The minute I got home from school, I grabbed the phone, raced up the stairs, and locked myself in my room. Throwing my backpack down on my bed, I unzipped it and rooted around for Applejack’s number. Cursing my lack of organizational skills, it took what felt like nearly an hour before I actually found what I was looking for.
“Ah ha!” I cried out triumphantly, sticking the piece of scrap paper in the air as if it were a treasure from one of my favourite Daring Do adventure books.
Tank slowly lifted his wrinkly head, staring at me as if I had lost my mind.
“What’re you looking at?” I snapped at him, and he turned away on cue. “Lightning Dust, be prepared to be pulverized!”
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep, went the phone as I pressed my fingers into the keypad. I held it to my ear as it dialed, each ring increasing the rate of my pulse.
{Please pick up, please pick up, come on Applejack, don’t be busy}, I silently willed.
“Er, hello?” The voice at the other end of the phone startled me, and it took me a moment to reply.
“Um, hi, I’m looking for, uh, Applejack?” I said, trying my hardest to sound polite.
“Who?”
“Applejack. Does she live here?”
“Oh, yes. Applejack. She’s out in the fields right now. Can she call you back later?”
“Yeah, that’s fine.” As long as she did actually call...
There was a pause on the other end of the line. I tapped my foot on the floor, waiting for whomever it was (I was going to guess Applejack’s grandmother since the voice was high-pitched and rather shaky) to speak.
“Who is this again? Ah’m sorry, Ah seem tah ferget these things in mah old age...”
I cleared my throat. “The name’s Rainbow Dash. I’m a, uh, friend of Applejack’s from school.”
“Okay, then, Rainbow Dash. Ah’ll have Applejack call ya back later once today’s chores are done. Nice talkin’ to ya, dear.”
“Nice talking to you, too.” The words felt weird in my mouth, especially because I had never had the experience of having a grandma, and didn’t really know what to say to one.
“Alrighty then. Bye now.”
“Bye.” I clicked the off button and placed the phone down on my bed.
Kicking my backpack off so that it spewed my stuff all over the floor, I grabbed one of my textbooks and began to do a little bit of homework. Usually I would never bother with anything so time consuming and boring, the only exception there was if my grades were in jeopardy. But now, it gave me something to do while waiting for Applejack to call.
I had nearly done half my math by the time my mom got home on her short break. She knocked on my door after trying the handle and realizing that it was locked.
“Honey, are you in there?”
I sighed and got up, walking over to unlock it. Crawling back onto my bed, I pretended to be engrossed in my studies when she turned the doorknob and peeked inside.
“Wow, Rainbow, I’m so glad to see that you’re actually working,” Mom said, impressed.
I shrugged. “Yeah, whatever. No big deal. The assignment’s about half as lame as yesterday’s.”
Her eyes wandered over to where the phone lay. “Expecting a call?”
“Yeah,” I answered, deciding that it was better not to lie. The one thing about my mom is that if you lie to her when the truth is easier to tell, it’ll just lead to more annoying questions and perhaps even a stupid punishment.
“Ooh! Is it a boy?”
“No.” Yeah, about that... I was sort of at the crossroads there... I mean, I used to be one hundred percent sure that I was straight, but then I met some girls that were just so... attractive. Applejack was definitely one of them, but that’s beside the point. I guess what I’m trying to say is that over the last few years, my attraction to the opposite sex had sort of faded, as if it had never been there in the first place, but I still felt a bit insecure about the whole thing. Even though I was usually very straightforward, I just didn’t have the guts to tell my slightly homophobic parents about how I really felt.
I just thought I’d make that clear.
“A friend?” Mom guessed, not willing to let the topic drop.
“I guess you could call her that.”
“Are you trying to arrange something?”
“Well, sorta.”
“What is it?”
“Look, are you going to just stand here and pester me all night? Don’t you have work to do or something?” I snapped, the incessant questions finally wearing me down.
Mom looked slightly hurt as she slowly closed the door. “Fine, I’ll just leave you to your homework, then.”
I let out a relieved sigh. Even though my parents weren’t around that much, they sure annoyed me when they were.
After about another hour of halfhearted math, I gave up and went downstairs for a snack. Mom had already left, so the house was all mine again. Part of me wished that I hadn’t been so mean to her, but I pushed that feeling aside as I opened up the cupboard and grabbed a granola bar.
Munching on my snack, I thought about what I was possibly going to say to Applejack in order to get her to be my teammate.
{Oh, hey, AJ. Mind if I call you that? You know, because your name’s Apple-Jack. Get it? AJ? Oh, man that’s lame. Let’s start again.}
{Hello? This is Rainbow Dash speaking. Oh, Applejack? Yeah, of course I remember you! You’re the one who’s good at volleyball. Speaking of which, would you be interested in the honour of becoming my partner in the beach volleyball doubles tournament? You’d be thrilled? Oh, that’s totally awesome! I knew I could count on you! Wait a minute... What happens if she says no?}
I sighed. This was gonna be harder than I originally thought.
Riiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnngggggggg!!! Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggg!!!
The harsh noise instantly jolted me to life. I pushed back the kitchen stool I was sitting on and scurried up the stairs, tripping over the occasional step in my haste. Whipping the door to my room open, I launched myself at the phone and pressed the “talk” button.
“Hello?” I asked breathlessly.
“Er, howdy. Ah’m, uh, lookin’ fer Rainbow Dash? Is she in right now?”
My heart skipped a beat as I heard the unmistakable voice on the other end of the line.
It was her.
“Yeah, that’s me,” I said, barely able to contain my nervous energy.
“Howdy, there, Rainbow. This is Applejack. Ya wanted tah talk with me ‘bout somethin’ important?”
“Yeah I did...” This was the crucial moment. I could not screw up. “Um, IwaswonderingifyouwantedtoplayvolleyballwithmeasateambecauseIneedapartnerinordertobeatLightningDustatthechampionshipsandyou’rereallygoodsoareyouin?”
“Pardon? Ah didn’t catch a word of that, sugarcube.”
I took a deep breath. “Okay. So, I’m going to enter this beach volleyball doubles thing, and there’s a championship in June with a trophy and everything! It sounds pretty awesome, but I need someone to be my partner. You were pretty good when we played earlier, so, are you in?”
There was a pause on the other end of the line.
{Pleasesayyespleasesayyespleasesayyes}, I silently begged.
“Um, Ah dunno, Rainbow. There’s a mighty lot o’ work tah be done ‘round the farm, and Ah’m not sure that Granny Smith will jus’ let me walk away from all mah duties...”
“Come on! Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease? I don’t make these offers lightly, you know.”
Another pause. I took the phone off my ear and switched it to the other side. My hands were getting all sweaty from clutching it so hard. But I was not going to let her go so easily. Not when it meant beating Lightning Dust and becoming a Canterlot High Wondercolt.
“Listen, Rainbow. Can ya give me a few days jus’ tah think this over an’ ask permission an’ stuff? Ah hafta admit, this does sound interestin’, but Ah jus’ don’t know how mah family’s gonna react tah me missin’ a whole buncha work. Ah’ll talk tah ya soon, okay?”
“So is that a yes?” I asked hopefully.
“It’s a maybe. That’s all Ah can honestly give ya right now.”
“Okay, then. See you soon!”
“See ya later, sugarcube.”
And with that, I clicked the off button. Placing the phone on my dresser, I mulled over Applejack’s words. A maybe. That was the best answer I had gotten so far. It wasn’t a yes, but I would just have to do a few extra things to make sure it would be.