”Not that it matters.”
The world turns white around me as I’m vaporized.
My eyes shoot open, darting around as I breathe heavily, only to realize that I’m still in the car, next to my dad as we’re about to roll into the drop off line for car poolers at Canterlot High.
’Your first day here, Cato. Make your family proud’ I thought to myself as the car rolls up and stops at the appropriate spot.
“Okay, Cato. I’ll see you after school. Make sure you go to the front office” says my father as I get out of the car.
I look back at him. “Will do, Father” I reply.
Turning my head back and staring up at the entrance to Canterlot High, my mind takes it all in, noting how completely different the building looks compared to District 2 High, my old school. It honestly felt like I was on a different planet, just that it looked and felt so different. I had honestly been staring at it too long because the sound of another student begging for someone to stop it filled the air. Turning around, I see two shorter and smaller kids ganging up on a blonde haired girl wearing a hat like a cowboy, calling her names and such. I scowled, knowing how much bullying wasn’t even given any form of non-toleration back in District 2 High, where it was practically tolerated by the staff. Back in District 2 High, unless you had something to put yourself in the adults’ good graces, you were as just as vulnerable to being a victim of bullying yourself as the other kids in school. Either way, I was taught in my family that bullying isn’t allowed, so since no one else was helping the poor girl, I decided to step in, sneaking up behind the two without actually trying to be stealthy since they were too busy calling the blonde haired girl names. When they both turned around and found me staring down at them with an angry face, I swear to you the color practically drained from their faces, and they skedaddled like prey fleeing from the predator.
I watched them run away and scoffed. ’Serves them right’ I thought to myself and turned around only to see the girl I saved already walking up the steps into the building.
“I saved her from the bullies and she doesn’t even thank me. Ah, well, must be teenage hormones.”
Stunned as well as disappointed, I made my way up the stairs and into the building. From there, I went to the front office so that I could get my schedule. Then, it was off to my classes, where I had to introduce myself in every single one, which if you’re me, is a bit nerve-wracking due to the fact that you inherit your family’s trait for good looks, yet you also like some peace and quiet to yourself because you’re a musical history and military history nerd.
The reactions of the students to me were mixed for the most part, and then there was the girl I had saved from the bullies this morning, which to my astonishment, was in 5 of my 7 classes, and even shared the same lunch with me. Not that I was considering lucky… no, I was far from it, but it was rather surprising.
At lunch, I sat by myself, eating my food and trying to think about that girl, who at the point in time, I still had not learned the name of. My thoughts of her, however, were interrupted by the touch of a finger tapping me on the shoulder. Glancing to my left, I came face to face with a red and yellow haired girl, sporting a smirking face that almost immediately, showed me the distinct aura of trouble. I couldn’t help but gulp because I knew at that point, that she didn’t come here in good intentions.
“So, you’re the new transfer student Cato Hadley, right?” she asked me, to which I gave her an emotional less nod.
“I have a word of advice for you: stay away from Applejack.”
“Who?”
I didn’t know who she meant by Applejack, but clearly, I made it seem like I was playing dumb and she got a little tense.
“That blonde haired girl you chased my lackeys, Snips and Snails, away from this morning outside school.”
As much as I wanted to go into an admiring her name moment, the way she talked about Applejack made me a little angry.
“Okay, Queen-Bee..” I spat.
“Tell me why in the world I should stay away from a person who was being bullied by your lackeys.”
She gave a devious chuckle, that couldn’t mean anything good.
“She lied to Rainbow Dash that the school bake sale was one day in order to get the softball team to attend, only for her to pull the rug out from under their feet and say that the bake sale was actually on a different day.”
If she expected me to gasp and believe her, all she got was me glaring hard and angry at her in response. Although a small part of me wanted to believe her, much to my chagrin, after what I saw this morning, I couldn’t believe her, since I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I did. Hadley’s didn’t lie or do stuff like that, it had no place in my family.
“What’s to stop me from calling foul and accusing you of having something to do with it?” I asked her, catching her off-guard and attracting the interest of other students in the cafeteria.
“She did it to Rainbow, not me. So, would you rather tank your chances by hanging around a nobody like her or..?” she started, but I cut her off in mid sentence by banging my fist onto the table after crushing the hotdog I was holding with my raw fury. Okay, now I was mad.
“First of all, Applejack isn’t a ‘nobody.’ She’s a somebody, and you’re not going to hurt her or anyone else you’re bullying in this school. Got it?” I said defiantly.
She got up, and cackled as she walked off.
“Remember Cato, you’re going to regret the day you decided to mess with Sunset Shimmer!”
Sunset Shimmer… so that was the bitch’s name. Well Sunset, let’s see how you handle Hadley-Brand Defiance.
Needless to say though, my actions in the cafeteria practically turned me into an outlier amongst the students, which to be fair, I didn’t mind. It was the fact that standing up to the school bully on my first day here put me in this situation that pissed me off. All I knew at this point was, I wasn’t going to stop until Sunset was finished and Applejack didn’t have to be bullied anymore.