Chapters The Girl Behind the Books
"Hyyah!" I grunted as I dove, skidding on the sand, my hands just barely hitting the volleyball, bouncing it into the air. I watched with a smile as one of my other teammates spiked the ball over the net, my smile turning to a grin as the sand exploded around it, and the whistle blew. The game was over, and the Wonderbolts won. Again. Of course they did, with a captain like me. I stood up and dusted myself off, then walked over to the bleachers to find my friend, Applejack. She sat in our usual spot at the front of the crowd, cowboy hat tipped down to shade her eyes, hair tucked into a wild and messy ponytail, just like mine.
"AJ!" I called out, and she turned to face me with her trademark smile.
"Howdy, Rainbow! That sure was a good game." She said to me as she walked up to me, clapping me on the back. I cringed. AJ's version of a 'pat on the back' was more like a 5-star. I even bet that there's a hand-shaped mark.
"Thanks." I said as we began to walk towards the school building, shrugging off the injury AJ had inflicted. Curse my goddam sensitive skin. The sun beat down on us, the grass beginning to turn brown in the tail end of spring. School wasn't out for another three weeks, unfortunately. The large brick building loomed in front of us, which I would gladly compare to a gate to hell. We walked inside along with the rest of the crowd, and made our way to our lockers, which happened to be right next to each other. With a sigh, I grabbed my math textbook and spiral, then loudly slammed the door shut. Applejack had her math book as well, and together we navigated through the winding halls of Canterlot High until we found the library. I flopped down at an empty table and groaned loudly.
"C'mon, Dash, it ain't that bad. Its just one test we gotta study for." She said. Easy for her to say. Its not like she actually expects me to study…right? I opened my math book, but instead of actually studying, voted in favour of looking at everything else.
I watched as Rarity tossed a paper ball into the garbage can, then pretended it wasn't her as said paper ball bounced off the rim and landed on the floor.
I watched Pinkie Pie secretly pull some type of cracker from her pocket and shove it in her mouth the second the librarian turned away, and I watched Fluttershy watch all of this as well, from the table behind Pinkie.
I watched Sunset Shimmer drink from the drinking fountain, and cringed as Trixie whacked both Snips and Snails on the head with her textbook.
Shifting my eyes to the right, I saw the back of someone's head, belonging to a blue-haired guy.
"Applejack."
"Shh."
"Applejaaack,"
"What?"
"Who is that?"
"I dunno." Said Applejack. She shrugged her shoulders, but I hardly noticed. I was fixated on the boy two tables up and to the right of me.
Is he…Is he reading for fun?!
I didn't understand how someone could enjoy reading...maybe I could ask him about the book...or ask if he's new.. maybe ask for his name or his number...honestly I just wanted to hear his voice. But, alas, I was bucking nervous.
I didn't understand how on earth I could be so fascinated with someone I hadn't even met. I couldn't call this a crush, could I?
"I want to meet him..." I mumbled to myself, not intending for anyone to hear. But of course Applejack had to hear. I couldn't say a damn word without someone else picking up on it.
"Well when the bell rings go talk to em', then." She said.
"Applejack," I snapped back. "It's not that simple." If I did that, he was bound to think I was weird or creepy. One does not simply 'go up and talk to them'. It just doesn't work that way, even if they are new.
So I spent the next ten minutes just staring at him, trying to form a good mental picture. I tried to imagine his face, and his voice...how tall he was... if his smile was bright...the way he laughed...I was picturing him waving at me when the goddam bell rang and interrupted my thoughts.
Groups of people gathered and cliques formed, everyone cramming at the door, wanting to leave as quickly as possible.
Only a few stragglers were still in their seats, either finishing reading, packing their bags, or simply waiting out the crowd at the door. Within these stragglers, were me, AJ, the mystery guy, and Rarity.
I watched with discontent as Rarity began to waltz up to the boy. I unconsciously found myself walking forward, interjecting Rarity's path, leaving both AJ and our stuff at the table.
"Rarity! Hey…" I said, wincing as the girl stopped walking and turned only to glare at me.
"What do you want, Rainbow Dash?" She said, making no attempt to hide the venom in her voice. She made an effort to flip her long, royal purple hair as noticeably as possible, which she knew ticked me off. God, how I wanted to grab some scissors and chop that shit off.
"Great to see you too, Rare. Anyway, who's that boy over there?" I asked, gesturing over to him.
"She, is Twilight Sparkle. She just transferred here and is actually very kind. Don't give her any of your usual trouble." Said Rarity before walking off. I could feel the heat rushing into my cheeks, and my eyes grew wide. I stiffly walked back to the table and a smirking Applejack, who handed me my things. As we were walking out, I heard Twilight laughing at something Rarity had said.
'Shit…' I thought. She really was just as cute as I had pictured.
The Girl Behind the Books
I swiftly made my way over to Rarity, who had been standing by the girls bathroom, leaning against the lockers. She looked impatient at the time, as if she was waiting for someone. The second she noticed me she stood up and lowered her eyebrows, crossing her arms and scowling at me.
"Look Rarity, I'm not here to fight." I said as I rolled my eyes and put my hands up in surrender. Rarity hesitantly uncrossed her arms and returned to her position against the locker. "I just want to know...did you tell Twi...Twi...umm..." I couldn't think of the girl's name...of course, I had only heard it once, so it wasn't necessarily my fault.
"Twilight?" Rarity rudely interrupted my train of thought.
"Yeah, right, Twilight...did you…"
"Did I what!?" She snarled, her patience obviously wearing thin.
"...Did you tell her I thought she was a boy?" I scratched the back of my neck nervously.
"Ohh, you mean yesterday? Of course I did, darling." She smirked, making my eye twitch in fury. How dare she! That little…
"What!? Why would do that!? She probably hates me now!" I had been a little too loud. I knew this, but once my volume was turned up, there was no way to turn it back down.
"Why would you care, anyway? She's just the new girl that you've never met." Rarity's words startled me. Why did I care? 'That's a damn good question…' I thought. I've never even met this kid, and I had only known of her existence since the day before. It was extremely foolish for me to want to know so much about him- erm, her, just by seeing her from behind. It's not like I would be right about her personality or anything.
It's not like reading a smaller book meant she was reading for fun, and it definitely didn't prove that she was smart. Her clothes (that looked soft) couldn't prove that she was kind hearted and understanding. Her round shoulders couldn't prove she was weak and fragile.
There was no way to determine Twilight was how I had imagined. Unless, of course, I talked to her...
"I don't care.." I mumbled, and in that moment, I was taken aback by my sudden realization.
"Then why even bother, dear?" Rarity brought her shoulders and arms up in as shrug, hoping to end the conversation, but there was no way in hell I was done with her yet.
"I'm just worried it hurt her feelings, is all." I said quite defensively, as if trying to prove my innocence in court.
"You? Care about feelings?" She scoffed. "You know, she actually found it flattering that you had a crush on her."
A crush? I blushed furiously and opened my mouth to yell at Rarity, but something halted the sound coming out. That something was Twilight walking out of the girls bathroom.
"Hey Rarity! Thanks for waiting." Twilight's voice sounded sensitive, and it only matched the sweet, candy-coated smile she aimed at Rarity.
Damn that smile...
"Why of course, darling." It was while Rarity said this that Twilight noticed me standing dumbstruck a few feet away.
Twilight turned her attention to me, and surprisingly gave me the same smile she gave Rarity, but with a slight giggle. "Oh, hi." She said sweetly.
'I have to use this opportunity.' I thought. I let the words roll from my tongue with no means to stopping them, which had led to more of a ramble than I hoped. "Look, Twilight, I'm really really really sorry about yesterday. I wish Rarity hadn't told you, but since she did, all I can do is say I'm sorry." Twilight looked confused, and Rarity looked pissed.
"Told me what?" she asked, looking between me and Rarity in confusion.
"Nothing dear, let's just get back to the library. Free period is almost over." Rarity looked away as she tried to grab Twilight's arm and pull her along with her.
"You never told him..." I said in disgust as I narrowed my eyes at Rarity.
"I would love to help straighten this out, but for that to happen I'm going to need to know what's happening...?" Twilight suggested. "Rarity, who is she?"
I looked down at my ratty shoes. "I'm no one important to you. Forget about it." then I turned to walk back to the library, where Applejack had been waiting to hear how it went.
I sat down across from her, back facing the door, and told her every word exchanged in the past few minutes.
"Looks like Rarity explained what happened ta' Twilight." Applejack said as she pointed a finger towards the window separating the library from the hallway.
Twilight and Rarity were arguing, and by the looks of it, Twilight was winning. The bell rang a few seconds after, which gave both Twilight and Rarity a reason to stop their bickering.
After the crowd died down, me and AJ walked into the sparse hallway and bumped into none other than Twilight Sparkle. Maybe she had done this on purpose.
"Based off what Rarity told me, you're Rainbow Dash..." Twilight nodded at me, holding her binder to her chest. She nodded at AJ, too, but unknowing of her name I have to tell him.
"Ah, what a pretty name." She said nonchalantly.
"Thank ya' kindly. I like yer'…hair." Applejack awkwardly replies. Being around people like me didn't give her much practice on how to deal with receiving compliments. I noticed then that she ran her long fingers through her pixie-cut hair, her cheeks flushing a light pink.
After a few awkward moments of silence, Twilight said, "Look, Rainbow, Rarity explained what happened..." I simply blushed, not knowing how to react. Boy, was this awkward. "Don't worry, im not offended at all!" She waved her hands and shook her head. "In fact, that happened all the time at my old school...Rarity shouldn't have told you that he told me. I'm sorry." I quickly said it was okay, and then the warning bell rang, and we all parted ways to our separate classes.
This wouldn't be the last time we talked...
I couldn't get Twilight's smile out of my head. God, what was happening to me?
The Girl Behind the Books
It was Saturday morning, nine days after I first saw Twilight.
Me and AJ had been lazing around at Sweet Apple Acres, watching tv in the den and eating some sort of apple flavoured cereal, when Twilight was brought into the conversation by Applejack.
"Have you talked to that girl recently?" Applejack asked, shoving a spoon full of apple flakes in her mouth. I was caught off guard to say the least, since all other times he talked to Twilight, AJ hadn't been with me.
"If you mean Twilight, then yeah, we've said hi while passing in the hallways a few times...why?" I replied rather softly, hoping I chose the right response. I didn't want Applejack rambling on about her all day.
AJ seemed to ignore my question and asked me one instead. "How's yer' guys's relationship goin'?"
At this, I paused, setting my spoon down inside the bowl. I turned to look at her. Why in hell would she ask me that? Bitch. "There is no relationship." I growled forcefully, hoping to end this ASAP. It certainly wasn't going anywhere good. "We aren't even friends. Barely acquaintances. Why are we even talking about her?" I asked, taking hold of my spoon again and obnoxiously slurping some milk.
"Because," Applejack paused to finish the last bite of her breakfast. "Y'all like er', don't you?" She stood up, walked to the kitchen, and then promptly started to wash her dish in the sink. I followed in a swift pursuit, leaving the TV on.
"No way in hell I do!" I lowered my eyebrows and snarled. "I'm not gay, Applejack." She started to dry the dish as I talked, keeping on a calm mask which I had never seen before. Usually Applejack was all over with her emotions, especially anger. I was internally freaking out, but I kept on talking anyway. "I've never liked a girl, and I never will. That's like me saying that out of nowhere you were a lesbian." I crossed his arms over my chest, assuming too soon that I won our dispute.
"Now listen here, Rainbow Dash." she said, turning to face me. "That's true, that ah' ain't never once liked a girl. But if one day ah' did, ah' wouldn't punish myself for it. Neither should you." AJ set her now clean-and-dried dish in the cupboard above the kitchen sink. And then she walked away, leaving me with soapy water and some damn confused thoughts.
