Chapter 1: A Change for the Better
Edited by: Brickbrock24
It was early September and I had just arrived at Canterlot High. The intimidating doors of the school looked down on me as I walked forward. After a few steps I looked back, my mom was sitting in the front seat of our little blue BMW and waved to me. I waved back as she gave me a thumbs up. Inside my mind, I wish she can take me with her. I tried to smile, but it came out more like a grimace. This was the first public school I have ever went to and, boy, was I nervous.
All my life up until now I had been home schooled. Due to complications with my father's job, my parents were no longer able to teach me the school subjects I needed to know. I wasn't used to waking up so early since my parents weren't that strict about when I should "study". I stared down as the ground, the sidewalk cracks made it easy for me to get distracted. I clung to my backpack straps so tightly that my hands began to hurt and my knuckles turned a pasty white color. I never had many friends. Most of them went to public school, so I didn't hang out with them very often. After kindergarten, the few friends that I had stopped talking to me and moved on with their lives. As I approached the school, a thought found its way into my mind. What would they think of me if they found out that I had been home schooled? My stomach turned into an empty pit inside me. Suddenly dreading walking into the school. As if that weren’t bad enough, my heart began to pound at an anxious pace and I could feel beads of sweat forming on my head. Shouts of other children filled the air, all asking each other how summer was.
Time seemed to stop, and I began to have second thoughts about going into the building. But my parents had made it very clear that this was the school I had to go to. Towards the beginning of the summer, my mom started looking into good schools for me to attend. I was never fond of the idea, but I didn't have a say in what I wanted. My dad thought it was be a good opportunity to makes some new friends. I looked down at my watch. Eight o'clock it read. I could not be late to class on my first day, my parents wouldn't have it.
I rushed in through the open doors. The main lobby of the building was packed with kids jumbled together talking loudly to one another. I looked around trying to gain my bearings. My mom had said: "Go to the main office, they will help you." Long hallways detached from the lobby. I cautiously peered down one of the hallways, trying to look over a kid’s shoulder. I quickly began to slip through and move around through the crowd once I had spotted the sign of the main office. I sighed with relief once I managed to escape the sea of people leading up to the office. Earlier that summer, my parents and I talked to the principle and how to get settled in my new surroundings. I took and breath and turned the doorknob and walked forward. A woman sat at a desk that could be seen once walking into the room. The woman was typing on the computer in front of her and hadn't yet noticed me. I walked closer to the desk and placed my hand on it. A name tag stood next to my hand that said 'Mrs. Singer' I stared at the woman and smiled until she noticed my presence. After some time the woman looked up from the computer screen and smiled. "I'm sorry, may I help you?"
"Um yes, hello. My name is Rose Flare. I'm new to Canterlot High."
"Right, I was told a new student was coming today. Come I will show you around the school then bring you to your homeroom." The woman got up from her chair and walked toward the door, she summoned me to follow her out of the office. The lobby was now quiet, all of the students had left to attend their first classes of the school year. "As you can see, this is the lobby of the building, it provides previous photos and trophies of winning the Friendship Games. Maybe you will find a sport that you enjoy." The woman said as we continued walking.
"What is the Friendship Games?" I asked. I knew I definitely had heard of it before, maybe in the newspaper? I waited for the woman's response, but I got none. Maybe she didn't hear me? I decided not to ask again. Neither of us uttered a sound until we came up to a hallway of classrooms and lockers. "This here is the science lab, your teacher will be Mrs. Spectra.” The woman finally said as we passed a classroom with black table tops. Students sat around each table as they listened to a light cream blue teacher with electric blue hair speaking. I looked through the open door of the room and stared at the unfamiliar set up in the class. I hadn't noticed Mrs. Singer was waiting for me to follow until she chuckled. I looked up, smiled, and continued to follow her down the hall to another classroom. "Let me ask, is this first time as a student attending public school? I have heard from your parents that you were home schooled."
"Yes that's true,” I said nervously. I was afraid the other students would hear me, “Until now, anyways."
"That's very interesting, well you hope that you find Canterlot High a great school." Mrs. Singer ended with a smile and then pointing at a closed door of another classroom. "This is the math room, there are two teachers that you might have, Mrs. Starry Stone or Mr. Dusty Drop for algebra and geometry." Desks were set up in pairs, all facing a chalkboard. A tall man stood writing equations on the board as he talked. Some students were writing down notes. Mrs. Singer continued walking again, her shoe heels knocking against the hard floor. After visiting a few more classes, we circled back around to the main office where Mrs. Singer gave me my school schedule. "If you have any questions come by the office," she said.
"Thank you." I smiled as the woman left me in the lobby as she went back into her office to continue her work. I smiled and looked down at the paper Mrs. Singer had handed me. Once I had memorized the first three periods as best I could, the next step was trying to find the where the classes were. I racked my brain, trying to remember the places Mrs. Singer had showed me. I wished that I wrote them done or something.
The bell rang loudly. The sound echoed through the hall. It was sixth period and time for lunch. Hooray! I grabbed my things and stuffed them inside my bag. My stomach grumbled, demanding that I feed it. My mind quickly reminded myself of the first five periods before this. After scouting around to find my homeroom, I ran into a girl with red and yellow hair taking a drink of water.
"Excuse me? Can you please help me find the earth science room?" I asked as I came up to her. She turned once she heard my voice.
"Hello, sure, its the third door on the left when you go down this hall and make a right." The girl said as she pointed in the direction.
"Thank you," I said as waved, I briskly walk in the direction the girl and pointed to and finally made my way to the classroom. Once I had came to the door, I knocked and turned the doorknob. All eyes stared at me as I quietly walked through the door. "Ah, miss Rose Flare, so good of you to join us. Class, this is Rose Flare, she is new student at Canterlot High, I hope you will treat her as such." The teacher said then pointed to a seat towards the back.
"You may sit there."
I nodded and walked briskly toward the back, by now all of the students put their attention back on the teacher. I sat down and got settled in my new surroundings.
"Hey, I'm Twilight. Nice to meet you," a girl to the right of me said, her purple hair was tied up in a pony tail and she wore glasses with a black rim. She put out her hand to shake mine. I smiled and shook it.
"Rose Flare, it's a pleasure."
The sun blared down on my face, as I walked through the quad to the cafeteria. The smell of school food filled the air as I walked through the doors. I cringed at the thought of artificially made food. I mean, who knew what sort of junk they put in there. The thought of it made me gag. I feared that I might see my breakfast again on the floor. Around me tables of groups of kids crowded around each other talking and laughing. I finally found an empty table away from the others and sat down to peacefully eat my packed lunch. Seeing all of the other kids made me nervous. I wasn't used to seeing so many in one place at once before. I wasn't familiar to talking to a lot of people. What would I even say to them? I kept myself isolated, where no one could reject or judge me. After a few bits of my sandwich, I felt a light tap on my shoulder. I quickly turned around to see who was there. There stood the girl, Twilight with a smile on her face.
"Hey, can I sit with you?" she asked, which took me by surprise. I found myself nodding without even thinking about it. She pulled up a seat and sat down, also unpacking her lunch. We sat in silence for a bit, unsure of what to say to each other. "So, where did you come from before you came here?" Twilight began. My heart skipped a beat, how was I going to respond to that? I didn't want Twilight to think of me differently just after I met her. Twilight sat staring at me patiently waiting for an answer.
"Uh, you wouldn't know the town, it's really small." Which was true.
"What was the school you went to there?" Twilight hammered me.
"Um..." I quickly looked around the cafeteria room in search for any ideas. I wasn’t the best at improv. A poster with a castle made of fruit that said "Your fruit is like your palace, so eat them and you will be the ruler of it." My eyes darted back to Twilight. "Uh, Fruitopia High school." It was the stupidest thing I had ever heard myself say. I wondered if I was actually a teenager or if I was six years old.
"Weird, I've never heard of that before."
"Yeah, it's a really small town," I scratched the back of my neck.
Twilight nodded. I wasn't sure if she actually believed me, but I didn't want to take a chance. Still, I couldn’t believe my luck.
"So, how long have you been at this school?" I asked with the hope of changing the topic of the conversation now before it got worse.
"This is my second year. I came here from Crystal Prep. I don't have many friends yet due to what happened last year at the Friendship Games."
"Oh, the Friendship Games, what is that?" Mrs. Singer has brought it up, but didn't explain anymore about it.
"It's where schools, such as Canterlot High and Crystal Prep compete together in multiple sports to win the Friendship games and win the trophy for the school. Winning these games prove much of the school’s reputation and it's a big loss for everyone if you lose."
"Oh, that's cool. Do they have it every year? What happened last year?"
"It's a long story, I probably don't have enough time to tell you," Twilight glanced at the clock behind her. "We better get back to class soon, the period is about to end." I nodded, I knew Twilight was hiding something, just like I had hidden something from her. But I brushed the thought away and tried to keep my disappointment to myself.