//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Cheerilee // Story: She Wants To Know What Love Is // by Elric of Melnipony //------------------------------// The handsome farmer was in front of her. If she missed this opportunity, how long would it be until she could once again be so close to him? His mere presence was intoxicating, but she had to do this. Lady Wintergreen gathered her wits and stepped forward to confess her love. It was the start of another school week, the cause of much moaning and groaning among colts and fillies alike. Twist didn't mind as much, though. She picked up on things quickly, she had a fantastic teacher, and being back in class meant she would be near him. Maybe today would finally be the day, now that she had a better notion of what a relationship entailed. She just might decide to talk to him after school, or even at lunch – and not about the day's lessons, either. As usual, Cheerilee began the first morning back with general discussion, mixed with some questions about what they had been covering recently. She knew it helped her students get their brains back in learning mode after the weekend and prodded their memories. Diamond Tiara, the resident spoiled daddy's girl in class, managed to once again work another not-so-subtle mention of her family's wealth into the conversation. Scootaloo the tomboy-fangirl compared the protagonist in their assigned reading to her idol, Rainbow Dash. Twist paid attention to her teacher and even answered questions posed to the class, but for the most part she tuned out her classmates. Only Cheerilee really noticed how preoccupied she was. Eventually, the morning ended. By the time Cheerilee finished announcing “Lunch time, everypony!” the class was half empty. In a quieter voice, she said, “Twist? If you have a moment, I'd like to talk to you about your independent study project.” Twist hadn't really expected that her teacher would know about her latest outside learning, but neither was she really surprised. She waited until the other students were gone, headed up to Cheerilee's desk, and asked, “Yes, Miss Cheerilee?” “Twist, I'm sure you know that Twilight Sparkle is a friend of mine, and I hope you don't mind that she told me how she's been trying to help you.” “I don't mind at all. I hope you don't mind that I didn't come to you first, Miss Cheerilee.” “Not at all; Twilight gave me your reason, and I understand. But I'm reasonably sure that nopony is listening to us right now, so I wanted to know if you would be interested in some more advice on the topic.” “Of course!” “Before I say anything, though, I'm curious. Just between us, who is it?” Twist told her, and Cheerilee looked thoughtful. “Makes sense. He's nice to everypony, his grades are almost as good as yours, he does some nice work on the school newspaper...” Twist jumped in. “And he's really cute.” She blushed a little when she realized she said it out loud. Cheerilee just smiled. “All of my students are cute. Anyway, there's one thing in particular that I think you should know, and I don't know if you've covered this yet. Some of the other girls in class noticed back on Hearts and Hooves Day that I'm alone, and while I do admit that disappoints me at times, it doesn't change how I feel about myself. Would I like to have a special somepony in my life? Yes. Do I need a special somepony in my life? No. That should be true for you as well.” Twist thought for a moment. “I think I see what you mean. I should find a special somepony because I want to, not because I feel like something's missing.” “Right as usual.” Cheerilee smiled wider, proud of her star student. “I'm not missing anything. I just like him.” “That settles that, then! You should run along and have lunch yourself, but I just want to say one more thing before you go.” “What's that?” “If I'm speaking as a teacher to her student, I should remind you to keep your studies up, and to never let this disrupt the classroom.” She lowered her voice again. “But since we're speaking as girls... good luck!” “Thanks!” Twist returned to her desk, got a good grip on her lunch bag with her mouth, and happily trotted outside. Not surprisingly, none of the other students were anywhere near the door of the classroom. She had a pretty good idea of where she wanted to go, though. She circled the schoolhouse to the cellar door. Just as she thought, he was sitting on a nearby bench. He often spent free time on the school paper, so it made sense he would be close to where it was housed. She walked up to the bench, gently set down the brown gag she was carrying, and asked a question she already knew the answer to. “Is anypony sitting here?” She got a polite head shake in return. She sat, opened her bag, and took a bite out of her sandwich. As she chewed, she did her best to clamp down on her nervousness. Time to do this, Twist. She swallowed. “Shady, has anypony ever told you that your mane makes you look a little like Prince Shining Armor?”