School Days

by Dai Kirai

Side Story: Chevonne

Chevonne looked at her ringing phone. This wasn’t the best time as she had a group of new students to lead in a few days and wrangling eight freshmen around campus was not the easiest thing she had ever done but it was giving her ample research opportunity for her capstone project dealing with children and education. But it was Lisa, a very close friend whose apartment she would be subleasing in the fall.

“Hey!” She called into the phone; the silence told her something was wrong, Lisa was always the type to talk immediately. “Everything alright?”

“You can’t move in.” Was the hushed response.

“. . .” There are only two months until classes start. This had been three months ago! There aren’t any good apartments close by.

“The landlord found out and threatened to evict me if I let someone else move in.” Lisa was being docile, there was more to it.

“You cleared it through him though.” What is going on? “You live in a single and you said you cleared it and could just move a second bed in.”

“One of the other girls let her boyfriend stay and things didn’t go well.” Chevonne could almost hear her friend rubbing the back of her neck.

“What am I supposed to do?” This can’t be happening! This is my final year, this was supposed to be the best one, when I have learned everything and set myself up for grad school. The commute and everything had been planned out.

“I’m sorry.” The phone went dead.

Chevonne just looked at the screen. What about my down payment?

***

“No.” Chevonne answered. “I can’t make it to look that day. I have a job for those three days.”

“Then you won’t be getting the room.” The guy on the other end hung up.

Chevonne went back to the list on her computer, neither one of her roommates were staying in the dorms right now so she had the room to herself. Which was good, as she had stacks of papers lying around and so many tabs up on her computer. I should have just entered the housing lottery months ago, Of course they expect seniors to live off campus so even that is a gamble.

Chevonne had spent the last three days going over every housing listing she could find and asking fellow bruins for help, still nothing and she was getting stressed. Half the sites she found required a payment just to use their listings under the promise that they would find her something, but their student reviews said otherwise. She buried her head in her arms, letting her curly red hair do whatever it wanted. She wanted to say the hell with it and just live in the library.

There was a knock at her door, and while it didn’t destroy her misery it moved it to the background. She got up and grabbed a robe, without anyone else here she could enjoy wearing less than normal. It was a plain white robe, a birthday present from Lucy. Chevonne undid the deadbolt on her door, when she was by herself, unless it was during those few days of being an NSA, her door remained closed and locked.

On the other side was a young girl she recognized as working in the Rieber office, someone who rarely had time for anyone else. A true student. She groused, never liking the people who believed grades came before all.

“I have a letter for you from the Dean of Student Services.” She handed Chevonne the letter who took the manila envelope. “Now if you can sign this for me.” She handed over a clipboard with a list of names. “I have seven more letters to deliver.”

Chevonne signed next to her name and closed the door. She sat and opened the letter, it looked pro forma, a letter made once and just sent out.

Dear Chevonne Brannon,

There has been a change to your student group for the coming week. You have been reduced from the normal eight students to just for to better focus on a special case or two you are being given.

Among the normal students you will have one new student from Equestria. As you know we cannot guarantee what species you will get as that information has already been put into the packet you will receive Monday. And there should not be any troubles with a griffon like there were last year. The group has been shrunk to make adjusting easier for these special cases.

Before meeting with the pony you should meet with the other three students to warn them as special care must be taken to ease them into life on Earth. Make sure people refrain from gawking or taking pictures and that is treated with the utmost respect. Guide them in their class selection and make sure to avoid any classes dealing with war or history for their first quarter. We believe these guidelines will be helpful in retention of these students who are not as familiar with the world as normal students.

Dean of Student Services,

Ellis Maitland

Chevonne tossed the letter to the back of her desk; she could read the rest of the papers later. Perfect. More to deal with. She looked at the clock, it was after five. And they timed it so no questions could be asked and things need to be prepared before the end of the weekend. She hated the idea of special cases; just normal students were bad enough, but then to include a child.

She opened a new tab on her browser and searched for information on Equestria.

***

This was the day; she had read through her information but was nowhere near prepared enough. The pony was off by Covel and had his nose in a book which worked for her so long as she could find her other three charges before he finished.

She had the photos of the students in her group which made matters slightly easier. The different groups would meet in different areas as there were too many to meet in a single location. A couple dozen students were walking about; more than a few had picked up donuts. She knew from experience that many would still be asleep, but she had time, there was spare time built into the schedule.

One student caught her eye as he was dressed in a suit, from what she could tell it was an expensive suit. Whereas most students she had seen didn’t dress like slobs they made sure to dress in something comfortable or expressed themselves. Most of them at least, some guided tours from Asia had everyone dressed up but that could have been dress codes. His walk and style matched, impeccably clean with just enough gel in his brown hair to complete the look. The red tie was a bit of a surprise as it stood out.

Chevonne looked at her packet; she didn’t want to call over the wrong student. It looked like the same student and waved him over. “Edward?” She asked, it never hurt to make really sure.

“Yes.” He replied. It wasn’t curt just very formal. “Are you my New Student Advisor?”

“I sure am.” Remember to stay bright and cheery.

“I must be early then.”

“Nope, you are right on time. We just need to find two more people, have a talk then find out fourth.”

Edward readjusted his tie. “Only three others? Why is this group so small?”

“I can explain that in a minute.” She spotted a face in a pink dress. “If you can just stay here one moment.”

Edward nodded and pulled a book out from under his arm, ‘The Inferno.’

Chevonne jogged quickly to the donuts, finding two girls by the tables of donuts. Their hands waved around as they laughed. They contrasted each other. One had dark black hair while the other had light blonde. One dressed in a black top while the other wore a pink sweater. They kept laughing but neither one seemed to talk. Her first thought was that one was deaf but her papers didn’t inform her of any disabilities and that would have required a translator.

“Suzanne? Katherine?” Chevonne asked.

The one in black turned to her. “Yeah.”

“Hello. I’m Chevonne. I’m your New Student Advisor.” Throughout Suzanne’s hands never stopped moving. “I was hoping you could come over and we could get started.”

“Can we get some food first?”

“Of course. But I just need to talk to you for a few minutes before we take a break.” Chevonne noticed the hesitation; Katherine seemed like she would follow whatever her friend said. “We have some things to discuss before we get the rest of the group together.”

The two exchanged worried glances, but nodded and followed her back to where Edward waited.

“I need to talk to you about our fourth member which is also why this group is so small. He has some special considerations.” Chevonne noticed their worried expressions, especially on the two girls. “He is from another world.”

There was an ear shattering shriek from Katherine, a sound of excitement. Chevonne had to cover her ears from the piercing sound.

Suzanne motioned to her friend who then made a circle on her chest while saying sorry. Katherine had a sheepish grin on her face.

“You may have just given a pony over there a heart attack.” Chevonne couldn’t tell if Edward was joking or angry.

Chevonne saw the pony had jumped and was now looking around.

“I hope he wasn’t reading anything scary.” Kat whimpered.

“Do ponies read horror?” A small glimmer of something shone in Suzanne’s eye.

“Just ‘The Hunger Games’”. Edward replied nonchalantly.

How does he know that? It doesn’t matter. “Yes, our fourth is a pony from Equestria.” She expected some kind of response, but not what game. Katherine was antsy and excited, Suzanne rolled her eyes, and Edward looked as if he couldn’t care less. “But there are some things we must cover before bringing him over.”

There were no responses. “I don’t want any of you making a big deal over him. No gawking or taking pictures.” Katherine apologized again. “You are to treat him nicely to make the transition easier on him.”

“Why?” Edward asked, looking at her but it wasn’t curiosity.

“He comes from a simpler culture and we don’t want to scare him.”

“That is rather ethnocentric of you. You can’t control everyone.”

Chevonne bristles at that, it was only one step short of calling her racist. This is why I will never TA, I can’t explain things well. “The other NSAs have been informed and will be watching their students and everyone will be on their best behavior.”

“You really think they know much of war or race? He needs to be eased into it or he might quit.” She felt her ire rising, this was NOT how this was meant to go.

“Then he will hit walls later.” Edward still looked perfectly calm. “When he realizes how things are done. We all fail at some point. The question is whether someone will be there to help.” He stopped to point out the pony. “Look at him, look at what book he is reading. He hasn’t run yet.”

“Because that is such a great introduction to people.”

“Yes it is. And maybe you shouldn’t judge what he is capable of because of how he looks.” Now he looked mad, at least in comparison as his jaw set.

Chevonne noticed the two girls watching but they had moved back a step. “Maybe we should get some food and I will go get our Equestrian friend.”

“I will go. I already know him.”

Chevonne watches the three new students go. This will be a fun three days. She surmised and pulled out her phone to see if she had gotten any replies on apartments yet.

***

She sat on the steps as the four new students talked. On top of that she was surprised. They were becoming friends, better friends than she had during orientation or even her first quarter. They were talking and having fun and somehow they got the shy pony to joke around and interact. Chevonne told them to head for the tout or some food and headed out, hearing the start of some sort of argument, probably nothing serious but they could solve it.

She was still worried about the pony though. Her own experiences in other cultures hadn’t always been the best; she knew how rough it could be and the feeling of being an outsider. Not everyone could handle the pressure and the stress, or deal with the other things he would have to as she remembered the current issues out of China and Washington. But she had always just gone in like the pony had and wound up enjoying it, so maybe she was wrong.

Chevonne felt her phone vibrating. “Hello?” She asked, not even checking the caller ID, the phone had been on vibrate so it wouldn’t interrupt any of the lectures.

“Chevonne? I convinced the landlord to let you stay. He has a regular lease ready for you to sign.”

Author's Note:

And that will be the last we see of them for a while. Next we meet the most dreaded thing of all... family.

And yes, they were uploaded out of order, thank my editor and some miscommunication. No biggie imo, and side stories can happen whenever.

read up some on SoL genre, yeah, forgot tension and some other things.

Not sure how many of you caught that Roderick was actually caught going through the bags of Stormy and Edward for food. May have been a bit too subtle.

Oh, and some more chapters are planned Much thanks to the readers who have commented, most gave me some ideas.

Comments

[MrZJunior]

There are a couple of errors in the Dean's letter.

[Leila Drake]

You have been reduced from the normal eight students to just for

You probably meant 'four'.

I really like your story and can't wait for more. ^^

[sorenxoras]

Sees pony; day gets better almost instantly.

[Truthseeker]

Yeah, I caught the bit about Roderick. I'd have kicked his ass over it. You steal, you get rocked, and not in any sort of fun way.