//------------------------------// // Chapter 8: New Feelings // Story: Misery // by ImpendingDoomxXx //------------------------------// Misery Chapter 8 "Bye Mike, see you after school." I said walking out the front door. I heard a faint, "See ya' later, kiddo." come from upstairs. "The last week of school before summer break." I said quietly to myself, "I finally get to graduate and go to college." Yesterday was a great day. Mike decided that we should spend the day out in the woods. We had a great time. We went for a run first, no real destination, we just ran. After a while we grew tired and spent almost the entire afternoon on the cliffs, just lounging around on the rocks and telling each other jokes and stories. Before we even knew it, the sun was setting. So we watched in silent awe as out favorite sight dazzled us, and we went back home. It doesn’t really seem like it would be fun, just thinking about it, but I guess it was the company that made it enjoyable. I walk down the narrow road that leads to my carriage stop. I look up at the trees lining the road, once again in awe of how beautiful they are. The sunrise creating a bright cherry glow in the sky and surrounding clouds, the colors bleeding through the flora surrounding me makes this narrow road feel so welcoming, so warming. The perfect thing to wake up to. I love living atop a mountain ridge. The rising sun has now risen enough to start reflecting and refracting through the dew droplets on the grass and leaves, casting this narrow wooded road into a million small beads of sparkling cherry red with hints of pink and orange. A mild breeze blew through this tunneled road shaking the leaves and grass, and with them the dew droplets. A million tiny lights started flying all over the inside of this green haven creating a sort of living feel to it. Almost as if all of the dots of light blend so perfectly with each other that it gives a sort of whole feeling, and this whole is alive. The wind subsided and a large patch of clouds moved in front of the sun and put the landscape in an overcast. This bright, glowing, almost alive scenery has been reduced to a color-bled swath of grey-greens and white. In just a handful of seconds this amazing scene has been reduced to a depressing lump of items that seem to suck the happiness out of you. The rest of the walk was just as depressing and un-eventful as before. *** First class of the day was pretty entertaining. The teacher gave us a lesson on Van Allen belts, and what they do to stars. Afterwards he taught us about the chemical change in a star when it goes Supernova, I found that part of the lesson to be quite entertaining. Second, Math. The lesson wasn't too difficult, it was only a refresher course on working exponentials. After that we moved on to working out the the surface area and volumes of theoretical spheres. And to top it off, the last thing the teacher had us do was to calculate the approximate volume of the sun with given accurate measurements. Why she decided to use the sun is a mystery, but either way, I enjoyed it. Lunch was a bit different than usual. I ate lunch as usual, and then moved out to a tree in the field next to the school. After about ten minutes of lounging out under the tree, I heard somepony walking up. I looked up to see my math teacher trotting up, bright golden mane flowing with the wind. I sat up to greet her. "Hi" I said when she got within earshot. "Hey, there. How are you doing?" She asked. "I'm good, just laying out here." I replied. "That's good to hear. Listen, I've been wondering; would you like to stay this afternoon and tell me some more about your past?" She asked quite awkwardly. "Today? No, not today. I can stay tomorrow, though. I just don't want my foster dad wondering where I am. He wasn't too happy with my unannounced lateness last time." I said. "Oh, ok. Tomorrow it is then. Hey, why do lay out here by yourself instead of making friends and hanging out with other ponies?" She asked. "I've never really thought about it. I just know that I feel relaxed just laying out here under this tree, and I see those other ponies running around and roughhousing. It's just not what I would call fun. I like to relax, not run around all day." "Ah, that's good reasoning. OK, I don't want to impose, so I'll just get out of your mane." She said while standing up. "You're not imposing, really. You can stay if you'd like. I don't mind." I told her. "I thought you liked being alone though." "I said that I don't like running around all day, not that I dislike having company." I said with a smile. "OK, then. I will stay here with you." She said. I though I caught a blush as she sat down. I’m not very good with hiding my nervousness, so instead of delving into a topic that I have no experience in, I let it be and readjusted myself. I never realized it before, but my math teacher is actually quite a beautiful young mare. Her deep ruby-red coat caught the sunlight and bent it into an aura that almost made it seem as if she was glowing. Her peach colored mane shone with enough brilliance to match the noon-day sun. Her mane also gave an accent to her green eyes that is rarely found elsewhere, she is simply beautiful. ”Wow, just look at yourself. Getting the hots for your teacher. You know that you can never be with her. Not only is it illegal, I think, but I’m sure society would have a big problem with it too.” I thought to myself. ”Maybe after graduation I could have a chance, and neither of us would get into trouble. Yes, after graduation.” I thought with a smile. “What are you smiling about?” She asked me. I was so lost in thought that I barely even noticed that she was still sitting next to me. “What? Oh, nothing important.” I croaked out with a blush. “Really? Then why are you blushing?” She teased. “Blushing? Me? No, I’m not blushing am I? Can you see it through my coat?” I stammered. I couldn’t hold in my embarrassment. But she was giggling like a little school filly. DING The bell’s thundering call echoing throughout the meadow caught our attention and made her stop giggling long enough for me to regain control of myself. She looked back at me and nodded her head in the direction of the school, beckoning me to walk with her. I stood up and gave her a small grin then joined her. We didn’t say anything to one another, which made it a little bit weird, but still just being together had her smiling ear to ear. It made me think. ”Is she falling for me, or the other way around? How am I supposed to know? More importantly, how am I supposed to react to this whole situation?” I gave her a glance out of the corner of my eye. She was quite literally gleaming with either happiness or pride, I couldn’t tell which. ”Maybe I’ll just take what is happening and run with it, just let what happens, happen.” I gave her another look and found that she had been looking at me as well and as soon as my eyes met hers she yanked her head away and slightly blushed. I couldn’t help but to smile. It was too cute. We got back to the school and I walked with her to her classroom and tried to make it seem as if I were going with her to make up a test or something, to keep other ponies from straying into business that doesn’t concern them. We got to her room and we said our goodbyes and parted. I couldn’t help but feel a little giddy as I walked away. *** The rest of the day was quite uneventful, same old boring stuff. Though I couldn’t get my mind off of her. How her mane radiated with a bright yellow-golden glow. How her smile created small dimples in the sides of her mouth. How her eyes seemed to have an endless gaze. I was so lost in the though of her that I didn’t even notice when the dismissal bell rang. I jumped up and ran out to my carriage, I was so late that I almost missed it, but I got on and sat down in an empty seat. I got off at my stop and started walking down the dirt road that led home. “I wonder what Mike is doing.” I asked to no one in particular. I kept walking home, not in a hurry or anything, just walking. As I walked I noticed something about this road. The contrast between the early morning and afternoon view on the road is quite a remarkable difference. The morning has sharp qualities that give everything a distinct presence; while the afternoon has warm colors that give everything an inviting feel, as if everything is one in the same and that there is nothing to worry about. Even as subtle a feeling as it may have been, it still brought a smile to my face and lifted my mood. I ran the rest of the way home so that I could spend the last few hours of the day with Mike. I ran down the road, through the flora-tunnel, up the hill, across the yard, and into the house. “Mike, I’m home!” I yelled as I walked through the door and closed it behind me. “Hey, kiddo! How was your day?” He asked with a cheery tone. “Well, I may have met a filly.” I said with a smile.