//------------------------------// // Spring! // Story: Punkbabii! // by HelloPussy //------------------------------// Bow usually wakes me up for school. He also tends to wake me up way too early, even on the bloody weekends. Today he doesn’t. I roll over a few times to fight the sleep away. Half of me is convinced that it’s still, like, 3 in the morning and I can so sleep more, but the sun is peeking through my blinds to tell me otherwise. Man, if only I could just ignore it.  I hear Bow downstairs. He’s laughing way too loudly, which isn’t new. The guy tends to wake up before the sun does. Windy’s the opposite. She could sleep in until afternoon, and yet she isn’t a night owl either. She just likes to sleep. I can hear her voice too, smell breakfast, and this gets me to sit up. There’s a digital alarm clock on the nightstand next to my bed. It’s got a dirty t-shirt and an empty chip bag covering it. I snatch it off and throw the junk on the floor where it belongs.  6:52 am. Bow gets me up at 6. School starts at 8, and we leave the house at 7:15. So right now I might be late. I quickly throw my blanket off as I search for something to wear. There’s no time for a shower, not that I take one every morning anyway. I skip every other day, didn’t shower yesterday, so I’ll have to when I get home tonight. Fate would have it that there’s no more clean skirts in my drawer. I’d wear these same spandex shorts, but Mother Celestia would so send me home before I even step foot on school grounds.  “Mom!” I yell at the top of my lungs to cut through all the bullshit laughing. No one responds, so I stomp through my open doorless doorframe to make demands up face and personal. I know for a fact she heard me, oh, I so know she did. My foot brushes over the same sheet I tapped up last night. Bow must’ve snatched it down while I as asleep like the prick that he is. God, I hate him so much. “Windy!” I’m skipping down the stairs at this point, tripping over my feet, but I’m agile as fuck, so I never fall.  The archway to the kitchen is at the bottom of the steps and on the other end of that is the archway to the dining room. Windy is sitting at the table staring at her work laptop. “What is it, Rainbow?” She has this sweet little voice, and she only ever acts this sanitized at church. I even called her by her first name and that usually gets her to yell right back at me. “Why aren’t you ready for school?” I can see the screen reflecting off her glasses. Her shorter haircut is combed and it looks like she brushed her teeth and wiped the crud out of her eyes, so now I definitely know we have company. Now I’m folding my arms over my chest to hide my skittle tits. Now I’m really annoyed. And now is time to make my great escape. “I’ll go get—“  “Rainbow Dash! Come say hi!” Damnit. I groan. Windy was speaking way too loudly and my presence was detected. I really rather not talk to some old lady from the church, or our schizo neighbor, or— I see the colorful streaks before I see him. The room gets all weird, I swear it’s in my head, but the room gets smaller, darker. He looks behind his shoulder then gets up from the couch with that kind smile like he’s a kind person. “Hey, Dashie. Long time no see.”  Bow is sitting on his lazy boy and he’s talking to him like their good fucking friends? And I guess they are, and I guess that makes sense. “Don’t just stand there and stare at him.” Bow’s getting up now. “It’s Rainbow Blaze, your mentor?” He says that like I don’t already fucking know, like I don’t recognize the guy. And he has this look on his face like he’s mad that I’m being rude, but I’m really not doing it on purpose.  I have freaky painful knots in my stomach.  “Hi.” I say, and now I’m really regretting coming down here braless and in tight shorts. Blaze is staring at my belly like he’s looking for something, like he knows, and I know I’m not showing yet. The doctor said I’m only 7 weeks.  “Thought I’d come by and see if you're ready for the season, maybe do a few stretches, a test jog around the block.” He’s messing with his keys in his pocket. I can tell he’s nervous by how far his smile stretches. “But uh,” he swallows a lump down his throat. “Your old man was telling me you’re currently on a break from track. Don’t tell me you picked up another sport.” And he pretends to be shocked, betrayed by the thought of it. I don’t know why. I used to play soccer last year in middle school, and he was definitely there for that. So I kinda just shrug.  Windy said we shouldn’t tell everyone about the baby. Some things just aren’t other people’s business. “Well, hey. I’m here to support you in whatever direction you decide to take your athletic career, and if you need a bit of a break I understand that too.” He smiles at me with straight rows of white teeth. My eyes are burning so bad. “I definitely see you going pro at the Equestria Games. You’ll send the competition packing.” He extends a lame thumbs up. My head is hanging a bit and I didn’t mean to do that. I wonder what he thinks about my haircut. I wonder if he finds it absolutely monstrous like Rarity did. I wonder if I cut it all off if he would scream too. So I don’t respond and I look at Bow with brewing tears that I absolutely refuse to let fall.  He’s just so clueless.  “Alrighty, Rainbow Dash. We’ll let you go.” Bow shakes his head like that was so hard to say, to do. “God, I swear she acts like we’re torturing her,”  Blaze softly chuckles, and I take that as my chance to really leave before I say something that’ll make Bow embarrass me further. “She’s always been like that. That stubbornness will get her far.” I grip the railing, but before I go upstairs I glance over at Windy. She’s got her face in her computer, totally ignorant of this freaky asshole staring at me. Bow even more than her. They’re so fucking clueless and I hate them for it.  “Hey, are you game for catching hoofball this Sunday?” Blaze loses that nervousness on his mug. “You don’t even gotta ask, man.” They both start talking sports, and I’m just climbing back to my room with my finger in my mouth trying to rip that loose piece of skin off.