We make the uniforms look good!

"Did he kiss you? " Lemon Zest asked before taking a sip of her frozen lemonade. The girls and I had gathered at Sugar Cube Corner, it had been a few hours since that first meeting. Sugarcoat huffed a bit before taking a sip of her milkshake, she had taken the seat beside Lemon, who was next to me, to my other side was Sour, and beside her was sunny Flare. We were waiting for Twilight.

"I can't believe you flashed him your underwear, have some dignity Indigo." She didn't mean to get on my case the way she was, its just how girls can get. I took a few sips of my soda as Mr. Cakes placed a jumbo basket of mozzarella sticks in front of us. Lemon licks her lips hungrily and reaches for one as I do my best to recover from Sugarcoat's words.

"Hey I didn't intend to do it like that! I'm not exactly a pro at the flirting game!" I said with a huff before helping myself to one of the mozzarella sticks. My words made the girls laugh and chuckle as they sat back and chilled.

"Confidence is almost always ranked by guys as the most attractive trait a woman can have Indy. You gotta keep your head up and eyes focused if you wanna impress." Sugarcoat said before returning to her shake. Sour Sweet had a more direct ideology to the flirting game. She sipped her drink of choice, (seltzer with LOTS of lemon wedges)

"You gotta think to yourself I'm sexy and any guy would be lucky to even talk to me.'" She chimed in with her own brand of advice on hooking the boys. Sour was not all that bad at it, but most guys were of put by her tendency to be so sour. Still other girls with similar personalities Aria Blaze, Lighting Dust, and Spitfire all managed to get a special someone, how hard could it be right?

"Frankly I think you could do better than some Devil May Cry wanna be like him. I mean what kinda last name is Exinferis? Why not just have his first name be Damian?" Sugarcoat said with a huff, "and that jacket! Ugh acid washed red?! What a dork! I bet he sleeps with a wafiu pillow!" Her words again made the girls all laugh, mostly playful, but under it all I could hear a hint of malice in their words.

"Hey now come on girls, I'm sure it's just a phase. All guys have them, but only the good ones grow out of them." Sunny added before taking her compact from her purse to apply some chap stick.

"Hey a DmC phase isn't the worst a guy could be going through you know, but let's not play any gender stereotyping cards okay girls? I mean, that opens so many cans of worms you know." Sunny added before dipping her stick in sauce and giggling as she pretended it was tube of lipstick and spread it on her lips. Making Sugarcoat cringe a bit.

"Ugh! Lemon grow up will ya!?" She said as she took her geometry homework from her bag to work on it, "and were's Twilight? Geo is my worst subject and I need her help with it!" She said as she tried to find the area of a triangle with the numbers being letters, yeah even I don't get education sometimes either. I scooted beside her and looked at the problems on the Worksheet Mr. Ruler had given her, it wasn't too advanced for me but I saw why she needed a brainiac like Twilight to help her with it. I placed my hand on the paper and said.

"Here it's so hard once you got the the factors figured out, here's how you find them." I placed my own pencil on the paper and leaned on Sugarcoat's shoulder as I helped her with the problems,no doubt the way I was getting close in leaning up against her got a few giggles from our friends. "I'm just helping her jeez!I need a good look at the problems you know." I said defensively, though I must admit that, catching a whiff or two Sugarcoat's peach scented body spray was, oddly pleasant as we worked on the homework problems.

"You sure you're not just repressing something in saying you like that Dante guy Indy?" Sour chimed with a playful giggle. I won't say her words weren't entirely without merit, but I knew what I wanted, and as much as the idea seemed enticing to try, one step at a time, after all. Whatever happened to a traditional love story? Either it had to amp up the freaky factor by throwing in copious but really lacking things like fetishism and BDSM, or you get things that had to be obligatory homo erotica, not that I have against that, just that once you have those stories everywhere, it loses its shock and awe you may have originally had.

"How about this? If I can see more in him than what lies on the surface, then we invite him to an official Shadow Bolt "Initiation?" I said with an ear to ear grin that had so many implications behind it. Lemon only laughed at the idea, not what I pitched but rather the idea that...

"Your "Boyfriend"...Is nothing more than a one note, "edgy" token not worth a girl like you Indigo, even one of US would be better than that...POSER!" She blurted that last word out so loud it made half the customers outside turn their heads to our table in surprise. Mostly at her having such an outburst. I scoffed and took a pair of skates from my bag, maybe just to spite them or maybe to mess with them. I have Sugarcoat a quick peck on her cheek and a "You're welcome," for the homework help as I took on my skates. As I passed by people on the sidewalks, not caring if I crashed into anyone or anything. My mind racked with questions. 'Were they right? Was I only fooling myself in thinking I actually liked him?'

I kept my eyes on the roads but didn't care where my wheels carried me until I came to the park, it was the late afternoon and the clouds where overcast but not threatening to rain just yet. The sun disappeared behind the cloud coverage as couples, not put off by the weather, strolled along walkways arm in arm, whispering sweet nothings in each others ears. It was then that I saw him. He sat at a wooden stool alone in a gazebo. A canvas propped in an A frame and a brush stroking gently across the white cloth fame. He HAD changed out of the last thing I saw him in, almost made me wonder if he wore it too school to get attention.

He now had a blue button up blue fleece shirt and jeans, even though the outfit wasn't as...grungy as the school look, it was a lot more baggy than it needed to be. There was a also a cap on his head though from where I was I could only see that the back was a bright green mesh. I tried to get a look at what he had been painting. I had to slowly step up to the gazebo and hide on the steps to see, the last time we had been in close contact, ergo the time he held my cheek. I squeaked like a tiny mouse, the pure eroticism of being held by him overwhelmed me as I felt my breath stiffen in my chest, and my nether regions grew wetter than any time I cracked open one of my mothers "special books." I saw his head tilt like an animal getting startled as he let out a soft.

"Hmmm? Is someone there?"He turned and I saw he had a green trucker cap, It looked old and faded but it looked like this was an intentional move on the behalf of the designers as opposed to him trying to make it all trashy. I wondered if that spoke about him and offered some insight into his interest, but I'd bring it up provided I don't run away like last time. I got up from where I was hiding and smiled softly at Dante.

"HEY, you uh...painting something there?" I asked twirling a few locks of my electric blue hair. He only shrugged and continued to paint.

"I guess so." Was his only response as he streaked some blue on the pond he was painting. He stood aside and let me see that he was indeed painting the vista we could see from the gazebo, the park pond with the bike trail and trees planted on the shores, the ducks home for the spring, the snow almost completely gone, sure sign that winter was all but gone. It was strange based on what that other Twilight had told, OUR Twilight. This wasn't a normal thing to see in her world, that her own race (and I mean ponies in that regard) would decide when the season changed and just like here...it really never seemed to change much beyond the superficial stuff. Dante sighed softly and resumed painting.

"Did you know this was Mary Shelly's least favorite season?" He asked me as painted in the sun...even though the clouds somewhat blocked it.

"Why's that? I asked as I noticed a stack of books on the stone sides of the gazebo which indeed included Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, as well as Walden by Henry David Thoreau.

"Because it always brought her nothing but misfortune every time it came, her miscarriage, her little boy's drowning, the death of her husband...I'm sorry. You must think I'm saying these kinds of things to live up to the image I go around school painting of myself, that I'm some." I shushed him with a finger to his lips and a gentle.

"Shhhhh, it's okay Dante, I think you're...well knowledgeable to know so much about a great author like her." I said as I picked up one of his brushes. "May I?" I asked looking into his eyes and giving a cute flutter of my own.

"Go ahead." He replied as he went over to his backpack and took from it two plastic cups with more Ninja Turtles on them and a bottle of Hawaiian Punch, "You thirsty Ms.?" He asked and it was then that realized that while I knew his name from earlier when Ms. Ms. Cinch yelled at him, he never knew mine since I ran away before I could tell him. I painted a few more black lines to be the flying birds and said.

"Thanks Dante," before adding a quick, "and my name's Indigo by the way, Indigo Zap." I said as I struck a pose that I was all too familiar with from so many Shadow Bolt victories. He cracked a warm smile as he poured the juice out and handed my cup.

"I never took you for a TMNT fan." I said before taking a sip and watching him sit on the railing and watch the pond's placid surface. He sighed softly and said.

"Why? is it the initial impression you got of me?" He asked taking a sip from his cup. I gasped softly and blushed as I hopped onto the stone railing beside him as looked out into the vista with him.

"Kinda...Dante why do you go around dressing and acting the way you do?" I asked as I looked him dead serious in his eyes and brushed a lock of his hair lovingly.

"I guess I...Just don't know so much about myself even at my age, I mean the new 45 seems to be eighteen these days, if you don't know what you plan on doing by then...maybe sooner, than what's the point in..." I placed my finger on his lips again and shhhed softly as I gave him a tight and close hug, something I feel a "boy" like him need to get a bit closer to becoming a man, but what's the rush?

"Stop, don't think like that anymore, or I'm not going to be around you anymore...Dante I like you, because I thought there's more to you than what lies on your shell. Beyond the mask of the token loner you kept deluding yourself into believing yourself to be. No more masks, no more guises, I want to know the real you...can you do that for me?" I asked as leaned in and planted a restrained and conservative little kiss on the corner of his mouth and watch some color return to those pale cheeks.

"Okay Indigo, for you, I'll do anything. Cause I like you too." He said as he gave my cheek a gentle caress with his hand. The sun came out at last just as it was starting to set. The dying light of the sunshine made us both look...divine in our own special way.l He looked more like an actual person in the light as opposed to a token that he left an impression on me before, sure my actions before were more "Schoolgirl crush" reactions. Now I realized that maybe their was something worth pursuing a relationship with him. At least their was more to my interest than I though once the spur of the moment wore off. It was like if Anna in...oh never mind. Why spoil the moment thinking of a reference for the sake of a reference right?

"You like to paint?" I asked as I took another sip and leaned on his shoulder, he took his free hand and stroked and rubbed my hair. MHhhing softly feeling how silky soft it was.

"Yeah, and draw and sculpt, I'm artsy but I try not to be so...blunt about it." He said as he softly held me under his arm. I sighed contently as I leaned into his fleece button up watched the sunset.

"Why hide what you're really like?" I asked as he began softly  kissing my head, I didn't object. I knew he'd stop if I told him too, but I didn't want him too...yet.

"I guess I just never had anyone to really be myself around, or I thought no one would like or share my interests." He said as I took his hand and nuzzled it like a cat. "Never...though...I'd find someone...who would listen."

"Dante?" I asked looking into his eyes with my own ones gleaming and shimmering in the late evening sun against the purple sky.

"Yeah?" He asked hugging me so close to him, I could feel the beating of his heart, and call it cliche, but I swear I heard and felt my own slow at just the right time and sync up with his.

"Is your name really Dante? Or at the very least...Is your last name really bad Latin Exinferis?...From Hell? I asked as I nuzzled his cheek again like a cat, a cat showing affection to someone it likes.

"Yes it is...My name is my own and nothing will ever change that...but it doesn't reflect who I am inside Lightning...and it never will." He said picking my chin up and locking eyes with me intensely. I nodded and slowly inched my face to his, closer and closer I drew him in but just as he thought we;d be locking lips. I swerved and kissed his cheek softly, no less passionate than if I had kissed his lips, but not yet...not yet. "You wanna meet up tommorw and do something?" He asked after the cheek kiss was broken.

"I got detention." I replied glumly. He only finished his punch and stroked my hair again.

"I'll be right outside...I promise I'll wait for you, and when they let you out...we'll make it all worthwhile." His words made me giggle a bit.

"Dante! It's just Saturday detention! You're making it sound like im going to Litchfield Penitentiary with the predatory Lizzie's!" I said with a chuckle, but that last part only made him give me a 'Huh? I don't...get it' Look. "Orange is the new black?" I said placing a finger on my lip quizzically.

"I don't have a Netflix." He said packing up his art supplies.

"Oh...I'm sorry just trying to make a funny."

"Now that...is something I get...If you were intentionally trying to make a reference too...ya know?" He said giving his hat a little tweak.

"Just keep that promise to wait for me till Cinch and Chrysalis let me go?" I asked taking his hand and blushing.

"I promise." He said sneaking a stolen kiss on my cheek that made me redder than an Apple family farm apple and giggle softly in anticipation.