Indigo sat across from Sunny in the library, her eyes glued to the papers. She was quiet. Focused on the work perhaps, but it felt...off. Like she wasn't even there.
"Indigo, are you okay?" She asked, glancing up.
The athlete flinched, as if forgetting she wasn't alone. "Huh? Oh yeah. I'm great."
"You're being really quiet, I was just curious-"
"I'm too loud one day, too quiet the next? Make up your mind." Indigo grumbled.
"Hey, I didn't mean to start a fight. I just wanted to know if you were okay."
Indigo hesitated for the briefest of moments. "I'm fine. Thanks."
"Have you been feeling pressure from this project?"
"Pft." Indigo scoffed. "'Course not. It's a breeze."
"Maybe I was overthinking things." Sunny said with a small giggle. "You just seemed stressed the other day. I wanted to apologize for my comments from before. They were out of line." She said. "We'll be okay."
"Y-Really? Well, I guess it's fine." She muttered. "Just, try not to start shit and there won't be any."
"You're so eloquent it hurts." Sunny said flatly.
"What was that?"
"Oh, nothing. Have you seen that the friendship games are coming up?"
She blinked. "Oh yeah, I forgot about those. I'm the best athlete in the school, so I'm definitely on the team."
"So confident. We won't have much to worry about against Canterlot anyway."
"What makes you so sure Cinch will pick you to be on the team?"
"I'm number four in the school overall, dear." She said cockily, leaning back and crossing her arms with a smirk. "If I had to guess, we'll also see the other 8 from the top ten and some students who would do well in the specific stages. Baking, woodworking, etcetera." She noted.
"That's a pretty solid team build."
"So, we'll mop the floor with CHS, Simple."
"'We'?" Indigo repeated. "Talk like that and Cinch is gonna think we're friends or something." She chuckled.
"Would that be so bad?"
"...nah." Indigo said simply, returning to writing, Sunny smiled inwardly, this was good. This was progress.
The afternoon turned to evening and they had to split off, Indigo walked through the halls of the school, her mind wandered. She'd actually had a good time chatting with Sunny. Guess she wasn't just another stuck up bitch.
She watched as other students brushed past each other, muttering curses and insults. 'I'm no different.' She sighed inwardly.
"GET OUT OF THE FUCKING WAY!" A voice shouted, two girls squared off as one tried to keep them apart. "I have no issue beating the shit out of you!"
"Bring it on, you bipolar bitch!" The other spat.
"H-Hey! Back up, there doesn't-" The pink girl was shoved to the side from the taller girl, who lunged at the redhead that stood her ground.
Indigo recognized the taller girl, one of her volleyball teammates. The other two were in the top 6 students. She had history with them, Lemon Zest was rubbing the back of her head, and Sour Sweet was covering her face as the athlete reared back. Indigo's legs moved before she realized it.
Indigo caught the girl's arm. "Ginger! Just what do you think you're doing?!" She easily shoved her back. As the girl started to defend herself, "Shut up! I don't wanna hear it!"
The crowd that had surrounded the fight quieted immediately. "You wanna get dropped from the team? You only needed to ask, but getting into a fight?"
"But she-"
"I don't care what she did! You should have been the bigger person here!" The captain shouted. "You're not some stupid thug, get your head out of your ass and act like you have some goddamn common sense! We are so close to the games, and you endanger two of the top 10? What's wrong with you?"
"But I-"
"Apologize."
"What?!"
"Both of you." Indigo turned to the shell shocked redhead. "You were both out of line, and Ginger you'd better apologize to Zest too." She crossed her arms.
"...sorry."
"Right, sorry." They both mumbled before Indigo's attention turned to Lemon Zest.
"She knocked you into the lockers, you good?"
"Oh, yeah. Thanks for sticking up for us."
Indigo scoffed and waved it off. "How about you?" She looked to Sour Sweet, who held her cheek, but shrugged.
"Good. Stay out of trouble." She looked around at the other students. "This ain't a show, get outta here!" They all dispersed quickly, leaving the three by themselves. Indigo sighed. "See you around." She added with a wave, heading back towards the exit.
"Later, dude! Yo wasn't that pretty cool?" Lemon asked, Sour's response was lost to the captain as she walked.
'Why? Why can you defend someone you don't even know well?' She asked herself, watching her feet as she walked.
The games. She'd completely forgotten about them until Sunny mentioned them earlier. She'd have to win every event she was a part of. Did she have time to prepare? What events would she even be in? Her mind raced with different sports events at first before remembering that other talents were involved. She was decent at woodworking. Baking would be a no-go. She had no class credits for home economics. Her head started to hurt at the thought of all the possibilities.
"-I don't know, I think I need help." Someone said from ahead of her. It came from the staircase that led to the auditorium. Indigo slowed to listen to more of the conversation, the voice sounded familiar.
"Help? You'd be lucky to get anything outside of outright scorn from most of the sports kids, besides, didn't you hate that you were paired with Indigo?"
Indigo's heart sank. She placed the voice now. Sunny was around that corner, and somehow hearing that made her feel even lower. She turned to walk in the opposite direction. Of course Sunny thought she was worthless-
"Well, I was wrong. Indigo is a really interesting person and a very hard worker, I just want to know more about her, maybe I could get her to open up more." Sunny said, crossing her arms. Indigo glanced back.
"What do you care? She's just a meathead athlete."
"Stop that right now!" Sunny shouted as she stood. "You don't even know her!"
"And what, you're some kind of expert?"
"Of course not, but that doesn't mean I'll go around insulting someone I don't know well enough. It was childish of me to judge a book by its cover. Just as childish as you're being right now."
"Alright, alright. Sheesh. That girl has tough skin anyways. I doubt she'd even care if you called her stupid."
"But that's the thing. She isn't stupid. Indigo is pretty smart, you have to remember she's in the school's top 10."
"And she isn't just there for Cinch to have an athlete to brag about? How do you know she's even doing the work she turns in?"
"Okay. I understand that I wasn't the biggest fan at first, but what do you have against her? It's like you're looking for reasons to hate her."
"I don't need a reason. She's just not the kind of person I want to associate with."
"Very well." Sunny stepped down the stairs. "I believe we're done here."
"W-What?"
"If you're that fickle to judge the girl you haven't even tried to get to know, I can scarcely imagine what you say about me behind my back. Good day." She said over her shoulder. "And do try to keep her name out of your mouth since you seem to think she's so beneath you. I, on the other hand, will try to make an actual friend, because she is the kind of person I would like to associate with." She hit the bottom step, turning to find Indigo, standing around the corner. She jolted at the sudden appearance.
"Indigo? How...long were you there?"
"Long enough. Uh, thanks for sticking up for me, dude." She mumbled. Her body felt lighter at the idea of someone actually wanting to be her friend, not for a favor, but to genuinely want to know about her. "I uh, thought you hated me." She admitted.
"Not at all. I just didn't know you, and to be quite honest, I still don't know you as well as I wish to, are you free?"
"Ye-Uh, no. I gotta be home soon. Maybe we can talk tomorrow?" She asked.
"Indigo?"
"What?"
The thespian reached into her pocket, taking out a small cloth. "Are you sure you're okay?" She offered it to her, and it was then that Indigo noticed the wetness of her eyes.
"I-"
"Oh, that's why you were talking her up. You knew she was there, didn't you?" The girl from before asked, Sunny whirled on her.
"Of course not! What's your problem?"
That's all it took. Indigo took a step back. What if she was lying? To make herself look good. She has nothing to gain from being nice, why is she?
"I'll see you later." She said quietly, turning to dart off down the hall.
"Wai-!" Sunny growled, turning to her former friend. "Why would you say something like that?"
"Sunny. She's just another athletic kid. Grades or not, she won't amount to anything in the future. You need to rub elbows with other authors or actors. That's what'll get you ahead in your field, not pitying someone like her."
"That's it! I don't want you to ever speak to me again, got it?" She asked, grabbing her by the collar. The girl looked panicked before Sunny shoved her back and turned to walk away.
"Already learning from your new toy, huh?"
The glare that Sunny shot at her made the girl wilt and slink away before running down the hall.
She started to follow after Indigo, but there was no way she could keep up with her, she ultimately came to a stop outside the library, no luck in finding the girl. 'She isn't answering her texts either.' She sighed.
"Dude, it was awesome! Indigo came up and told off Ginger. I wouldn't have believed it if I wasn't there. It was just like the old days!" Lemon said as she came out of the door, beside her walked Sugarcoat. The number two student.
"I doubt anyone at this school is capable of leaving someone awestruck enough for anyone else to think it was 'awesome'."
"Bro. Hearing you say 'awesome' is so weird." She teased. "But like, she stood up for us. She didn't have to do that at all, it's kinda cool y'know?"
"Maybe she pitied you. Didn't you get shoved out of the way?"
"Nah. Well I mean, yeah, but it was more like…" The rocker cupped her chin as she walked past Sunny, Sugarcoat looked disinterested, yet continued to humor Lemon Zest for whatever reason.
"It was like?"
"Like she wanted to help." She shrugged. "Sometimes that's all you need."
"How hopelessly optimistic of you, Lemon Zest."
"Eh," She shrugged. "Gotta take the good where you can get it in this place."
Sunny listened as they turned the corner, replaying the words. Indigo stopped a fight? The girl had to admit that even though she had issues coming up with reasons to try and socialize with the students here, everyone seemed so full of themselves. Other students shared her former friend's views on Indigo. A short-fused loudmouth with the strength to back up her threats.
But.
That wasn't the Indigo that Sunny saw today. This Indigo was quiet, withdrawn, and focused. She began to walk towards the doors, a small frown on her face. How much could words really affect the star athlete of the school? That-That girl… She definitely made things worse. How could she get Indigo to open up to her if she thought Sunny was only playing nice around her?
'An apology? My last one didn't seem to do the trick.' She thought, watching her feet as she exited the main building and began down the sidewalk. 'Her reputation around the school shows that not many people know her outside of sports clubs.' Sunny pulled up her arm, pressing a button on her bracelet, tapping a few of the touch screen keys and bringing it up to her face.
She rattled off her notes, making a document with the text to speech function. "End recording." She concluded before her eyes scanned over the information. "They're wrong about you. I just know it." She mumbled.