My alarm-clock blared into my ears early the next morning, jolting me from my sleep and causing me to scramble in a desperate hurry to shut it off. As silence once again came over my room, I fell face first back into the warmth of my pillow. Once the initial panic had warn away, my mindset returned to what it had been the previous night, and my head ached from a severe lack of sleep.
I was to arrive at the school early, before any classes had even begun so I could receive a tour from one of the students to become a bit more familiarized with its layout, along with my schedule. I awoke for a second time in a state of confusion as the alarm rang through my room once more. I grumbled in frustration as I once again slammed my palm down upon the snooze button and rolled over onto my side to find an even more comfortable position. I was seemingly under the impression that if I continued to sleep, I would never have to go to the school to receive a tour and my education would magically be forgotten.
I sighed, unable to sleep as my nausea returned and my heart thumped anxiously against my chest. There was no point in falling back asleep, I was already wide awake and unable to fight my fate. Switching off the alarm, I slumped out of bed, too lost to even attempt straightening it up. I stumbled to the bathroom, not even wanting to hear a cheerful good morning from my mother in the state I was in.
Humid heat and powerful streams of water did little to relax my nerves, and a light breakfast did nothing to calm my unsettled stomach. After struggling to put on the first pair of clothes I managed to pull from my recently filled dresser, all transformed into a blur of worrisome thoughts until I arrived at the school.
***
I grew utterly embarrassed as we pulled into an empty space in the parking lot. A senior riding to school with his mother? That screamed awkward; well, I was awkward, but I certainly didn’t want to show off as if it was something to be proud of. If I were to explain that my mother had to make a trip to the store while I had my tour, everything would be fine, but, of course, no one would ask; they would point, snicker, and assume. “Should I come with? Do you think there’s anything they need to tell me?” my mother asked with a caring smile.
I desperately wanted to say yes. Even if I despised her then, even if it made me appear as some kind of wimp, it would be nice to have family there for comfort. I couldn’t though. I was a senior and almost eighteen years of age; I had to act like an adult. I shook my head softly. “No, you told me it was just a tour. I don’t think so, you don’t really need to know where my classes are. Besides, you need to go shopping.”
“Okay, if I’m not back when you finish just call,” she said, giving me a wave as I opened the door and pushed myself off of the passenger seat, my shoes clacking against the pavement below.
“See ya,” I said with a nod before shutting the door. My heart lurched realizing I had no idea where exactly I would be meeting my tour guide. Was I supposed to go to the office? That did seem logical, but perhaps I was supposed to meet her somewhere in the school. I would feel like an absolute idiot if I had to ask questions for something so simple. I was a new student, but still, I didn’t want to come off as completely clueless. I let out a sigh in an attempt to expel some of my nervous energy, and headed off towards the front entrance. I assured myself everything would be fine.
The school’s campus was eerily quiet, only a few students huddled together in small groups or independently finishing homework on their own could be seen. It made sense, I was there rather early; classes wouldn’t be starting for another hour or so. I guess touring would be much easier with empty halls. My imagination went wild at the thought; I could practically hear the roar of hundreds of voices and see the hectic crowd of students.
I shrugged off the thought and instead focused on the world around me. Although it would likely grow into a rather warm and sunny day, there was a wet chill in the air, causing me to shiver through my light sweatshirt. The large school cast a shadow which covered all of the well-manicured lawn before me, no warm rays of morning sunshine penetrating its solid form. Would the school be as cold and heartless as the shadow it cast?
I quickened my pace as the breeze began picking up, scattering a few dried leaves across the sidewalk. I wrapped my arms around my chest, hugging myself for extra warmth. I shouldn’t have been that cold; it had to have been the nerves taking their toll on me. With what almost felt like a combination of relief and worry, I reached the door, pulled it open, and slipped inside.
“Hello there, you must be our new student.” I nearly jumped at the voice, my eyes concentrated on my feet rather than what lay ahead. “Oh, sorry, didn’t mean to scare you… but I really wasn’t expecting that sort of reaction. Everything alright?”
I nodded my head as I peered up to see a beautiful girl before me. Her skin looked smooth, the color of pale amber. Her curled hair was a rich shade of crimson with golden yellow highlights. Her eyes shone the color of beautiful ocean pools. Everything about her body was perfect as well, although her clothing seemed somewhat off. Her sweet voice and smile offset everything about the black leather jacket, studded collar included, and large boots that she sported. She dressed as if she was some kind of “bad girl.”
“No… it’s fine a mumbled,” giving her a sheepish smile as I awkwardly brushed my hand against the back of my head. “I’m just tired and feeling a bit off.”
She smiled once more and nodded her head. “I could get you a cup of coffee from the office if you’d like.”
I smiled softly at the thought of a hot, steaming drink. “That sounds really great actually.”
“You wait here,” she replied before darting off into the door which she must have appeared from, and returning in what seemed like only a few seconds. I eagerly gripped the Styrofoam cup which she held out in both of my hands and nodded in thanks. “I’m Sunset Shimmer by the way.” She extended a slender hand.
I smiled and gave it a shake, enjoying the touch of her soft skin. “Nice to meet you Sunset.”
“You too… anyways, we should probably get this tour started before the halls get filled up. I may have just volunteered for the job, but I still don’t want to let Principle Celestia and Vice Principle Luna down. Actually, if you have any questions or concerns that I can’t answer, I’m sure they’d be more than willing to help.”
Sunset seemed like a rather sweet girl, but there was something off about the way she acted, as if she was trying a little too hard. That wasn’t necessarily a hindrance though; it actually aided in calming me down. Yet, in the back of my head, I still knew that the level of peppiness was too high.
“So here’s your schedule, and I’ll show you where all of the rooms are along with the cafeteria, gym, things like that,” she said as she handed over a crisp sheet of paper which I was sure would be crumpled and worn with use by the time I was finished with it; I had never been a master at memorization. “Everything look okay?”
I sipped at my coffee and nodded my head as I scanned over the list, all of the basic classes I’d had back home. “Seems alright to me.”
Sunset smiled once more and motioned for me to follow. Noticing that I was right at her side, she started up a conversation as we headed towards the first room. “Tell me a little about yourself, what do you like to do?”
“Uh, I guess I play video games mostly. That or watch shows and cartoons and stuff,” I said with a shrug wondering if her view of me would change. “I guess I like nature too sometimes, taking walks and hiking.”
“I was wondering why you didn’t have any gym classes, most students here take them just to get out of other classes that require work,” she said with a smirk. “So you’re sort of nerdy then? There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“Y-yeah, you could say that,” I said with a nervous chuckle. She seemed rather accepting of my habits; there was no teasing and no persuasion or bribes to become a part of any sort of sports team.
“I guess I used to be into quite a few of the sports around here, but not so much anymore.”
I wasn’t sure whether or not her statement was supposed to be remorseful or a simple comment. I decided on the former, a choice which probably wasn’t my greatest. “Well, at least you still seem pretty active in helping out the school. You’re giving me a tour after all.”
Sunset sighed with a frown and shook her head slowly. “Trust me, it’s a good thing I’ve moved onto to doing things like this now. I never liked any of that stuff, just did it to fit in, be popular.”
I felt awful for bringing up what seemed to be a rather touchy subject, but at the same time, I was quite intrigued. Maybe she was a bad girl after all, a bad girl turned good. A turnaround like that was always interesting to see. I never understood why a girl would do so many bad things or activities she didn’t enjoy just so the other students would appreciate her. I was glad to see that Sunset had changed.
“Anyways,” she said, forcing a smile back onto her face, and gulping down her previous emotions, “I’m sure you’ve heard some pretty harsh rumors about CHS, but I want to tell you that things have changed since then. It was a rough time, but we’ve recovered. This school is a really great place now if you ask me, well, for the most part.”
For the most part, I thought to myself, wondering what exactly she meant. I wasn’t going to ask. I looked over with hesitation, feeling her gaze. A look of genuine concern covered her face.
“You look worried. Are you sure everything’s okay?” I shrugged halfheartedly, not wanting to tell her my thoughts which suddenly seemed completely idiotic. “Uh… sorry I asked?” she muttered, seemingly hurt by my response.
“It’s fine,” I said, giving her a soft smile. “I just… yeah.”
“Don’t want to talk about it? Makes sense, it’s not like you know me well enough to say something like that. Anyways, this is your English class,” she pointed a finger to a dark, locked room as we came to a stop. “It looks like you’ll be having Mr....”
My thoughts began to drown out her words. I nodded my head politely every few seconds and stared her in the eyes as if fully focused on what was being discussed. This continued for the rest of the tour. There was no need for knowledge of my teachers or their rules; I would end up learning nearly everything that needed to be known about them after spending a week or so in class. All that was absolutely necessary for me to remember was the room number and where it was located.
Along with running room numbers and the path to reach them through my head, thoughts of Sunset Shimmer also began coming to mind. Perhaps I did trust the girl enough to tell her my fears. I had always been rather careful with my trust, and for the average person, it would take much, much longer than a couple of hours for him or her to earn my trust, probably closer to a month or more. I knew there was more to her than she was letting off, but there was something about her that caused me to feel comfortable, a connection?
“There’s still about thirty minutes or so until classes start; want to have some breakfast? I’m buying.” The sudden change in subject stirred me from my thoughts. I looked up to see an almost nervous grin covering her face. “Unless you have to get going right away.”
“No, that sounds nice.” A look of relief poured over her face, and I could see her muscles relax. I was curious as to what could have possibly made her so nervous about asking me a question like that. I immediately pushed aside the hopeful thoughts that she may have been interested in me, but knew that did not mean there wasn’t something amiss. It seemed as though a nice, beautiful girl like herself would have no issues with their self-confidence around an awkward guy like me; she did though.
The more time that was spent with Sunset, the more curious I grew about who she truly was. It seemed as though such a subject would be quite personal, and I had yet to earn the luxury of asking it without any worries of a negative reaction.
Some form of breakfast scramble was slopped down onto our trays along with our choice of fruit on the side. It was certainly not anything near a gourmet meal, but I was glad to be spending more time with Sunset Shimmer.
“I know it’ll probably take a day or two of classes to form a real opinion, but what do you think of the school so far? Are you looking forward to spending the rest of your school year here or…?” she asked after we’d taken a seat in the fairly empty cafeteria.
“Uh…” I mumbled as a pondered the question, using my fork to fiddle with a clump of eggs on my plate. “I wouldn’t say I’m looking forward to it, but I guess I can deal with it.”
“Aww, is there a reason, or just not a major fan of school?” she asked with concern, her aqua colored eyes gazing at me attentively.
The perfect moment had arisen for me to tell her my original fears, but I was unsure if I was able. My heartbeat quickened slightly at the thought. I couldn’t believe myself. I would simply have to speak my mind, but for some unknown reason, I was afraid to. It was going to make me sound slightly awkward, but sitting there and saying nothing would give me the appearance of being extremely awkward. “I guess I’m nervous about socializing… my social life, you know?”
She tilted her head slightly, intrigued by such a statement. “Why is that?”
A wave a nervous energy rushed through my body as I attempted to speak once more. “Well, I’m guessing you can tell… I probably won’t fit in very well. I don’t really fit the standard for a normal high school student or anything.” I paused and let out a sigh, giving myself a break to rebuild my courage. “To make things worse… I’m pretty shy too.” I shrugged and quickly moved a hand to the back of my head to scratch it.
Sunset wrapped a hand around my wrist which still rested upon the table and smiled comfortingly. “Look, from what I’ve seen, you’re nice, sweet, and even a little funny too. I don’t think you need to be worried, but if you do have a hard time making friends, there’s always me. I really don’t think my friends would mind having you around either.”
“Thanks,” I said softly, giving her a nod as my face began to heat up. I was almost unable to believe how sweet she was being about my problem. I figured I had made the correct choice; it was a good idea to speak my mind after all. She had me feeling much more comfortable, and even a bit joyous.
***
After finishing up my pleasant breakfast with Sunset, pleasant because of her company rather than what was being eaten, I made my way back to the parking lot where my mother awaited me. She looked up from her phone as I opened the door and then smiled. “Hey, sweetie, looks like the tour went well.”
“Huh… what do you mean?” I muttered curiously as I raised an eyebrow.
“You’re smiling now. You were frowning when I dropped you off.” I tried to force down the wide smile which had somehow managed to sneak its way onto my face. I wasn’t ready to admit that perhaps moving to a new school hadn’t been such a bad idea after all. I had already met an amazing girl. Yet, there was no possible way I was forming my opinion of a school around one girl. I had yet to take in enough to form an opinion. I guess you could say I was still on the fence, although Sunset Shimmer was pulling me more in one direction. “Anyways, that took a little longer than we expected. Did you have to do something else while you were in there?”
“Uh… no, not really,” I lied.