As soon as it dawned Crystal Prep Academy was filled by dozens of students roaming the crystalline hallways. Murmurs and sneers were echoing through the corridors, small groups of students talking to each other. Most of the students had already rolled in when the doors to the school suddenly swung open. A few students in the entrance hall turned their gaze, their eyes widening at what they saw. They began to point at the girl standing in the door, who didn’t take a step into the school as if to present herself. In a matter of the seconds the conversations had died off, all the boys and girls staring startled at her.
With a proud sway in her stride the girl walked through the hall into a corridor, silently followed by the gaze of the other students. As she passed the lockers everyone she came by grew silent and froze, some even dropping their books. The eyes of the students turned to her as if she was attracting them like a magnet. Confidently the girl walked straight, but not with haste towards a particular group of lockers. There a group of four girls, two on each side of the hallway were standing, all having their heads in their lockers.
“Hey!” Lemon called to the others, lowering the volume of her headphones slightly. “Anyone else hyped to see what Indigo’s revolution is gonna be like?”
Without raising her gaze from her locker Sour replied: “Well, my guess is that she forgot the whole thing by time she went to bed.”
Her books under her arm Sunny giggled. “It’s so childish!” she said while closing the door of her locker. “I mean does that girl really think she can start a revolution just… like... that?”
Sunny fell silent, staring with wide eyes into the hallway. Pulling their heads out of their lockers the others followed her glance, almost simultaneously lifting their eye-brows. In the middle of the hallway Indigo Zap was standing, the Crystal Prep student proudly presenting herself to them.
Or more precisely, presenting her clothes.
Unbelieving the four Shadowbolts gaped at the outfit of their friend, differing drastically from their own: Her skirt was smooth and not pleated, her short-sleeved vest had an open zipper instead of closed buttons, and her blouse was actually a loose tank-top hanging out under her vest slightly. Even shoes and socks didn’t belong to the usual school uniform, Indigo wearing short sports socks and a pair of sandals. All of her clothes were coloured in various shades of blue, standing out from the purple hues the students staring at her wore.
With a smirk Indigo thrust out her hip, placing a hand on it while letting her other arm hang from the side. “Sup.”
Her friends silently looked at her, jaws dropped and eyes wide. Only Sugarcoat remained her composure. Calmly she inspected Indigo from head to toe, looking at her sky-coloured top, deep-blue vest, azure skirt and indigo socks. „Cinch will kill you” she flatly told her.
The blue-haired and –clothed girl chuckled. “And that’s exactly why you gals can never start a revolution!” she said superiorly, pointing with her thumb at her chest. “None of you have the guts to pull that sort of thing off!”
“You mean dressing up in… blue?” Lemon asked, looking a little disappointed over Indigo’s attire. “That’s your revolution? Being… blue?
Sticking out her chest Indigo proudly nodded. “Exactly!”
Rubbing the back of her head Lemon mumbled: “That’s a rather heavy let-down… I was hoping you’d roll a pair of party cannons into school or something.”
Indigo slumped her shoulders, obviously not expecting such a lukewarm reception. “Don’t you get it?” she yelled, sounding a little insulted as she ran her hands along her blue top. “By dressing up like this I fight against the restrictions of the school, and present myself as a symbol of freedom!”
The others gave her confused looks. “What freedom?” Sunny asked.
A wide grin on her lips Indigo raised her glance. “The freedom that each and every girl and boy at this school should decide for themselves what clothes they wear, and not be turned into a regiment of uniformed school-soldiers!” she declared grandly, holding her clenched fist up into the air.
Unfazed by her speech Sour looked over the blue rebel, before cracking a smile. “Yes! That’s a brilliant idea! Hey, you know what you should have put on? A T-shirt saying in big bold letters I WANNA BE EXPELLED!!” she suddenly blared at her.
Sunny rubbed the bridge of her nose, sighing. “Why the uniforms, of all things?” she asked.
“Someone who is as much into school spirit as you should approve of common clothing for the student body” Sugarcoat remarked.
Lowering her fist Indigo took on a more serious face. “I don’t mind the school uniforms” she told her friends. By that time most of the students around them had lost their interest in Indigo, and the quiet noise of students searching through their lockers and talking to each other returned to the hallway. “I guess I’d even wear them if we weren’t forced to. But that’s just the point: We ARE forced to wear them! At this school we don’t even have the freedom to wear the clothes we want! If we could decide on our own what to wear, the students would feel a lot freer and not so repressed anymore, I’m sure. Maybe this would make them a little friendlier, too.”
Hearing this Sour, Sugarcoat and Sunny pondered for a moment. “Okay, that does make some sense” Sour admitted, although stating in the same breath: “But it’s still a stupid idea! You’re basically a target walking through school like this!”
Indigo chuckled. “You gotta take some risks if you wanna be a rebel” she simple replied.
Meanwhile Lemon was walking around Indigo, looking at her clothes from each side. “So, any reason why are you rebelling in… blue?” she asked, taking a few steps back as she skeptically stared at Indigo’s attire.
Sunny snickered at Lemon’s question “Oh please” she said smugly, holding up her nose. “She is obviously representing the limitless sky and seas, symbolizing the infinite possibilities if the student body had the liberty to dress the way they wanted.”
Seeming a little dumfounded Indigo blinked. “Yeeaah, no” she stated, shaking her head with a smile. “Tis just my favorite colour.” Startled Sunny winced, before the combined giggles of the others made her turn her head away in offense.
“Well I think your idea is radical!” Lemon told Indigo, pulling her arm around her shoulder. “It’d be awesome if I could wear something that doesn’t scream ‘boring’ into everyone’s face.”
Once she was done pouting Sunny looked down on her uniform. “I’d also like to show off some of the designer clothes in my closet” she admitted, while Sour put a finger on her chin.
“And I have some cute outfits I’ve been dying to show off – especially to the boys” she added, throwing a flirtatious look at a group of boys near them.
Her arms crossed Sugarcoat looked at her eager friends. “Aren’t you all a little too optimistic?” she asked snidely. “They won’t allow students to dress freely at Crystal Prep just because one girl doesn’t wear a uniform.”
Indigo looked at Sugarcoat as if she had been waiting for that objection. “Oh, it won’t be one girl for long!” she assured her, the passion in her voice growing with every word as she spoke: “I’m gonna keep coming into school with these clothes, and my example will ignite the spark of revolution in everybody’s hearts! Soon the whole school will follow me, and then they will have no choice but to give in to our demands!”
“YEAH!! REVOLUTION!!!” Lemon screamed. With a quick twist on her player she ramped up her music to the maximum, wailing away on an air guitar to the deafening sound of rebellious punk rock. Holding their ears her friends took a few steps back from the wildly partying girl.
“Well it sounds nice in theory!” Sour yelled, having trouble to keep her voice sweet over the loud music. “Buuuut don’t you think Cinch will try to stop you?”
Indigo laughed out loud. “She can try!” she replied, putting her hands off her ears and folding them confidently over her chest. “I mean what’s the worst she can do?”
“MISS ZAP!!”
Everybody winced at the sudden shout. The voice was so loud and strict it even managed to get past Lemon’s headphones into her ears. Jumping in shock the green-haired girl quickly took and shut them off, hiding them sheepishly behind her back. The hallway was dead-silent, even the little bits of conversation among the rest of the students having died off. All had turned their attention to the woman standing behind Indigo, the blue rebel slowly turning around. Hands on her hips she stared down on Indigo through her small sharp glasses, furiously squinting her eyes. It felt like her stare was boring itself into Indigo’s heart, draining the vigor from her soul.
“I guess you are about to find out” Sunny whispered into Indigo’s ear. The usually resolute girl gulped, awkwardly smiling up at the principal of Crystal Prep Academy.
Still staring sternly at her Cinch pointed down the hallway. “Into my office!” she commanded. “NOW!”