Playing Their Game

You slap the big button on the side of your clock. Thursday, finally it’s here. The last few days have been a pain on your ass, mainly because a Rottweiler bit you there at Tuesday. You have to partially stand just to ‘sit’ on the toilet since you were constantly tired from raising your ass cheek. At least the sleeping pills keep you through the pain. ”Anon, you’re going to miss breakfast!” Not again….

”Hey son.” Your dad says when entering the kitchen, trying to brighten up your morning. “That bite is still bothering you?”

“Every now and then. At least a couple of more days until I can sit right.”

”Something tells me that the animals don’t appreciate your help.” Your mother mocks at the topic.

“It will take a few scratches and a bite to prove that.”

”Yesterday a bird ruined your shirt. Remember that it was your favorite one?”

“It was my favorite shirt.” You brush it off by eating your eggs with bacon.

”I must say, you have been different for the last few weeks.” Your mom continues.

“What can I say? I guess I’m growing up.”

”Maybe.” She finishes scrubbing the pan and sets it on the drying rack. “I’ll be going, and so should you, Anon.” She grabs her purse and leaves the room.

”You’re doing good, son. When you get back home, that Playbox 32 will be like it was never touched.”

“Thanks, dad.”

He gives you a light smack on the shoulder before getting up. “You’ve earned it.” And like that, he leaves the room.

“I’ve earned nothing.”

Throughout the drive to school, you’ve been thinking on what’s been going on. Twilight tutoring you was fine, but there isn’t something right. Word around the shelter is that the school has been talking on some shit about Fluttershy’s friends. These last few days have been weird, specially when they point fingers to you. Once you finally come back, you’ll get whatever’s going on, especially with what they have. As you pull into the parking lot, you see a familiar rainbow haired chick making the same mistake; standing in your parking spot. You plan on running her over when you start revving the engine. To your surprise, she backs away and stand on the sidewalk. As you’re parking your car, she keeps giving you the stink eye with her arms crossed. “Good morning to you, too.” You start when exiting your car. “Missed me?”

”Not as much as you missed that punch to the head.”

“Good to see that we’re on the same page. Missed that beating that you and your friends had last week?”

”Wait until when it comes back around to bite you.” She walks like a stiff when approaching you. “We still have a score to settle.”

“I wouldn’t bet on it.”

She removes her jacket, then her shirt just to show you the bland bra she has. Oh, and the back brace she’s wearing. ”Are you happy with what you did!?”

“Kind of, you still have a decent rack.” She grunts while throwing her shirt to the ground “Thank God I didn’t ruined those beauties. That would’ve been a true crime right there.”

”I have to wear this stupid thing and a few shots just to keep my spine aligned. Now I cant even run for over a month, Anon. A MONTH!” People start to crowd around and take pictures.

“You know, you should at least do something about that bra. At least make it match with that accessory hanging around your waist.”

She tries to kick your front bumper. “Maybe you should do something about that scratch.” Rainbow Dash takes her clothes and tries to put them on ash she’s walking away. “Hey, you - help me out.” She points out to a Sophomore when leaving the area. You go around to see the ‘dent’ on your car. Nothing much since it’s covered by the patchy paint all around it. You strap on your bag and head inside the school.

The first class of the day went surprisingly well. The teacher was impressed with your sudden improvement by taking a glance at your homework. ”You didn't just take this by a classmate, did you?”

“No, ma’am.”

”And you didn’t copy this from anyone else?”

“No.” You say, irritated by her doubt.

”Well I guess this changes everything. Class - tomorrow’s test will now be postponed to today!”

”But we didn't get to review!” A classmate barks out.

”I’m sure that those who studied the material and payed attention to the worksheets for the last week will breeze right through it.” You don’t even have to turn around to notice that the majority of the class is staring at you right at this moment. Even so, you turn back around just to sit at your desk. On your way, Bulk snaps his lead pencil just by clenching his fist. ”Grab out your pencil and clean out your desk. Those who finish early can quietly do anything else.”

You’re done. Twenty minutes in and you have completed the test. Physics doesn't seem so hard now, not when you have a good tutor as your ace. You bring up your test and start to head back, until your teacher stops you by calling out your name. ”Anon, come here.” You do so and wait as she scans your paper. ”Let me see your arms.” You sigh when rotating them. ”Just checking.” She flicks her wrist, signaling you to go back to your seat. As you’re walking past a few students, some of them glance at you before going back to ‘working’ on their test. ”Eyes on your own paper, class.”

You sit back in your chair and try to keep the partially cracked smile hidden by leaning into your hand. As soon that it appears it vanishes when something hits you in the back of the head. It hangs around at the collar of your shirt, picking at your neck. You move your hand around it, pulling out a part of the broken lead pencil from Bulk. In a thoughtless motion, you turn around to look at him. He just scribbles something with the other half of his pencil. ”Eyes forward, Mr. Mous.” You spin around and sit there. The teacher goes back to reading some sort of novel. Not even a minute has passed by and something hits you, but it falls to the ground. It’s the remaining part of the lead pencil from Bulk. You shift back around to watch him point at his bicep. Whether he is trying to threaten you, showing off, or challenges you to who can lift the most is beyond your imagination.

”Mr. Mous!” You spin around, eyeing her dissatisfaction. “One more and I will automatically fail you.” You would yell out on how much bullshit that is if it wasn't an empty threat. After a few seconds of an unusual stare down, she goes back to reading her book. In the background, you can hear something being crumpled up, followed by some crackling from the floor right below you. As you reach down to pull out your folder, you snatch the paper ball from the ground. You unravel the smushed piece of paper and make out the scrunched up letters.

“Remember our deal” is written in the wrinkled lines. You already know who this one is from, and you sure as hell will deliver before this day is done. This classroom is starting to become a more unnerving environment with each passing moment, making you wish for a miracle to happen.

”Mr. Mous, please come to the vice principal’s office immediately.” You’ve never been so satisfied to hear Luna’s voice calling you out of class until now. ”You heard the announcement, Anon - bad idea to keep her waiting.” With no time to waste, you quickly put your things together and head for the door. Right as you are closing it, you see a smug Norman sitting in the back when looking through the slit opening of the classroom.

You walk down the empty hallway and stand in front of vice principal Luna's office. You wonder on why she excused you out of class, you truly do. You've only been in school for the bare minimum of two hours and the worst of it all is that you got Rainbow Dash to take off her shirt - and that wasn't intentional. She'll probably turn that around and make you as a perpetrator or something. You may as well get this over with. When you open the door and blindlessly enter her office, someone you'd least expect is there. "Twilight?"

She turns around and gives you an innocent waive with a smile. "Hey, Anon."

"Why is she here?"

Luna seems more than annoyed from the usual. "I swear Mr. Mous, you make this too much of a challenge."

"Thank you?" You weren't sure on what she meant, but you still take it as a compliment. At least, in your usual view of it.

"I give you the one person that I can only dream that you wouldn't get into a fight with, but even then, you manage to defy it." You take a seat in the chair that's beside Twilight Sparkle.

"What did I do? Okay, Rainbow Dash can't fight for a few weeks, so what? I didn't want her to take off her clothes!"

"Oh, Rainbow...." Twilight mumbles in the background.

"Erm, that's not the reason on why you're here."

"Then why am I here?"

"The reason on why I brought it up is because after the deserving 'break' that you needed, you just couldn't keep your temper in control." You shuffle in your seat, confused on why she brings that up. "After a few days, you got into a scuffle with Twilight here and she still bothers on coming over to deliver your homework."

"WHAT!?" You stand up, almost pushing the chair over when doing so.

"Settle down, Mr. Mous. Don't make me call the police."

"I didn't do that! What makes you think--"

"What keeps on going around campus is that you assaulted Twilight, but failed."

"Anon, it's not what you think." Twilight stands up. "I didn't intend for this to happen!"

"What's going to happen is that I will get more than a suspension!"

"Just to be clear, it would be a school transfer at best."

"What's the worst in this scenario?"

"I'm not entirely sure. That depends on the police and if they're in a good mood. But," She shuffles some papers around. "I'm starting to wonder about your fight with the girls the other day."

"We all know on what went down that day."

"Yes, but I just know that the police wouldn't mind a skewed truth, only to keep you locked away for some time." Your heart races from the unbelievable spot that you're in. You sit back down and rub your hand around your forehead.

"Vice principal Luna, Anon doesn't deserve this!" She raises her stance as she gets out of her chair.

"Now I know you don't want to see him go, but this is for the best on everyone's part. Possibly not for Anon, but at least he'll use his brutality somewhere else."

"No, I truly mean that he doesn't need this." She rephrases.

"Why are you going so far on to defend Anon? He attacked you while he was serving his suspension."

"It's because he DIDN'T attack me."

"But, the scratches on your arms--"

"Wasn't from him. It was from a bad fall when I left his house the other day."

"What?" Luna asks.

"I started the rumor, but it's not true about him attacking me."

You and vice principal Luna look at her. "What?" You re-quote Luna's word.

"Yes, I started it so that I could look more intimidating than Fluttershy." She lowes her head when sitting back down.

"Well don't. It's not working and almost costed what little I had to this school." Your searing anger replaces your worried demeanor, but is somewhat reduced when you notice on how bad she looks about the situation.

"I'm sorry, I really am." Twilight depressingly says for forgiveness.

"Just don't pull that again. So Luna, where does that put me in?" The vice principal looks at Twilight for a couple of more seconds before jumping in shock.

"Oh. Seeing that you didn't cause any harm and Twilight did issue an apology, I guess we can sweep this one under the rug?"

"Sounds good to me."

"But what about the rumor?" Twilight asks.

"Ah, that. I would say that the two of you should go out and tell the truth, but that hasn't worked well in the past. I'll leave you two to talk about it. For now, just head back to class." Just as you're getting up, the bell rings.

"Or head to your next class. Enjoy your day."

As you stand in front of the door, Twilight stands right beside you. "Don't you want to wait a while before going outside?"

"At this point, I don't care on what people think about it. I'll let their suspicion roll around and expect the worst from it."

"Are you sure you don't want to keep being the one who stood from me and outlasted her friends? The damage has been done, who knows what crazy shit they will spiral out of this, especially Sunset, Rarity, and all the others."