The bell rang, ending 5th period classes. After walking around with Sunset looking at clubs earlier today, I needed to talk to Celestia about why she wanted this to happen. Ever since we looked over all the clubs, it felt like we were undecided about what to choose. And it wasn’t the fact that she didn’t like the clubs. It was more on my end. I wasn’t much into clubs in the first place at my old school, because the only thing I felt like doing was helping others out that needed help. Some of those times involved my soul powers. I never had any other special talents that any of the clubs could provide. I might just have been in the same boat as Applejack the past two years.
I went into the school office and saw that the principal’s door was closed. “Is Principal Celestia in her office?” I asked Ms. Raven.
“She is, but she’s in the middle of an important call. You can wait until she’s done.”
“Thanks,” I replied. I sat down at one of the chairs next to the wall, looking up in the ceiling.
“Something wrong?” Ms. Raven asked me. “You look out of it today.”
I sighed and said, “Just trying to figure some things out. That’s all.”
“Does it involve Sunset?” I looked at her, shocked at her guess. “Figured that was the case.”
“I don’t know why the principal wants the both of us to join the same club. Both of us feel undecided in the choices.”
“Is it that she feels that way more, or you?” I started to think about what she was asking, when the door open, snapping me out of my thoughts.
Celestia was coming out of her office in haste. “Jack, I need to head to the school board building and get some things cleared up with Coach Spitfire teaching here so she can get her paycheck before the end of the week. I want you to check up with Miss Cheerilee in the library.” She paused to look at me and said, “Is something on your mind, Jack?”
“Nothing important. I can talk to you about it tomorrow. I don’t want to hold you up.”
“OK…we can talk about it tomorrow if you like. I need to head on down there.” Celestia made her way out of the office.
Ms. Raven noticed that I couldn’t explain to her about what was going on. “Why don’t you talk to Miss Cheerilee about what’s going on,” she said. “Maybe you can talk to her about all this. She is a good listener, and might have an idea of how best to solve your problem.”
So I decided to follow her advice and make my way to the library to help Miss Cheerilee. She needed help putting some books away on the shelves in various areas of the library. As I was putting some of the books away, I still had all those thoughts going through my head from today. Miss Cheerilee saw that something wasn’t right about me and called me over.
“Looks like you got a lot on your mind,” she said. “Care to talk about it?”
I gather my thoughts and said, “Principal Celestia wanted me to help Sunset in finding a club to join together. So far, we don’t know what club to join out of what this school has. And if she doesn’t join a club, she would have to be placed in dentition. And I’m caught in the cross hairs.”
“Well, is there a club that you wanted to join?” I was about to answer until I noticed that she was talking about me and not Sunset. “I know it would be hard to get Sunset to join a club with her past actions. But if you don’t know what club you want to join, then there’s your problem.”
“Well…I don’t know what club that I fit in,” I said.
“That was Applejack during her freshman year,” Miss Cheerilee responded. “She couldn’t find a club that would fit her. But since Granny Smith and me work here, she decided to just spend her times helping one of us out. Was there any clubs that you tried out at your old school?”
“Not really. I never really felt like joining any club, fearing that after the school year, I might have to move to another city. And I never had any special talents or skills that fit any of the clubs they had. I just like to help out others that needed help, whenever it happen.”
“Are you and Sunset going to go over the clubs tomorrow?” Miss Cheerilee asked.
“We plan to meet here during free study to go over the list of clubs that we looked at. Would at least help to keep all the stares away from us.”
“We have some listening rooms that students can use to discuss with other students or play tapes or CDs as a group. Why don’t you use one of those tomorrow? That might help you focus on what you need to do with your club selection, without all those stares focused on both of you.”
“Thanks, Miss Cheerilee. That would help a lot. We need to make a decision by Thursday.”
“No problem, Jack. Just let me know that you need one of the rooms when you get here. By the way, I heard that someone stood up to Diamond Tiara yesterday, helping Apple Bloom and her friends. Did you see what happened?”
“Why do you ask?” I said.
“Well, I do teach Freshman English for the first 2 periods before coming to work in the library. And those four Crusaders are in the same English class as Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon that I teach.”
“How do you teach and work in here at the same time?” I asked.
“I worked as a substitute teacher when I started working here. This is my first year teaching a couple of classes for the original English teacher, who could be looking into retirement. So I might be looking into a full teacher’s license next semester to replace my substitute teacher’s license. And you still haven’t answered my question.”
“You’re looking at him.” She looked at me, thinking I was joking. “It’s no joke. I knew that her father was the same man who my father helped out with some business problems. I just used that to my advantage.”
“Well, you might have helped me out, because Diamond Tiara has been quiet before and during class, maybe wondering if you’re watching over her.” Both of us giggled quietly. “She’s been all talk the first week, bragging about how she’s part of a rich family and have been bugging Apple Bloom, until today.”
“I’m just one of those who can’t stand bullies. Or in Diamond Tiara’s case, becoming the next Sunset Shimmer. That’s the last thing this school needs.”
I felt better after talking to Miss Cheerilee and we finished putting the books away before the final bell.
It was Day 2 of club recruitment, and Sunset and me decided to meet in the library. She wasn’t happy about all of this, but she felt like she didn’t have much of a choice, and I was the only leverage she had. I was going to make an effort to make this happen, no matter what. I asked for one of the listening rooms that Miss Cheerilee talked about yesterday, and she gave us access to one of them for us to use. Once we were inside, we laid out all the clubs that were available.
“I still can’t believe I have to go through this,” Sunset said.
“You want to spend your time in detention with the principal?” I asked.
She rolled her eyes and said, “Like I have a choice.”
“Well, there’s the science club.” I brought the club’s paper towards us. “They did say it would help out in our science project when it comes up.”
“Well, I’m not much of a science person. And it’s not my best class.”
I sighed. “Science isn’t my best class either. Same goes for English.”
“Well, we can throw out the Literature club from the list.
I placed both clubs to the side and pulled up the Math club. “Well, Math is my strong suit.”
“Math can be easy, but try all those word problems. I have a hard time understanding what it’s trying to say.”
“I prefer visuals to help in math classes. Otherwise, I just get the idea wrong.”
“Is there something else to go on?”
I placed that club aside and grabbed a few more. “Well, there’s the Nature club, Athletic club, and Theater club.”
“I’ll just be labeled as the villain in the Theater club. Plus, I don’t think I can handle the Nature club members, and I rather stay away from the Athletic club.”
“Tree Hugger and Flash Sentry, right?” I recommended.
“Do I even need to answer?” she responded with an evil glare.
“Forget I brought it up. And we can scratch out the Fashion club.” I placed those clubs aside and brought up a couple more. “There’s the Music club and Computer club. What about those?”
“I know those girls you know will be in the Music club, and I doubt anyone with want me to play with them. And I can never understand all the nerd talk with computers.”
“I don’t have much in music talents, and I can understand the computer basics. That’s what I use to make musical mix tracks. But if there’s work on customizing computers or programming, then that’s out of my league.”
“Might as well put those ones aside,” she said.
After doing that, I was worried about the Party club I saw. “I’m guessing I should forget about this one.”
“Which one is that?” She looked and saw what it was. “Oh, that one. I’ll just get blamed for any screw-ups there.”
After looking at what clubs that was left, we were left in the same state as before. “It’s like there’s not a club that’s out there for both of us,” I said.
“This is just…stupid. Why did she put us up to all this?” she replied.
“I knew this was going to happen,” I said. “Just like the clubs at my old school, I couldn’t find one that I was interested in.”
“You mean you never joined a club before?” I nodded. “Then why the heck are we even doing this? She’s just looking for some excuse to put me away. It’s like the entire school is against me.”
“You only have yourself to blame for that, Sunny. And I’m trying to find a way to fix that.”
“Why do you even care!” she yelled. “There’s nothing you can do to help me!”
“At least I’m helping you get a second chance when no one else will. Isn’t that what you want?”
“Like anyone cares about me. All they care about is burying me into the ground. I even had to spend my entire summer working here and being grounded back home.”
“That’s because you had to have a grudge with Twilight and her friends last school year.”
At that point, she slapped me on the face…HARD!!! “WHY DON’T YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!!!” She grabbed her things and stormed out of the room.
After she left, I just sat down, rubbing my hand on the cheek that she slapped, just trying to gather my thoughts. “Why is it that I have to put up with this? I know I like to help others when they need it, but how can I help her if she won’t let me. Am I just being used just so they can find an excuse to get her out of this school?”
“I know everyone hates her, sugercube, but finding an excuse to get her expelled is just out of line, if you know what I mean.” I looked at the doorway to see Applejack there. “Looks like she hit you hard there.”
“Yea,” I said as I was still rubbing my cheek.
“Saw Sunset running like a fireball while I was talking to Cheerilee,” Applejack said. “She told me that she was with you in here. Looks like club selection isn’t going so well.”
“It’s not,” I said. “I don’t know anymore. I try to help others back at my old school, and hardly get any thanks for my efforts. I don’t have a problem with that, but it feels like I’m just being used when I try to help.”
“Now I don’t buy that one bit,” Applejack responded. “Look at what you’ve done in over a week. You helped Chrysalis out of that dump and got her to open up to us. And you went out of your way to help my little sis against that so-called bully that she has been dealing with. Not to mention giving Rarity and me a better outlook at what we should be doing with our lives now than focusing on our past.”
“How would you know about what I told Rarity?”
“Because she came to me on Monday and decided to forgive me for being so over-protective about what happen that day.” She came in front of me, bended down and put both hands on my shoulders. “It’s like you helped remove the guilt that both of us have been dealing with. You’re like the light at the end of the tunnel. And if Principal Celestia had a reason for doing this, it’s not to find some darn excuse to get her expelled, or at least throw her in detention. She would never go that low for this school.” She got back up and said, “Look, let me talk to Principal Celestia. I might have a way to solve both your problems.”
“This is my problem,” I said. “I caused this mess, and I’ll find a way to fix it.”
“Not this time, partner,” she said. “You helped me back on the farm, so it’s time I repay the favor. And us Apples always repay in full.”
As I went through the rest of the day, trying to hide the mark that Sunset left on me, I was able to meet up with Celestia for 6th period. I can see that she was looking over some notes when she heard me walk in.
“Hello, Jack. How has your – GOOD LORD!!!” She looked up to see the mark on my face. “What happened to your face?” I just sat down, feeling drained. “Did Sunset do this to you? If that’s the case, then…”
I held my hand up to make her stop talking so I can say what I wanted to say. “You know when you see a panel of buttons that you can push, but told not to push the big, red button?” She nodded. “Well, I pushed the big, red button in Sunset’s brain, and this is what I got.” I pointed to the spot on my cheek.
“Then I can guess she doesn’t want to join any club out there,” Celestia said.
“More like I can’t find any clubs worth joining,” I responded. “I never joined a club back at my old school because none of them interested me. The only talent or skills I had back then was helping others out. Now I’m not sure if I can help anyone here. Sunset is like a…complex puzzle, and I can’t even find the pieces to put it all together.”
Celestia went up to the door and closed it. Then she went back to her desk and sat down. “I thought this would work, but maybe I jumped the gun on this test. And I can guess there are some things that you or your friends don’t know about her.”
“Well, she said that she had to spend her summer working here as punishment and was grounded back home.”
“I figure her mother would do something like that after I met with her about what her daughter did after prom.”
“What about her father? Did he have a say in this?”
She shook her head and said, “Never met him. I think Sunset’s mother is divorced. And she’s an only child, just like you.”
“Sounds more like Chrysalis’ family,” I said. “Her father left the family, leaving just her and her mother. You know what happened next.”
“I know. And I can see what you are talking about. Maybe there’s more to her past that none of us even knows.”
“Remember when I said that I felt something from her but couldn’t figure out what it was?” She nodded. “I wonder if she’s been trying to hide the emotional scars from everyone else?”
“Looks like you have a longer road ahead of you than I thought it would be. Take a break for today, and let’s see if we can get some ice for your cheek. It must still hurt.”
“It does,” I said as I was rubbing my cheek again. “And just a heads up. Applejack is going to see you sometime about an idea that might help our problems. She didn’t say when or what it was, just that she wants to repay for my help towards her back on her farm.”
“She’s honest about repaying her debts, Jack. And if she has an idea that can work, I’ll be happy to hear what she has to say.”
It’s Thursday, the last day for club recruitment, and my hands were tied about what I was supposed to do. I was already in my English class sitting in my seat, feeling disappointed. Sunset walked in and didn’t bother to glance at me. I didn’t even feel like looking at her anyway after what happened yesterday. Applejack and Rarity saw that I was down and walked up to me, trying to make eye contact.
“Don’t worry, sugercube. I plan to talk to her today before free study about all this,” said Applejack.
“We plan to help get you through all of this, dear,” Rarity added.
“We?” I thought. “What’s this about we?”
At the time, I just didn’t want to think about it and hope Applejack will be able to fix this. When I was at my Science class, it was evident that Sunset and me didn’t want to look at each other. Once class was out, we saw Ms. Raven asking for the two of us to come with her. We arrived at the principal’s office and saw Celestia, Luna, and Applejack in the room. Celestia told us to take a seat, and we did, not wanting to look at each other still.
“Applejack was telling Luna and me about an idea for a new club. Since you might be having a hard time finding a club to join, like I asked, I realized that I was taking the wrong approach in all of this. I know you would like to help others when needed, so we have decided to create the volunteer club, with Applejack as the president of the club.”
“That’s just great,” said Sunset, “but there’s just one problem. You can’t have a club unless you have at least five members, and there’s only three.
“It’s a good thing that I found two more members to join your new club.” We glanced back to see Miss Cheerilee with two girls, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. “I’m glad that Applejack told me about creating a new club, and these two decided to ‘join’ the new club.”
“No we didn’t,” said Diamond Tiara. “You just forcing us to be a part of this so-called club.”
“Well, you didn’t bother looking over all the clubs that were available, so I’m helping you out, since there’s not much time to decide,” Miss Cheerilee said.
“If that’s the case, then I believe we have ourselves a volunteer club,” said Applejack. “And I already have our first volunteer request from Rarity. She needs some people to help be as models for some new ideas that Chrysalis has drawn up. And all five of us are going to help them out.”
“Wait, all five of us?” Diamond Tiara said. “No way what-so-ever. I am not doing it.”
“Looks like a few freshmen have heard about Sunset’s past,” Luna said.
Sunset rolled her eyes in disgust, but I decided to correct Luna’s comment. “I don’t think she was talking about Sunset.” I got out of my seat and went straight to Diamond Tiara. “If I heard correctly, you thought that joining a club was a joke, right?” I knew she would remember me from Monday after school, because she started to feel nervous, not knowing what to say.
Luna giggled, and then said, “I stand corrected.”
“I guess this is how you handle bullies that bully others back at your old school,” Celestia said.
Diamond Tiara said, “Hey, I am not a…” I stared straight at her. “Never mind.”
“Good,” I replied. “Because we really don’t need another Sunset look-a-like at this school.” I looked at Sunset, saying, “No offense.”
She replied, “None taken. Besides, I don’t think all that money can save you from dentition, anyway.”
“Well then. I better let Rarity know that she will be having five volunteers this Saturday,” Applejack said. “I’m guessing you know where her store is, right?”
“Mr. Rich knows where it is, so he can take us there,” Silver Spoon said. Diamond Tiara wanted to say something, then stopped, knowing there was no stopping what was about to happen.
“I have to take Chrysalis over there, so I can have her show me where it is,” I said.
We looked at Sunset, waiting for her response. “I…could use some help getting there,” she said, scratching the back of her head.
Luna said, “Sunset, why don’t you meet at school and one of us can take you there from that point, OK? We can work it all out tomorrow.”
We all came to an agreement on the new club and left the office to enjoy some free time before lunch. Applejack and Cheerilee took the two girls back up to the library to make sure they know what they would be doing. That left Sunset and me right outside our lockers.
“Look,” said Sunset, “I’m sorry for slapping you in the face yesterday. I know you were trying to help.”
“No,” I replied. “It was me who should be sorry. I crossed the line with that last comment I said back in the library. My actions were out of line and I deserved it.”
She placed her hand on the same spot where she slapped me yesterday. “You did cross the line, but I overreacted to what you said. It was just as stupid as what you did yesterday.” She moved her hand away from my cheek and pointed at me, saying, “That’s doesn’t me we’re friends, OK?”
“As long as you can handle me bugging you until you give in, Sunny.”
She started to get mad and said, “Don’t call me…never mind,” and started to walk away. Once she was on the other side of the lobby, she stopped and glanced back at me. I could see a faint smile before she looked away and walked off.
“If I have to travel the long road to earn your trust, I’ll take it.”