Building a House of Cards, Not That Easy
Three hours of sleep. That was all Gary got last night. And because of this, he was caught sleeping in Miss Cherilee's class. This, of course, got him some good, old fashioned detention. He decided to spend it in the library. He liked reading, and he felt it was a good place to finish his homework.
He was right, unfortunately. The Algebra II worksheet he was assigned was finished fifteen minutes ago. Now he was bored with nothing to do for the next hour. He occasionally twiddled his thumbs. He could not listen to music because he left his iPod at home. Doodling was out of the question as he ran out of paper when doing his homework. Damn math making me show my goddamn work. Gary sighed as he leaned back in his chair and stuffed his hands in his pockets.
That was when he felt it. I small box containing fifty two fun, time consuming rectangular pieces of paper. He had the deck of cards for when his friends wanted play cards when they were bored. This happened a lot. He sat there and thought on what he was going to do with the cards. I could play solitaire. He threw that Idea out of a forty story window. That game was stupid and not worth occupying his time. I could build a house of cards. He thought, jokingly. Then he actually thought about it.
He took the cards out of their container and placed the deck on the side. After several failures - and a few choice words - Gary got a groove and finished the row of paper tents that formed the base. He then began forming the second row. He failed to notice the ex-bully with a tower of books obscuring her vision approaching the table.
She bumped the table and dropped the pillar of literary masterpieces on Gary's hard work. Gary let out a startled gasp followed by a silent "shit."
"Oh no, I'm so sorry, I should have been watching where I was going, are you okay?" She began picking up the books after Gary nodded while he collected the fallen cards.
"I'm fine, don't worry about it." He began to help Sunset Shimmer pick up the books. Most of the students still shunned her for the Fall Formal incident, Where she turned into a scary she demon and proceeded to attempt to brainwash the entire school. At least until a group of six girls grew magical horse parts, and stopped her. That was a weird day. Gary didn't really care enough to be angry at her. He even tutors her in the science class they have together.
"If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing here so late. School ended forty five minutes ago?" Gary put the cards in the box and looked up at Sunset.
"I got detention for sleeping in class." Gary stated. I think I'm going to finish my 'sentence' in the lunchroom. "I'm going to go finish detention somewhere else." He left before Sunset could respond. Gary didn't like talking to anyone outside of his friends and his teachers. He made his way down the cafeteria. Gary's favorite subject was lunch, so he sat in his usual seat at his usual table. In the corner. It was where he and his friends would talk, eat, and play cards. He began construction.
You know when you are so focused on doing something that you forget that the outside world exists. The only things in the world are you and the object of your attention. No sound, No smells, No nothing. Just Gary and his cards. Just the cards and their Gary. He made considerable amounts of progress. The house was three quarters of the way done when he heard a quiet gasp. What was that? He shrugged and reached for the next card.
"SURPRISE!" Gary screamed as the cards exploded into pink curls. He fell back in his chair. Gary recovered from the pain one seems to get when one's head slams into hard, recently cleaned linoleum tiled floors. Cards floated onto the floor. He looked up to see who obliterated his house. It was Pinkie Pie.
"Did I get you, Gary?" Pinkie was one Gary felt he could truly call a friend. She was there to cheer him up when he was sad, and to keep him from getting bored in the classes he had with her. Too bad I don't have English 11 with her, then maybe I could have avoided detention.
"Yes, Pinkie, you got me." Gary stood up and dusted himself off. He then looked around at the carnage that was his house of cards. He let out a disappointed sigh and began picking them up. Pinkie seemed to deflate at the sound she heard Gary make.
"I'm sorry." She said quietly. Tears appeared to be forming in her eyes. The sight tugged at Gary's heart. Pinkie is a good friend, and even if she caused his frustration, It was in good fun. Plus, Gary had a crush on her, so that helped in forgiving her.
"It's alright Pinkie, no harm done. I would have probably knocked it over by accident later anyway." Gary tried to reassure her. He didn't appear to get anywhere with this. How does one cheer up the resident party girl? He thought as he picked up the last card. He looked up at the clock, 4:00. Thirty minutes until detention is over. "Wanna play some goldfish?" Her hair was now at full 'poof' as she nodded.
They played and talked for the next thirty minutes before Gary said goodbye to the pink haired girl. He made his way to the courtyard. It had concrete tables for when a student or teacher wanted to eat out here. The soccer field was nearby as well. Several students were on it either practicing or talking. Gary sat down at a table and faced away from the field.
As he began work on the house of cards, he began thinking about the field behind him. He didn't like sports. They required to much physical activity and devotion that Gary just felt he could not give. He was on a soccer team for a year. When he was six. He also tried out for baseball a few years ago at the insistence of his father, but he didn't make the team. This further cemented his beliefs. Sports aren't for Gary.
He reached for two more cards. The house was almost done. He held his breath, and reached out to the building. A strange tickling sensation hit Gary in the back of the head. My Gary senses are tingling. He tilted his head to the right.
"LOOK OUT!" A soccer ball flew by Gary's head and sent cards flying in every direction. Gary's arms stayed where they were. They, along with his left eye, started twitching. The cards he was holding fell to the table. A rainbow haired girl ran up to him. He recognized her as Rainbow Dash.
"Whoa, dude, that was awesome! You got some sweet reflexes." She stated as she got closer to Gary. He slowly turned towards her. His arms fell slowly to his sides. His left eye twitched again. "Um.. dude, are you okay?" Rainbow inquired. There was a long moment of silence. Rainbow Dash awkwardly scratched the back of her head. Gary slowly turned back towards the table and placed his hands calmly on the edge. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
"FUCK!" Rainbow flinched as the concrete table Gary was sitting at was now upside down. Any cards still on the table were scattered. He began angrily picking up the cards. "Three hours of fucking sleep! All because of the neighbor's FUCKING dog! I just had to pass out in Cherilee's class and got detention, but fuck me for forgetting my iPod at home, right? I found something to occupy my time before I went home! Then, it turns out I really wanted to finish this FUCKING HOUSE OF CARDS, but NO, that would make my day somewhat good! Nope! I'm done! Later! I'm going home, and I'm taking a nap!"
Rainbow Dash just watched as he shove the deck of cards in his pocket and stomped away. to say she was was shocked would be an understatement. Gary was usually quiet, at least in the classes she had with him. "Jeez, that was uncalled for." She began walking back to the field after retrieving her ball. The other people on the field stared at the upside down, concrete table with mouths agape.
