//------------------------------// // 7 - The Things that Come Out Under Pressure // Story: A Clean Slate for a Former Siren // by AlchemicBlaze21 //------------------------------// Saturday Morning When I got up, I saw on the alarm clock that it was seven thirty, so it was still pretty early. I quickly got myself some oatmeal to at least have something in my stomach and finished washing up. I threw on some joggers and a t-shirt and gathered my wallet and phone. I then noticed that I had one message from Sonata. "Morning Slate, I'll be waiting by the entrance for you at around 9:00. See you soon :)" I then checked to see what time it was: 8:30 am. Hmm, still got a little bit of time before then. "Okay, I'll be down in a little." Just to make sure that dad knew what was going on, I went and talked to him in the living room before I left. "Morning, dad." "Good morning, Slate, what are you up to? "Just going to the park with Sonata. We were also going to catch a movie in the afternoon. Is that alright with you?" "I see," he said, "and you don't have anything else that you need to take care of today?" "No sir, I've taken care of my homework. There's nothing to worry about." "Hmm, alright then. Take care." "I will. Bye, dad." "Bye Slate." With only ten minutes till nine, I rushed down the stairwell and out the front doors. Just outside, I found Sonata leaning against the wall of the building staring off into the distance. I couldn't help but notice that she was wearing a very flattering workout outfit that consisted of a pair of gray yoga pants and a maroon tank top. Anyways, she hadn't noticed me so I could only assume she must have been really concentrating on something. I walked over to her and finally got her attention. "Hey, Sonata, what's up?" She seemed a little startled, but when she saw it was me she beamed a familiar smile. "Hi Slate, not much. Just enjoying the morning view." I had to admit, it was a very picturesque morning. There was a breeze that caused some of the trees along the road to sway slightly. The morning sun caused our shadows to stretch out far from us, but in my opinion, I was just content with seeing Sonata. "Yeah, it's actually really nice today," I said taking in the view. "So, are you ready to go." "Oh, yes." We began our walk over to the park and eventually started talking to pass the time. "Man, I've been looking forward to the weekend this entire time. What about you, Sonata?" "Like you wouldn't believe. Any time away from school is the best." "I know what you mean." "Especially with how the week started." "True, but the whole situation still managed to work itself out. And now at least Rainbow Dash and the others are willing to help you out." She sighed a little. "I know, but it would be nice if the rest of the school would let up a little." "I'm pretty sure it will blow over, eventually. It can't go on forever like that." "Yeah, maybe." There was a bit of a pause in the conversation as we continued to walk. Sonata was pondering something before she spoke up again. "So, um, can I ask you something, Slate?" "Yeah, go ahead." "How was it before you came to live here?" "You mean like what it was like in my previous hometown." "Well, yeah." "Hmm… it was definitely different from this place." "How so?" "Well, for one, it was in the desert, so it was a lot hotter than this place. But I honestly prefer the weather here." “Oh, so how did it look around there? It had to be really different from this place right?” “For the most part. It wasn’t nearly as green as Canterlot, that's for sure. But it still had some nice scenery. You could see the mountain ranges off in the distance and it looked particularly nice when the sun would set behind them. Opposite of that and the town were the plains which were as wide as the eye could see and gave way to very blue skies.” "I see. And what about your old school? How was it there? Did you have a lot of friends there?" "It was kind of similar to this school, minus all the extra attention that we've gotten here at CHS. All the same classes, lots of events throughout the year and such. As far as friends went, I had a few. Some of them I knew from school, some of them from my karate class, and even a couple of the karate instructors." I guess I must have sounded a little down about the whole thing to Sonata because she had a sympathetic look when I turned to her. "Do you miss it at all?" "I do. I'm pretty sure dad and I will head back to visit, though. Still, I really would like to get back in contact with my friends." "I thought that you would have kept on talking to them, maybe through the computer or something." "Well, I try to, but some of them are very busy, which I understand. However, a few of them were upset with me leaving so suddenly that I guess they felt that I was abandoning them and have avoided any kind of contact with me. I would have let them know ahead of time, but there was hardly any time to do that with how quickly dad's work wanted him to move out here." "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." "It's alright. Besides, it isn't all bad. I would have never met you if I hadn't moved out here." With that, we had arrived at the park. Looking around, there was about the same number of people around as last time. As usual, there were joggers doing laps around the park, families enjoying the Saturday morning together, and teams playing early morning games. As we passed by a soccer match, we saw Rainbow Dash dribbling the ball across the field before scoring a goal. As she celebrated with a fist pump, she happened to see us watching the game. She waved at us, and we waved back before she resumed playing. We had walked over to the same section of the park that we had been at last time and found it to be surprisingly empty yet again. I then turned to Sonata and asked, "So, are you up for another self-defense lesson today?" She nodded enthusiastically and answered, "I'm ready whenever you are." "Alright, let's get started then." We found ourselves a spot where the grass was short and before anything else, did a little bit of a warm up. We then ran through the basic strikes and blocks, during which I would use my hands as targets for her to hit every now and then. While doing that, I found that even though she was altogether smaller than me, she managed to hit pretty damn hard. Afterward, we went over the self-defense technique that I had shown her last Saturday a few times. "Heh, wow. You're doing really well. Have you been practicing on your own?" "No, not really. I just remembered how our last practice went. Why do you ask?" "I'm just impressed. You're a natural." "You think so?" "Yes, in fact, I think we can go over some new moves. If you want?" "Well, what kind of moves?" "It would be a few more self-defenses. It couldn't hurt to know them." "Alright." As I explained how to get out of a bear hug, I didn't really consider the proximity that was required for demonstrating it to her. "So, can I try it out?" She asked "Uh, sure," I said, feeling a little timid. "Just, uh, don't take the demonstration the wrong way, okay?" She had a bit of a confused look about her and just answered back with "Oookay." "Alright, good. So, um, here we go." With that, I stepped behind her and wrapped my arms around her. She didn't seem bothered by it, so I then asked her, "So, what do you do from here?" "Hm," she thought for a bit, "oh." She then grabbed a hold of my arms and stomped the ground a few centimeters away from my foot. She followed that up by stepping out with the same foot; lightly jabbed her elbow into my stomach with her free arm; and stopped her fist an inch short of smashing my nose before breaking out of my grip. She had a serious look on her face before she switched it right away into a friendly smile and asked, "So, how did I do?" "Not bad. That was some good control. Still, let's see if you can make it a little faster." We continued to practice that escape a few more times along with a few other techniques, before Sonata and I stopped to catch our breaths. "Do you want to stop here?" "Sure, let's take a seat." We found a vacant bench and took a load off our feet. Sonata stretched out and made herself comfortable before she asked me, "So, what time is it?" With a quick glance at my phone, I turned to her and said, "It's 10:43. Not bad for an early morning practice. What do you think?" "I liked it. Thanks for teaching me all this stuff. It beats having to spend a ton of time by myself." "I can't argue with you there." "I know someone who would have." "Your sisters?" "Yeah." "Hmm. Well, I don't think it would do much good to dwell on that, so what would you like to do?" As she was thinking it over, someone had come along next to us. "Hey you guys, what's up?" We were both a little surprised before we realized who was talking to us. "Oh, hi Rainbow Dash," Sonata said back. "Hey, is the game over already?" I asked. "Yeah, we finished mopping the floor with the other team just a little while ago. You two should have seen the whole thing. What were you guys doing anyways?" "Eh, sorry about not sticking around. We were just over here having a self-defense class." "Yeah, Slate has been teaching me a lot of things from his karate classes," Sonata added with a smile. "Really? That's cool. So, are you two busy right now?" "Not particularly," I answered. "We just finished." "Well, I was going to meet Pinkie at Sugar Cube Corner. Do you guys want to join us?" Sonata nodded her head and said, "Sure." "Then let's go, it shouldn't take too long to get there." It was a short walk from the park to Sugar Cube Corner as we talked about how our mornings had been going as well as how school was coming along. When we arrived at the shop, Pinkie, who was seated at one of the tables, noticed us as we walked in. She waved at us and loudly called, "Hey guys, over here." As well intentioned as Pinkie was, I think we could have done without such a big display. Half the people in the shop had turned to look at us. I had no idea that the shop was actually a popular hangout for many of our classmates. While Rainbow didn't mind most of the other patron's gazes, I was pretty sure that Sonata could feel every glaring eye. "Wow, we can't catch a break, even on the weekend," Sonata sighed as she let her shoulders slump down. Rainbow Dash then turned to her and said, "Just ignore them." "Unfortunately, I think that may be the only thing we can do," I said, placing a hand on Sonata’s shoulder. We got over to the table and took a seat with a few of the other patrons still shooting daggers at us. "Heh, oops. Sorry about that." Pinkie said with a sheepish grin. "Don't worry about it," I said. "Yeah. Anyways, what's new with you?" Sonata asked trying to change the subject. "Oh, nothing much, just helping plan a few parties this month," Pinkie replied. "And you?" "Nothing that interesting, just trying to adjust and keep up with school, that's all." "Hmm, I see. And you, Slate?" "Just trying to keep my karate sharp," I said. RD then nudged me with her elbow and jokingly said, "Heh, better start upping the intensity then." "Hardy-har-har. So, do they have some kind of breakfast here?" "They started serving breakfast sandwiches here," Pinkie said enthusiastically. "Oh good, I don't think I could wait any longer," Sonata said with relief. "Alright, I'll be right back," I said getting up from the table. "Hey, wait up," Rainbow said following me to the counter. A few moments later, RD and I got back to the table with a couple of trays of food. We all enjoyed the meal while occasionally shooting the breeze about whatever little thing that came to mind. "So, what are you guys doing later?" Pinkie asked. "We were going to catch a movie," Sonata said with a smile. "What about you two?" "Well, we are going to have a band rehearsal in a few hours." Sonata looked like she regretted even asking that and could only say, "Oh…" "Um, you guys wouldn't want to come watch, would you?" Rainbow asked cautiously. "N-No, it's alright. But thanks anyway," Sonata said as she forced a smile. I couldn't put my finger on it, but for some reason she almost seemed to be quaking in her boots at the thought of going to that practice. Then again, it might have brought up some bad memories. Either way, it was a bit odd. "Well, if you say so. We should get going now, we still gotta get the rest of the group together. So I guess we'll catch you two later then." Rainbow Dash said as she took a couple of trays back. "Bye Sonata, bye Slate," Pinkie said. "Bye," both Sonata and I answered. And with that Pinkie and Rainbow had left. There were still a few people who were sneaking glances at us when they thought we wouldn't notice, which only served to annoy me. "Man, this is just like the cafeteria. Maybe we should just go," I suggested to Sonata while picking up our trash and tossing it into a nearby bin. She saw a few of the patrons looking our way. "That sounds like a good idea." We left the shop and went on our way back to the apartments. "Well, I guess once we're ready, we can meet by the apartment entrance and head to the theater. Sound good to you?" I asked Sonata. "Sure. So do you want to meet up at five thirty?" She asked as we walked up the stairs. "Nah, six o’clock should be okay. We should have enough time to get over there and pick out something good." "Okay, then I'll see you in a while." "Yeah, see you then." I walked her to her apartment before I continued on up to mine. When I got in, I immediately washed up and got ready for the afternoon. While I waited for six o'clock, I spent some time talking to dad or texting Sonata till it was time. Back at Sonatas apartment, she had already changed out and freshened up. During the time that she was waiting, she tried to avoid Aria considering that she usually didn't really have anything good to say. It worked for a while until Aria went out of her way to harass her. It didn't help that Adagio was there along with her. "Well, if it isn't the no brain wonder," Aria scoffed, "still hanging out with that useless human?" "He's not useless! By all counts, he does more than you." Sonata retorted. "While I agree with you there, you haven't brought back any useful info, so you're going to be helping us today to find what we need from those Rainbooms," Adagio said. "But I had plans for tonight," Sonata whined. Adagio glared at her before replying, "Tough luck. Since we haven't made any headway in the plan, we can't afford for you to be slacking off. In fact, so you won't be distracted, we may need to do away with Slate soon." Sonata started thinking feverishly for something to change Adagio's mind. She figured that she had to give the other two sirens something for her to keep Slate safe, so she decided to finally tell them about her meetings with the Rainbooms. "Wait, if you want to know stuff about the Rainbooms I can tell you what I found out." Adagio had a puzzled look on her face. Aria on the other hand right away said, "Oh sure. Of the three of us, you actually got something useful to contribute." "Well, yes and no. I've been talking to them and…" Sonata had said before she was cut off. "You did what?!" Adagio exclaimed angrily as she grabbed Sonata by her shoulders. "I knew it was going to be something stupid," Aria said while shaking her head. "Hold on, I never told them anything about the plan. They actually wanted to talk to me after Monday, and Slate convinced them to give me a chance." Adagio in shock released her grip on Sonata. She was still processing the whole situation while Aria in disbelief said, "C'mon, There's absolutely no way that you could have managed to get in this close to them without screwing up our plans." "But it's true." Adagio finally asked, "If that's true, then what have you found out?" "Well," Sonata said anxiously, "none of them have said anything about or had any kind of magic stuff with them." "Nothing at all?" Adagio asked. "Um, No," Sonata replied as she braced herself for one of Adagios tirades. "That's sad, I guess dumb luck couldn't help this idiot get what we need," Aria said with a slight grin. "Maybe not, but this does indeed give us a unique opportunity," Adagio said as if she were entertaining some idea. "Um, is that a good thing?" Sonata asked. "Possibly, but in the meantime, I think we can actually rest today." "So, are Slate and I okay then?" "For now. You can do whatever you planned to, by the way." Adagio answered. "Um thanks," Sonata said cautiously before noticing the clock in the living room. "Six-ten? Oh, I've got to get going." "Fine, just don't take forever getting back," Adagio warned. "Alright," Sonata agreed before leaving. Aria then turned to Adagio and asked in confusion, "What are you doing? You should have let her have it!" "Now why would I do that? As it stands, she managed to get into a spot that allows us to spy on the Rainbooms and pinpoint exactly where that item is." "Still, she's bound to mess this up somehow." "Look, if anything does happen, we will take care of it." Six o’clock came and went while I was waiting by the apartment entrance. I looked at my phone to find that Sonata was running about twelve minutes late. Considering that she usually managed to already be outside before me, I was starting to think that she might have had something else that she needed to do. I started towards the door when it flew open, and Sonata came sprinting out. Seemingly out of breath, she looked at me and said, "Sorry…about being late…Are you…ready to go?" "Yeah, I was starting to think you were a no show. So what happened, is everything alright?" "What? Oh yeah, everything's fine," she said having caught her second wind. "I was just talking with Adagio and Aria, but kind of lost track of time. Anyways, though, we should probably get going." "Works for me," I said as we headed towards the theater. As we walked, Sonata asked, "Do you want me to lead the way? I mean, you're still kinda new around here." "It's okay, I looked up the directions and saved them to my phone." "Oh," She said, blushing a little. "Hey, so which movie did you have in mind?" "Well, I had seen a few trailers for that new horror film about a haunting in Manehattan. It's actually been awhile since I've seen a good horror movie, but we could see something else if you want." "Hmm, is it supposed to be extremely scary?" "A lot of people said that it was just okay, so probably not." She thought about it for a little and then said, "Alright, let's watch that." "Cool, that's perfect." We had walked through the park and down a few streets before we arrived at the theater. From the looks of the line for the box office, it was mostly random people. There were a few people from school, though. So for the sake of not making a huge scene, we tried our best to hide in the back of the line. When we got to the window, Sonata stayed behind me while I bought the tickets. Inside the lobby, I checked with one of the theater attendants, but was told our film still had some time till it started. I then asked Sonata, "So, do you want to get anything before we go in?" "Maybe just some popcorn and soda." "Alright, just give me one second." I bought the snacks that she wanted and quickly got back to her. We sat down at one of the tables in the lobby while we shared the snacks and talked. Another fifteen minutes had passed before we were allowed into the theater. We picked some seats all the way at the top of the auditorium while the other audience members were still filtering into the rows below. Sonata then leaned over and whispered to me, "I hope the movie isn't too bad." "Ditto." Before long, the previews started rolling for upcoming films. Some were kind of interesting while most were groan-worthy, although Sonata was very captivated by them. By then, the lights had dimmed, and our movie began. It started out kind of slow, but at least it managed to set up a creepy atmosphere. It went on like that, all the while adding to the mystery. As the suspense kept on building, I could feel Sonata wrapping an arm around mine. I had kind of expected that to happen, so I whispered to her with a slight grin, "Hey, Sonata, you aren't scared, are you?" "What? No. What would make you say that?" I was about to answer her, but just then the movie threw out its first huge scare causing her and a few others to gasp. I jumped a bit too, although it was more due to her putting my arm in a vice grip. "I don't know, just a hunch," I said as I placed my free hand on her hands. She immediately loosened her grip and responded, "Oh, right." We both chuckled lightly and continued to watch the movie. The film had a few more scares for us before it reached the climax, and ended on a rather ambiguous note. I guess the producers were banking on it making enough money to warrant a sequel. I couldn't complain though, since I honestly liked the whole thing. The lights came back on, and we exited the auditorium. Curious, I asked Sonata, "So, what did you think?" "I liked it, but I don't think I'll ever want to visit Manehattan now." "That's a shame, I heard that the sequel takes place here in Canterlot City," I said with a mischievous smile. She started to laugh and said, "Ha ha, shut up," before lightly punching me in the arm. "Well, let me just call dad so we can get a ride back home," I said and pulled out my phone. The only problem was my phone had died. "Crap, I forgot to charge it." "Don't worry, I've got mine," Sonata reassured me. She started checking her pockets, but then a look of dread filled her face. She started patting her pants frantically. "Oh no. Where is it?" "What's wrong?" "I think my phone stayed at my apartment." "It's fine," I said, trying to calm her. "Besides, it isn't too long of a walk. It should only take half an hour to get back. Shall we." I offered her my hand as I opened the exit. "Alright." She said, taking my hand in hers as we left. For only looking at the directions a couple of times, I was surprised that we hadn't gotten lost. Eventually, we got back to the park, which looked somewhat different in the afternoon than it did during the morning. Hardly anyone was there except for a few people playing basketball on the courts all the way on the other side of the park. As for illumination, there were a few lamps set up throughout the area along the paths. Sonata and I made our way along the lit path through the park. We passed by where we had practiced earlier when Sonata said to me, "You know, I’m not sure how everything would have turned out if I hadn’t met you, but I’m really glad I did." "I feel the same way. Regardless of everything else that goes on, I wouldn't have it any other way." We came to a lamppost when she tugged at my right hand and stopped me. When I turned to her, she took a hold of my hands. It seemed like she wanted to tell me something, but wasn't sure how to. One thing was for sure, in that light, I couldn't help but stare into her deep magenta eyes. Just then, out of nowhere someone shoved me and sent me tumbling. Startled, Sonata yelled out to me, "Slate!" I quickly rolled out of the fall and back onto my feet, only to see a gray looking guy standing where I had been. Right next to him a shorter one had a hand over Sonatas mouth while holding her arms behind her back. "You again? You'd better let her go right now!" I demanded. The shorter one shouted back, "Fat chance, right, Rover?" "Right, Spot. You two aren't going anywhere, especially after what happened last time." "Spot? Rover? Seriously?" I scoffed. "I thought it was just a band name thing. Is your other friend’s name Bingo or something?" "Shut up, you son of a bitch!" "Hey, that's your mom apparently, not mine." "Grrr." "By the way, where is Hooch, at the kennel?" "Why don't you ask him yourself? Fido, get him!" Right at that moment I was being held above the ground in a crushing grip. It happened so fast and unexpectedly that all I could do was try not to pass out due to Fido’s grip. As I struggled to pry Fido’s arm from around my neck, Rover walked over to me cracking his knuckles and said, "I'm going to enjoy this." He lunged forward and started wailing on me. Seeing this, Sonata struggled even harder against Spot’s grasp. She was able to move her mouth out from under his hand and gave him a hard bite. Spot yelped in pain and let her go only to grab ahold of her again from the wrist. She socked him right on the cheek, dazing him a bit. Rover turned and yelled at him, "Get that siren under control!" "Got it!" he yelled back and slapped her across the face, sending her to the ground. As soon as that happened, I lost it. Rover turned back to me and prepared to throw another punch, only to have my right foot connect hard with his chest. I then leaned forward and slammed my head right into Fido's face. From there I elbowed him in the gut, reached back to get ahold of his head and pulled him over my shoulder. When he hit the ground, there was a loud thud followed by his groaning. Rover then ran at me full tilt, ready to tackle me. Without thinking, I quickly stepped to the side and left my rear leg outstretched, causing him to trip face first into the floor. I then focused over towards Sonata, who was pinned down and struggling to get out from under Spot. I ran over to them and kicked him off of her. "Are you alright?" I asked as I pulled her up off the ground. "Yeah, I think… Slate, look out!" She screamed. I turned around and wound up getting pulled into a clinch. Rover threw a knee and caught me right in the stomach, making me lose my breath. I was barely able to block his next strike with my forearms but knew that it wasn't going to end well if I didn't think fast. Meanwhile, Spot got back up and charged at Sonata. This time, however, she landed a punch right to his nose. As he clasped his hands to his face, she caught him again on the chin with a right hook and knocked him onto his ass. Back on my end, Rover was relentlessly throwing his strikes. Luckily I was able to jam my palm into his chin to keep him at bay. I then twisted my shoulder into his elbow and caught him with a side kick to the knee. As he staggered from the impact, I landed a right cross to his cheek, a roundhouse to his side and got him on the jaw with a turning sidekick. That last hit was hard enough to send him crashing onto Fido. When Fido tried to push him off, he found that Rover was out cold. Spot rushed over to see what had happened. I walked up to them and demanded, "Listen up, if you know what's good for you, you'll leave us alone. You idiots got that!" They didn't say anything. All they did was nod their heads frantically. "Good. Now get out of here." Fido got off the ground, and Spot helped him to pick up their unconscious comrade before they ran off with their tails between their legs. Once they had left out of sight, I nursed my aching stomach. Sonata walked up next to me and put a hand on my shoulder and asked me, "Are you okay?" "Yeah, I think so. What about you?" I got closer to check where she got hit. Surprisingly, though, her cheek was only slightly reddened. "That's weird, hardly a scratch." "I'm alright, it wasn't that hard," she said, wincing a little as she rubbed her cheek. "Still, I should have kept that whole thing from happening at all." "Slate, you don't need to beat yourself up about it," she said with a warm smile. I nervously rubbed the back of my neck. "Heh, I can't help it. You mean a lot to me. Actually, I think I love you." Oh God. Did I just say that. She began to blush as she looked down and thought of what to say. She then looked me in the eyes and said, "I love you too." In an instant she placed her lips against mine, catching me off guard. I held her close to me and just let everything else slip away. We spent a moment there, but it felt like we could have been there forever. When we broke the kiss, we held each other there under the light of the lamppost. Just then I remembered that it was only getting later. "Maybe we should get over to the apartments," I offered. "Huh, oh, yeah," she said raising her head to look at me. "I wish that we didn't have to go." "Same here," I said with a sigh. We made our way back arm in arm, eventually reaching our building. As we walked down the third floor hallway to her apartment, Sonata said "You know what, as strange as it may sound, I'm kind of glad everything turned out the way it did." "You're right, that is kind of weird," I said with a grin. "But, I know what you mean." Once in front of her door, she turned to me with her hands behind her back and asked, "So then, see you tomorrow?" "Definitely." She smiled and gave me one last kiss. "Alright then, good night, Slate." "Good night, Sonata." As soon as she entered her apartment, I ran up the stairs to mine. Dad had been waiting up for me. On all counts, I was not looking forward to explaining why I was barely getting back close to ten thirty. I told him that we had to walk back since my phone died during the movie and we couldn't call for a ride afterward. Of course, I omitted the bit about the fight for obvious reasons and just hoped that dad would believe my half-truth. Luckily, to my surprise, he didn't push the subject any further than that and just told me to prepare better next time. I had made it into the clear, so I relaxed and got ready to call it a day. All the while, I couldn't help but think about Sonata. Once Sonata had walked into the living room, Aria came around to hurl her usual insults. "Hey, Sonata! I get that you have the brain the size of a walnut but you're pushing it getting back here at this time," Aria said with a smirk at her cleverness. Normally Sonata would have reacted to the blatant put down without fail, but it didn't seem to faze her this time. The only thing she did say was a dismissive "Uh-huh." Aria was now thoroughly confused as she tried again. "I guess Slate's just as brain dead as you if he can't even keep track of the time." Still in a distracted tone, Sonata just replied with, "He’s great." She started heading to her room to get ready for bed. She then left Aria standing there with a single, "Good night." Aria was dumbstruck. She had never seen Sonata just brush her off. Adagio then walked in and asked her, "Why are you just standing here like a zombie?" "Dagi, am I losing my touch?" she asked worriedly. "What are you blathering on about?" Adagio asked annoyed. "Sonata didn't even register that I was making fun of her just now." "Really, that's your big concern," Adagio deadpanned. "After all these years she was probably going to get used to your crap sooner or later." "But it's like she wasn't all there," Aria said. "And when is she ever ‘all there.'?" "Hmm, I guess you have a point," Aria grumbled. "Of course I do. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to bed." Meanwhile, after a few preparations, Sonata happily drifted off into sleep. Sunday Morning Sonata was woken up by a constant stream of knocking on her bedroom door. She stretched and yawned as she rolled out of bed and shuffled towards the door. As expected, Adagio was waiting for her to answer. "Good morning," Sonata said while rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "Morning," Adagio responded flatly. "Start getting ready. We've got a few things to take care of." "Like what?" Sonata asked "Getting stuff that we need around here, at least for this week," Adagio responded while pinching the bridge of her nose. "I also need to talk to you about the Rainbooms." Sonata knew this was going to have something to do with the plan, so with a pained expression, she just replied, "Okay." "Good, now hurry up." While she got dressed, she sent Slate a text. "Hey, Slate. The girls want me to help out with something, so I'm going to be busy today." "Oh. I had to tell you that I would be busy too. I have to catch up with some chores and errands." "Sorry, about that. Maybe we can meet up later." "Hopefully. I'll text you back in a while, I'm going to see if I can get my list done quickly. Take care." "Okay, bye." She quickly finished getting ready and headed to the kitchen to eat breakfast with the others. At around ten forty, they headed to the supermarket. "So what, we're just shopping for groceries. No take over the world scheme involved? I find that hard to believe. Having some doubts about the plan?" Aria said snidely. "Well, as close as we are to getting our powers back, I don't want to starve. And considering that we are relying on Sonata to get ahold of whatever magic item those girls may have, I just want to make sure we survive until then," Adagio explained. "Hmm, good point." "So for the sake of making sure you actually find what we need, Sonata, I need you to question them about that other girl. The one who showed up and made a huge scene in the gym before the competition began. And try not to be conspicuous about it. That should lead you in the right direction." Unfortunately, Sonata wasn't fully invested in the conversation since she was busy daydreaming. "Hey, are you catching any of this lame brain," Aria said as she smacked Sonata across the back of the head. "Ouch! Hey!" Sonata exclaimed as she rubbed her head. "You didn't hear anything that I said, did you?" Adagio asked as she rolled her eyes. "Yes I did. You said something about asking a girl something. Right?" "Dagi, this plan is going to tank pretty fast at this rate," Aria replied dryly. Adagio turned to Sonata. "Listen, right now you are the only one who is close enough to their group to get that item. I need you to focus." As they proceeded to the store, Adagio made sure to explain exactly what Sonata had to do. It had been a while since Sonata had sent me those texts, and I had finished up with most of the chores. Even though the cleaning took a few hours to complete, I had to admit that the apartment's size made it a heck of a lot easier to get it in order than our previous home. As I put away the cleaning supplies, I checked to see if I had any new messages. But, there were none. Just then dad had arrived back home from the store with some bags in hand. "Hey dad, just finished with the chores here. Is there anything left in the car?" "Just a couple cases of water and a few bags. Would you please go get them and lock up?" "Sure thing. Be right back." With that said, he tossed me the keys, and I ran down the stairwell to the ground floor. Dad had parked the SUV a little ways off from the entrance. I popped the hatchback open and found all the things dad had listed. I removed it all from the back and placed it on the floor to close and lock up. Not wanting to have to come back outside, I stuck my arms through the loops in the bags and carried the cases stacked on top of each other. I was able to get through the front door with some difficulty, but when I got to the stairwell, I realized that I had made a horrible mistake. I had no choice but to place the two cases out of the way and view of anyone so I could come back and get them, and ran the bags up to the apartment. I quickly came back and got the cases and made the hike up the stairs, all the while thinking, I'll count that as my workout for the day. Back at the apartment, I helped dad put away what was left of the groceries when I came across some very out of place objects. "Hey, dad. Why'd you buy hairspray, scrunchies, and conditioner?" I asked. When I checked the last bag, I wasn't sure how to respond other than "Are those tampons?" "What? I didn't buy that?" dad said somewhat confused. But then it was like a light was switched on and he replied, "Oh, hold on a second. I forgot to mention that I ran into your friend, and I think her sisters." "You did?" "Yeah, I saw Sonata and a couple other girls walking out of the store with quite a few bags. When Sonata saw me, she said hi and asked if I could give them a ride back here. I agreed to help and let them place their stuff in the back of the SUV. The other two seemed upset for some reason, though." Hmm, no surprise there, I thought. "But anyways, when we got here, I guess they must have forgotten a couple of their own bags when they hurried off." "Well, I'll go and take that over to them then. Be right back, again." I got the bags with their stuff in it and headed to the third floor. As I got closer to Sonatas apartment I could hear a heated argument taking place inside. It was muffled, but from what I could make out someone was throwing a tantrum. "One of you two idiots probably left it at the store! Can nothing go right?" "Sonata was the one putting the bags into the cart." Said a very sour sounding individual. "But I made sure that everything was there." "Obviously, you didn't," a prissy voice said. Okay, better just give them back their bags before this devolves any further, I thought as I knocked on the door. There was a brief beat of silence before Adagio yelled, "Aria, go get rid of whoever that is!" "Would you stop getting your panties in a bunch," Aria shot back. "It's not like that giant fur ball you call hair is going to fall off, unfortunately." After that last remark, I had to do my best to keep myself from laughing before the door opened. Aria, who seemed particularly moody as well, had an annoyed look on her face when she saw me. "What do you want? If you're looking for Sonata, we're kind of busy." "Oh. I would like to talk to her, but I really just came by to drop this off," I said as I handed Aria the bags. At first, she didn't seem interested in them until she realized what their contents were. "Where'd you get this?" She asked me with a suspicious look. "I think you guys forgot that in my dad's SUV." "Hmm. Hey, Dagi, I found your things. You can stop throwing your hissy fit now." She turned to head back in before I got her attention one last time. "Hey, could you do me a favor and call Sonata out here, please." She seemed fed up and just rolled her eyes before calling back inside. "Sonata, that Nate guy's here to see you." That's not my name, I thought to myself, but didn't bother to correct her this time around. "Anything else, Romeo?" "No, but thank you, Thalia." Almost immediately she narrowed her eyes at me and said in an unamused tone, "It's Aria." I only responded with, "Hmm, oh right. So sorry." She continued to give me a dirty look until Sonata came outside to greet me. When she went back inside, I heard her mutter the word, "Idiots." "Hi, Slate. What's up?" "Not much. Are you really busy right now?" She turned to the apartment and then back to me. "Not exactly." "So then, do you want to maybe hang out?" "Sure, um, just not here. Adagio's kind of in a bad mood." "I noticed." "Maybe just out front?" "Sounds good. Let me just head back to my place and I'll be right out." "Okay, don't take too long." I ran back to my place and let dad know I would be on the first floor. A couple of minutes later Sonata and I were out front, talking about how our days had gone so far. "Well, so far it's been pretty boring." "Yeah, but at least you didn't have to deal with someone always barking orders," Sonata replied. "That is very true. I'm still kind of surprised that Adagio got so bent out of shape over a misplaced bag. I didn't think she had that bad of a temper when I first met her." "She usually doesn't let anyone other than Aria and me see her that way. That's why." "That's a little scary that she can mask herself like that." She gave a small chuckle. "Having known her my entire life, I'm used to it." "Just saying. Don't think I'd feel safe near her." "Oh well. So, what were you planning on doing with the rest of today?" "Not much, honestly. Still got that history assignment to finish up, though." "Oh, crap! I forgot about that." "I wouldn't worry too much about it. We were pretty close to finishing anyways." "Still, could you help me finish it, please?" she asked while giving me puppy dog eyes. "Okay, okay. Just ease up on the look. You're going to kill me with cuteness," I said as I slid up close to her and placed a kiss on the cheek. She smiled and lightly kissed me on the lips. We went up to my apartment and worked on what little was left of the history paper. When we finished dad had prepared lunch, so we all sat down and ate together. We continued to talk a little bit more before Sonata decided that she had to get back to her sisters. My dad insisted that she take some of the lunch for Aria and Adagio, so I escorted her back to her apartment with a bag holding some containers of food. "Well then. I'll see you tomorrow, hopefully." "Okay." "By the way, are you going to be alright right now? I mean, with Aria and Adagio." "I think so. Adagio doesn't stay like that for too long." "Just in case, I wish you good luck," I said as I gave her a hug. "Thank you." She went inside her apartment, and I went back to mine. Nothing else went on that day, and none of the messages I got from Sonata seemed like a call for help, so I relaxed and got ready for Monday.