Painting our Life - 6 Colors

   The lunch bell rings and I'm the first one out of the room. Ms. Piare is in a good mood today and decided not to hand out homework. Which is why I got out quick because knowing the intelligence of the kids at this school, one of them will do something idiotic and we'll all get double the homework than usual instead a night of no science homework.

   I grab my lunch and rush off to the cafeteria. As usual, Dash is already sitting with her friends. I sit down beside her. Right on cue, Jordan walks in through the doors and spots me immediately. He smirks at Dash. She frowns.

   Jordan pulls up a seat beside me and laughs. "You should've seen your girlfriend in gym this morning! She completely zoned out and was knocked over by a basketball." I grin. That IS pretty funny. It sounds too stupid in a sport to be something to be done by Dash. But her face turns red and that's all I need to verify Jordan's information. I burst into laughter.

   Dash slugs me on the shoulder. It doesn't hurt as the usual ones but I guess I'm used to it by now.

   "C'mon Shay, how often do you fail in something that falls under the sports catergory?"

   "Whatever." She returns to her lunch. That reminds me that I have a lunch to eat too. I stare at the sacked lunch. Probably another peanut butter sandwich. I push my lunch aside. Not hungry.

   I look around the room. What would I be doing right now if I wasn't stuck this way? Where would I be? In my office bossing around employees most likely. I feel bad for skipping out on work everyday. It's been nearly a month and a half since I stepped a foot near the restaurant. Maybe I should call in just to let them know I'm alright. No. That would be a bad idea. Until Twilight comes, I guess I'll have to stick with working at Target and getting paid minimum wage.

   I notice a few kids at the jocks table stare at me. I don't even know why they're considered the jocks. Who decides who falls under what catergory? If I wasn't this close with Dash, I'd probably be sitting alone in a corner. I guess school just flows this way.

   Someone sitting at another table stands up and walks to the trash can, throwing out his garbage. I don't know what catergory that table falls under but I see them hanging around together a lot. One of the boys sitting at the table has shaggy hair. He's wearing a Batman shirt. The boy that had gone to throw away his garbage is now sitting down and chatting with his friends again. On his pitch black shirt, he has a few what seems like Japanese symbols. Sitting beside him is a boy with headphones on. He's wearing a black leather jacket. Nothing about him seems significant to me... except his large nose.

   I look back to the first boy wearing the Batman shirt. His friend beside him is Asian. Something about him catches my attention. His shirt. On the back is the word Brony. I've heard about bronies before. Older males viewing My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

   None of those boys are in any of my classes. Then again, it wouldn't be normal if they are. They look like twelth graders. This is most likely their last year here, unless one of them plan on retaking next year. It's possible.

   Dash taps me on the shoulder. "Where are you staring at? That table of chicks over there?"

   "No. I'm looking at some nerds."

   "Why?"

   "No apparent reason. Yo check out that guy's shirt." I point at the Asian. She takes one look at his shirt and chuckles.

   "That's pretty funny. Yet kind of creepy that somehow this world could monitor our activity." I know it's weird, and it still keeps me wondering sometimes. I don't know if Hasbro created My Little Pony and their world came to be or if they already existed before and Hasbro somehow got footage of them. Either way sounds highly unlikely but it has to be one of them. Or maybe the two don't have any relation at all and Hasbro just got lucky. No. That can't be it.

   The bell rings and lunch ends. Dash makes a shot at garbage with her crinkled up paper lunchbag. Of course, she gets it in with one shot. I walk over and toss my lunchbag in. I wish my aim is as good as her's.

   I grab my binder and follow Dash to her locker. "We have history next, right?" She asks.

   "Yeah, and guess who's in our class." I'm talking about Jakob of course. She groans.

   "I was with that loser during Phys Ed. How many times more do I have to see him each day?" She pauses before continuing again. "This morning, he asked me out." It takes a moment for me to process it.

   "Pardon?" I need to hear it again, to be sure I heard what I just heard.

   "Jakob asked me out this morning."

   A fire inside me burns. It feels weird and I don't know what it is. No. I know exactly why it's burning. Feelings. Feelings I have for Dash. I inhale a deep breath, and extinguish the fire with an exhale. "What'd you do?"

   "Completely crushed his heart, or at least I hope I did."

   I smile. She truly does represents loyalty.

   We enter a rowdy history class and take seats beside each other near the back of the room. Mr. Ustura sits at his desk at the front, waiting for the class to quiet down. Everyone notices and shuts up.

   "We have entered week two of our research time. I hope you have a good amount of research already done." I groan and pull out my notes. So far... I have half a page of information down. I suppose some people would blame it on my partner's absence but I wouldn't say it's her fault.

   Mr. Ustura walks around the room, handing out one textbook to each pair of partners. He passes a textbook to me, but doesn't leave without noticing my notes. "You two better get working." I nod. Dash moans.

   "I. Hate. History. What is World War Two anyways?" Dash asks.

   Uh oh.

   I don't know much about it either, only the gist of how and who started it. Nothing else, no details on what happened or how it ended. I pass her the notes and grin. "Why don't you add on to our research? I did the first half, now it's your turn." She grumbles, opens the textbook and flips to the page on World War Two.

   "Who's Adolf Hitler?"

   "The guy who started the war." Please don't ask any more questions. Please...

   "Why'd he start it?" Drat. Dash grins and slugs me on the shoulder. "Just kidding, all that information is down in this book." I sigh. She sets the book aside. "This is boring, I read one page and almost fell asleep."

   I bury my face in my arms. Someone taps on my shoulder. I look at Dash, expecting her to have a question. But she's reading an Indiana Jones novel that she had fished from her binder. I look up. Austin Weiss hangs his head over me. He's a brown haired kid with large muscular arms. Knowing that hes one of Jakob's friends, this won't be good.

   "Hey new kid, you slacking off during class?" Austin grunts. I squint at him and stick my tongue out. "Look over there." He points at Jakob, who is on a laptop, doing research. "He's an amazing person, and we all think he deserves the best for the upcoming Snow Dance." Snow Dance? That's not for another... month.

   "So? I'm not going to go to the dance with him," I blurt. Ten seconds later, I realize how stupid I sounded. Austin facepalms.

   "You think you're funny? Or do you think I'm just really stupid?"

   "I'm not funny." Dash bursts into laughter and jabs me in the side with her elbow. I turn to her, "What?" She comes in close and whispers in my ear.

   "If you're not funny, then it has to be the other option." I think for a moment, and laugh.

   "Look buddy, we can make you someone, not just another loser hanging out with that group of girls. We'll accept you into our group of friends," says Austin. I yawn. Popularity doesn't interest me at all.

   "I'm listening," says Dash. I nudge her.

   "What're you saying?!"

   "Well, I don't want to stay a nobody."

   Ugh. Austin pats me on the back. "So? How about we give you popularity, and in exchange, Rainbow Dash there will go on a date with Jakob at the Snow Dance." I open my mouth to decline but Dash interupts me.

   "No." Dash stands up. And slaps Austin. "No means no. I already told him that I wouldn't go out with him. All the popularity in the world isn't worth that."

   "Fine." Austin turns to me. "We aren't going to forget this. It's either Jakob decides to search for a girl of his own, or, he gets this one." He points at Dash. This one. He didn't call her by her name. He didn't call her a her. He called her "this one". I drop my pencil and stand up.

   "Shut up." I speak the words loud and clear.

   "Weiss and Linston!" Mr. Ustura calls, "Sit down in your seats!" Austin grumbles and walks back to his desk beside Jakob. I sit down again beside Dash. She curls her hand into a fist and I bump it with my own fist.

   "Don't worry. I wouldn't leave you for my own needs." Her words warm my heart and I smile.

   "Thank you."

   Loyalty. Yes. That who she is. I wish to stay with her forever. I will stay with her forever. And at this moment while jotting down notes from the history textbook, Jordan's words from two days ago echo through my ears.

"You asking Shay to the Snow Dance?"

-A message from Me-

    Do my eyes deceive me? No. They don't. Wow! It's been 20 chapters already! The other day I was asked by one of my friends "How long do you hope to keep this up? You'll run out of filler ideas eventually!" Of course I will. But I'm not gonna wrap it up just yet. I expect this fiction to run on for probably another, say, 10-15 more filler chapters? Don't cry, the end of one story means the beginning of another. Also, if my highschool scenes do lack quality, it is because I am struggling to

write them. I haven't experienced highschool yet, and won't for another two months. I'm still a kitten compared to some of you tigers out there.

-Inu