MLP: The School Years
The bus rolled to a stop in front of a large building, doors opening and letting in a rush of noise from the crowd outside. Tori stepped off of the bus, straightening her skirt. She looked up at the large sign above the doorway.
“School of Equestria,” she read. “I wonder if we’ll like it here?”
“Don’t look so down Tori,” said the boy standing next to her. He was a bit on the shorter side, wearing a purple hoodie with a green undershirt and jeans. His hair was short and spiky, sticking up in places. “I’m sure you’ll fit right in.”
“I don’t know Spike, everything seems so…” Tori looked around at all the people walking to the doors, “…different. It’s nothing like the city at all.”
A bell sounded and the people lingering outside began to make their way into the building. Tori turned to Spike, looking a bit nervous, “Let’s go…We don’t want to be late on our very first day in a new school.”
“Yeah…” mumbled Spike, sounding disgruntled, “we sure wouldn’t.”
Tori walked through the doors, walking with the crowd and being followed closely by Spike. “It says on my schedule that my first class is in Room E-201. I wonder if anyone knows where that is? Spike, do you have any idea…” she trailed off as she realized that Spike had already walked off. Sighing, Tori looked around for the closest person to ask directions. That person happened to be a girl of about her age, with very poufy and curly pink hair. She was wearing a bubblegum pink shirt and jeans with balloons bedazzled onto them. She was flitting around the entrance, humming to herself. Tori walked up to her, “Excuse me? Can you tell me where…”
“Ohmygosh!” the girl shouted, jumping and turning to face Tori. She was a bit shorter than Tori, and smelled like a bakery. “You must be new here! No one else but a new kid would ask where something was! My name’s Penelope, but you can call me Pinkie, ‘cause I love pink! And baking, I love baking cupcakes and real cake and pastries and just about anything that you can bake. This one time, when I was baking…”
“Hang on just a moment!” Tori cut the girl off short, “I’m just looking for Room E-201. Do you know where that is?”
The girl, Penelope, took a deep breath, “Of course I know where it is! I know where almost everything is in this school! Why, are you lost? Do you need help? I’m going there too, so you can walk there with me. What’s your name, by the way?”
Tori blinked. “My name’s Tori, and did you say that you were going to E-201?”
“Yeah…didn’t you hear me? I was all ‘I’m going there too…’ and you were all, ‘Really?’ and I was all, ‘Yeah.’” Penelope smiled at Tori, “Come on slowpoke! We’re going to be late!”
Penelope set off at a brisk walk, leaving Tori to scramble to catch up with her. As they walked, Penelope bombarded Tori with questions. “Where’d you move from? Was it nice there? Do you like it here? Where’d you get your hair done, I love that purple stripe! What’s your favorite subject? I like home ec the best. We get to cook in there…” It was a relief when they finally arrived outside of the classroom. “Yay! We made it here early!” said Penelope, jumping up and down. She bounded through the door, leaving Tori standing outside.
“Well,” Tori said to herself, “that certainly was odd.” Adjusting her bag, Tori walked through the door into the classroom, drawing the eyes of several groups of people who were sitting inside. Nervously, Tori looked around for somewhere to sit. She caught sight of Penelope jumping up and down, waving at her to come over. Sighing, Tori walked over and sat down next to her.
“Yay! I thought that we’d be in the same class! I mean, why else would you be going to the same classroom as me? Isn’t this going to be awesome? Oooooo…I can’t wait for all my friends to get here and meet you!”
“Um…excuse me…sorry to interrupt,” came a small voice from behind them. Both turned to see a girl sitting behind them, wearing a light yellow turtleneck sweater and light blue jeans. She saw both of them looking at her and glanced away, trying to hide under her long, lilac colored hair. She shot a quick look back and seeing that they both were still looking at her, squeaked and looked away.
“Oh, Phoebe! Hi! I didn’t see you there, this is Tori! She’s new!”
“Hello,” said Tori, “pleased to meet you.”
“Oh…yes…I guess it is nice to meet new people…would…would you like to be friends?” Phoebe looked down again, “I mean…if that’s alright with you…”
Tori was about to answer when someone placed a hand on her shoulder. “Now who thinks they can just sit in my seat? Only someone as cool as I am can sit here!” Tori looked up at the owner of the hand and saw a mess of rainbow colored hair hanging over her face. She moved her head so that the ceiling light wasn’t in her face. Standing above her was a taller than average girl wearing a sky-blue shirt with a cloud and a tri-colored lightning bolt in the center. Her hair was all colors of the rainbow and stuck up in random places. The girl absent-mindedly brushed her hair over her shoulder.
“I’m sorry,” said Tori, standing up. “I didn’t realize that there was assigned seating in this class.”
“There isn’t, I just like this seat ‘cause I can slack off without the teacher seeing me,” said the girl, flopping down onto the seat and sighing. “Name’s Dash, captain of the track team and coolest person that you’ll meet.”
Tori blinked. “Well then, pleasure to meet you, I guess…My name’s Tori.”
“She’s new here! She moved from the city!” said Penelope, bouncing up to them.
“Oh…was it nice there?” Phoebe asked in a quiet voice. “Um…that is…if you want to talk about it…” she seemed to close in on itself while asking the question. “Sorry…”
Tori suddenly became aware of Dash staring at her. “Excuse me, but what do you think you’re doing?”
Dash blushed and quickly looked away. “Nothing…just looking. I like your hair. It looks pretty.”
“Well hol’ on there sugarcube,” came a voice from behind Dash. Tori looked over and saw a girl a bit shorter than Dash standing next to her, wearing overalls and a tan and brown plaid button-up shirt. She wore a large cowboy hat over long, straw-blonde hair, which was held together at the end by a small, red ribbon and thrown over her shoulder. She had on work boots that looked well used and dirty. “Don’ be scarin’ the poor thing on her first day here.”
“I wasn’t scaring her AJ. I was just looking at her hair.” Dash sat up in her chair and looked at Tori. “Did I scare you?”
“No, you didn’t. It’s just that I haven’t ever been stared at like that before.”
Dash blushed again, “Do you want me to keep looking?”
Tori looked taken aback, “Are you hitting on me? Sorry, but I’m not into that sort of thing, no offense.”
“Oh…” Dash slumped and looked away, still blushing.
Tori leaned over to the girl who just walked in, “Was Dash really trying to hit on me?”
“Probably,” the girl whispered back, smiling. “She’s tried that ol’ routine on all’ve us before. Didn’t catch yer name, by the way. You can call me AJ, or Jackie dependin’ on yer mood.”
“My name is Tori. I guess you’ve already heard that I’m the new kid.” Tori cut off as AJ reached out and grabbed her hand, shaking it roughly.
“Pleased t’meetcha! Welcome to the school.”
“Oooooh! Are we having a welcome party?!” Penelope came bounding over, pulling out an uninflated balloon from her pocket. “I really want to have one now! Let’s do it!”
“Easy there sugarcube,” said AJ, planting her hand on the top of Penelope’s head, holding her on the ground. “We can’t jus’ go an’ have a party in th’ middle of the classroom. Wait ‘till school lets out a’least.”
“But, but, but, but, but, bu…” AJ covered Penelope’s mouth and shook her head.
“After school.”
“What’s going on after school darling?” Tori looked in the direction of the new voice and saw a girl walking towards them. Her violet hair sat in long, flowing curls and was kept out of her face by a couple of fancy hair clips. She was wearing a dress that was a beautiful shade of blue on the bottom and white on the top. Over it she wore a cardigan that matched the blue on her dress. Her nails were painted to match her hair, and she wore a ring with an amethyst in it on her middle finger.
“We’re having a party!” said Penelope with glee.
“So soon?” The girl set down her handbag on a desk and sat down. “School’s just started, there’s hardly anything to celebrate.”
“Tori, this here is Rachel,” AJ leaned closer to Tori and whispered, “Don’ let her looks fool ya, she’s not as vain as she looks.”
“Ahh, Audrey!” said Rachel, walking over to AJ. “I see that your fashion sense hasn’t improved since the last time I saw you. Those boots are simply horrid and your hair could use brushing.”
“I told’ja not t’ call me that. My name’s AJ, Jackie if ya must.” AJ looked angry, so Tori stepped in.
“That’s a beautiful dress you’re wearing there Rachel. I’ve never seen anything like that in stores. My name’s Tori, by the way.”
“What, this old thing?” Rachel looked down at her dress, “This is just something that I threw together. It’s nothing really.” She glanced at Tori’s clothing and grimaced. “You, on the other hand, look like you need serious work. Purple and black just doesn’t cut it for you, that outfit looks ridiculous. If you want something to work with your hair, which looks quite good darling, love what you did with that stripe of color, try wearing white instead of black. It will bring out your natural complexion.” Tori unconsciously played with the hem of her skirt. Was her fashion sense really that bad?
“I heard that we’re having a super mean teacher this year! Do’ya think that’s true?” Penelope cut in, leaving Rachel looking disappointed.
“D’ya know the teacher’s name a’least?” asked AJ.
“I heard that it’s Professor Luna…you know,” Dash leaned forward and lowered her voice, “I heard that she hates teaching kids.”
“Are ya sayin’ that we’re kids?” AJ crossed her arms. “I know Penelope over there might be a kid, but I sure ain’t.”
Another bell rang and everyone began to sit down. Tori found herself sitting in between Dash and AJ. The door flew open and in strode a young looking woman, with raven-colored hair. She was wearing a dark blue coat with a light purple button-up shirt and a blue scarf. She didn’t look that tall, but her outfit made her look intimidating.
She set a stack of papers down on the desk and walked over to the windows, lowering the blinds on each one. Tori heard AJ scoff, “T’aint no reason t’be doin’ that. It’s a beautiful day.”
The woman grabbed a piece of chalk and wrote “Professor Luna” on the board. She turned to the class, “I am Professor Luna, you may call me ‘Professor’ or ‘ma’am’. This year I aim to make you into the best group of students that this school has ever seen.” She picked up the stack of papers, “To see where you all stand, I will be giving you a test. You have forty-five minutes to complete it. No talking.” The class groaned as Luna handed out the tests.
Tori looked down at the first problem, “Describe the process of photosynthesis.” This will be easy, she thought to herself.
She had just started writing when Luna spoke, “You there, Audrey is it?”
“Yes ma’am?” AJ asked, looking up from her paper. “And please, call me AJ, ma’am.”
“Take off your hat; it’s distracting to the other students.” Luna turned and walked away.
AJ grumbled and removed her hat, placing it under her desk. “T’aint botherin’ no one,” she said under her breath. Tori heard Dash snicker.
* * *
Forty minutes later, Tori sat staring at the last question. It was a difficult one, but she could easily solve it. A quick tap on her shoulder made her jump. She looked to see Dash discreetly holding out a piece of paper under the desk. Catching her eye, Dash motioned passing the note to AJ.
Tori raised an eyebrow and Dash motioned towards AJ again. Tori sighed and took the note. She was about to pass it over to AJ when she heard Luna get up and start walking around the classroom. Tori quickly wedged the note under the desk and began writing again. The footsteps stopped directly behind her.
Luna stood there for a couple seconds, then said, “Time’s up. Pass your papers up to the front, anyone still writing will be counted as cheating.”
Tori put her pencil down and stacked up her papers, sighing. That had been a bit difficult for her first day, but there was nothing there that she didn’t know how to do. A bell rung outside and the class got up to leave, but found Luna standing in front of the door.
“You are only allowed to leave when I dismiss you. Now sit back down so we can do this right.” The class groaned and reluctantly sat back down and waited for Luna to finish collecting all of the papers. After she had picked up the last one and set them on her desk, she turned to the class. “Now you may leave.”
As soon as they were outside, Rachel said, “Can you believe the nerve of that teacher? Giving us a test on our first day back.”
“T’wasn’t that bad,” said AJ. “I think I might have passed…maybe.”
Dash looked at Tori, “Didja give AJ that note? I saw you take it, but then Professor Luna got in the way and I didn’t see what you did with it.”
AJ cut into the conversation, “I didn’t get anything from her. She was too busy workin’.” AJ frowned, “How hard was tha’ test to ya?”
“Oh, not that hard at all. That last problem was kind of difficult, but I was able to figure it out after a while. I think I might have missed a problem, but that’s probably nerves talking.” Tori looked at everyone, who looked flabbergasted.
“Wow…You must be super smart! Like, really really really reeeaalllyyy smart! I barely got half of those questions! You should help me with my homework, I’ll be we’ll get lots done!” Penelope smiled at Tori, “You will help, right?”
“What did you do with that note?” asked Dash, stepping closer to Tori. “Did you just leave it in the classroom?”
“Oh…hey…” Tori took a step back from Dash, nervously, “Look at the time, I need to…uhhh…check to see…I’ve gotta go.” With that, she started walking in the other direction. Everyone watched her go.
“Was it something I said?” asked Penelope.
“I dunno…” said AJ, looking after her. “Think we should go after her?”
“You guys can,” said Dash, leaning up against some lockers and sighing. “I really don’t feel like doing anything right now…need to save up my energy for track practice.”
“Um…if you don’t mind…I’m going to stay here too,” said Phoebe quietly.
“Whatever,” said AJ. “Come on the rest of y’all. Let’s find out what upset her.” AJ, Rachel, and Penelope followed after the direction that Tori had gone, leaving Phoebe and Dash alone by the classroom.
“What to do now? We’ve got another ten minutes before we’re needed back in there…How’re things going with you and your veterinary studies?”
Phoebe seemed to brighten up a bit, “Oh…they’re going great. I really love working with all of the little animals. It makes me feel good that I can help them out.”
“Well, well, well…look who we have here,” came a voice from across the hall. Dash looked up and saw three boys standing and laughing at Dash and Phoebe. “How’s it going, ‘Rainbow Dyke’?”
“Shut up! That’s not funny.” Dash looked angry. “And what are you, three? Calling people names isn’t very mature of you.”
“Oh look,” said one of the boys. “We made her mad. Look out, wouldn’t want to catch gay from her.”
“Leave her alone…umm…that is, please?” Phoebe shrunk as the boys turned their attention on her.
“Now the silent freak is speaking up, huh? Well, let’s hear what she has to say.”
“Oh…I’m sorry…I didn’t mean to…”
“You leave her alone, she hasn’t done anything!” Dash stepped in front of Phoebe.
“What, is that your girlfriend or something? You two are both freaks, so it’d be natural I guess.” The other boys laughed.
“You’d better shut up right now,” said Dash menacingly.
“Or else you’ll do what?” The boy who said it walked over to her and laid a hand on her shoulder. “Cry about it?” He gave her a shove into the locker, making a noise. The people around them began to crowd around, looking on.
“Touch me again and find out.” Dash said in a cold tone.
The boy laughed and went to push Dash again, but Dash was ready for it and moved out of the way. She then followed up with a solid punch to the nose. The boy went reeling back, shouting in pain. The classroom door flew open and Professor Luna came striding out.
“What is going on here?” she demanded.
“Dash hit me for no reason!” shouted the boy, rubbing his nose. The other boys with him nodded in agreement.
“That’s not true!” Dash shouted back. “They antagonized me!”
“I don’t care who started what,” Luna said. “Miss Dash, you will report to my office after school for detention.”
“But…but…I have to attend track practice,” Dash stammered. “If I don’t attend practice today, I might not make the team!”
“Then you should have thought of that before you went and acted up, shouldn’t you have?” Luna smiled and began to walk back into the classroom.
“Wait…” came a small voice from behind Dash. Luna turned and looked to see Phoebe peeking over Dash’s shoulder. “Um…sorry…but Dash isn’t to blame here. Those boys started it…sorry…”
“Is that true?” Luna asked the boys. They all shook their heads no. “Well then, I guess you can join Miss Dash this afternoon for detention.”
“But…what for?” Phoebe asked, looking sad.
“For lying to a teacher, of course,” Luna smiled again and addressed the people standing in the hall. “Now all of you run along to class, you wouldn’t want to be late on your first day.”
As soon as the door closed behind Luna, Dash turned to the boys, who were laughing. “I swear, you ever make fun of Phoebe again and I’ll do more than punch you.”
“I’d like to see you try, ‘Rainbow Dyke.’ You’ll get a lot more than a detention if you hit us again.” They walked away laughing.
Dash was simmering with anger when Phoebe grabbed her arm. “Don’t…um…you don’t want to get into any more trouble, do you?”
Dash sighed, “I wish they wouldn’t call me that. I’m not different from anyone else.”
Phoebe gave Dash a quick hug, “I know…”
“Hey Dash!” Dash looked up to see AJ, Rachel, Penelope, and Tori coming back towards them. “Is somethin’ up? I saw three boys runnin’ away faster than a dog after a bone. Somethin’ the matter?”
“Phoebe and I got detention with Luna,” said Dash, looking down.
“What? However did you get detention Phoebe? I can’t imagine someone like you even getting close to trouble.” Rachel walked over and gave Phoebe a hug, who was on the verge of tears.
“It was awful…those mean boys started to make fun of Dash and she kinda…hit one of them.” Phoebe looked away.
“What’d they do to ya, sugarcube?” asked AJ.
“Called me ‘Rainbow Dyke’.”
Tori looked shocked. “That’s awful! Did they get in trouble at all? That sort of thing is inexcusable!”
“Yea? Try telling that to ‘Professor’ Luna. She didn’t even say anything to them.”
The bell rang and the people still lingering in the hallway began making their way to classrooms. The gang walked into the classroom to see Luna sitting at the teacher’s desk, reading through all of the papers. She looked up as they walked in and gave a little grin. “Calmed down, have we?” she asked.
“Yes ma’am…” said Dash through gritted teeth.
Behind her, AJ and Rachel were arguing quietly about something. “I swear Audrey, if only you would take care of yourself then you’d look much better.”
“I toldja sugarcube, call me AJ, and I don’ need to take care of m’looks…looks don’ get ya anywhere on a farm.”
“All I want is for you to try and look nice for once in your life. Is that too much to ask?”
“Yes. It is,” AJ said, raising her voice.
“Excuse me, ladies, but fighting is against school rules.” Both AJ and Rachel jumped as they noticed Luna had gotten up and walked over to them. “Whether it is physical,” she motioned at Dash, who glared at her, “or verbal. You both will meet me after school along with these two for a detention.” AJ and Rachel both looked at Luna slack-jawed.
“Detention for jus’ talkin’? That’s crazy talk. We didn’t do anythin’ wrong.”
“Back talking a teacher? You’re asking for more than just a day of detention if you keep that up.” Luna walked back to her desk and resumed sorting through the papers. She motioned for Dash, Phoebe, AJ, and Rachel to all come over to her desk. When they got there, Luna gave each of them a yellow sheet of paper. “Make sure to show up or else I will have to get harsher in my punishments.”
Penelope bounced up to them, “Ooohh! What are you guys doing? Is it something fun?”
“If you count detention fun,” said Dash under her breath.
“You guys must have been having a lot of fun to get yourself detention on the first day! I wish I was there with you!”
Dash grabbed the slip of paper and walked back to her desk, flopping down in her chair and pulling out her notebook. Tori walked over to her. “Are you alright Dash? You look really down. Is it the detention?”
“Nah…those kind of things don’t bother me. As captain of the track team I have to attend the practices or else risk losing the position. This would be the first time I missed a practice, and I need all of the practice I can get if I’m going to break the school’s record.”
“Do you want me to try and talk to the teacher? I’m sure that it wasn’t your fault that you hit that guy. After all, he did call you…”
“I don’t want your help!” said Dash, raising her voice. Everyone in the class turned to look at her and she blushed, sinking down in her seat.
Tori looked taken aback. “I’m sorry,” she said, taking a step back, “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“Well you did. Now just back off, okay?” Dash looked out the window.
Tori sat down, looking upset. AJ walked up and sat on the other side of her and turned to her, “Don’ take it personally, sugarcube. Dash gets moody sometimes, so it’s best to steer clear of her when she does.”
“I wish I knew that beforehand. It’s hard being new to a group of people who’ve known each other for a while.” Tori pulled out a notebook from her bag and set it on the desk. “What do you do after school is done? I know Dash does track, but what about the rest of you?”
“Most of us work. I help out on my parent’s farm, Sweet Apple Acres, when school lets out, but that’s only during harvest normally.” AJ smiled. “What about you, where do you go after school.”
“The library. There’s an apartment above there that I’ve rented along with my friend Spike.”
“Attention class,” said Luna, standing from her desk holding the papers. “I have the results from your tests, and let me say that I am very disappointed. We are going to have to work very hard if we want to live up to the standards I am hoping to get from this class.” With that, she began to pass back the papers. Tori saw each person flinch as they got handed the test and broke into a cold sweat. What if she failed?
Luna walked up to her and handed her the test. Tori flipped it over and saw a ninety-nine written in a small, precise hand on the top of the paper. Penelope looked over her shoulder to see her grade and gasped. “Wow! That’s a really high grade! I wish I did nearly as good as that! Now you really need to help me with my work Ms. Smarty-Pants!”
“Ms. Penelope,” said Luna, walking past her. “If you have another outburst like that in the middle of class, then I’ll have to give you a detention along with the rest of your friends.”
“Sorry, I just can’t help it! If you’re going to give me detention for being loud then I might as well stay after anyways!” Penelope giggled, “After all, if we’re all together then it can’t be that bad, right?”
* * *
The bell signaling lunch rang and the students in Luna’s class sat and waited for her to finish her sentence before dismissing them. Students streamed into the halls, talking and laughing about their days so far, except for Tori and the others.
“I can’t believe that you volunteered to join us darling,” said Rachel to Penelope as they walked towards the lunchroom. “Why on earth would you give up your afternoon to sit in a stuffy classroom and write lines?”
“I already told you, silly! If we’re all together, how bad can it be?”
“I think it’s nice…” said Phoebe, walking behind all of them. “Oh…sorry…I didn’t mean to interrupt…”
Tori turned to the group. “Sorry guys, but I need to go this way for a bit. I’m looking for my friend Spike, but I’ll try and come back and find you guys before class starts again.”
“Okay! You should bring him back with you!” said Penelope happily.
“I’ll try; I don’t know how much he’d like hanging out with a lot of girls though…no offense.” Tori waved at them and walked away. After several minutes of walking, however, she found herself completely lost. Turning a corner, she almost ran into a woman dressed in a white suit. She had long blonde hair that fell nearly below her waist and was taller than Tori by about half a foot.
“Oh, I’m sorry…I didn’t see you there.” said the woman. “Are you new to the school?”
“Yes ma’am,” said Tori, embarrassed. “I’m sorry too; I didn’t mean to almost run into you. How do you know that I’m new?”
“Not many students come over here to the offices that often, unless they’re here for official business. I’m the dean, Cassandra, and you are?”
“Tori, ma’am. Pleasure to meet you Dean Cassandra.”
“Please, just call me Ms. Cassandra. Are you looking for something that you ended up down here?”
“Just my friend Spike,” Tori looked around. “He’s a freshman here and I thought that I’d find him and have lunch with him.”
“Well, you probably won’t find him here. Might I suggest the lunchroom, or maybe the freshman hallway?” Cassandra pointed down the hall towards another part of the building.
“Thank you, ma’am.” Tori was about to leave, when a sudden thought popped in her head. “Ms. Cassandra? I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but a few of the people in my class have gotten detention that I don’t think they deserve.”
“Oh? Is that so? Can you tell me the circumstances that the detentions were assigned for, and for what teacher?”
Tori took a breath, “Professor Luna was the one who gave all the detentions. Dash was given detention for getting into a fight, but she was antagonized by a group of bullies, and Phoebe only got it because she was trying to explain what happened to Professor Luna. AJ and Rachel got detention for getting into a friendly argument about looks before class started, and Penelope volunteered to join them all. I just feel like the professor was being far too harsh on them.”
Cassandra stayed silent for a moment, then motioned Tori to follow her. She walked up to the loudspeaker and pushed the call button. “Would Professor Luna please report to the main office? Professor Luna to the main office.” She then turned to Tori, “We’ll have a chat with Luna, shall we?”
A couple minutes later, Luna came walking into the office. She saw Cassandra sitting, talking to Tori. “You needed me, ma’am?”
“Drop the formalities, sister. You needn’t be so formal with me.” Cassandra motioned to Tori, who looked confused. Luna was Cassandra’s sister? “This girl told me that you were giving out harsh punishments again. Do we need to have that little talk again, about how you need to lighten up?”
“Those girls were completely unruly! One of them started a fight, for goodness sakes. If I leave them undisciplined, there’s no telling what kind of trouble they’ll wreak on the class. I am only laying down the law, setting an example for the rest to turn them into good citizens.”
“Sister…I think you forget as to who has the final say in things in this school. You need to be nicer to the students, then they’ll act nicer to you in turn.” Cassandra walked over to Luna and put her hand on her shoulder. “I want you to cancel those girl’s detentions and give them a second chance.”
“But…” Cassandra held up a finger, cutting off Luna.
“That’s final. Don’t make me place you on probation again, especially for something as trivial as this.”
Luna glared at Cassandra, “Fine. I’ll cancel their detentions. Anything else you want from me, dear sister?”
“No, that is all.” Cassandra waved her hand, dismissing Luna. After Luna left the office, Cassandra addressed Tori. “Sorry you had to see all that. My sister sometimes gets a bit power-hungry. If she ever acts like that again, please come and tell me and I’ll set things right. Now go and run along, wouldn’t want to miss lunch with your friends, would you?”
“No I wouldn’t,” Tori got up and began to walk out of the office. She turned when she reached the door, “Thank you, for letting my classmates off.” Cassandra smiled and Tori left, almost running to the lunchroom.
She saw everyone sitting at a table, so she went over and sat next to them. “Guess what?” she asked everyone.
“Ooo! Is it a surprise? I love surprises! Let me guess! There’s going to be a surprise party in class! No, we’re going to have fire drill! No…” Tori cut Penelope off before she could ramble on anymore.
“I got you all out of detention!” The group looked amazed.
“How’d ya do that?” asked AJ.
“I ran into the Principle and talked to her. Guess what else I found out? Luna’s the principle’s sister!”
“You got us out of detention?” asked Dash. “Like, for real?” Tori nodded and suddenly found herself enveloped in a hug from Dash. “Thank you! Thank you sooo much!”
“Group hug!” shouted Penelope, grabbing everyone and dragging them into the hug. They all laughed and sat back down. “I told you this would be more fun with friends!” she said to Tori.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, we’re your friends…right?”
Tori looked at them all and smiled. “Yes, yes you are.” Everyone cheered and broke off into the conversations they had been having before Tori walked in. Tori listened to all of them, still smiling. This is going to be a fun year, she thought to herself.