//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 - Cranky lesson! // Story: The normal life of Nitpick Bittersweet // by Ryusun //------------------------------// The school bell rang, break was over. After a short but pleasant chat with my old friends, we gave each other’s phone numbers to keep in contact from now on. I told them that I had classes with Mr. Bridge and Mrs. Harshwhinny so far, and they gave me a word of advice to not ask questions that aren't part of the normal program to the former teacher. It seems that every extra lesson saw at class will be in the first mid-term exam. Damn it, Sparkle. I asked them for directions to find my classroom and then we went our separate ways to our next class of Physics II. Although some students were there already, I had the good luck to sit once again in the farest corner of the class. The rest of my classmates shortly arrived. I saw the golden-blond haired girl from before walking with a purple haired girl. They took their respective seats besides each other near the wall. Sunset, Twilight, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash soon arrived as well. After the social incident from last class, I was sure they wouldn't sit next to me. In a way, I hoped that would be the case, but nope. Twilight once again was in front of me and this time, Rainbow Dash was at my side. I sensed bad vibes from her, obviously she didn't enjoy being there, but well, who cares for what reason she decided to sit there. The most important thing right now is getting to know who will be my next teacher. I hope someone like Mrs. Harshwhinny that goes straight to the point and explains well, but less harsh and boring. The door opens, and its- “Good morning, my beautiful students! I see some familiar faces from the previous Trigonometry class. But it doesn't matter how much of you are here! We all are going to have so much fun together in the joys of learning!” YOU AGAIN!?! It was Mr. Bridge. I inspected my schedule and making simple math calculations I came to the conclusion that I will have this happy-like Santa Claus teacher for seven hours a week. SEVEN! “For those who don't know yet, we have two new Wondercolts joining the second year students!” He said this joyful “Miss Sparkle and Mr. Bittersweet, please introduce yourselves to your new classmates!” Not this again. After giving our introductions, mine being a little more ‘friendly’ than the last one, class started. Once again, the old man was giving an excellent class; detailed information and step by step formulas that were easy to digest. However, this time he made terrible puns between explanations like ‘There is a sign in Municholt that says, ‘Heisenbargain might have slept here’.’ Who the hell were them? And more importantly, who the hell would laugh at that? Oh yeah, I forgot! The answer was sitting in front of me. She was chuckling somewhat noisy at this. This couldn't get any worse. “Mr. Bridge, I have a question!” Stop asking questions, Twilight. “Do you have another marvelous question like in the previous class, Miss Sparkle?” Don’t encourage her, old man! “The subject at hand says that the work-energy theorem can be applied to an object's potential energy and-" “Twilight, stop!” It was a quick whisper from Rainbow Dash with a worrisome expression. “You're gonna ruin everything for the rest of us!” “Listen to her! You don’t know what you are doing” I also whispered in a hurry. I didn’t want a harder test because of you. Our efforts to reach her were fruitless, however. Twilight was so lost in her little world to pay any attention to anyone. After asking her question, Bridge started to explain the answer at full detail, which to be honest, I didn't understand shit either like in the previous class. Knowing everything was doomed and that the first mid-term exam would continuously get worse while Twilight shared classes with me, I sighed half-hearted. I didn't notice right away but Rainbow Dash and me made the same gesture of defeat by clashing our foreheads to our desks. Both of us noticed each other’s actions and made eye contact. In a short moment of humoristic agreement, we were chuckling with misery at our current dilemma. "We are so screwed, Dash..." "Yeah..." She sank her head further in the desk, soon I followed. After twenty eight minutes of god knows what those two were talking about, class was over. Literature was the next subject. Thankfully, Bridge didn't gave classes outside the math and physics fields. He got a phone call; good news by the way he left the place in a hurry with exorbitant happiness. I quickly got outside of the classroom to find the next one. When I stepped outside, heated complains started. “WHY DID YOU ASK HIM SOMETHING OUTSIDE OF THE NORMAL AGAIN!? I told you that Mr. Bridge makes the test harder for each new topic you ask during class!” “I am so sorry Rainbow Dash, but it was so irresistible to not ask and I was-“ “Is it because I drank the last drop of your juice during break and you really, really wanted it!?” “Of course not, Rainbow! I just-” “It doesn't matter anymore, you asked things in the end! We are doomed, Twilight, you hear me!? DOOMED! It’s your entire fault! And this is only your first day! WHAT I AM GOING TO DO FROM NOW ON?” "What about study for a change, Rainbow Dash?" "Shut it, Applejack, you are doomed too!" I think she was about to cry in desperation. I definitely empathized with her but I better hurry if I wanted to find my classroom. I arrived to my destination thanks to the help of a blue haired student; it was near the division between the middle and high school classrooms. Nobody was here yet. I took my favorite spot in the corner. Everyone started to arrive but there was something different about this classroom. There were only twelve seats and some middle school students as well. I rechecked my schedule, and nope, this is the right place. Perhaps the teacher will explain the situation better. The five middle scholars were a colorful bunch; of the girls one had cerise short hair with tomboyish black sweater and green long shorts. The other one had amaranth hair with a light crimson bow in it with a green shirt and rodeo pants. The last one was the girliest of the three with long mulberry hair with streaks of light rose, pink clothes and boots with a yellow skirt. They were so adorable. "Check this out everyone.” Said the plumpy one. “Yeah!!” Said the skinny one. And the boys were… uh, how should I say it? They looked, well, everyone deserves a second chance; appearances can be deceiving after all. Both kids tried to do a somersault from their chairs but landed near the crash bin... Hopeless, those kids were hopeless. Of the people I knew so far, only Twilight and Sunset arrived to this place, there were no signs of Rainbow or the others. Twilight sat in front of me while giving me a greeting with her smile and Sunset sat in front of her. Are you going to stick like glue with me, Twilight? With them here, the rest of students arrived; a flamboyant reddish dude, a rocker like green haired girl and a long brown haired girl with a full sleeved blue shirt and a damn long red skirt. Who will be my teacher this time? The doors opened and there he …uh? “Good day, let’s get this over with.” Using a painfully obvious black toupee hiding his baldness with the face of bitterness and agony born from working as a teacher, combined with his possible personal negative experiences in life, this may be a very cranky person. “Alright, let’s see who is in class, Apple Bloom?” “Here” “Bright Idea?” “Here” “Cherry Crash?” “Here” “Heath Burns?” “Here” “Scootaloo?” “Here” “Snails?” “Here, Here!” “Snips” “I am here” “Sunset Shimmer?” “Here” “Sweetie Belle?” “Here” “Velvet Sky?” “Here” “Everyone is here, let’s begin.” He started to tinker with the TV and dvd player until one gorgeous girl interrupted his activity. “Excuse me, Professor Doodle.” Said Sunset with an unpleased tone towards him. “Yes, Shimmer? If you have something to say, hurry up, we don´t have all day!” “Well, I don’t know if you noticed but we have new students right here!” Sunset said this with a body gesture of presentation to make Twilight and I stand out. Her smile was brimming with radiance while looking towards us, but my hate for this kind of stuff, no matter how childish my attitude against it is, makes me want to ask her what the hell was she thinking! She didn't make an objection with Mrs. Harshwhinny about our introductions. Why are you doing it now? “I see, well.” he pointed at Twilight with his finger “You, what’s your name?” “My name is Twilight Sparkle and I-!“ “I only asked for your name.” Now he pointed at me “And you?” “Nitpick Bittersweet.” “Class, these are your new classmates so be friends with them and upsy blashie blah. My name is Cranky Doodle and I am your teacher, professor, whatever, for the extracurricular class of Literature. Now, we will see a video about the story of Goat Goh. Watch it and whatever you think is the meaning of his works, write it in a blank sheet and you will give it to me at the end of class.” No introductions over-welcoming their stay, not over-optimistic attitude, just straight to the class. Kudos for you, baldie…Wait! “Sorry for interrupting, Mr. Doodle but did you say extracurricular class?” “That’s right! Any problems with it, lad?” “I thought of all this kind of classes were in summer vacations, and optional at that!” “No, you can have them in regular classes. Didn't the Principal explained this to you?” “Not specifically.” “Well, too bad, someone chose this one for you without your consent. If you are not happy with it, guess what? Too bad, change of extracurricular classes is no longer possible and now you are stuck here with us. Any complains, lad?” “Not at all... Douche." I mumbled. “Good, we have lost enough time already! Watch the video and do your assignment!” Time passed, and the worse came to be; the class was even more boring than ethics. At least with Mrs. Harshwhinny she spoke during class and had passion in her lessons beside her harsh and unchangeable expressions. Now I am stuck here. Who the hell assigned me in this class? And there were more options than this one? Why the Principal didn’t tell me of this during inscriptions? I decided to think over this new information at a later time and tried to concentrate on the task at hand…which was nearly impossible, I could barely pay attention because this video was slow, boring and lifeless, it´s like he narrator was indirectly sucking our souls from the TV screen to the point of becoming living dead students. I was swinging my feet from desperation, never in my life this has happened to me. I was about to give up and try to write whatever I could listen to until my phone started to vibrate. The thrill to see who it was and the risk of being suspended of class was more than enough adventure to check the message. It was a chat group; The Kitten Trio. I didn't need to open it to guess from who it was. -Dancer: Hey, how is your literature class? I wrote her back making sure the teacher didn't noticed. -Nitpick: Boring so far. My teacher is kind of a dick. But why are you texting me during class? Your teacher could suspend you for this. Dancer is writing… -Dancer: Oh, don’t worry! The one who gives us literature is Mrs. Matilda. She is so sweet and if we finish earlier all her assignments, she will let you do whatever you want as long you don’t make noise, so no talking. Everyone here uses the phone to chat. Lightbulb is writing… -Lightbulb: You can do it with Mr. Doodle, too, which I bet is your teacher. I assume you already noticed some people there are no longer part of the living by now. I took a quick glimpse and it’s true. Only, Twilight, Sunset, the one called Apple Bloom and Bright Idea were struggling to stay awake and do the assignment; their yawning faces were truly an inspiration. -Nitpick: Yeah, most of them are dead now. -Lightbulb: Knew it. Are you watching the Goat Goh video to write an essay about it? We watched the trimmed version here. -Nitpick: Yeah, it's boring. -Lightbulb: Wait! Lightbulb has sent an image. I opened the image and it was his essay. -Nitpick: Isn't this considered cheating, brother? -Lightbulb: Don’t forget our old, golden rule, Bro! Cheat only in unnecessary classes like this one! Important ones like chemistry you must never cheat. Besides, unlike Mrs. Matilda, Doodle will explain you shit during class. We already had him last semester in cultural music. You may not have noticed but when he officially married her, he became more cheerful. -Nitpick: Married with who? -Dancer: Mrs. Matilda! We were all surprised, apparently they were childhood friends but didn't see each other for years for unknown reasons. Legends say that a girl from school played cupid and now they are married since May. -Lightbulb: She convinced the Principal to give him another chance to impart extracurricular classes permanently with her. Sometimes I don't understand Principal Celestia! The bastard can be too rude sometimes, even for me. -Dancer: … -Lightbulb: Sorry…Old habits never die. (Nervous smile) -Dancer: If you want to be with me, those habits WILL die. You know I don’t like that kind of vocabulary in any conversation and you just said two so far. -Lightbulb : (Sad face) But I love you, Choco, I am doing my best.. -Dancer: I couldn’t care less if you gift me the moon. I want from you the maturity and correct speech worthy of a gentleman. From there, lovie stuff, they continued they sugarcoated conversation. While they were writing their nonsense, I proceeded to read and modify Lightbulb´s essay to finish this chore. In Crystal Prep this would be unthinkable, I never cheated once, but right here, right now, in the most boring class I ever had in all my life, I would make an exception. Once happy that the context was more and less the same but with different words, I rejoined the conversation…one hundred and forty seven messages unread in only seven minutes. Is this for real? I could barely write five in a minute. -Dancer: And you still haven’t given me a teddy bear for my birthday, Bulby! Give me my teddy bear! (Angry face) -Lightbulb: But I already bought you the little kitten for your birthday! (Worried face with sweat) -Dancer: I want a little, pink and spongy teddy bear hugging a big red heart that says ‘lovable’! (A bear and a red heart) -Nitpick: Uh… I believe you are in the wrong conversation for this. I started to read all the messages. The content was innocent and somewhat cute, but some things are better discussed in person, alone, far away from civilization. Suddenly, an echo of shock and embarrassment resonated through the school and everyone in class woke from their slumber. I knew it was Dancer's voice; I tried so hard to not laugh. “I have obtained some pretty funny material to tease you with, Dancer” I deviously whispered to myself.