Lyra. “How’s it going? Turn out ok?”
“She’ll get an A for sure.” Bon Bon interjected. “I know what I’m doing.”
“Oh, hey are there supposed to be, like, references or something at the end?” Lyra asked, turning the last page over.
“It’s a book report, dummy.” Bon Bon said with a dramatically loud sigh while crossing her arms, keeping her hands warm against her sides. “You don’t need references. I’m surprised you know what they are, though.”
“Whatever.” Lyra rolled her eyes and stuffed the pages into a pocket in the front of her backpack before putting it on. “You get your nap in, V?”
“Yeah, sorta.” Vinyl pulled her backpack forward over her hip and retrieved her last energy drink. After opening it, she took a large gulp. “I slept almost the whole period, so I’m down to clown all night.”
“You were gonna do that anyway.” Bon Bon remarked as she looked at the open can for a moment. “Is that your third one today? You had one when you got to school and one at lunch.”
“Fourth one actually.” Vinyl said with pride as she raised the can as if making a toast. “Why? Are you counting them now? Geez, mom.”
“Yeah, mom. What are you, Vinyl’’s mom now, mom?” Lyra added with a giggle.
“Seriously, where do you get the money for all those things?” Bon Bon asked with a somewhat serious tone, ignoring the teasing. “Drinking that many in less than eight hours can’t be good for you.”
“Ughhh…” Vinyl tossed her head back with a loud sigh. “Ok, mom. Whatever, mom. I’ll eat my vegetables, mom. I’ll wear my helmet when I ride my bike, mom. Ok, mom? Gahhh!”
“You do whatever you want, V.” Bon Bon said as she put her hands up for a second. “But seriously, you drink a ton of those. That’s gotta be expensive.”
“My mom gets them from work.” Vinyl held up the can for the other two to see clearly. “It’s generic I think. Her work buys cases of this stuff at the dollar store for the employees.”
“And your mom just brings them home for you? Wow...that’s crazy. That’s actually crazy. Seriously, that’s kinda gross. You’re get sick eventually.”
“Ughhhh! Ok, mom!!” Lyra and Vinyl both chanted loudly in unison.
Bon Bon shook her head and rolled her eyes for a long moment, her gaze falling upon a lone girl standing several feet behind Vinyl. She tilted her head slightly as if straining to clearly look at something before blushing slightly with embarrassment. “Hello?”
Vinyl whipped her head around and gasped. “Oh! Right, sorry Ditzy. That’s my bad. I totally forgot.” She motioned for the newcomer to step closer, and as Ditzy entered their little conversation circle, she pointed to her. “This is Ditzy. She’s in my third period history class. The mom of our group there is Bon Bon. She might complain about it, but she likes helping us out. Over her is Lyra. I think aliens dropped her off one day, and she’s trying to blend in or something.”
“I’m mint, not green, jerkface.” Lyra said with a huff and jabbed Vinyl in the side with her elbow. “We’ve been friends for the longest.”
“Hi…” Ditzy nearly mumbled as she blushed heavily, appearing very self conscious as Lyra squinted at her and leaned forward. “It’s nice to meet you all.”
Bon Bon stepped firmly on Lyra’s foot after realizing she was staring a bit too keenly at Ditzy’s eyes. “Knock it off, Lyra.” She said in a sharp whisper which prompted Lyra to back off a bit and pretend to see something much more interesting somewhere near the roof of the school. “It’s nice to meet you too, Ditzy.”
There came a short but awkward silence that Vinyl felt it was her obligation to break. “U-Um, so Ditzy school last year, and she doesn’t have a whole lot of people to hang out with soooo...I figured she could meet you guys.”
“Hey, that’s cool!” Lyra suddenly shouted. “You got to skip school for a year? Lucky! Your parents travel a lot or something?”
“Lyra, cool it.” Bon Bon muttered very forcefully. “Just ignore her. She has zero filter. I mean, zero filter. I think she’s got brain damage or something.”
This made Vinyl giggle slightly, but Ditzy wasn’t nearly as amused for some reason. “I-It’s ok. It’s just nice getting to talk to some other girls.”
“Aw…” Bon Bon smiled warmly and gave Ditzy a little hug around her arms. Due to Ditzy’s significantly taller height than the rest, she had to hug around her elbows instead of her shoulders. “Well, you’re welcome to hang out with us anytime. We could use another friend in our group that isn’t totally off their marbles or dating someone off their marbles.”
Ditzy’s face lit up with an immense level of joy as she returned the hug. “Thanks, Bon Bon. That’s really nice of you. Thanks, girls.”
“Yeah, don’t mention it. We’re easy to get along with as long as you can stomach Vinyl and Octavia losing their minds over each other everyday.” Lyra added with a laugh. ‘
“Hey! Don’t be jealous, loser.” Vinyl poked Lyra firmly in the side, rewarding herself with a pained gasp from Lyra and a sneering face.
“O-Octavia?” Ditzy asked. “You’re dating someone?”
“Oh...heh...uh, yeah I probably should’ve mentioned it earlier.” Vinyl said as her face flushed bright red. I mean...not that cause dating is weird...but she’s a...and I’m a…
“Am I correct in hearing someone say my name?” Asked a melodious voice from outside the little circle by the side door. There stood Octavia in a very sharp dark grey pant suit jacket with a little purple pocket square matching her bow tie.
“Babe!” Vinyl immediately turned around and quickly stepped towards her before throwing her arms around Octavia’s shoulders. Unlike the hug Bon Bon and Ditzy shared, this hug was very tight and close with both girls gripping each other with an intense clingy tightness reserved only for long awaited reunions in movies or just two girls desperately in love with more innocence than experience. “I missed you, babe!”
“I wasn’t gone but for perhaps two hours, no more, Vinyl.” Octavia said with a soft giggle, her hands resting against Vinyl’s waist as she rubbed her cheek against Vinyl’s arm still around her shoulder. “I did indeed missed you too, though…”
“Here it comes.” Lyra whispered with a slight snicker and a smirk. Both Vinyl and Octavia leaned forward just enough so their noses touched for a second. They exchanged a very quick little peck on the lips before both of them gave each other a somewhat silly little giggle. “Count dowwwwn to pound towwwww-OOWW!”
Bon Bon sighed heavily again after pinching Lyra’s slender waist through her winter jacket which was no small feat. She had a lot of practice, after all. “Like I said, just ignore her.”
Ditzy didn’t do or say anything after watching the affectionate embrace unfold in front of her, but she did blush harder than even the two love birds did while her smile grew again. “O-Oh.” Was all she could come up with.
Lyra rubbed her side frantically while grimacing. “Yeah, it’s like that with them all the time. Like, alllll the time.”
Vinyl glanced back at Lyra a bit angrily before turning back to Octavia. “You want to ride the bus home with us today?” She asked as she slowly dropped her arms and interlocked the fingers of one hand through the fingers of Octavia’s