//------------------------------// // Chapter Eleven // Story: Falling For Our Stars // by bobdat //------------------------------// Chapter Eleven Buckingham High School for Fillies basked in the warmest week of the year so far, with classroom windows thrown open all across the school. Exams were rapidly approaching as April merged into May, and teachers were beginning to panic about whether or not everypony was ready. “I know these are only mocks,” my music teacher intoned for the fifth time that lesson, “but they are very important in determining whether you get into university or not. We have to send your grades to anywhere that you apply.” Music was most important, but I’d been acing all of the class work and I was confident I’d be able to get a high score on the test. That would be good for getting me into the university of my choice, of course, but I still hadn’t actually decided which university that might be. Fly had been to meetings with her literature teacher about extra sessions to help her get into Oxmare, so I’d been wasting my time lounging around with Rarity or River and pretending to be doing university work while she was gone, and of course pretending to do revision for my important mock exams. “I give up,” I announced again, letting my head fall onto the thick textbook. “I’m never going to pass history.” “You might be right,” Rarity said, levitating one of my terrible essays and examining the large red ‘D’ that was scrawled on it. “We’d been through this in detail.” “Do you think I’ll get rejected from university if I fail?” The white unicorn shrugged. “Ask Fly.” “Urgh, I don’t want to ask Fly. She’ll just lecture me about how little I’ve done.” Rarity went back to her note-taking. “Then maybe you should have done some more.” “I’ll do it over the summer holidays. I’ll have four weeks with nothing to do but sit around and feel guilty about it, so I’ll eventually come up with something.” “You’re supposed to go and visit places during the summer, you know. If you leave it too late, you’ll miss all the visit days.” “But if they all want me to audition, then I’ll have to go and visit them then.” “Now you just sound desperate to spend your summer doing nothing.” I groaned and refused to lift my head off the textbook. “This is so boring. I can’t believe we have to stay at school until July.” “Stop whining, Cat.” Miri arrived to take my mind off my endless list of complaints, one of which was ‘it’s too hot here, let’s go outside’. “Either of you want to go and sit on the lawn? Everypony else is out there.” “It’ll be too noisy with first years,” Rarity complained, staring more intensely at the textbook. “I’ll go!” I enthused, jumping up and packing the textbook away. “Got nothing else to do.” Neither of us were very energetic given the heat, so our walk to the ground was lethargic. “Did you know that the head filly elections are coming up after the exams?” Miri asked me. “No, I’d forgotten.” “Yeah, as soon as the seventh years leave at the end of May, we’re in charge, so we have to elect a head filly.” “Let me guess, you’re thinking of applying.” “Of course! I would make a good head filly, don’t you think?” Personally, I thought that Miri would be far too distracted to make a good head filly, a role which included a lot of responsibilities, but I didn’t tell her. “Yeah, you’d be great. I’d definitely vote for you.” “I think Minty is going to apply for it too, which would be terrible. I might need to start a smear campaign already.” I giggled. “Won’t you get disqualified for that?” “That’s why I need somepony like you to run it for me.” “I’d be terrible at it. Why don’t you get some of those mean fifth years to do it?” “Good idea Cat.” The lawn was indeed covered in excitable first years running around and playing tag, so we headed for the more civilised areas that were usually populated by older fillies. “So, how’s the revision? Fly nagged you to death yet?” Miri asked. “Not yet. I keep avoiding her so that I don’t have to answer questions.” “Good idea. She’s been on at me as well, so I’ve been staying away from the library and pretending to do work a lot.” “She might have to work hard, but it doesn’t mean that the rest of us have to.” Miri nodded. “Is this spot okay?” I sat down abruptly, folding my tail away neatly. “I wonder if River is out here.” “She’s probably revising for her exams. You don’t want her to be that one pony who fails and ends up not coming back next year,” Miri said, spreading herself out to absorb the afternoon warmth. “True. I wish the summer would hurry up,” I sighed, staring at the single cloud that was hovering in the sky. It was moving steadily towards the sun, so a lone pegasus zipped up there and pushed it away. “There’s some fun stuff planned before the holidays come. Once our exams are over, we have an entire month without anything to do before we break up,” Miri said. “Shame that River will be at home for it.” I’d been making the most of the pre-exam time with River, but she wanted to revise and I wanted to procrastinate. It didn’t mix very well, so we only saw each other occasionally. “I’ll probably see her in the holidays,” I told the earth pony. “Get the train or something.” “Make sure it doesn’t clash with the holiday Rarity is organising,” Miri replied. “It’s been hard enough convincing Fly that she can spend a week not preparing for Oxmare.” “No way I’d miss that,” I said, going back to staring at the sky. “All of these exams are just stressing me out.” My last date of the year with River came at the end of the pre-exam break. I had my French mock coming up in two days and she had her real maths exam the day after. After lots of persuading, she’d finally agreed to meet me in the evening so I could at least see her again before exams and then her going home. “Hi Cat,” she said as I opened the door to our dorm. “Shall we go?” The good weather meant that I’d planned for us to go on a romantic walk through the grounds, culminating with a picnic and watching the sunset. “Okay,” I replied, pulling the door shut behind me. I’d gone for the simple look again, just employing a small flower clip in my mane, but River just looked as if she’d brushed her mane nicely and styled it. I was jealous of her flowing mane. “I’ve got the food, so we can just stop whenever.” I’d actually planned for us to stop in a secluded corner for some possible kissing. But I was going to just go with it and be relaxed. “How’s the revision going?” River asked me as we left the doors of the school. It was a loaded question; she knew full well that I was doing next to nothing meaningful with my time. I tried to think of a suitable response and her eyes narrowed. “Cat, you need to do something. This can really impact your future.” “I know! But the weather had just been making me tired.” “That’s always your excuse. I managed to resist the good weather today and sit in the library doing practice exam questions, but you’re supposed to be doing even more important exams and you just lounged around.” This was only partly true. I’d lounged around all morning reading magazines in my room, only getting up at gone eleven o’clock. After that I had read magazines outside for a while, before joining in with a game of rounders that went on for ages. Then I went inside for food and ended up gossiping with Miri until it was nearly time for my date. “I did try...” I lied, hoping that my pathetic expression would fool her. She just shook her head dismissively, making my envy that mane again. “Promise me you’ll do more tomorrow?” she asked, looking into my eyes. “Okay, I promise,” I said, now wondering how I was going to force myself to do French when there were so many magazines left unread. We continued walking in silence. I tried to pull her tail into a twist with mine, but she pushed me away and avoided my gaze. “I’m sorry,” I said, looking down at my hooves. “I know I’ve been useless.” “It’s not good enough, Cat.” River stopped walking and looked at me. “I’m worrying every day about my exams and trying hard, and I know that when I get my results then I’ll know I did my best. But you’ll just fail history or something and then spend the rest of your time complaining to me about how unfair it is. And I like you too much to keep reminding you that you’ve done nothing whatsoever to prevent it from happening.” Her words stung as she carried on walking, leaving me to my guilt. She was totally right but I hated the idea of being indoors doing work when it was so nice outside. Somehow I’d managed to resist it when it had been last year’s exams, which made a difference to whether or not I got to stay with my friends. But these were only mocks and I just couldn’t summon the energy to read my notes or practice answering questions when there was so much else to do. “I’m sorry River,” I said. “I will really try harder from now on.” “It’s too late Cat. If you do badly now, you’ll just have yourself to blame,” she said coldly. That made me resolve to work twice as hard so that I would pass everything and have nothing to complain about. We carried on walking in silence, River two paces ahead of me. I was still carrying the picnic, so I thought it might be a good time to tempt her with food. Plus, the spot I had in mind was pretty close by. “Do you want to get some food?” I asked, shaking the box a little. “Okay.” We sat in silence and ate the assorted cakes and biscuits that I’d brought. I wanted to apologise again, but she’d already made it clear that apologising wasn’t cutting it. “So how was your day?” I tried. “I spent all day in the library revising maths.” “Do you feel okay about your exam?” “Not really, but I’ve got another few days to revise in.” “Oh, that’s good then.” We went back to silence. Looked like kissing was out of the question. “I was wondering, do you want to meet up again before the holidays?” I asked, halfway through a slice of cake. River gave me another dark look. “I have to pass my exams. I can’t do anything until after exams, and then I have to go home.” “No, I meant you know, maybe a few hours of relaxation when you were free.” “I’m not free.” Her words carried a note of finality and she carried on eating without looking at me. I felt terrible for the rest of the evening. I know that she was doing it for my own good, but I felt like I’d really messed up and that she was very upset with me. We ended up walking back in silence, and although I walked her back to her dorm room, she just shut the door without speaking to me. So much for a romantic date. I sulked all the way back to my room and did my best not to talk to anypony, although I’m sure they all knew that there was something wrong. I was torn between deliberately not working just to spite River, and doing loads of work so that I would do really well. The only thing I knew for sure was that upsetting River meant that I was guilty and sad. In the end, I did work twice as hard as before. I even found my history notes and did a whole pile of work for that. “Aren’t you going to go to bed?” Fly asked anxiously. I’d shut myself in our room all day and only come out for meals. “Just let me finish this bit...” I said without looking up, completing my detailed diagram. “Two minutes.” “I’m glad you’re finally taking this seriously,” Fly added, before hopping onto her bed and pulling out a book. “You might pass after all.” River left at the end of her exams and went home, probably to worry as much as I had in the summer after my exams. I was stuck at Buckingham, worrying about whether or not I’d hurt her and if she was going to speak to me again. As well as whether or not I was going to be able to visit her during the holidays. At least my exams had gone as well as I could have hoped. History was hopeless but I’d expected that; the teacher was already resigned to the fact that I wouldn’t be carrying it on next year. “Now everypony, it’s four weeks until you all go home and Buckingham finished for the summer. As you will know, the seventh years have now left and you sixth years are the most senior ponies in the school,” the headmare told us, running a hoof through her greyed mane. “There are a number of events going on that will be important for next year, so make sure you listen. Firstly, if you would like to run for the post of head filly, please give an application to your dorm matron. Voting will be next week. Secondly, the end-of-term dance will take place as usual on the last day. I expect perfect behaviour from all of you, since there will be younger ponies in attendance. Finally, sports day will be on the last Tuesday of term, and you will be expected to take part.” Sports day was pretty much the most dreaded day of the year, possibly even more so than exams. We didn’t have to do any exercise as part of the curriculum at school, which avoided sweaty and potentially embarrassing sessions of running around, but there was the annual sports day to make up for it. An entire day of serious running, jumping and throwing, and everypony was forced to take part and humiliate themselves. It just wasn’t fair. “Oh my. Sports day is going to be awful,” Rarity whispered in panicked tones to the rest of us. She was right. Sixth years were expected to look after the younger years all day, on top of all of the stupid running around. “At least we’ve got the head filly elections to look forward to,” Miri reminded us as we left the hall. “I’m going to hand in an application as soon as possible, so do I have your votes?” “Of course,” Rarity said, patting Miri’s hoof. “I’ll help with your campaign when I’m not designing our dresses for the dance. We must go on a shopping trip soon.” “Plus then we can get swimming costumes!” Miri squealed, attracting a few strange looks from the other ponies. “I can’t wait!” “Why do we need to get swimming costumes?” Fly asked. “For our holiday, of course,” Rarity replied, waving a hoof dismissively. “It’s not like we can just take any old thing.” Miri was as good as her word and had an application form filled out as soon as we got back to the dorm. “We need to come up with a catchy campaign. Something that rhymes... what rhymes with Miri?” We all sat in thought for quite a while. “I’m not sure anything rhymes with Miri...” Rarity said in the end, shrugging. “You should try another tactic.” Miri looked frustrated. “Why does this have to be so difficult?” Rarity got to work on designs for our dresses for the dance. Fly had disappeared for one of her extra literature lessons to help prepare her for Oxmare applications next year. I just lay on my bed and wondered if there was any way out of sports day. I could fake an injury, but the dorm matrons were pretty good at spotting that. “I hate sports day,” I finally declared, but neither of my friends were listening. I just picked up a fashion magazine and brooded about how much the end of term was going to suck. “Cat, can you help me with my posters? I need somepony to colour me in,” Miri asked, pointing to the paper. “Rarity is really artistic so she’s sketched me, but if you could just colour me in then that would make my posters look even better.” Since I had nothing better to do, I agreed. “Do you have coloured pencils? Mine are running out and I think I lost the red,” “Here. Be careful though, I want my posters to look the best. Much better than Minty’s, anyway.” I started colouring in her mane over and over again, finding it pretty boring but at least it kept my mind off things. Rarity was like a machine though, and I was soon looking at a huge stack of posters. “How many are you planning on making?” I asked, using my magic to colour her coat while I hoof-coloured her mane. “At least one hundred. I won’t be outdone. There’s going to be a ‘vote Miri’ poster on every door and wall in school.” My hoof was starting to ache. “How soon do I need to finish these?” “By tonight,” Miri replied. “I’m handing in my application when the dorm matron comes around after dinner, then the entire evening is going to be taping them up. Are you up for that?” “Why not?” With three of us on the case (Fly was doing homework) we soon had the school covered in smiling drawings of Miri. There was nothing to be seen of Minty’s posters, so I just assumed that she was more sane and wasn’t forcing her friends into slave labour. “That’ll show Minty. I’m going to win the election for sure!” Miri said, nearly breaking out an evil laugh, as we returned to our dorm. “I used up an entire roll of tape,” Rarity complained. “I’ll have to buy more when we go shopping.” “When are we going?” I asked, trying to get my mane to stop looking so awful by back-combing it with my magic. It was a lost cause. Rarity shrugged. “This weekend, if you haven’t got anything else planned. We only need to get material and swimming costumes, so it won’t take that long.” The glorious weather returned after its absence during the exam period, but now it was a heatwave. We vigorously discussed the merits of going into the city, where it was always hot and humid, but in the end Rarity won and we decided to go. Fly was annoyed that she would have to miss out on some more work, but once again she was outvoted. “I’m short on bits this month, so somepony might have to help me out,” Miri said as we fussed before leaving. “I want to get a new swimming costume but the summer fashions will already be expensive.” “I’ll help,” I said. “I’ve got a few left over from last month. You can pay me back during our holiday.” The city was really very hot. I knew I was going to start sweating, and that was unacceptable, so we did our best to stay in the shade. “Where do you want to look for swimming costumes?” Rarity asked. “We can go to Coltven Garden later on, it’ll be too warm at the moment.” “I say we go to Oxmare Street,” Fly said. “It’ll probably be easiest there, plus the least walking.” “Oxmare Street it is. I think they have milkshake bars there as well, which would be nice,” Miri added. I laughed. “You haven’t got any bits, so you won’t be getting one.” We ended up just off Oxmare Street, in Haywick’s on Neigh Bond Street. Miri wanted to go through the toy section, but we dragged her away and found ourselves in a sea of swimming costumes on the fourth floor. The warm weather seemed to have been boosting sales, so at least there was plenty of choice. “Okay ponies, we can spread out and cover everything. If you see something you think would suit somepony else, then pick it up and we’ll meet back here in ten minutes.” I had to take the side with the windows, which slowly roasted me to death as I browsed. I would be happy when I got away to an Equestrian beach with a gentle breeze and unlimited cold drinks. I actually didn’t find anything; I’d been browsing through the one-piece swimming costumes that seemed to be made for older mares. They were all really floral and... old. So I just trotted back over to where Rarity was waiting, ignoring the sales assistant who seemed to think that she was being far too picky. “Nothing Cat? Oh, that’s a shame. I found something for you though,” she said, holding up a zebra-print bikini that looked far too small. I felt myself starting to blush just from looking at it. Miri had a lot in her hooves though, so we headed for the changing rooms with Fly in tow. Once they were divided up, I had four to try on. Fly only had one, but then green is a tough colour to plan for. The one that Miri had picked out seemed to suit her though, so Rarity congratulated Miri on finally having some taste. “You next Miri,” Rarity said, handing over a bundle of material. “Try not to go for anything too red. It clashes.” Miri had to model about ten different ones before Rarity was satisfied. Everything with even a hint of red or pink was out, so eventually she settled on a cream coloured bikini with white polka dots. According to Rarity, it was the height of fashion. “You go, Cat. I’ll go last,” Rarity said to be, giving me a hard push into the changing room. I nearly tripped on my way in, but found myself behind the curtain looking in a huge mirror. I couldn’t work out why we needed curtains since we didn’t usually wear swimming costumes, but anyway. I left Rarity’s choice until last, but Rarity just told me that all of the others didn’t really suit me (mainly Miri’s choices). I could never get away with wearing clothes that weren’t black. It was like I was eternally going to funerals. Blue was the only other colour that sometimes worked, but all of the swimming costumes were a sky blue that make me look like a cloud. In the end, I had to try Rarity’s skimpy-looking choice. I was embarrassed to step out in front of my friends wearing it. “Oh wow, that one really suits you,” Rarity said, her eyes fluttering happily. “Have you ever tried zebra-print before? It’s so perfect for your coat.” I continued to turn red. “Thanks Rarity.” “You simply must get it. What do you think Miri?” “It looks great,” Miri said, but I suspected she was just agreeing with Rarity. “Okay well, it’s your turn next,” I said to the unicorn, ducking back behind the curtain. It didn’t matter if I never wore it, I had old swimming costumes at home that Rarity had never seen. Rarity tried on a succession of purple or blue designs, but they didn’t really work. I was wondering about heading back and checking the racks again when she came out in a silver number that was just... stunning. It wasn’t an understatement to say that she would be drawing the eyes of a few colts. “That’s so great!” Miri yelled, bouncing up and down. “Quiet Miri. But it does look great,” Fly said, nodding. I noticed that it was just as revealing as my costume, but Rarity didn’t seem at all embarrassed. “It’s perfect. I love it,” Rarity said happily, doing a twirl. I was blushing on her behalf, but then I wasn’t sure whether that was because of the suit or because of how good she looked in it. I dug out the bits to pay for my suit, and handed over some to Miri for hers. I was wasting my money on the zebra print thing, since I was never going to wear it in public... or at all for that matter. Maybe River would have liked it, but now I had no idea whether or not she even wanted to see me again. I made a mental note to send her a letter or something and find out whether she wanted me to visit. The idea of a week on the beach with Rarity in that silver bikini was somehow making my fight with River less important. After swimming costumes we had milkshakes (I had mint, which was a mistake), and then Rarity went to get material while the rest of us watched an earth pony magician who was performing on the street. He seemed to set fire to a lot of things, which was a bad idea on a day that was really hot. “Okay, if he keeps waving that fire stick around, he’s going to set fire to everything,” Fly said. “It’s making me hot just looking at him.” “I wonder how he does that thing where he burns off his mane and then regrows it,” Miri said. “Maybe he has a hidden unicorn sidekick in the crowd,” I suggested. I didn’t think there was a hair-regrowing spell though. “I’m back,” Rarity announced, weighed down with bags. “I’ve had a just great idea for your dress, Miri. It’ll look perfect when you’re accepting your Head Filly award.” “Shall we go to a park?” I suggested. “No, it’ll be so overcrowded,” Miri replied. “Let’s go back to school, then we can lie out on the lawn and have loads of space. We can model the swimming costumes.” “No!” Rarity and I said at the same time, before looking at each other and giggling. Fly stretched her wings. “Let’s at least get moving, since it’s way too hot here.” Before we left, I put a bit into the performer’s hat. He was pretty talented at not overheating, if nothing else. There was a shock in store when we got back to school. Miri turned red with rage when we headed back to the dorm room, discovering that Minty had been round and stuck her election posters over the top of all of Miri’s. “I’m going to kill her!” Miri yelled, pawing at the ground. “This is war!” “Come on now Miri, we’ll get her back tomorrow when it’s not so hot. We’ve all got the day off, so we can make loads of new posters. Twice as good,” Rarity said diplomatically, using her magic to stop Miri from running off. “We’d better. I hate that stupid pony,” Miri said, tearing one of Minty’s posters down. “They’re not even good posters. Looks like she paid a first year to draw it.” Thankfully, Rarity’s careful words calmed Miri down, and we got to spend the rest of the day relaxing on the lawn, and we didn’t have to wear the swimming costumes. I spent my time drafting a letter to River Blossom, this time making it a lot less lovey-dovey than it had been last time. I still felt like she was angry at me, even though it was probable that she’d forgiven me a bit. I didn’t like fighting when we could make up again very easily. “Hey Rarity, do you know which week we might go on holiday? Just so I can suggest some dates for River,” I asked, rolling over onto my back and wondering why it was so hot. “Probably the first week in August.” We spent all evening making posters for Miri, which spilled over into the next day. She was the most motivated, so she wandered around the school putting up her posters and left us in the room like a mini production line. The plan was to put one poster on top of Minty’s, and then two more next to it, so Minty would have to make three times as many in order to stick over the top of them all. “Good work everypony. Only two hundred to go,” Miri said as she scooped up another stack. “I like the artwork Rarity, I think it’s getting better.” My hooves ached from colouring. I didn’t know why Fly got to do the lettering when I had to colour. I was just as good at drawing letters as she was, but I was the pony who sat there with the crayons, wondering if the windows in our room would open any wider. With the hot spell, I was pleased that my bed was near the window. “Hey girls, you know we’ve only got three weeks left in this room,” I said, glancing around. “Before long we’ll be packing everything up and wondering which room we’ll get next year.” “This was a great room,” Fly said. “Much better than all of the others we’ve had. The view is just brilliant.” “What rooms did you get in the first year?” Rarity asked, yawning while using her magic to draw Miri over and over again. I thought for a moment. “They were all on the ground floor, right next to where the dorm matrons sleep.” “Yeah, we always used to get in trouble for giggling after lights out,” Fly added. “Those were the worst.” “Next year we’ll probably get one downstairs,” I said, shrugging. “Since we’re not coming back until September this time. Oh well.” “I’ll miss the view. We loved watching you and River on your romantic walking dates,” Rarity said, looking at me. “Although I guess we can keep watching those next year.” “You were watching?” I exclaimed, outraged. “You’re supposed to give us our privacy!” “Oh, hush Cat. It was so sweet watching the two of you walking together,” the unicorn continued, fiddling with the curls in her mane. “We couldn’t have missed it.” I sulked for a while, muttering about what terrible friends they all were and pressing down far too hard with the crayons.