//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3; Spoons, Scooters, and Belles 
// Story: Button's  Date With Silver Spoon 
// by TheOneAJ 
//------------------------------//

 I did sleep on Sunday, it just wasn’t a lot. The problem was, when I woke up at around 2 o’clock after Charlie nudged me, I couldn’t get back to sleep. All I could think of was Sweetie Belle. How would she feel if I took things further with her? How would things change? Would I even like it? Why wouldn’t I like being her boyfriend? What if I didn’t run into her first thing at school tomorrow and I had to compliment some other girl? What if I couldn’t defeat her in War World anymore because I was worried about anniversaries?
 
In the end, I gave up on trying to get back to sleep, and spent the rest of the morning playing video games. At some point, while I was lost in my game, Charlie wobble off the bed and placed his head on my legs.
 
I sighed. “Oh what would I do without you, buddy.” I rubbed his ears and was at least able to enjoy the game till I had to get ready for school.
 
*****
 
Contrary to what some people will have you believe, Silver Spoon and I didn’t ‘bump’ into each other like it would be done in a movie. Instead, it happened much more like this:
 
I had just parked my bike at the bike rack and was marching towards the school doors, my mind still focused on finding Sweetie Belle. At that point, I had gone into a form of hyper focus. Basically, it’s when all my mind could think about and focus on was one thing. In this case, it was finding Sweetie Belle and talking to her about what happened last week. The trouble is, it tends to block other things out. Like, when someone else is about to cross the same path as you.
 
Thinking back, I did see Silver Spoon coming towards me. Although, even though she was somewhat to blame for what happened to Sweetie Belle, I didn’t notice her any more than anyone else. As I scanned the school and anyone who was walking, she was just another face that wasn’t Sweetie Belle's. When I caught her coming towards me, I tried to move out of her way. However, since she was texting and walking, she didn’t see me. And, since I was hyper focused on Sweetie Belle, I went on thinking she would see me, and she reacted likewise not seeing me.
 
However, since none of that was the case, when I reached for the handle of the school door, Silver Spoon’s hand came into contact with mine at the same time as we momentarily collided, only to reel back when we realized who we had bumped into.
 
“Like, secuse me," she huffed and made her way past me into the school.
 
I gritted my teeth. "Pardon, you too.”
 
She wiped her head around and glared at me.
 
Which might have been the end of it, if I hadn’t remembered what Dr. Hooves said about trying to compliment the first pretty—and single—girl I ran into that day. Which meant, Silver Spoon qualified. She was, technically if you called her and Tray’s little ‘breakups,’ single, and while I didn’t find her all that hot and attractive, every other guy at school seemed to think so. Which meant, there was no way out of this for me.
 
I guess, because of my delayed response, she just said, “Whatever,” and began to leave.
 
"Wait!" I said.
 
She came to an abrupt stop, looked at me and demanded, "What?"
 
At the moment, I really wished it had been Sweetie Belle. She would have smiled at me, maybe we could have talked, been a couple, and held hands—.

I shivered, but then I had another quick thought. I mean, if I said the wrong thing to Sweetie Belle, that was it, our friendship would be over. With Silver Spoon, a girl I didn’t care about and I knew cared about me less, I really had nothing to loss here.
 
Though, I didn’t say anything smart, I did what I knew Dr. Hooves would have wanted me to do. With a quick gasps for air, I  gave her the best compliment I could have at the moment. "I think you have pretty hair."
 
She didn’t say anything, I didn’t do anything. Her mind seemed to be working at a million miles an hour, as if she never heard such a thing before.
 
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she raised a finger, began to say something, and then stopped. She did this a few times, before she said, rather awkwardly, “Thanks?”
 
“Well, um..” I stuck my hands in my pockets.
 
This was as far as Dr. Hooves told me to go. I didn’t have to say anything else, however for whatever reason, I did. “Yeah, I think you have really pretty hair.”
 
She then turned off her phone and slid it into her purse without breaking eye contact with me.
 
At first, I thought she was going to call me a freak, say I was wired, or worst case scenario go running and screaming down the hall. Instead, with a mix of confusion, but also a ping of…—Happiness? I could have been wrong— she said, “Um, thanks. I should…. get going, but, thanks.”
 
She then walked away, and would occasionally look back at me, even dropping that look of confusion, but never showing any signs of disgust either.
 
Which, even when she was out of sight, might have been the end, if it weren’t for somebody else—this time a bit more intentionally—running into me.
 
"Whoa, dude!" Rumble said rather loudly, causing me to jump. "You totally just got it on with Silver Spoon! Didn’t know you had it in you."
 
"Wha—" Soon enough, everyone within a five mile radius began to stare at us, as my other guy acquaintances began to appear.
 
"Hey, man, that's awesome," Pipsquek said slapping me on my back.
 
My eyes began to twitch. "Wait... what?!"
 
"I knew you had it in you. And to think, just as she broke up with Tray!"
 
Once I came back to earth, my mind rationalized itself as I annoyingly replied, "No... I, look, I just thought I'd be polite to say that her hair looked nice, that's all!"
 
“Didn’t you see him,” a guy said, “he timed the whole thing perfectly to bump into her. She even put her phone done.”
 
“No way!”
 
I slapped my face. "No way is right. And you're not—"
 
"Though," Rumble said as he scratched his chin, "I always thought it be you and Sweetie Belle. Oh well, I suppose starting high doesn’t hurt."
 
I shook my head. “Cut it out!” However, that reminded me of something important. "Speaking of, have any of you guys seen Sweetie Belle? I really need to talk to her."
 
Rumbled whistled. "That's the stuff, two girls in one day! You, man, are on a roll."
 
I groaned and shoved past them. "Just move!"
 
“Come on,” I heard Pip say as I walked away, “we were just being funny.”
 
I ignored that and continued my hunt for Sweetie Belle. Hopefully, as long as I didn’t make a big deal about it, the incident would blow over. Then, everyone would find something else to talk about sooner or later.
 
*****
 
Sadly, later usually doesn’t happen in one day, at least in high school. My little 'compliment' was all people could talk about with me in class that day. Thanks to Rumble, I was able to get some peace of mind, though. I knew he wanted details as much as anyone else. I would think of something to say to them about Silver Spoon later, but right then, I still hadn’t found Sweetie Belle. Also, the topic of my new ‘love life’ with Silver Spoon kept worming it's way wherever I went. It soon became not just my acquaintances. Oh no! It seemed as if that was all the whole school could talk about. Wherever I went, someone always gave me a wave or a thumbs up. During class, everyone wanted to ask me how I—and I quote directly from one of them—swept Silver Spoon off her feet with my romantic charm.
 
Although, that was only the tip of the iceberg with how all this had grown. Some said we feel in love at first sight when we ran into each other and I helped her up. One kid claimed I saved her life from a speeding bus. There were even a few student who seemed to think I saved her from an armed robber when I slammed my bike into him. To which I pulled off my golden helmet raised my sword as a rainbow appeared behind us, to which I said Silver Spoon had the most beautiful hair in the land. However, no stupid rumors or gossip was going to stop me from talking to Sweetie Belle.
 
Shame to say, I guess it would have been inevitable that Sweetie Belle hadn’t heard herself. Which was why I assumed it was so hard to find her. At the very least, it explained why a pair of orange, rather scrawny, arms suddenly grabbed me by my shirt collar, dragged me into one of the quitter halls of CHS, and slammed me against a locker door.
 
"Hitting on Silver Spoon when you have a crush on Sweetie Bell?" none other than one of Sweetie Belle's closet friends, a girl named Scootaloo, barked while she held me. Arms shaking a little, but none-the-less able to keep me in place. “What is wrong with you?”
 
"I did... Wait, what crush? I never said anything about a crush!"
 
She slammed me again against the locker. “Don’t play dumb, you little twerp!” she shouted, then let out a little 'meep' of pain.
 
“Hey now!” Sweetie Belle’s other close friend, Apple Bloom, interjected. Eyeing her friend's trembling arms. “Killing him won’t do any good, Scoots. For Sweetie Belle or yourself.”
 
"I could be gay you know!" I defended, only to have Scootaloo push on me harder.
 
A few things to know about Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. First off, Scoot’s is gay. So what I said probably didn’t help my case. And I do mean that in the most literal way possible. She even once had a girlfriend, and didn't try to hide it even if it meant being picked on more along with her disability. To top that off, the three girls were like sisters. They meet sometime in grade school when Scootaloo was going through some hard times. I’d rather not go into gory details for her own well being unless I have too, but apparently Scootaloo had just come out of an abusive family and was still bouncing around the system. She might have still kept moving, if she hadn’t meet Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, who were there for her. They helped her with some of her anger problems that probably kept her with her current family and in our school district to this day.
 
"Why you—" Scootaloo began, raising a fist, only to have it pulled back by Apple Bloom.
 
“Come now, Scoots, what would Sweetie think if you hospitalized him?”
 
Scootaloo took a moment to ponder that, until she decided to release her grip on me. "Alright." She then pointed a finger at me, breathing a little heavy. "Although you are aware of the mess you're in, right?"
 
I nodded vigorously. "Yes! She ran out of class in tears last week and left before I could talk to her."

Their eyes widened. "Wait a minute, you mean to say you've been hitting on Silver Spoon prior to today?" I thought I saw  steam coming out of Scootaloo’s ears.
 
"No, I...” I threw both of my hands on my head. “Gah! Okay, can we back up and get on the same level here?"
 
With a nod from both of them, we did so. I explained to them about Silver Spoon calling Sweetie gay—after Scottaloo took some offense to the mis-terming, saying I should have used the word lesbian—which lead to some time keeping Scoot’s from seeking out and destroying Tray and Silver Spoon. For now, to Dr. Hooves’ suggestion about complimenting the first girl I—wisely left out the pretty part—ran into today. Which all I did was say Silver Spoons hair was nice, and that was all before Rumble made a big deal out of it. Which lead to all the rumors that had been floating around school, which lead to Scootaloo attacking me. Apple Bloom chuckled at the mentions of Rumbles named before Scootaloo glared at her. “Sorry, but, that sure sounded like ah rough day.”
 
I shrugged. “More or less.”
 
“Alright,” Scootaloo said right afterwards. “Right now, all I care about is Sweetie Belle.”
 
“Yeah," I chose to answer, "speaking of, where is she? I really need to talk to her. What happened after school on Friday?”
 
The two girls looked at each other nervously, then back to me. “Well…”
 
Seemed they had no idea either. They most they got was Scootaloo having seen Sweetie Belle running out of school, crying, and trying to chase after her. She never caught up to Sweetie Belle, and since then, the pair had tried to contact her all weekend to no avail.
 
“We kinda hoped ya would know or had talk to her. We were gonna ask ya, but then we heard about ya and Silver Spoon and….”
 
Scootaloo turned her head to blush. “Yeah, yeah.” She then crossed her arms. “So I haven’t talked to her, you haven’t talked to her, and now you haven’t either, great!” She leaned up against a locker.
 
A blew at a piece of hair in my face, rubbed my head, and said, “Alright, let’s just deal with this rationally. Don’t one of you two have a class with her soon?”
 
"Um,” Apple Bloom’s face lite up. “Yeah! I do next hour.”

I clapped my hands together. “Right then.” The warning bell range. “Don’t suppose that’s class is on the east side of the school.”
 
Apple Bloom shook her head. “Nope.”
 
I lowered mine. “Alright, well, could you talk to her for me? See what’s up and if she even wants to talk to me?”
  
Apple Bloom smiled and nodded. “Sure thing.”

 Scootaloo stuck her hands in her pockets. “Let me know too, please.”

I rubbed my hands a put on a smile. “Alight then, see, everything’s going to be fine, and I don’t have to die. So I’ll see you ladies later than.” I then made a run for it. More worried about being late for class than I was for any retaliation from Scootaloo.
 
***** 
 
Class passed like a blur up until lunch. I’m sure more students asked me about how I ‘wooed’ over Silver Spoon, but I just tuned them out. All that mattered was getting to lunch and talking to Sweetie Belle. What I would say, thought, I really had no idea. A part of me worried how, at the end of this, the only happy ending I could give her was if I asked her on a date or made her my girlfriend.
 
Which again, lead to my frustration on why I just couldn’t want Sweetie Belle, or any girl—or guy—to be mine.
 
When it was time for lunch, none of that mattered. All I cared about was making Sweetie Belle happy. As I walked towards the cafeteria, all I cared about were her feelings, and what I might need to do for her happiness. Besides, I'm sure i could eventually get comfortable with having Sweetie Belle as my girlfriend. I had done so in my mind, and I was sure once we started dating, everything would work out. As soon as I walked into the cafeteria, I saw her sitting there at the table we usually all sat at.
 
Apple Bloom was rubbing her shoulder as Sweetie Belle kept staring at the table under her. She looked up for a moment, and saw me. I gave her a small and nervously smile along with a wave, and she did likewise. Thinking I should have just walked up to her, she held up her hand, and then gestured to the back door
 
I looked to Apple Bloom, who gave me a sympathetic smile, and then jerked her head in another direction. My Head quickly turned to see that Apple Bloom’s head was pointing towards Diamond Tiara’s, and Silver Spoon’s table. With a quick nod back at them, I headed towards the back of the school, where Sweetie Belle—by herself—headed in the same direction.