//------------------------------// // Chapter 14 - Master Librarian, Patient Cheerilee! // Story: The normal life of Nitpick Bittersweet // by Ryusun //------------------------------// “Rarity, you are exceeding the quantity of the weak base mix there. Pinkie, carefully dry those droppers after you finish cleaning them; we don’t want to alter the ending result with unwanted water in there. Nipick, are you sure we took in account all variables for this acid?” Chemistry lab activities were supposed to be fun, but things never were like in comics or mangas. Our boring teacher was replaced in the middle of the experiment by my perfectionist partner. Rarity was doing her best in preparing our lab-made saturated solution of sodium carbonate at the rate that Twilight needed while I was doing with her the neutralization formulas for the fifht time. We needed to know the exact amount of drops so we could avoid an alteration in meeting our Ph. goal. Pinkamena was surprisingly good with lab equipment. She installed by herself the process circuit, that’s another example that you should never judge a book for its cover. “Twilight, we took in account all variables! We just need eleven drops of our lab-made solution to neutralize our assigned acid!” “I rather take no risks. Worst case scenario could be a minor explosion.” “Alright, alright! I will do the damn calculations again.” “Laaaaanguage!” Do you need to sing while lecturing me, Rarity? Oh, at least you have the solution ready, good. “Droppers are ready for use, Sir.” Don’t encourage her to play the leader, Pinkamena. Twilight thoroughly inspected the droppers; she made a happy nod indicating her approval. I continued to use the values indicated in the list and replacing them in the corresponding part of the formula. Once I finished, Twilight gave her piece of mind. “See? I told you the answer was off! We only need ten and an eighth drops to correctly do our experiment!” How do I hate… oh forget it. “Now that everything is in place, who wants to do the honors in finishing our practice?” “OH! Me! Me, Me, Me!” We are gonna die. “Remember, Pinkie. Slow and steady.” In a matter of seconds, she successfully dropped the ten drops and eighth in the tube. Rarity used the indicator strips and after searching the matching color in the value table, she gave us a nod. The activity was a success. “Good job, my students. You and team 5 finished before I expected. You can leave the class without worries, you have passing marks for today’s good job. Well done.” Thank you for letting us leave from this place, Professor Borefest. We cleaned our protective equipment and lab materials with a special soap and once we were done with it, we left the lab. “Nitpick.” WHAT!? “Yes?” “Let’s go to the library and continue our 'Il Rinascimento Bibliotecario' project!” “I didn’t think you would take a likening to that name. And shouldn’t you go with your friends to, I don’t know, be friendly, gossip or something?” “Not today, they are going to do band practice since they didn’t get a chance yesterday. Also, they will work in their respective projects too, we even brought home made lunches with us so we won’t lose time in the cafeteria during lunch break and concentrate full time at work. This extra hour will give us an edge to capture the necessary data we need from the library!” “Good for you that you brought lunch but today is Fried Bacon Thursday and I want my combo!” “You shouldn’t eat fried meat, especially bacon! It's really bad for your health. Did you know that the people who eat less meat and more dry seeds, fruits and vegetables with two liters of water as minimum everyday can prolong their life expectancy for nine years in the long run?” “Yes, Twilight, because nine horrible, worthless, baconless years are worth that expectancy.” She left out a small chuckle. I didn’t know you could identify cynicism. “Don’t worry, I brought extra cheese quesadillas and apple juice for you. I need you at one hundred percent during our work!” “I remember you hated cheese! That day at the academy when you were spasming in the cafeteria was a timeless experience. Did something happen that made you change your mind?” “I was…” I pushed the wrong button. “Let's forget about the cheese for a moment and tell me honestly about that incident... Did I really ridicule myself that bad? I thought nobody would remember that incident past the weekend!” “Oh, no need to worry about it anymore, I just happen to have good memory! I am sure nobody else remembers your little show!” I was lying. As a matter of fact, there was a season where a picture of you was circulating in secret… I still have said picture, your cute face was priceless. I'm truly a horrible person. “Heavens, thank you. I knew you were an honest person. Let's go eat and start working in our project, partner!” She winked at me after finishing up speaking… now I truly feel horrible. An opera tune rang from my mobile. It was her. -????: Are you doing alright? Here in the capital is raining heavily and classes were suspended. I really want to go back to Crystal State. I miss my new home, and specially all of you (◕︵◕)! Do not forget to be straightforward with the people who trust in you. We will meet again soon. -Nitpick: Sometimes I wonder if you can read my mind no matter where you are. -????: Whatever you mean, my beloved friend. I always give advice to my dear friends when I feel they are in need, remember? (●´ω｀●) We will speak again soon. …shit. “Uh, Twilight, I need to tell you something.” As we walked to the library and explained to some extent the reaches of her uncalled show, covering my ass of course, I received the most understanding, calm and ladylike answer I ever heard until now. “I KNEW THEY WERE LAUGHING AT ME! OH, that’s why they always looked funny at me for a month. Did you saw the picture? Did I look that bad in it? Why nobody told me about it?” “Eh…” She looked at me with the ´I'll cry if you lie´ face. Damn your genuine innocence. I must respond with a mindful answer. “You looked terrible funny at that time.” “Oh…” Crap. “But now you look…uh!” “Yes?” “Well, I always had a weakness for girls with long hair, especially those long strands of hair in the sides of your ears! That low ponytail and messy hair are a plus, you know?” I, Nitpick Bittersweet, declare that I am repeating the same stupidity made with Sunset the first day of school, and for different reasons. “Really?” She laughed nervously while turning her face to the door “I mean, low pony tails are the in, don’t you think so?” That pity in her voice was the same as Sunset's back then, I'm so bad at this. We found a spot near the library to eat our food. I offered Twilight to pay for the lunch she made but she turned me down the offer. I won't accept charity, I am not poor. I may be miserable sometimes but not poor! I'll repay you with something in the near future. I started to eat my lunch, the tupperware had this warm sensation, the quesadillas were neatly arranged in rows, I took a bite and the results were- “Oh, good.” “I am glad you like them, this is my first time cooking these!” So I am your first to taste your newly learned recipe? That means only one thing: I played the guinea pig again. “Where is Spike?” “Right here in my other bag, I gave him breakfast before coming to school!” Spike put out his head from the bag. Who is a good boy? You! We finished our lunch and cleaned whatever trash was left putting it in the bin. With this done, the library was our next stop. We entered in there and a commotion was taking place. “Girls! I already told you for the third time this month that the school computers are for research purposes only!” A fair, young pretty woman was scolding the three kids from my Literature class. Her long, dark rose hair and light green eyes matched the vibrant outfit she was wearing. The skirt was adorned with lots of sun flowers. She was gorgeous. “But Miss Cheerilee! We were researching how our new video fared this week” “Oh, do you like our new capes? We did them recently! Aren’t they cute?” “Rarity grounded me for a week. I told you this was a bad idea!” “Yeah, Applejack did the same, but the final product was worth all the trouble!” “Rainbow just texted me and said that I should be less disorganized, so I am good here!” Kiddo, that’s not something you say with pride, whatever the problem was. “Those capes are really pretty and… No! Girls, go back to class or I'll take you with Vice-Principal Luna!” “We don’t want detention again” The three girls said in unison and quickly left in order their PC and ran besides us to the exit. “I'm so tired…” I don’t blame you, Miss. Dealing with children is a heavy toll to one's sanity. “Good morning, Miss Cheerilee!” “Oh, good morning, Twilight! Are you going to do some research today?” “Actually, my friend here and I came to do a school project. We want to improve the library system so it can be more user-friendly and help you out in arranging books and updating the database while at it!” Wow, wow. Twilight, since when I am your friend exactly? “That sounds wonderful! I would really appreciate the help. The students here leave a mess while using the books in here. Sometimes the books are missing pages and they are on the floor because of the constant use!” Twilight made a dramatic gasp. I could feel that my workload suddenly increased. “That’s a crime that must not go unpunished! Nitpick, change of plans, we must include a fee system for every student that damage school property with the provisional banishment in mind!” This will be a long semester. Miss Cheerilee did a tour for us of how the library of the school worked. This is worst that I imagined, they don’t even have student card control. The poor Miss struggled like this everyday? If I were in her shoes, I would have asked for a transfer already. Speaking of struggle, how much this school trusts its students? Once we had the necessary information, we started to arrange all the books in order. It seems Twilight had already an order system devised because she was doing the job efficiently. She noticed my struggle and gave me a sheet with all the steps I needed to take to arrange books in an efficient fashion. “All right, my children, its reading time!” A group of first grade, middle scholars were sitting in group tables. Every little kid had a text book, for the looks of it math was the subject at hand. “Oh, look at them, Nitpick! This bring memories...” “Indeed...” Hard to believe that it was only four years ago that my room teacher did the same activity during middle school. Miss Yearling was a young teacher as well, but she had this indomitable spirit I couldn’t describe what it was. She only stayed for four months with us and she banished without leaving a trace. I hope she is doing fine. Twilight on the other hand was deeply lost in memory, her sight was locked on the kids and Miss Cheerilee but her thoughts were in another part of reality. Her gentle smile and soft spark in her eyes told me that she remembered a pleasant memory. One of the children made a horrible cry all of the sudden. The other kids soon followed. “I WANNA GO HOME!” “I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS SAYS!” “MISS CHEERILEE! WHY WE COME TO SCHOOL?” Typical behavior of kids, even in middle school, some of us were still afraid of being alone in an unknown environment. Once they get used to, everything its fine. The problem was that, no everybody was strong enough at that age to overcome the fear. It was until you met someone you could get along that everything became less scary. I had Lightbulb back then, we lost fear when we talked about games and kid stuff, months later, friendship, and then we met Dancer. But those kids… Something occurred all of the sudden: I witnessed magic. “Do not to be afraid! I am here with you Look right into my eyes, you are gonna be okay If sadness is what you feel, take a look around You got a lot friends, so there no need for tears” The kids calmed down, their cries were silenced with a tender, short song. Every one of them looked around and smiling faces began to blossom. There is no doubt in my mind now, this young woman was meant to be a teacher. “Now, my children, let’s take this books with us at classroom and continue our lesson there. Big Mac, could you please take care of the library while I am giving class?” “Eyup!” I didn’t notice there was a guy in the corner. He looked older, no doubt the same age as the Miss. So he is young in a way of speaking. All the kids followed Miss Cheerilee and the library was nearly empty. I looked at the clock and there was still forty minutes left of our break. “…That reminded me of Dean Cadence so much.” Twilight… “Let’s make this place great so we can repay Miss Cheerilee the favor” She just smiled and we continued what we were doing. I suddenly felt like I wanted to work now.