I was late on my first day of school when I first moved to Manehattan, which led to an embarrassing introduction in front of the entire class.
"Class, this is, what's your name?"
He stares at me, but my mind is somewhere else, I snap back but keep my head down, looking at him, from behind my mane.
"Uh, I'm Inkwell."
He moves in closer, he didn't hear me the first time.
"I-Inkwell."
He still doesn't hear me.
"Inkwell!"
He reels back, truly shocked.
"Not so loud, uh, Inkwell, was it?"
He's got a smug smile on his face, I just keep my head down and try to find the most isolated desk. When I finally find a seat I flick my mane out of my eyes, the dark shadows obscuring my vision become recognizable as long, brown hairs. I slide my saddle bag under my desk after taking my quill out.
The teacher notices me sitting alone.
"Is that any way to treat our new guest. Someone sit next to him."
Oh no, don't be like that, please don't make me socialize. I speak up.
"It's fine, really."
"Nonsense, we're all friends here."
He points to a powder blue unicorn who looks acitvely disinterestested. He's sitting in a large group at the back of the class, most of the ponies next to him still wore their saddlebags. They were whispering, I found myself worried that I was the subject of their conversation, then one of them look at me and the entire group erupts in muffled giggles.
"You, Touchdown, make our new friend feel welcome."
The unicorn gives the teacher a look of sheer disgust, before letting out a loud groan and yanking his saddlebag from the ground. He knocked through anything in his path, chairs, ponies, saddlebags it didn't matter. He violently threw the bag down by me. He throws himself into his chair and the chair sways to one side before landing back down, all four chair legs digging into the carpet.
I subtley kick my saddle bag to one side and moved my chair with it, scooching further down the desk, until I bumped into the wall. Tochdown gave me an angry look and I returned an awkward smile. I let out a small cough and Touchdown spun around, and leaned forward, he was inches away from my face. I felt my heart beat faster.
"Uhhh, hi."
I tried to smile but my lips just quivered.
"What?"
He kept staring. He was completely silent, until I tried to look away. I slowly turned my head to the desk, where I saw his hoof flying at me. I winced, putting myself back, face to face with him.
"Haha, two for flinching!"
Twice, he pounded his solid hoof into my arm. I gritted my teeth, a futile attempt to deal with the pain. I took a deep breath and stared into his eyes.
"What the hay was that for?"
"You flinched."
Odd, he smiled when saying that, his demeanor completely changed after hitting me, is he a sadist? No, he's just a jerk, keep it straight, Inkwell. I get angry and lose my composure, bucking him in the leg.
"OWWWWW!"
My sweet revenge was drawn short, he drew attention to us. Dozens of eyes snapped to in our direction. I froze, I tried to speak but only air escaped, no words. The teacher turned around, hand still writing on the chalk board.
"What's the meaning of this?"
"Mr Rollcall, he kicked me for no reason, this kid better watch his back or I'll kick his flank!."
"Enough Touchdown. I'll have no more of this. Touchdown, move."
And with that, Touchdown used his magic to pick up his bag, hitting my leg with it as he pulled it from under the table. As he left I got myself back into a vaguely comfortable position, leaning against the wall but looking to my left, the direction of the front of the class.
I heard the group behind me snigger, and then I saw something bounce off of my desk. An eraser.
"Mr Rollcall, could I have an eraser please?"
I heard the colts talking behind me.
"What happened to the one I gave you earlier?"
"I lost it, sir."
"Alright then, here."
He tossed the colt an eraser, why did he do that? The first one made a loud enough bang, you'd think he would've heard it. They miss the second one too, I hear the bang but I don't see where it lands.
I hear hooves on carpet, I shift my seat see what's happening, somepony sits down next to me, he's an earth pony, like me, but I don't think I've seen him before, not in the crowd behind me, or any of the other seats in front of me. He holds a hoof out and I hesitantly shake it.
"Uh, hi."
"Hey, I heard you're new, wanted to come meet ya, the name's Bong Hit, but my dad calls me lost cause!"
He laughs at his own joke, and so do I, trying to be friendly.
"So, where are ya from?"
I pull my hoof back and let it hang by my side as I timidly reply.
"Uh, Canterlot."
"Wow, sounds nice, what brings you to this buck hole?"
I chuckle and, somewhat jokingly reply.
"Life."
He erupts in laughter and puts his head down on the desk, slowing down consistent giggle.
"Are you okay, man?"
I tap his back.
"Yea, haha, I feel ya man, haha, I really do, haha."
He manages to spit out a short sentence between giggles, before slowing down, yet again, into a mere chuckle.
"Oh, geez, sorry 'bout that man."
He took a large breath before regaining his composure.
"That's why you don't take a hit of poison joke before coming to class, haha."
Wait, did he just admit to taking drugs before coming to class, is he trying to impress the new kid or is he just plain stupid, he barley knows me, I could be a snitch for all he knows.
"You wanna hit?"
He pulls out a hoof rolled cigerate, most likely filled with the aforementioned poison joke, an hallucinogen of the highest caliber.
"You're not gonna light up in class are you?"
"Teach won't do nothing anyway."
"Dude, put it away, you'll just draw attention to us."
"Yea, you're right, those cloppers'll probably try and take a hit, anyway."
He put the poison joke back in his saddle bag. It's good to know that I could change his mind so easily, but then I begin to think, he had no intention of actually using that thing, I doubt he even had a lighter or any prievious knowledge of the stuff, I doubt it was even real. He thought the mere possession of drugs would impress me, he's wrong.
The bell rings, this entire lesson has been a waste of time, I throw on my saddlebags as I check to see where I'm supposed to be now.
"Geography, room 6B."
"Hey, I'm in there, too."
My new companion utters during an interval between suckling at a scrunched up, nearly empty, plastic bottle of water.
"Y'know, that class is just as bad as this one, hell, maybe even worse."
Just as I feared, I let out a sigh.
"What can we do about it?"
"Wanna skip?"
I looked down at Bong Hit, excitement filled his eyes, he'd clearly never done this before, despite his boasts of numerous occasions when he simply "didn't care enough" to go to class. I pondered his question. Would it really be worth skipping out on class? Ahhhh hell, worst case scenario, I get a slap on the wrist for being a lost little colt who didn't know where he was supposed to be, I was a good liar I could get away with it.
"Sure, why not?"
I smirked at Bong Hit, before we exited the classroom, side by side, with a swagger to our trot.
Author's Note
This story is based on a series of essays I wrote in school when I was feeling particularly depressed. The essays detailed instances of bullying, misbehaviour, and my feeling towards those instances.