"He's in a coma right now, Mrs. Strickland. Your other son is recovering fine from his broken arm, but Joseph was hit right at the impact point. It's a miracle he's at least somewhat conscious. We will keep him on life support for as long as we feel we need to. . . but I cannot guarantee when he'll be awake. The coma must run through its natural course. We will do everything in our power to ease this pain and bring him back, but for right now, I can say nothing more than to be patient and have God on your side. . ."
* * *
"Joseph! Hurry up! We're going to be late!" I heard a voice scream.
"Tina. . . Tina. . . it's four in the morning," I moaned.
It was now Wednesday, and I positively could say that things weren't incredibly perfect. The past two days had been pretty torturous to me. To start things off, after school on Monday, I got to go to Applejack's house. Her family was incredibly nice and hospitable, but I couldn't stop staring at Applejack as she showed me around the house and the barn. Just as I suspected, she was a farm girl, but her family wasn't too southern for my taste. I enjoyed the quality time that Applejack and I got to spend together. Granted, it was pretty short, as Twilight came in after about two hours and took me back home, after Rainbow had told her where I was. I liked it though. Especially her brother and cousins, they were all incredibly nice. . . and borderline cute. . .
Tuesday was about as bland as any other second day. The first day of school is always exciting, there's new adventures to experience, there's new sights to see, new people all around. . . but the second day was incredibly bland. Nothing much happened worth mentioning except that I was completely unaware that I was a part of the school's Wind Ensemble and missed the first practice. I received a pretty huge scolding from Octavia and Brittany about it, especially since Brittany was also a tuba player. But today was officially going to be my first day of Wind Ensemble. It would have been great, except for this little interruption. . .
"I know, I know, but we HAVE to get some studying in before we go to school! What if there's a pop quiz in English today!" Twilight moaned.
"Oh yeah, a quiz about the importance of always keeping extra kitty litter," I mumbled as I rolled around on the couch.
"JOOOSEEEPPH!" She whined, stomping her foot on the ground. "Fine, don't wake up. I'll just sit here. . . alone. . . studying. . ."
"Fine, fine, fine, I'll wake up. . . " I sighed as I threw the covers off of me, shivering as I wore my same attire from since I got here. "Since we're up. . . can we solve a huge problem?"
"Sure, what is it?"
"I believe it's been. . . four or five days that I've been wearing these clothes. I like them and all, but. . . do you happen to have any boy clothes?" I didn't expect her to have any. After all, the only guy clothes she had would probably be Spike's old clothes, but he was no more than eight or ten. Those wouldn't fit me at all!
"As a matter of fact, I do. . . Follow me." Twilight replied, walking me to a closet marked "B.B.B.F.F"
I got myself up steadily, trying my best not to fall over from exhaustion, and walked with her to the closet. She opened it up and immediately I saw an array of sporty attire, all in what seemed to be in my size. She dug through the clothes and found a framed picture of her and a jock-type man, probably around my age at the time of the picture, wearing a Letterman jacket with denim blue jeans, having long blue hair poofing around his head. He was happily laughing as he hugged a younger Twilight.
"That's my brother. Rowland, his name was. . . or is, I should say." Twilight explained. She stared at the picture for a few seconds. "He was captain of the wrestling team at his old high school back in Canterlot. Last I heard of him, he's training for the Royal Guard, but he never talks to me, he never send me letters. . . I always worry so much about him, how he's doing, if he's getting into trouble. He was my B.B.B.F.F."
Twilight began to sniffle softly, wiping a tear from her eye. There was a moment of silence after her statement. I was never good at sad situations like this. I wasn't entirely sure what to say to her that would make everything better. Also, I had questions of my own, questions that would probably be wrong to ask at this time. . .
"B.B.B.F.F means Big Brother Best Friend Forever," Twilight added in, knowing the question that I intensely wanted to ask. "Anyway, I don't know what's. . . if he's still here . . . like where he is. . . if he's still. . . " Before Twilight could say anything more, she broke into a fit of tears, holding the picture closer to her. She attempted to say more, but all she could do was stare at me as the memories of her brother filled her mind. Her kind purple eyes looked at me as she attempted to put on a smile and not scare me, but her fragile body couldn't handle it. She sniffled and teared up and bawled for what seemed like hours.
"Tina, I. . ." I tried to find something to say to make her happy, something to get her mind off of her uncertainty. . . just something!
Before I could think of anything, though, she grabbed me and cried onto my chest. "Don't leave me, Joseph, I. . . " She caught herself mid sentence. All she could do now was stare at me once again, and bite her lip as I stared back into her. Her generally bland but controlled hair had now been frizzled, probably from a combination of the early morning as well as her emotional state.
"I've s-said too much, um. . . p-put on the clothes." Twilight managed to breathe out, still sniffing into my jacket.
I wanted to do something! I wanted to comfort her! After all, she's done so much for me, and I should repay her! I should do something about this! However, I couldn't think of any words to say, any actions to do, anything that a normal person would immediately think of doing. It pained me inside, especially because. . . well, if I couldn't deal with Twilight, then what would happen with Applejack, when I'm all nervous and jittery anyway?!
I grabbed a shirt from the box, still keeping a watchful eye on Twilight. The stained blue shirt said "Canterlot High Wrestling Team Champions!" on the front. It would have been awful nice if they put a year on it or something. Anyways, I put on the shirt, discarding my jacket and other shirt to the side of the couch.
"R-Row. . . you look nice," Twilight sniffled, trying her best to calm herself down. "Please, excuse me." she calmly walked out of the room, and I could hear a door closing and being locked in the distance. I sighed deeply. What kind of man was I? Men were supposed to be dominant for a reason. They're supposed to always have the right thing to say to calm people down, they always have to be caring and kind and gentle but strong, and they're supposed to make everything better. But what did I do? I said nothing. I'm now wearing her possibly dead brother's shirt as she cries and I'm not comforting her. I was too nervous to comfort her, though. I don't know why, she's been the person I've put the most trust into during this time, and I'm still a nervous wreck around her.
Before I could wallow in my pity, the front door blasted open and a loud voice called out.
"JOOOOSSEEEEEPPPPHH!" A familiarly bubbly voice screamed.
"DIANE! Heh, Joseph, are you here?" A familiarly formal voice called out, thankfully softer than the last.
"Um. . . hi Elizabeth." I replied meekly, walking towards the front door.
"I'm not about to have you miss practice again. Diane lives right around here, and I always walk her, so she gave me the idea to have you walk with us. Now, are you ready?" Octavia explained with slight force in her tone. ". . .also, hello, excuse me for my rudeness."
I sighed and grabbed my things. Honestly, I wanted to stay with Twilight, but. . . I don't know. I don't know why I chose to go to practice instead of stay with Twilight. Maybe it was because I just wasn't thinking, maybe it's because I felt bad enough for hurting her in the way that I did. . . my mind was kind of a wreck at that point. But I chose to walk with Octavia and Pinkie over to school, assuming that it was some time around 6:00.
* * *
When we arrived at the band room, a number of students were already there, warming up and setting up percussion instruments.
"Joseph! Thank GOODNESS you came today! If you missed today I couldn't even DESCRIBE how horrible third period would have been!" Brittany exclaimed as she burst out of the back instrument storage room. "Now let me get your instrument."
She grabbed my hand and led me to the back room, where an array of decent quality instruments were stored. Not many people were in here, as it was probably still fairly early. However, I noticed a girl with a combination of dark blue and pink hair setting up a Bassoon, exclaiming into her phone 'Lyyyre! You NEED to get here, I'm so alone without you!'
Brittany pointed to a gray case, probably much bigger than it should have been. I opened the case and noticed a Model N St. Petersburg Tuba, complete with a Schilke Helleberg mouthpiece. "That'll be yours. It's got a few dents, but it's still good." Brittany explained. I immediately grabbed it and began warming up. Granted, I should have buzzed on the mouthpiece a little bit before playing, but I was simply too excited. An overwhelming feeling came over me when I got the chance to play my instrument once again! I didn't sound as good as I would have liked, but that'd all come back with time. I sat by Brittany and stared around the room. I could see some people from Jazz Band already set up, warming up. Octavia was sitting in the principal chair spot for Clarinet, while Frederick sat at the principal chair spot for French Horn. Before I could look for anyone else, though, Mr. Acevedo stepped on the podium, and all was silent.
* * *
Practice ended roughly an hour later. It was honestly a relieving experience being able to play in an ensemble again. As I expected in the back of my mind, Vinyl was late, and received a bit of a scolding. She didn't really seem to care, though, as if the scolding was a common thing to her by now. Everyone was stellar, except for one trumpet player who's tone was painful to listen to.
"Can you believe it?!" Pinkie screamed from across the room, assumedly to me. "The two freshmen said that I played so loud and my tone was so bad!" She ran up to me and tugged on my shirt. "You heard me, right?! I was good, right?!"
This explains everything.
"Um. . . I wasn't paying attention," I meekly replied.
"Oh. Well tomorrow, you should! Because it'd be so so fun if you went up to those meanies and were like 'Diane is the best fluglehorn player in all of this school and you're silly if you think she isn't!'"
"You play the trumpet."
"I know! But I REALLY wanna play the Fluglehorn! That's why I played trumpet in the first place, silly!"
"Oh. . . " I stared at her for a second. She reminded me of someone that I knew in the past. . . but I couldn't remember who. Anyways, before I could reply, the bell rang, and I walked off to my next class, waving bye to Diane.
I walked into class and noticed that the desk next to me was empty.
"Joseph!" Rose called out from her usual seat.
"Oh, hey Rose!" I replied
"You ready for that big audition in Drama today?"
Oh no. The audition was today?! I wasn't unprepared, but it wasn't like I was completely ready for it.
"Y-Y-Yeah." I stammered. "I bet you are too."
"Oh, of course! Brandon and I practiced our parts yesterday, and I'm so confident!" Rose giggled. "But you know. . . I'm scared about that bitch Victoria."
The last three words she said. . . 'That Bitch Victoria' spun around my head a little bit. Rarity seemed friendly. . . at least around me. . . how could anybody call her that? Sure she's a bit cocky at times and a bit self-loving, but still. . .
"Rose. You can do this. After all, you're the prettiest person that's trying out for the part." I stated colloquially. There was a long silence as Rose gave a soft smile and a giggle. I couldn't tell on my own, but based on Lilly and Daisy giggling behind Rose, I was probably blushing or doing something silly with my face out of pure embarrassment.
"What? Did he say something funny?" Rose asked Lilly and Daisy.
"I don't know, why don't you ask that stop sign over there!" Lilly giggled, pointing towards me and my completely red face.
Someone please kill me. . .
* * *
Crisis averted, she ended up just giggling and dismissing the statement. I should be more careful with my words, though. After all, hadn't I always been thinking about Applejack? Why would I say such things about Rose? I mean, they were true, but still, isn't that bad in a social setting? That's an honest question, I've been generally sociable, but I've never been put into a deep social situation like that. Most people talked to me because I seemed to know information and I liked to make jokes. . . but I was always timid around complimenting people. What if they took it the wrong way?! What if it caused me to lose a friendship?! Living a social life was so hard. . .
The next three periods were entirely uneventful. In Government, we read our book in class as Rarity whispered to me about how much she wanted to be Beauty while I hid my face from Rose, hoping she wouldn't inquire about the previous incident. Jazz Band was just normal antics, we worked some sections of Pegasus again and went off on our way. Luckily for me, I got off the hook of Octavia's scolding, as Harley had missed practice and was now the receiver of the rage of Octavia. Fourth period was honestly a blur to me in terms of content, I just remembered Applejack's sweet flowing hair bouncing from side to side as she looked at her notes and looked at the screen. Some sort of animalistic feeling inside of me wanted to just grab it and rub it on my face, as well as do. . . other things to her. . .
I'm glad that with all of the abnormal things happening, my hormones decided to be normal. . .
Anyways, the bell rang and brought me back into reality. I packed my things and silently followed Applejack to our normal lunch area.
"So you were sayin' that you gotcher fancy little play thing today?" Applejack asked me as she sat down on a stump, tossing her bag onto the nearby grass.
I walked towards my own little stump and threw my bag onto the floor. I was never really one to be careful with my possessions, a trait that I should really learn to stop.
"Oh. Um. . . yeah. Funny story about that, though!" I stared straight at Applejack with a goofy grin on my face. "So I'm in first period, and Rose and I are talking about the auditions, and I accidentally blurt out that she's the prettiest girl trying out for the part! I was so embarrassed!"
I giggled to myself softly, not paying attention to the fact that Applejack wasn't giggling along with me. I looked up after my giggling fit was done and saw her biting her lip and nervously kicking the grass.
"Oh. Um. . . do you think she's pretty, though?" She asked me in a very solemn tone.
"Well, yeah! Her boyfriend is so lucky to have her, she's pretty cute." I stated ignorantly, unaware of the tone that Applejack was using. There was a moment of silence as she scraped the ground with her foot a bit more and continued biting the tip of her lip.
"What? What's wrong? Did I do something bad?" I asked Applejack, growing slightly concerned. I hadn't said anything wrong, had I? I was just telling a silly story!
"Nah, sugarcube. . . nah. . ." Applejack sighed, holding her arm. "Ah. . . Ah gotta head off to. . . a class ta. . . take a test. Ah'll see ya later, Joseph." She sighed once more as she picked up her bags and left the area, walking towards the track. Was she going to make up a mile or something? I've never been that much into track and field, I couldn't really tell. But it pained me a little bit how she walked off like that. I honestly didn't think I did anything wrong! I was just telling her a story like all friends tell stories! Maybe her and Rose have a bad history or something and she doesn't want me to be friends! Maybe she. . . I couldn't think of anything. I groaned loudly as I placed my head between my knees, contemplating what I could have done so wrong.
It never really hit me until much later.
The bell rang and I grabbed my bags and walked to class, much faster than usual. In my slightly moment of self-pity, I completely forgot my last minute studying for the audition! This day was just getting completely worse and worse! I walked into the auditorium and saw Rarity prancing around the stage in a white silk dress, jewels bordering the entirety of the cloth. Rose was sitting on the stage, toying around with a pencil while a few other students were behind her, trying to memorize their lines at the last second.
"You like it, Joseph?" She called out. It was kind of scary how she knew exactly when I walked in. It was almost as if she was waiting for me or something, waiting for me to see her in that dress that she looked so nice in. . .
"Yeah." I replied dumbly, trying my best not to stare. I could feel my heart racing slightly faster as I saw the jewels accent her full and large curves, both in her front, back, and sides.
"Oooh, I knew you'd love it! I want to wear this when I'm Belle and you're the Prince! I'll walk on stage and say "Oh, some day my prince will coooome!, and you'll awaken from your beastly state and become a beautiful prince! Maybe we can even kiss on stage! Wouldn't that be something!" Rarity explained on and on, still twirling around the stage. "Wouldn't that be so exciting!"
She put odd emphasis on the "kiss" part of her sentence. I tried not to think much of it, but still, it brought me to some sort of concern. Mostly because I didn't plan on being the beast in the first place! I wanted to be Gaston! Even if she got the part of Belle over Rose, she'd have to be the one running away from me and hating me during the play! She knew pretty well too that I definitely did NOT want to be the prince. Still, I let her enjoy her little stories. It wouldn't have been all bad to kiss her, after all. . .
"That's Snow White you idiot." Daisy exclaimed as she and Lilly walked from behind stage towards where she was standing.
"Oh shut it, you two! You shouldn't treat a lady like that in the first place, especially one in such regal clothing as this!" Rarity exclaimed, giving an odd combination of anger and eloquence in her tone.
Daisy and Lilly walking in could only mean one thing. Before any conflict could arise, the bell rang, and everyone rushed to fill a seat in the auditorium. I looked around and saw Braeburn and Rose cuddling, Rose nuzzling her head on Braeburn's chest softly as they both smiled. Although I'd just hate to break up their little love session, I really didn't want to sit by anybody else in the class. Mostly everyone was a stranger, Daisy and Lilly could get annoying really fast, and Rarity was. . . I could imagine bad things happening if I sat next to her. I took a seat two seats away from Rose, so I wasn't too intrusive. Mr. Webber walked from backstage and sat down on the piano seat, quite a distance away from us.
"We'll get the major parts out first. Belle." Mr. Webber stated. Most students here were already used to his bluntness, and every woman that was trying out for Belle went onstage next to the piano. There were a total of about five girls, one being Rarity, one being Rose, and three other girls that I didn't know all too well. One of them was Katelynn, the first chair flute girl from Wind Ensemble, but I never really had the chance to speak with her.
"Victoria Stewart," He stated. She stepped forward and gave a little curtsey, a gesture that received an empty response. "A Change in Me. Start at the chorus."
She sighed softly, giggling, an air of arrogance filling the room as she stared into the stage lights. She breathed in and belted out the first words of the chorus. "AND IIIIIII" she belted out. Sure, it sounded nice, actually, but it definitely reeked of overconfidence and arrogance, as she sung as loud as she could, a vaudeville type of performance of the song. She finished the chorus and smiled, curtseying once again, and walking back to her spot. A few freshmen and I gave an applause, but the room was mostly silent.
"Rose Nolan." Mr. Webber stated. She walked to the front, where Rarity was once standing. Mr. Webber had no intentions of restating the instructions, as he began the piano and Rose took a deep sigh.
"And IIII. . ." Rose sung, in a much softer but still full tone, almost having a smile as she sung her words. "III never thought. . .I'd leave. . . behind. . ." She continued the song and swayed lightly across the stage as she sung, keeping her voice confidence but also soft and calm. As the chorus finished, she giggled softly and bowed, receiving a large reception from the crowd.
"Ain't she a beaut'," Braeburn whispered to me as we were clapping.
I shivered a little bit. I remembered my previous engagement with Applejack. Applejack had gotten mad right at the time when I was telling the story about calling Rose pretty. Sure, I thought she was, but there's a lot of people I think were pretty. Rose was pretty, Octavia was kind of pretty, Braeburn was kind of pretty. . . Did Applejack get mad beca-
"Katelynn Jones." Mr Webber stated, interrupting my thoughts.
The rest of the auditions went across nicely for Belle. The girls weren't as bold as Rarity nor calm and tender as Rose, but they weren't half bad. There was a huge amount of talent at this school, and I knew that some of those people up there were just starting at drama.
"Gaston. Everyone up." Mr. Webber exclaimed.
I walked up to the stage, much to Rarity's disgust. Ron, the first chair trombonist from Jazz Band, walked up next to me. I hadn't even realized he was in my class, to be quite honest.
"Joseph Hamilton." Mr. Webber stated.
Joseph Hamilton.
That's not me. I'm not Joseph Hamilton. That's not my name, that's not my real name. I shivered as reality began seeping in once more. I didn't know who I was. I was born into this world as Joseph something. I had a family with the same last name, and I had a life before this. I was living almost a fake life. Throughout these past few days, I'd been enjoying myself so much, enjoying how nice these people were, how nice everything was in this place, how nice it was to be away from home. . . that I'd forgotten all about home. I haven't been bugging Twilight about research. Which reminded me. . . where was Twilight anyway?! Maybe I'll run into Spike at her house, maybe he'll help me find things out. I can't believe I forgot about home. . . I can't believe I forgot about my old life. Like, I wanted my old life back, right? That's why I agreed to stay with Twilight, so I could research with her to find my old home. I want to go home, right?
Right?
"First Verse of Mob Song." Mr. Webber bluntly stated. "Take two." I heard a few voices in the audience giggle. I guess I'd gotten a bit distracted.
"OH CAN IT YOU STUPID FRESHMEN!" Rarity wailed, almost throwing her chair over (if the chairs weren't bolted into the ground. Granted, people do crazy things sometimes. . .), turning back towards the giggling group. "I'd be DAMNED if you moved to a new place and had to perform in front of your peers in the third day! Why, I bet you guys can't even act! You guys won't even get a damn part! UGH, the AUDACITY of some people!" Rarity sat back down politely in her seat, fixing her hair and giving me a small wink.
I blushed. Great job not embarrassing me.
The piano stated and I took a deep sigh. I'm not really sure why, I guess since every other person did it before me, I felt obligated. Anyways, I began the song, doing my best with my half-decent opera voice "Through the mist, through the woods, through the darkness and the shadows it's a nightmare but it's one exciting riiide."
It wasn't my best work, to be quite honest. The range was pretty low for my singing range, but it was one of the few parts where Gaston actually sung by himself. I finished my verse and received a warm applause from the audience.
"GO JOSEPH! WOO! YOU'RE SO GOOD YOU COULD BE THE PRINCE!" Rarity screamed, standing up and applauding loudly.
Victoria. Stop.
"Ron Goodwin."
The rest of the auditions went along fairly nicely. Ron sadly forgot the words to the song and ended up being turned down on the spot, confirming me for the spot of Gaston. Beast came afterwards, with a stellar (although incredibly southern) performance from Braeburn. The rest of the minor parts involved reading lines from their characters on stage, with the help of Rarity when needed. Oddly enough, the auditions went along quite swiftly, and finished roughly a minute before the bell.
"Results after school. Complaints will have an automatic removal from the part. This is not a judgement of how I see you as a person, this is just based on your audition." Mr. Webber blandly stated. The bell rang and everyone proclaimed loudly how they felt about their audition.
"Oh I did so good!"
"I sure hope I get a part!"
"Ron you're an idiot!"
"I don't even care, I'm just here for the fine art credit."
"Can I re-audition?"
The voices filled the hall as I picked up my backpack and walked out silently.
"JOSEPH! Hold yourself!" Rarity exclaimed as she ran towards me. "Darling, that was fabulous, you have so much talent! You know. . . Belle and Gaston have some nice lines together. . . they even sing together a little bit. Would you. . . like to come over to the boutique and practice?" She blushed slightly and giggled, batting her eyes as they looked into mine.
Damn. Rarity was pretty annoying and all, but still, it'd be rude for me to turn her down. . . but I told myself I would go to Twilight's house and find out where home is! Right?! I'm supposed to make that a top priority!
"Yes." I stated. Am I crazy?! Why did I say that?! Do my brain and mouth just hate me or something?! She squealed happily and ran off. I sighed, mad at myself for choosing her self-interest over mine. But still. . . I could wait on the whole getting home thing. It's just a silly little house visit, right? I turned around and headed towards the band room for my sixth period.
I had a pretty relieving nap today, much to the dismay of Octavia. However, she was always busy with Vinyl, who thought that her pencil was more weed for her to smoke, and tried lighting it with her pencil sharpener, which she thought was her lighter. Before I could truly enjoy the rest, though, the bell rung and I sprang up. Mr. Acevedo frowned at me as my head shot up and looked at the board. There was nothing on it, but still, I guess Mr. Acevedo was the type of teacher that preferred all of his students to be awake in class. I picked up my desk and moved it towards the wall.
"EEEEAAAAAUUUUGGGGGHHH!" I heard from outside. Yup, results were up. I casually strolled outside to see Rarity grabbing her hair and screaming.
"MRS. POTTS?! OF ALL THE NERVE!" Rarity screamed, tears forming in her eyes. "Sure, she gets a SONG and everything, but still, she's an OLD WOMAN! How does he expect ME to play an OLD WOMAN. I WON'T EVEN GET TO BE IN THE SAME SCENE AS JO-" She coughed and stopped herself before she could scream the word to the full public. She sniffled and sobbed continuously, having to run away from the results towards the front of the school.
I walked up slowly and took a look at the list, after fighting through a multitude of people to see it.
Beauty and the Beast Cast
Belle: Rose Nolan
Beast/Prince Alan: Brandon Shumaker
Gaston: Joseph Hamilton
Lumiere: Ethan Roble
Cogsworth: Peter LaFonte
Mrs. Potts: Victoria Stewart
Chip: Daisy Thompson
Lefou: Lily Maldonado
Babette: Katelynn Jones
There were more names, but they were all blocked by the shorter freshmen looking at the list. I smiled seeing all of the names I wanted on that list. Rose and Braeburn would be such a great pair on stage together. . . it just was terrible that I had to spend the entire play being so mean to them. I still felt bad for Victoria, though. She was so cocky, so arrogant, but still. . . she had a drive, a drive to achieve her goal, and she failed. I wanted to ignore it, but I couldn't help myself. I walked over to the front of the school where Rarity had run off to. I saw her crying next to the math building (which was right next to the front of the school).
"Get away! Leave this foul creature alone to wallow in her self pity!" Rarity moaned.
"Victoria. I know this sucks, I'm not gonna say that it doesn't. But if it makes you feel better. . . I can still go to your house after school if you'd like. Even if we're not practicing lines, we can still hang out."
What was I doing?! I needed to get to Twilight's house! This was a great opportunity to just ditch her and go home! After all, I don't think I've ever said a good word about her other than that she's got a sweet ass and she could feed a village with her jugs, but. . . I still cared, for some reason. I cared too much to leave her by herself. My issue would be waiting for me to complete it, but Rarity's sadness. . . that had to be dealt with now.
"T-That w-won't. . .really?" She stuttered out as she brought her eyes to mine, still lying by the building.
"Yeah. You're always so happy, it'd be a shame to see you sad."
"Oh, you musn't associate yourself with such a foul sobbing monster as myself! I. . . I am nothing! I can't act, I probably can't sing, I know I can't dance. . . what am I?!"
"You're a b-b. . . b. . . beautiful person." I stammered out. Did I really mean those words? Yes and no. She was pretty, she was kind to me, but she had such a brash personality as well. She made me want to tear down walls and punch things. Still, though, she has been so supportive of me. . . she stood up for me with those freshmen.
But what about Rose? What about Applejack? What about anybody else that I knew?! They had all been so helpful too! Hell, I probably would rather have an ice cream party with Rose, or go find Applejack and tell her about how well I did on my audition! Still, I felt obligated. I felt obligated as a friend and companion to stay with her and tell her things that would make her smile. I felt the need to be with her right now. The words I spoke just felt so right to say, so right to travel into her sobbing mind and soothe her soul, soothe her soul with reassurance from a friend that she wasn't some monster, but a great person. But how much truth was behind those words? How much did I really find her beautiful? I couldn't really tell, but still, all I could think about was comforting her, consoling her, making her feel like a true lady.
"Oh, Joseph. . ." Rarity murmured. She raised herself up from the floor and stared at me.
"I've. . . " she wiped some tears from her eyes. "I've been waiting so long for you to say that."
She immediately grabbed me and pulled me closer to her. I faltered as I tried to not fall on top of her. For a petite lady, she sure was strong. She stared deeper into my eyes. Before I could process what was happening, she grabbed my head and pulled it closer, pressing my lips against hers.
I felt. . . feelings. Not just the feelings that a man feels when he is kissed, but different kinds of feelings. I had only been kissed on the lips once, by my ex-girlfriend whose name I can't remember. It was an awkward experience, to be honest, and she hated me for it. But this. . . felt more natural, felt more passionate. . . I found myself joining in. The thoughts of Applejack came racing into my mind. I admired her so much, and I had such passions to be with her. I still messed up today with her, I made her sad and I made her run away. To add on to that, here I am, kissing another girl out of nowhere. But it all felt so right, still. . . my lips against hers, our breath entering each others' mouths. . .
My mind could do nothing but falter as I engaged in this act. This unification of our physical bodies in the lowest level. But what was it I was feeling? Was it love, or just lust?
It had only been three days in this school, and now I was stuck in this situation. . . this year was going to be quite interesting, both in negative and positive ways. . .
But what about home?