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Prologue: Unpacking Old Friends991 words
Chapter 1: History Lessons2,348 words
Chapter 2: Intense Training2,456 words

Chapter 2: Intense Training

After a shower first thing when I woke up, I stared into my reflection in the bathroom mirror. My parents recently got my quarterly report card and it was not flattering. My dad had been getting pretty draconian about me doing my homework lately.

When I got downstairs, my mom and dad were already starting breakfast. I grabbed some orange juice, poured a bowl of cereal and joined them. “Morning Son.” My dad greeted me as I sat down.

“Hey Dad.” I yawned. “Hi Mom.” They both smiled at me and we sat quietly eating until my dad spoke up.

“Hows your school work?” He asked cautiously. I looked up at him and he followed up, “You get all your work done?”

I shrugged, “Yeah.” I answered unconvincingly, going back to my breakfast.

My dad cocked an eyebrow at me, “You sure?”

Again, I shrugged, without looking up from the table, “Did what I could.” I admitted meekly.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see my dad nod, then my mom spoke up, “You know you’re smarter than you think you are.” She tried to reassure me. I didn't bother to acknowledge her, seeing that I didn't believe it myself. I hadn't gotten good grades since 2nd grade. Even at Crystal Prep I always squeaked by with only barely passing grades.

"Hey." My dad snapped. I looked up at him with a long face. "Shes right." He paused expectantly. When I looked back down at my cereal he continued, "You need to take yourself seriously."

Again, I just sat absently running my spoon through my bowl. "We're trying to help." My mom pleaded.

"Hes not..." I spat under my breath, nodding in my dad's direction.

He responded by standing up and raising his voice, "You watch your mouth Kid." He snapped.

I got to my feet as well, ready to square up, my mom however wouldn't have it. "Enough!" She yelled over us, getting to her feet as well. "Sit down." She demanded, pointing at me. Reluctantly, I obliged. "Whats the matter with you two?" She spat.

After a long empty pause, my dad was about to say something but I decided I'd had enough. "I'm going to school." I sighed under my breath, leaving my chow not even half finished. The bus would still be a while but sitting on the curb out in the cold would be more bearable than my parents lying to me about how great I am.

The school day unfolded slowly and uneventfully, although, during my history class, I couldn’t get my eyes off Twilight. I was fascinated by the way she so diligently paid attention to the lecture, following along in the book and taking meticulous notes. Silently, I wished I could be so smart and studious, but in order to do that, I would first have to stop staring at girls.

Lunchtime eventually rolled around and I waited in line for a light lunch at the cafeteria. When I had my food, I searched for someone to sit with. Sugar Coat found me and invited me to sit with her and I obliged. “So, whats new?” She asked me, as we sat down across from each other. I smiled lightly at her general enthusiasm.

I shrugged and looked down at the table, “I mean, not a lot. You didn’t miss much when I got off the bus.” I looked back up at her and smiled. “Whats up with you?” I asked.

She shrugged back wistfully “Did a LOT of studying last night.” She boasted.

I nodded slowly in acknowledgement “That’s good, keeping up with your work…” I trailed off looking down at the table, my smile seemed much more hollow now.

Sugar Coat caught on to this and leaned in closer to me asking, “Whats wrong?”

Her question snapped me out of some kind of trance and I looked back up at her, “Hm? Nothing.” I answered lethargically.

Sugar Coat cocked an eyebrow and gazed at me disbelievingly, “Are you sure? Because…” I locked my gaze with hers. She sighed and conceded, “Okay.” She turned her gaze down to the table and got to work on her lunch.

I figured hanging around such smart people like Sugar Coat and Twilight, some of it might rub off on me. After a brief uncomfortable silence, I remembered that I was supposed to be studying with Twilight about now. I wolfed down the rest of my lunch and excused myself to make for the library.

There, I found Twilight the same place I had yesterday. “Twilight,” I called to her under my breath, earning me another viscous shush from the zealous librarian, but still got Twilight’s attention. She looked up at me and waved, giving me a timid smile. I set down my bag next to me as I took a seat across from her.

“Did you bring all your books and notes?” She asked in a low whisper, leaning across the table to be sure her voice carried only just far enough to reach me.

I looked away sheepishly and droned, “Uhhhh…” When Twilight rolled her eyes at me, I reached into my bag saying, “I’m just playin Twilight, I’m not THAT stupid.” Again, Twilight rolled her eyes and even added an irritated sigh.

With Twilight Sparkle sitting to my right, she lectured on and on about derivatives and planes. Obviously, as Crystal Prep students, Twilight and I both understood the basics of calculus and trigonometry, but it looked like it would take an academic force more powerful than Twilight’s tutelage for me to understand linear algebra. Not that I wasn’t grateful of course, however, I just couldn’t seem to help but occupy my mind with other concerns.

“Hey!” She snapped, waving her hand in front of my face. When my attention had returned to the room, I glanced at Twilight. “Did you get all that?” She asked.

I began to try to stammer out an answer, “Uh, yeah you just…and then…” I tried to follow the process Twilight was trying to show me. “Um…and here you…hm…” Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes at me. “I’m sorry Twilight, I really am trying.” I pleaded in an effort to convince her she wasn’t wasting her time.

Twilight sighed apathetically, “Okay,” she started as she turned back the pages of her book. “Let’s try again, from the beginning of the chapter.”

Before I could waste any more of Twilight’s time, we were interrupted by a kindly voice, “Hey you two.” I looked up to see it was Dean Cadence. Immediately I suspected I was in trouble for something and about to be summoned to Principle Cinch’s office. Just thinking of that dusty old dungeon made my skin crawl. “Nice to see you two find friends in each other.” She charmed standing behind us looking down on our table. She was building up to it I knew it.

“A relationship of convenience if anything.“ Twilight protested, foolishly engaging the architect of our demise. Demise in this case being delivered to the clammy old hands of Principle Cinch.

Dean Cadence leaned in between us to examine the books on our table. “Oh I see. He’s helping you study isn’t he Twilight?” She winked at her mischievously.

“What? No he-“ Twilight contested, stopping herself mid thought when she realized, “Oh I see. You’re being amusing! I understand because he doesn’t get very good grades, and I do so the idea that he would be helping me is so unlikely!” She exclaimed proudly.

I knew she didn’t really mean anything by it but the sentiment still tasted a little sour. Before I had time to actually get mad at Twilight though, Dean Cadence ruffled my hair, which I never bothered to do up for school anyway. “Don’t be so sure Twilight. I’m sure this ones a lot smarter than you think.” She assured coyly. “Well, lunch is almost over and it looks like you’ve still got a lot left to cover so I’ll leave you to it. Good luck with your studies you two.” She waved before leaving the library to strike fear into the heart of another unsuspecting student…or at least that was my best guess.

We didn’t get much more studying done before the bell rang, sending us back to class. It was a productive afternoon but I had a feeling all the lunch periods in my high school career wouldn’t be enough to get me through just this semester. I decided to put that thought at the back of my mind and coast through the rest of my classes.

Since we have the same class at the end of the day, Sugar Coat and I would always walk out together. Usually there was just a lot of polite conversation the whole bus ride home but happily that day turned out more interesting. “You get all your homework done already?” She deadpanned. I shook my head, looking at the ground. “Oh.” She uttered, casting her own gaze down to the ground.

I picked up on her disappointed and glanced sidelong at her. “Why?”

She shrugged her shoulders and pressed her textbook up against her chest. “I don’t know. I sorta just wanted to go…do something you know?”

I wished she lead on with that, homework or no, I was down to help her with that. “Yeah, you know I’m not trippin on finishing all my homework. We can skip the bus and do something here in the city if you want.”

Sugar Coat’s posture perked up, “Yeah, we could get smoothies and…see what there is to do from there.” She suggested with a hint of excitement.

For once, it seemed like Sugar Coat was excited about something. I gave her a meek smile and agreed. “For sure, anything to put off homework.”

We did exactly as she suggested and the first part of our afternoon was spent exploring the city on our own, smoothies in hand. After that, our first stop was a bookstore where Sugar Coat was really in her element. She showed me the Medical textbook she’d been wanting, Brown’s Anatomy. She told me it was the definitive A to Z of anatomical science. She also tried to sell me on a thriller called Rainbow Seven. Of course I had to stifle my laughter until she told me it was all about espionage. To her credit, she did convince me that I might want to pick up a copy one day.

As the sun started to set over the city, we decided to get something to eat at a diner. From our booth, we recapped our day out until our food arrived at which point the conversation died down. “This was fun.” She stated steadily. “Glad I didn’t lock myself in my room to study for once.” She flashed me a small smile as she dug into her mashed potatoes.

I smiled back at her, “Yeah, wish I could do this kind of thing more.”

She cocked her head at me curiously, “But you’re getting your license next week right?”

“Yeah but I wont have my own car until my dad buys a new one.”

“Well we can still hang out like this once in a while until then.” She offered.

“Just wish we had a chance to change out of our unis first.” I joked, tugging at the neck tie my mom insisted I wear. “I feel like a total nerd walking around town dressed like this.” Sugar crossed her arms and glared at me over the rim of her glasses. My face turned SO RED. It was pretty embarrassing. “My bad, I didn’t mean t-“

“Really, don’t worry about it. That’s just what I get for being smarter than you.” She interrupted, uncrossing her arms and softening her gaze.

I started chuckling, relaxing my posture. “You’re too good.”

She cracked a small mischievous smile. When we were finally ready to go she asked politely, “Walk me home?”

“For sure.” I agreed. When we stepped outside, it was a little darker and much colder than before we sat down for chow and a long way to home. Fortunately Sugar Coat and I lived in the same neighborhood so walking her home wouldn’t really be an inconvenience.

“It’s pretty cold out.” She observed, rubbing her arms. Of course, me being myself, I really didn’t know what she was actually up to.

Obviously, I thought she was just making friendly small talk, so that’s what I played along with. “Yeah, I guess winters coming up huh?”

“Yeah.” She deadpanned. I missed the hint of disappointment in her voice.

The trip home went much the same way, lots of inconsequential small talk. We didn’t really talk about anything deep or meaningful until we got to Sugar Coat’s house. “Well, here’s my place.” She reminded me. Growing up going to the same school, I did know where she lived of course. I awkwardly followed her up to her doorstep. I stood and waited as she searched her purse for her keys. Before she unlocked the door, she wheeled around to face me. “Thanks for walking me home…it got pretty late huh?” She paused, eventually finishing with an awkward “See you.”

“Alright, Deuces.” I replied dismissively, throwing up the appropriate two fingered gesture. I was pretty tired and eager to go home as well.

Just before Sugar Coat opened the door, she turned around again and called out to me. “Hey…” I stopped and turned back to her, only having made it off her porch. She waved for me to come back and so I did, stopping just in front of her. “Thanks for hanging out with me.” She smiled much more noticeably than before.

I couldn’t help but smile back at her and answer “Any time.” We stood awkwardly smiling at each other until Sugar spoke up again.

“I really should go.“ She gestured to her house, “You should too actually. It’s really late.”

“Yeah.” I reluctantly agreed. I didn’t live very far from Sugar Coat but it was really late. If I made a habit of being out so late all the time, my dad would tear me apart. I hoped him and mom weren’t worried about me.

Author's Note:

Took me a while to break through this one but I've finally done it. Hopefully I can finally tell this story now, after getting over that hurdle.