bittersweet equestria

Jake was awakened by a sudden thud; the bus had hit a pothole while driving down Main Street. Jake rubbed his eyes and had figured he was about half way to the school. If he were to go back to sleep it would have been a waste of time considering the fact that if he went back to sleep he would be too tired to continue on with the day.

He took his hand and wiped the cold fog off the bus window and looked outside at Main Street of his hometown. Stanton was a dying town, not many people lived here after the Frigidaire factory shut down. He continued to look outside at the foreclosed housed and businesses. On a corner was the restaurant where he celebrated his 6th birthday party, now in shambles with its windows boarded up. He remembered the day vividly, the good old days where there was no trouble or worry. Back before dad passed away and before mom lost her job.

Jake remembered going to the mom and pop restaurant. He remembered the smell of cooking food. Everyone there seemed so friendly. Jake and his mom had sat down in the nearest booth. Jake, as a little kid was kind of sad about the fact that he did not get a full-blown party with balloons and a cake but he tried to remain polite about it. But just as that thought had entered his mind it had exited just as fast when he noticed a person walk over to the table. No, not just any person. This was Jake’s father who had been put on leave from his 2nd tour in Iraq. Jake was overcome with joy as he ran up to his father and gave him a hug! His father was still wearing his military uniform. And also out of the corner of his eye came the rest of his family. His aunts and uncles and even his grandmother, he even saw cake and balloons and a bunch of presents. It was truly the best day ever!

Jakes train of thought was broken when the bus brakes went off and pulled up to the school. He heard a group of middle school kids whispering about him most likely, considering he was the only senior to ride the bus before the other kids were to be dropped of at the middle and elementary schools. He had wished that the days were still as good as that of his early childhood. He grabbed his heavy backpack, threw it over his shoulder, and began to advance down the isle of the bus. He finally stepped outside and saw a bunch of his classmates standing around outside by the door, the only door that he was allowed to go into. Jake had remembered the fact that he was wearing a brony shirt today and that he was going to receive some bad flak for wearing it. As he paced nearer to the school he saw a high school jock standing by the door talking to his girlfriend. Jake tried to make nothing of it but before he could walk past the jock exclaimed “nice shirt pony faggot!” and threw a coke can at his head and it make his girlfriend chuckle.

Jake was not a small kid he was actually pretty tall and strong. He wanted to walk up to this brute and beat the living shit out of him. Not just for insulting one of the only things that brought him joy, but because of the fact that this kind of shit happened to him every single day. Kids would make fun of him for whatever reason they could. But Jake would not stand up for himself today, he did not want to get into trouble and get kicked out of school. He just kept walking and opened the door into the school. He saw even more students talking and mingling among the commons before class started, many of them pointing at him and laughing and mumbling unkind things to him under their breath.

Jake did not have any friends to talk to at school, so the first 15 minutes of school before class was like a form of torture for him, no one to talk to and if he did go out and talk to people he would be shot down and made fun of for no reason. He sighed and thought to himself “well there is no way I am going to stand around here and be made fun of some more” thought Jake “ I guess I will go down to the library and work on some class work of mine. Jake continued to linger down the hallway towards the library, with an occasional elbow or remark by a couple students here and there.

He had finally reached the library and he sat his things down near a table and sat down in the wooden chair. Jake reached down and unzipped his backpack. And pulled out his geometry book. He really didn’t plan on getting any work done at all; he just kind of stared down at his book and continued to daydream. He missed how things used to be when he was little; he continued to think about his father. When a crushing memory came upon him.