//------------------------------// // Chapter Six: Home Sweet Homeroom // Story: Boarding School // by HaloEssence111 //------------------------------// Chapter Six BRRIIIIINNGG... Diamond blinked her eyes open, adjusting to the bright morning sunshine pouring through her window. Immediately she shut them tight again. I had a dream that Daddy sent me away to boarding school and I had a fight with some jerk named Gingersnap. she thought. When I open my eyes, I'll in bed at home. Diamond could hear her alarm clock shutting off suddenly, and the rustling of bedsheets. And there's Camille, come to tidy my room. Diamond thought, smiling to herself. Once again, she blinked open her eyes open, but instead of being greeted with the familiar pink and platinum colors of her bedroom, she was disappointed to find Mal getting up out of bed and stretching. Diamond Tiara groggily got out of bed and ambled over to the alarm clock, which read precisely 6:17 am. Diamond scowled; what kind of a lunatic wakes up at freaking 6:17??? However, she watched as Mal trotted over to the dresser closest and pulled out a burgundy sweater, white blouse, and pleated skirt, then proceeded to make her way to the bathroom to shower and change. Ugh, I forgot about that hideous uniform... thought Diamond, groaning slightly at the suggestion of wearing something so unfashionable. She closed her eyes to go back to sleep, but after what seemed like just a moment, the alarm's snooze button activated, jolting her awake. The clock now read 6:27 am, and the alarm was buzzing so loudly now that Diamond thought her ears were going to pop. Annoyed, she shuffled over to the other side of the room and unplugged the clock. Yawning, she began to make her way back to the bed. The sound of the water had stopped, and Mal walked out of the bathroom, toweling her mane and tail dry. She was completely dressed in the uniform, right down to the socks and ugly brown shoes. "Ain't you gonna get dressed?" asked Mal, getting started on making her bed and cleaning up after herself. "We only got about a half an hour before we gotta be in the cafeteria." Diamond yawned and turned over in bed. "Whatever... you crazy people can go, I'm gonna get some sleep." Mal shrugged her shoulders. "Suit yourself." she said. "Go get yourself an eternity of detention, I don't care." Diamond grumbled to herself. Usually when she didn't want to go to school and her butler or Prench maid tried getting her up, they would beg and plead with her, trying anything to get Diamond out of bed without her throwing a fit. Diamond was used to ponies groveling at her hooves for her approval, so Mal's dismissiveness gave Diamond rather a shock. She tried to snuggle back under her covers and fall back to dreamland, but try as she might, she couldn't. Mal reached under her bed for the textbooks she would load up her saddlebags with, each varying in subjects- Math, Equestrian History, Health, and others. That reminds me, I haven't seen my class schedule yet... Diamond thought to herself, reaching under her bed for the slip of paper that the Headmistress had given her the previous day. Class Schedule for: Diamond Tiara Rich Breakfast - Dining Hall Period One: Homeroom - Rm. 124 Period Two: Physical Education - Gymnasium Period Three: Equestrian History - Rm. 210 Period Four: English - Rm. 212 Lunch - Dining Hall Period Five: Math/ Basic Accounting - Rm. 205 Period Six: Speech/ Rhetoric - Rm. 209 Period Seven: Etiquette/ Street Law - Rm. 124 Period Eight: Study Hall - Library Dinner - Dining Hall Free Time - Dormitories or Common Room Bed - Dormitories Not bad... thought Diamond, looking over her schedule. She was a whiz with numbers, so accounting should be easy. The same couldn't be said for Speech or Grammar, however; she couldn't spell to save her life. Everything else on the list was just so-so. Diamond glanced over at the clock, which now read 6:30 am. Her eyes widened; She had thirty minutes to shower, style her mane and tail, brush her teeth, get dressed and prepare her school supplies. Diamond jumped out of bed and snatched up her uniform out of her dresser, then sprinted out of the dorm and into the bathroom. She leaped into the shower and frantically scoured her mane and tail with shampoo, then bounded out in record time. Diamond scrubbed her mane and tail dry with a bath towel, then proceeded to brush it till it shone. Diamond yanked on her blouse and skirt, then pulled her sweater over her head. She tugged on her knee socks and loafers, then finally declared herself done. Rushing back into the dorm, she grabbed her saddlebags and stuffed in her class schedule and some pencils. Diamond then realized that she hadn't purchased any textbooks, and that she would have to go to class without any materials. "Hey, Mal?" said Diamond, turning to her friend. "Can I ask you a favor?" "Depends," Mal replied. "What's the favor?" "Well.." said Diamond, unsure of how to phrase it. "It kinda slipped my mind to buy textbooks before I came here, so I don't actually have anything I can really use in class except a couple of pencils and a notebook for each subject." "Uh huh..." said Mal, eyeing Diamond strangely. "Um, what I wanted to ask you was this: Can I borrow some of your textbooks until I can get my own?" "Oh, you won't need to do that." said Mal, shaking her head. "I won't?" "Nah, you can just go down to the library and check out the books. Miss Scrolls will let you keep them until you can buy your own. Come on, we can make it to library right now if we hurry." Mal got up and trotted briskly out into the hallway, Diamond following close behind. After a few minutes of walking, they finally reached the library. It was an enormous room, the walls covered in tomes of various shades and colors. Along each shelf was a tall, mobile, winding staircase with wheels on the bottom, that was attached to the top of the bookcases via a rail. Small alcoves in the walls marked different organizational sections throughout the library. Study tables were scattered all across the library, with various books and papers lying on top. There were almost no other ponies anywhere, except for a light beige mare putting away some books. She had a wavy golden mane, with curls framing her face. Her shimmering magenta eyes and lavender eyeshadow made you want to look at her again. She held a load of thick books in a deep pink aura, and on her flank was a cutie mark of a scroll with a fuchsia star on the front. "That's Miss Scrolls, the librarian here." whispered Mal to Diamond. "She's nice enough, but is kind of a stickler for rules. Once I lost a library book, and she wrote me up for two weeks of detention." Diamond wrinkled her nose. "Seriously? I've lost tons of library books, but daddy always jut paid for them before that nerdy librarian could bust me." Mal narrowed her eyes. "You seem to rely on your daddy a lot, don't you?" Diamond stepped back defensively. "What's wrong with that?" Mal rolled her eyes, then glanced back at her companion. "What's wrong? Your daddy ain't here is what's wrong. It sounds pathetic whenever you bring him up, and frankly, if you keep talking about him like that, I'ma gonna just stop hanging out with you. I have an image to protect, you know. Plus, you can't rely on your old man for the rest of your life, can you?" Diamond didn't answer. She had always just assumed that her father would always be there, taking care of her and her needs. But now she got to thinking- what would happen to her if her father suddenly became unable to care for her? What would she do then? "May I help you?" Diamond snapped out of it, and looked in front of her. The librarian had finished putting away the books and had walked over to the girls. She had a soft Trottingham accent, gentle, but at the same time having an air of authority. "Um, yeah!" said Mal. "My friend here was needing some textbooks 'cause she didn't order them, and I told her that she could check them out here until she could buy her own." The librarian brightened up. "You want to check out some books? Wonderful! Come with me, I'll help you find the textbooks you need." She led them over to one of the larger alcoves of the library, looking very happy that someone was finally going to check out a book. "So, what are your subjects?" she asked once they had come to the right section. "Um..." said Diamond, taking a look at her schedule. "Gym, History, Grammar, Math, Speech, Etiquette, and Study Hall." "Mind if I see that?" asked the librarian, gesturing to the schedule. Diamond handed it over, an after a moment, five books levitated from the shelves and landing them in front of Diamond. "There you go. They're due in two weeks so make sure to hurry and buy your own." said Miss Scrolls. "Write your name on the card inside, and go on to class, alright then?" Diamond nodded and slipped the textbooks into her saddlebags. "Thanks," she said to the librarian. "Um... I'll get them back before they they're due." Miss Scrolls nodded cheerfully. "Right then, see you in study hall!" Diamond waved weakly as she walked away with Mal out of the library. They were both silent as they walked from the library to the dining hall. They both stepped into the meal line together, but still neither said a word. The lunch mare didn't even give Diamond a choice now, and just ladled a glop of pasty white oatmeal into a bowl on Diamond's tray. Ugh, gross... thought Diamond, gagging slightly at the sight of the unappetizing cereal. Can't they serve anything decent around here? On her way out of the line, Diamond grabbed some orange juice and a hard-boiled egg. Once they had sat down next to Scarlet and Rose Breeze, Mal finally spoke. "Hey," she said. "You did good back there." Diamond looked up from her breakfast. "What do you mean?" "Well, when you said that you'd get the books back before they were overdue, I thought you were going to say something about your dad. But you didn't. Why not?" Diamond took a spoonful of her pasty oatmeal, but didn't answer. Mal stared for a little bit, then shrugged and ate her breakfast. They ate in stony silence until Mal noticed Gingersnap across the room. Her eyes widened as she spotted the scab across her cheek. Mal turned to Diamond with a confounded expression. "What did you do???" "Hmm?" said Diamond, her mouth full of oatmeal. Mal pointed to Gingersnap, and Diamond gulped. "How'd you know I did it?" "You're the only person around here clueless enough to try something like that with Gingersnap, and while she can get brutish, she's surprisingly graceful, so she wouldn't just fall down and cut herself across the cheek. Now please answer my question - how in in the name of Celestia did you manage to leave a mark on Gingersnap???" "Wait, wait, hold up-" interjected Scarlet, pausing her conversation with Rose Breeze. "What's this about her and Gingersnap? 'Cause whatever it is, I'm in as long as a certain somepony gets physically injured." "Oh geez, Mal, why'd you have to get her started on her again?" said Rose Breeze, clutching the bridge of her muzzle. "But I'd like to hear this thing about Gingersnap, too." "Diamond here did something to Gingersnap yesterday that gave her that." said Mal, pointing to Gingersnap's mark. Scarlet and Rose Breeze's eyes bugged, Scarlet's DJ glasses falling off. They whipped back around, dumbfounded. Scarlet stared straight at Diamond for a few seconds, before flopping down on the table, muttering "You have my eternal respect, just tell me how in Tartarus you pulled it off." "Well..." started Diamond, looking up at the ceiling as she spoke. "It's kind of hard to explain... I meant to do it, but at the same time, I didn't mean to do it." Mal gestured for her to go on. Diamond recounted the events of her skirmish with Gingersnap, Mal listening with rapt attention. When she was through, Mal, Rose, and Scarlet stared at her incredulously, then suddenly Scarlet burst out laughing. "What's so funny?" asked Diamond, the heat rising in her face. "Ah man," said Scarlet between laughs. "Y-you-you are so, so dead. I-I mean, don't get me wrong, you deserve a medal, but man, it's hilarious how dead you are!" "What are you talking about!? And stop laughing!" Mal decided to put an end to this. "What she means is that Gingersnap holds grudges. The one thing she hates above all else is when somebody else sees her when she's weak, because she thinks it gives them power over her. Hurting her was a bad move. She'd have eventually forgotten about a newbie who failed a hazing, but never one that managed to land a hit on her. You just made a powerful enemy, and it's going to cost you dearly in the long run." "Oh, come on." said Diamond flippantly. "I can handle a little teasing. How bad can she really be?" Scarlet kept laughing for another minute before calming down. Rose just stared, and Mal eyed her inquisitively, smirking a bit. "Let me put it this way, roomie." said Mal. "The last kid who pissed off Gingersnap woke up the next morning bound and gagged in the boiler room with her kidneys gone." Diamond went pale. "Geez, you're gullible. I was kidding about the kidneys, but no joke, she had to wait five hours before the janitor came to get some supplies and found her. She graduated last term, but she is the reason why the Trouble kids don't go having turf wars with Gingersnap no more." Diamond gave a deep breath. Maybe I'm in a worse situation than I thought... "You want some advice?" said Mal. "Keep your head down, don't make a scene, and if you can help it, steer clear of Gingersnap. She's never going to forgive you, but maybe if you're lucky you can get her to forget you exist - unless you keep pissing her off, then you're dead meat." Diamond nodded and turned back to her oatmeal, but didn't much feel like eating. Rose rolled her eyes. "I don't believe it." she said, her forehoofs crossed in front of her. "No offense, but you really don't seem the type to be able to put anything over Gingersnap. You're dainty, you're puny, you couldn't throw a punch to save your life, and frankly-" "Rose. Shut up." said Scarlet. "You're being way too critical again." Rose went red, but kept quiet. "Sorry." she mumbled. "C'mon, let's go." said Diamond, getting up and throwing away the remainder of her half-eaten breakfast. She grabbed her saddlebags from the floor and pulled them onto her back. She and Mal walked out of the dining hall together, Diamond retrieving her schedule from her saddlebags. "It says that my homeroom is in Room 124." said Diamond. "Where's yours?" "Room 210. Sucks, huh?" said Mal, without needing to look at her schedule. "Yeah..." said Diamond, unsure of what to say next and feeling slightly awkward. Once she had walked with Mal to Room 210, she waved goodbye to her friend and went down to the first floor. She found the room quickly, remembering that Hamish had pointed it out on the way to the Headmistress's office the day before. She stepped in, seeing several familiar faces, including Lily, Flicker, and... Periwinkle? But she was in 8th grade, not 6th... Whatever... thought Diamond, searching around for an empty seat. Most of the seats were taken, but she saw an open seat up front. Walking between the rows of desks, Diamond set her saddlebags down on the floor and sat in the desk. She pulled one of her textbooks out of her bag and began to read, seeing as there wasn't anything else to do but just wait. After about a minute, Diamond felt something small and sticky hit the back of her mane. She touched it and pulled it out; it was a spitball. A spitball??? Really???. She turned around and saw two jock girls chuckling and giving each other a hoof bump. Three prep fillies were giggling girlishly, and even a nerd on the side of her smiled. But what stood out the most was the satisfied smirk on Flicker's face. She had obviously put the jocks up to it, and now Diamond was getting the results of her handiwork. Diamond glared fiercely at Flicker, who only feigned innocence and shrugged her shoulders. Diamond turned back around, only for three more spitballs to be shot at her head a second later. She would have started yelling if the teacher hadn't walked in. She was a tall and slender unicorn mare, with a short, dark brown mane with blue streaks. Her coat was an attractive ivory, and her blue-gray spectacles sat primly on her muzzle. She had a no-nonsense aura around her, making Diamond feel a bit guilty for trying to talk out of turn. "Alright everypony, settle down, it's not the first day anymore." she said, her voice hard. "It's time to call roll." Everyone in class immediately stopped talking and sat still, facing to the front. "Good, good. Now, let's get started, shall we?" she said. "Flicker?" "Whatever." she said from the back, lying back in her chair cockily. "Honeysuckle?" Diamond turned to the side where she spotted Germy in the corner. "H-h-h-here..." she said, her honey-colored eyes darting skittishly around the room. "Lily?" "Present..." said Lily very quietly, sitting next to Flicker. "Skyward Wind?" " 'Sup." said Chel from the back, again surprising Diamond that she was here. "Blueberry?" "Here." said a blue-tinted prep near the window. The teacher continued to list off every name in class when she finally came to Diamond. "Hmm..." she said. "It appears we have a new student among us. Diamond Tiara, is it?" "Uh... yeah!" said Diamond, a bit uncomfortable with being shoved in the spotlight. "Well then, I am Miss Ivory, the street law and etiquette teacher here. Over here," she gestured to Periwinkle, who waved pleasantly. "Is my prefect class monitor. Why don't you come up here and tell us a bit about yourself?" "Um... well, okay!" said Diamond, smiling weakly and trotting up to the front of the room. She looked around at the various facial expressions around the room, some kind and encouraging, others just waiting for her to screw up. Most however, just looked like they didn't give a crap about Diamond being in the spotlight. Diamond gulped and stared straight ahead. Okay Diamond, this is a good thing, she thought. You love the spotlight. You thrive in it! Now just buck up and do it, idiot. Diamond took a deep breath and gave a saucy flip of her mane. "Hey, I'm Diamond Tiara, and I just arrived here yesterday from Ponyville." "Cough-cough-HICK-cough-cough-cough..." Diamond's head whipped around to where the cough came from. In the back, Flicker was grinning smugly and a few of the preps were giggling. Her face burned. She had never thought of Ponyville as anything special, but seeing as she was born there she had never badmouthed it. Diamond stared down at the floor in embarrassment, furious with Flicker for humiliating her. Miss Ivory looked around. "Who said that?" she said. She caught Flicker hoof-bumping a jock. "Flicker." she said with an edge in her voice. "That was uncalled for. Apologize, now." Flicker only smirked. "What? I didn't do anything, ma'am." she said, once again feigning innocence. "Why? Did somepony say something?" The other students around her all shook their heads, as if they hadn't heard a thing. Ivory squinted her eyes for a moment, then turned back to Diamond. "Please carry on, Diamond." Diamond tried to stand tall again, but her confidence had taken a major blow. Even so, she still looked her classmates in the eye and continued to talk. "As I was saying," she started, gritting her teeth and glaring at Flicker. "I'm from Ponyville, and my dad is the CEO of Barnyard Bargains. Until recently, I went to the Ponyville schoolhouse, but because a certain somepony decided to squeal, I got landed here." "Squeal for what, eating candy before dinner?" called out Flicker, her voice dripping with sarcasm. The room burst into mocking laughter, and Diamond felt like she wanted to cry and explode at the same time. "That's enough." said Ivory, standing up from her seat. "Diamond, you may sit down. Flicker, see me after class. Now, I'm going to start the video announcements, and I don't want a peep out of any one of you, have I made myself clear???" "Yes, ma'am." said the class in near-robotic unison. "Good. Now, I'm going to go get the projector, and I don't want a single girl out of her seat while I'm gone, understood?" Everyone nodded solemnly, and Ivory left the room to retrieve the projector. Diamond trudged to her seat, her head held high. All around her, she could hear vicious whispers and giggles gossiping about her, judging her every move. As she seated herself at her desk, she was immediately hit by a wadded-up piece of paper. Knowing better than to open it, guessing what was ultimately written inside, she threw it back to where it came from. The paper hit Lily, who looked very surprised to be hit in the head with a paper ball. She looked over to Flicker, who whispered something in her ear. Lily's expression changed from surprise to guilt in moments. A minute later, Ivory re-entered the room with a projector. On the ceiling there was a screen that Ivory pulled down after setting the projector beside Diamond's desk. She finished setting up in a matter of minutes, but before she could turn on the projector, soft but audible sobs could be heard from the back of the room. Ivory turned around to see Lily face-down on her desk, crying softly. The piece of paper lay opened on the floor, reading the word 'UGLY' on it. Ivory picked up the paper and quickly read it, scanning the page with disapproval. She looked over to Lily, who was still sobbing quietly to herself. "Lily," she said, looking at the filly gently. "Do you know who wrote this?" Lily picked her head up from the desk, looking at Flicker in the corner of her eye. She shook her head. "N-no ma'am," she whimpered. "B-but I think it came from o-over there." she pointed to the front, where Diamond was sitting. "I know who did it!" said Flicker, standing up and pointing and accusing hoof at Diamond. "Diamond threw that paper, I saw her!" Almost automatically, everybody else agreed that they had seen Diamond throw the paper. "Yeah, it was her!" "That's true, I saw her do it!" "I just follow the crowd!" "I'll bet she did it just to be mean!' One after one, every student in the class had testified that Diamond had indeed thrown the paper wad at Lily. Diamond was getting very hot in the face; not a single student would vouch for her. "Diamond? is this all true?" said Ivory, turning to the pink filly with a stern expression. "W-well, you see..." Diamond stuttered, biting her lower lip. "It was thrown at me first, so I-I just threw it back to where I it came from." "And it came from Lily?" "I-I don't think so..." mumbled Diamond, staring at the floor. "Then in Celestia's name, why did you throw it at her?" "Because-" "Because she's nothing but a bully and nobody likes her!" yelled Flicker, standing up in her seat. "She's probably just jealous of Lily and wanted to make her feel bad!" "What?!" sputtered Diamond, flabbergasted. "Why in Equestria would I be jealous of Lily??" Lily gasped and buried her face in her hoofs again. Diamond slapped a hoof over her mouth. That came out wrong... she thought, mentally kicking herself. "See, now she's in denial. Diamond Tiara is nothing but a-" "Flicker, that is enough!" said Ivory, eyes blazing. "Diamond, with all this against you, I have no choice to have you sit out in the hallway until homeroom is over. As for you Flicker, you will be spending your free time tonight in my office writing 'I will not publicly accuse my classmates without satisfactory information' one hundred times by hoof." Flicker sneered and rolled her eyes. "Yes, ma'am." "Diamond, please leave the room and wait outside. I will speak with you after class." Diamond blushed profusely as she exited the room, accompanied by the whispers of her classmates. She closed the classroom door behind her and sank down onto the floor. Today had to be the worst first day of school in her life. Why don't they like me? she thought to herself, staring up at the ceiling. I mean, I'm rich and pretty and I have my cutie mark! How could they not like me? A little voice in the back of her head kept nagging at her about what it was, but she couldn't put put her hoof on what it was. So instead, she just sat by herself, staring at the ceiling and wondering how somepony could be so cruel.