My Little Life: The Beginning

by Kind_Of_A_Rarity

Bad News

The next morning, the side of my face didn’t bother me as much as I knew it should have. It hurt a bit, but it wasn’t a binding pain shooting across my face or anything of the sort, so I went ahead to school.

The bus ride was quiet. I owed that much to an absent Henry. ‘Coward,’ I thought as I took a seat alone, thankful that there was an open seat. I set my headphones over my head and allowed myself to slip into the comforting embrace of the music.

The morning was just as quiet as the bus ride. Rarity, Fluttershy, and I were the only ones at my table. Rarity and I mostly stayed quiet, to each other anyway. Rarity would sometimes speak with Fluttershy, but not extensively. I thought a moment and realized that I didn’t want to be with anyone at the moment. I told the two of them that I would be back later, no more and no less, and left to find a more suitable location. If Fluttershy had noticed anything amiss, she surely didn’t mention it.

I found myself wandering the cafeteria. It was strange. The tables, people, and light, which seemed to make the biggest impact of all, switched everything around, made it... normal. I knew that this was the spot where my... encounter took place, but I couldn’t imagine it happening where I knew it did. There was nothing on the floor where it took place, not that I expected to find anything, but my point stands. I knew it happened, but there was no evidence of it.

My wandering eyes came to a stop as I noticed a familiar face sitting in a familiar spot. Twilight sat alone, of course, reading her book. It looked to be a different one than she had had the day before, but I couldn’t be sure. ‘Something’s up with her,’ I found myself thinking. I began to walk through the crowd towards her. Things couldn’t get much worse than they were then, so why shouldn’t I try to cheer her up? “Hey,” I said through a false smile as I took the seat across from her.

She looked up from her book, a bit surprised to hear someone from right in front of her. “Hello, Sky,” Her eyes closed and both ends of her lips raised in the form of a smile. Her lavender hair sat delicately on her forehead.

“Still reading all alone?” As if I couldn’t already guess her answer.

“Yes, but this book is much more interesting than the one before,” She placed her thread of yarn into the book and shut it, lightly tapping the cover for emphasis. The cover seemed to be blank of any words, only a small emblem of what appeared to be a horse? Perhaps a unicorn?

“Be that as it may,” I began with one of my favorite phrases. It had a certain... playful tone to it. Something that I hoped would rub off on her. “You don’t have to sit here all alone, you know. You should come sit with us.”

She shrugged and her smile faded into a frown. “I don’t really think that would be a good idea at the moment, Sky.”

“Why not?” I tried my hardest to keep things light. I tried not to make myself look overly concerned, just a friendly enquiry about why she wanted to be alone.

She shook her head, causing her long, straight hair to flow over one of her shoulders a bit. “I just... prefer to be alone right now,” That confirmed it. There was clearly something wrong with her. I knew she didn’t act this way on her first day here and I was fairly certain this wasn’t how she was any other time. Was she being bullied? There aren’t very many bullies here, but it was still a possibility.

I sighed. I didn’t want to press the matter. “Alright, but if you don’t sit with us today, then you’ve got to tomorrow, okay?” But I did anyway.

“Sky-”

“Promise me,” I refused to take “no” for an answer.

She looked at me a moment. It was at that moment that I noticed her deep, purple eyes. They seemed to be indefinite, as if I could see the entire universe and all of the stories of the world if I looked into them long enough. She sighed. “Alright... I promise,” I knew that she immediately regretted the decision, but she would forget that regret soon enough. She needed friends and the only way to make friends is by talking to people.

A smile returned to my lips. “Good. See you then!” I stood before she had a chance to change her mind. I thought I noticed a hint at a smile on her face as I turned to leave, but I couldn’t have been sure.

Back at my own table, Rarity must have noticed my expression. “Well,” she began, “what are you so happy about?” The tension must have left along with me earlier.

I couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. “It’s nothing. I was just talking to someone. You’ll meet her tomorrow if she keeps her promise,” I had confidence that she would.

The bell rang not long afterwards. Fluttershy and I went ahead to class, where I half expected to see Henry sitting in his usual spot like nothing had ever happened. Of course, my gut feeling was wrong, as Henry was still nowhere to be seen.

Class continued as it usually did: papers beings passed out as we watched some video about the music genre we were studying, which was the 80‘s. Fluttershy and I spoke for a bit after the lesson had ended, but of little more than our hobbies and just, generally, getting to know one another.

I began my journey across the school to get to SAT Prep. The long walk only added to the list of reasons I hated the class. It was pointless, really. Twilight and I had already proven that point. But by the time I had finally arrived, most of the class was already in their seats, chatting away at one another. None of them even noticed me walk into the room, except for one girl. She didn’t look for long, though, turning her attention back to whatever it was that she was otherwise occupied with on her iPad. I couldn’t be sure what was on the screen, but it didn’t look like she was actually paying attention to whatever it was. I dropped my bag and took my seat, still unable to clearly see the screen, but it made little difference to me.

The worksheet was simple algebra, nothing special. I finished it within the first ten minutes, as did Twilight. We returned to our rightful spots and sat in silence, but only for a few moments before she spoke to me. “Sky, do you have a phone?”

The sudden question surprised me a bit, but I complied. “Yeah, I do. Why?” I presumed she asked for my number, yet I felt compelled to ask anyway.

I watched as she tore a small piece of paper out of her notebook and scribbled her own number onto it. She then outstretched the thing towards me. I, of course, took it and slid it into my pocket without a second glance. She looked as if she didn’t want to give it to me, but forced herself to. It was strange. I began to question her expression aloud, but was quickly cut off by a shout from a nearby student. “Uh oh! Sky’s got the new girl’s number!” It was quickly followed by an uproar from the class.

I tried to contain it, but I felt my lips form a smile as I listened to the number of “congrats” and “nice ones” that filled the room. I felt my cheeks warm at the sudden attention, but did little in the way to suppress it. I watched as Twilight shied away from the shouts and, knowing how being the center of attention felt at that moment, didn’t try to bring her back into our conversation. The attention died off soon enough, but Twilight didn’t speak to me for the rest of the class, not to say that I expected her to.

Lunch wasn’t very eventful, but it was more exciting than the earlier parts of my day had been. Pinkie Pie was to thank for that. She had gotten involved with some other kids’ conversation and drew a crowd with her laughter. Her laugh wasn’t loud or annoying, but there was a certain joy to it that made everyone that much happier. It was hard to keep my sour mood when I was around her, that is, until I noticed the crowd of people that had gathered around us. It wasn’t large, but it was enough.

Applejack had, apparently, noticed my discomfort, because she suggested that I accompany her to the vending machines that were nearby. Or maybe it was so she could talk to me in solitude. Either way, I was happy to get out of there. She asked if I had told Pinkie yet, I told her that I hadn’t had a chance yet, and that was the end of that. When we arrived back at the table, Applejack holding her new bottle of water in her hand, the crowd seemed to have vanished without a trace. Pinkie was still there and Applejack might have been able to help me explain it, but I convinced myself that it would be too public and dropped the notion.

In Culinary Arts, Chef was out with some kind of business meeting or something, so we had a substitute. I didn’t know what it was she was out with, but it made little difference to me and, I’m sure, anyone else. We were left to our own conversations for the entire class.

Pinkie and I spoke a bit, but not about anything serious. My plan was to slowly build to the news, so that’s exactly what I did. Well, I tried to. After a few minutes, another kid named Julie called Pinkie over to play a game with her and some others. Of course, I wasn’t asked to follow, so I stayed put.

I couldn’t help but glance at her every so often. She was always laughing and smiling every time I looked. How could I break the news to her? She would have been devastated by the fact that it was Henry who not only broke into the school, but also hurt Applejack.

But there was another option. Pinkie would never have to know, and I was determined that she never would. I couldn’t handle seeing her in pain. It was something I had never seen, nor did I ever wish to. She was such a joy to be around, even if she wasn’t happy or joking around. That kind of emotion can only mean that her sadness would be just as powerful.

So that was exactly what I would have to do: deal with Henry myself. I could do it, convince him that what he’s doing is wrong. We were “best friends” after all. He had no other option than to listen to what I had to say, unless he wanted to throw that all away. But by that point, that was looking like a real possibility.

Pinkie returned from her game to accompany me and my thoughts, a bit to my surprise, in all honesty. “What’s up?” A simple question, but one that her expression confirmed was sincere. I had a sudden awareness that I wasn’t looking particularly happy at that moment.

I quickly adjusted to, hopefully, get rid of any doubt at my next statement. “Nothing, just bored is all,” That was true. Pinkie hadn’t been gone thirty minutes and I was already feeling the effects of being alone.

“Oh,” Her face betrayed her words. “Well, did you want to come play with us?” She motioned back towards the, now, single pair of girls. “We kind of need a fourth,” She smiled, albeit a little awkwardly. She must have noticed how flat the statement sounded, as if I was a last resort.

But it didn’t bother me. It never did and I was certain it never would, no matter how many times it came up. “Uh, sure,” I really didn’t, but Pinkie needed an extra player. How could I disappoint her?

We spent the next hour or so playing some card game one of the other girls learned from her grandfather. It wasn’t very difficult, but it was fun and it passed the time until the bell rang.

I wandered through the halls to Gym, where I was surprised to see none other than the culprit himself. Henry was walking around like a little, lost puppy. He didn’t even notice when I passed him, though the crowd might have assisted in that aspect. He must have come in late, or avoided me during the first parts of the day, though that wasn’t very likely. I wasn’t the most intimidating of people.

I did, however, notice that his face was bruised. My hand went to my eye. His face looked like my eye used to: swollen and slightly discolored. Then I thought I did that. That changed my entire attitude on the matter. It wasn’t just a game of “I’m gonna...” or “If he ever does this, I’ll...” Now it was clear that I could do something if I needed to, both to him and myself.

My thoughts were discontinued by the sudden noises bursting from the locker room. It wasn’t different from any other given day, but it was enough to break my concentration. I quickly changed and found my way back into the gym.

I was a bit surprised to see Rainbow sitting next to my spot. By no means was I against it, but it still came as a shock. I sat next to her and she nudged me with her shoulder. “So, last night was fun,” She was well aware of how it sounded, because she began to laugh after she said it.

I couldn’t help but do the same. “Yeah, I guess it was. But I could’ve gone without getting hit in the eye,” She seemed to have no trouble talking about it, unlike the others. Was I taking this whole thing too seriously?

The whistle blew, so we began warm-ups. We did our laps together and played badminton together. I got the oddest feeling that this was how it would be from then on. I couldn’t complain, though. What did I have to complain about? I had fun and I had a friend, a true friend. We both jumped in to help Applejack. That could only mean that we were all friends...

I couldn’t explain it. I still can’t. It was a feeling that couldn’t be compared to any other feeling in the world, knowing that your friends will be there for you when you need it. But still... there had to be some kind of limit. She had to have her own reasons for doing what she did. Like many other things that happened, it was far too good to be true. After all, we had only just met.

Our game continued until the time came to get ready for dismissal. I don’t know who won. I lost track, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if she told me the same thing.

I changed and waited in the gym until the bell rang. We never mentioned the previous night, perhaps because it simply never came up in conversation. We did, however, exchange phone numbers. She claimed it was so she could have something to do instead of sit home all day. But I was certain there was more to it than that. Friendship, perhaps? Doubtful, but possible nonetheless.

I stepped onto the bus with little grace. In fact, I tripped a bit over my feet, but I can’t say it bothered me. Any other day, I would have been incredibly embarrassed, but I wasn’t. My cluttered mind was surely to blame.

I dropped into my seat across from Rarity’s, which was empty. I paid little mind, as she stepped on only a moment later and occupied it. But then she turned to me with what looked like pain in her eyes. “Sky, can I ask you something?”

I raised my eyebrows. “Y-yeah, sure,” This could only go in so many different ways, but my mind wandered to all the ones that I was sure couldn’t happen.

“Do you think I’m pretty?”

I’ll admit it any day, that she was pretty. But I couldn’t stop there. She was beautiful, gorgeous, even. But would I tell her that directly? Not a chance. “Y-yeah,” I couldn’t go any further. My social withdrawal seemed to get the better. “Why?”

She struck a smile. “Just curious,” It may have been the suddenness of the question, or the look she had in her eyes, but she wasn’t “just curious.” But I couldn’t pursue the subject. I was like any other socially awkward guy on the planet; pretty girls make me uncomfortable. We sat in silence for the rest of the ride, until I got off. But even then, it was nothing more than a “goodbye.”

After only a half-hour of sitting at home alone, I took out my phone, deciding to see if I could get something out of Twilight. She had been in the back of my mind all day. It didn’t seem that she was the type of person to seclude herself like this.

“Hey, what’s up?” It was simple, but it didn’t need to be fancy.

It took a bit longer than I had wanted, but after about ten or so minutes of waiting, I finally got a response. “Reading. But it can wait.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to bother you.”

“Yes, I wanted to talk to you, anyways.”

A bit less of a shock than I thought, but, I suppose, I saw something like this coming. She wouldn’t have given me permission to text her had she not wanted to speak with me. “What is it?”

I could have handled anything in place of the response she gave me. She could have told me that she was a runaway, or some kind of a lost cause. But what she said was something that I could never deal with. I was once in that position. I knew people who were in that position. But I will never be prepared for those words, not in my life. They’ve left too many scars on the world.

“I think I’m being bullied.”

Comments

[Trevor12300]

du du du duuuuuu SKY TO THE RESCUE

[Moongaze14]

Nice chapter. I hope the next one comes soon so that Henry gets what's coming to him.

[Old Diggy]

Liking the story so far. As for the bullies:
reactiongifs.us/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/burn_them_all_got.gif

[Kind_Of_A_Rarity]

5487689
Goodness... But believe me, I'm right there with you! XD

[2fab4u]

Poor Twilight.

[Lupus]

But there was another option. Pinkie would never have to know, and I was determined that she never would.

And this, boys and girls, is a classic example of a very bad idea that will certainly come back to bite him in the ass