It seemed to take forever for lunch to roll around. Applebloom was getting insanely bored. Her physics work was sitting on her desk completed. She hated physics, but Big Mac insisted the school to put her in classes that would challenge her. He liked to say he had "been around the block a few times." That was mostly because he was too bucking drunk to find the house. She sighed out loud. She knew her family only wanted the best for her. And she wanted to help them too, but sometimes that seemed to put more on her then she wanted. It wasn't like she couldn't handle it either, she was a 2.9 GPA. That was good for the classes she was in, but if she wasn't placed in the higher ups, she would've gotten a better grade, because it would be easier. At least that was her theory.
Her phone buzzed again. She sneaked a peek at the text and ignored it. Sweetie Bell had been texting her for the past twenty minutes. Applebloom didn't want her phone taken away, especially since she didn't have anypony to pick it up after school, or money to buy a new one. Applejack could, but she wouldn't be happy about it, and it was an experience to avoid. Whatever Sweetie Bell was hyping she wouldn't drop it. Her phone buzzed again, and Applebloom looked at the text angrily. She typed back in all caps telling her to stop. To Applebloom's surprise she did, and it was only a few minutes before Applebloom had somepony asking her for help. Snips was sitting next to her, prodding for answers, and Applebloom complied.
Back in grade school Snips and Snails were two that you really tried to ignore. Since then that had changed for the better. Snips had taken up a part time job at the barber shop, and Snails had some future with fancy cuisine, which apparently called for mollusks sometimes. They're physical appearances had evened out too. They were still geeks, but they weren't nerds. There was a huge difference there that few ponies cared to acknowledge. Applebloom had played enough video games to understand it. She even had a few matches against them in Call of Cutie. She usually lost, but not horribly. That was okay, the two boys spent much more time on that than she did, and their skills reflected it.
Once she started offering help time went by faster, and soon the bell rang for lunch. She gathered her things and made her was outside the science buildings. The cafeteria at Sunburst High wasn't nearly big enough to house every student. Applebloom noticed that ponies were setting up on the grass and all around campus. It seemed whoever didn't fit in the cafeteria sat outside. Or weren't cool enough for an indoor table. She was fine with that. It was a nice day, perfect temperature. She stood around for a bit, realizing her friends didn't make a place to met. Her phone rang, with a text from Scootaloo. She checked her phone.
"At the line, meet me in 5"
Applebloom smirked. Scootaloo's text tended to be short and to the point. Her punk friend often said she didn't like texting, saying something about being to mainstream. It was mainstream, that's why it worked. But neither Applebloom nor Sweetie Bell argued the point, because was a good one. Applebloom made her way to the line, where Scootaloo was waiting with Sweetie Bell and some other guy. Applebloom didn't recognize the stallion, but he seemed to know Sweetie Bell to an extent. Scootaloo gave him a brohoof, which usually meant she didn't have any intention on stabbing you. That was a good sign. She noted that he seemed to be the exact opposite to Big Mac, who was the first stallion she compared others to. Her brother was a bigger guy, while this one was visibly smaller, although he wasn't nearly scrawny.
She got to the group, looking the stallion over. "Who are you now?"
Scootaloo half smiled. "Apparently the newest addition to our little group of misfits. Says he hates Diamond as much as we do"
Granite smiled at Applebloom "Scootaloo has a lot of hate. Not really sure if I can compare. But I have had my bouts with them. My names Granite."
Applebloom raised an eyebrow "Granite? Don't suppose the name goes with a destiny huh?"
He replied "Actually it does. Archaeology. The study of fossils, history and extinct life, hence the claw cutie mark"
The lunch line moved forward a little. Granite edged forward, almost too close to the gabby mares in front of him. They looked back at him but didn't say anything. Sweetie Belle spoke up "He's also good at drawing too."
He turned around. "I dabble. Just to keep my mind busy." He tapped his head. "I like to keep my brain active. Keeps me on edge."
Applebloom was behind all her friends in line. "On edge for what? Teasing n' whatnot?
He shrugged. "I guess. I've heard all the nicknames. But it hardly effects me anymore. I've gotten used to it."
Scootaloo growled. "That must suck."
Again Granite seemed rather apathetic. "In a way it works out better like that."
A few minutes later they reached the front of the line. Granite just got a bottle of grape juice. Applebloom and Scootaloo got a haphazard mixture of crappy food. Sweetie Belle was smart enough to bring a lunch from home. Cafeteria food was always rather tasteless. But at least this food was distinguishable as food. They had they're share fair of mystery meat. A running joke last year was that the middle school meat was chopped Zebra flank. Of course this wasn't true. School lunches had to meet a certain heath standard, although that standard was shamefully low, it at least ensured that cannibalism was out of the question.
After they got their food, they left the line to find a place outside to sit. A passing stallion bumped Granite hard, spilling his juice onto his white shirt. Scootaloo made a lunge for him, but he was already out of reach. They didn't even get a good look at him. All they noticed was a charcoal grey coat before the lunch line crowd swallowed him up.
Even though his shirt was ruined, Granite seemed largely unfazed. He just wrung it out like a towel. Sweetie Belle voiced what Granite was probably thinking. "What the hell was that?!"
He sighed. "Just some douche bag. Who really cares? Just a shirt. It was like six bucks. Now lets go find a place to sit before somepony makes a rash decision."
Scootaloo clenched her teeth. "Bet I'll end up cutting him open anyways."
*****
They left and found a place on the grass. Lunch today wasn't very social for the group. Granite kinda dosed off. He was laying in the grass with his eyes closed. He buttoned up his shirt to hide the juice stain. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom started a conversation about how they're sisters, now in their late twenties, hadn't had any romantic relationships, which was a hot button topic between the two lately. Scootaloo hated this particular talk, so she spiked her drink with a small amount of liquor and just phased out.
The campus was teeming with students. The cafeteria building itself only housed about a hundred, out of the thousand or so ponies in attendance. There were two lunch periods, so about five hundred students at lunch per period. The higher ups on the social scales always got the seats indoors, so outside was home to literally every other group.
To be fair, each of the group of misfits could have made their way into another group easily. Scootaloo could defiantly fit in with the goths. Applebloom could find a western group, or maybe even squeeze her way in with the geeks. Sweetie Belle could probably even get in good with the popular mares. But they didn't. They couldn't. The girls were practically sisters, and sisters were never alike. So they stayed a group of misfits. They liked it.
The bell rang and the students reluctantly started to get moving. Granite's eyes snapped open half startled. Scootaloo pulled a pair of sunglasses from her saddlebag and put them on, effectively hiding her still tipsy expression. They parted with quick goodbyes.
Scootaloo walked in Appleblooms direction. They both had English together. She watched Sweetie Belle and Granite walk towards the math and science wing. She also watched that charcoal grey stallion trail them.