I sat up on the wall surrounding the steps outside the entrance to the school. Most of the kids had already gone home, those who has stayed, engaged in some school-based activity. I was skimmed the pages of my comic book, enjoying every page of it.
Pinkie was asked to stay after class after her baking went awry, covering the entirety of the classroom with icing. She had begged me to wait until she finished cleaning up. Reluctantly, I agreed. I've always been the type to worry about others and Pinkie was no exception. I was given the nickname "Worry Boy" because of it. I hated that nickname but I never had the courage to speak up about it.
I kept looking back at the double doors hoping she would sprint through with some crazy story on how she managed to clean everything in a snap and in the process earned the favor of her home baking teacher.
The door opened and I nearly fell off the wall. The girl I had been crushing on for the past few months stepped out with the skateboard in hand. She said farewell to one of her friends who dashed down the stairs.
She seem to notice me and looked over her shoulder and greeted me. My eyes were filled with stars and my lips clamped shut.
"Hey, Spike," Applebloom greeted.
"H-h-hi," I squeaked.
She chuckled then turned away. I groaned and felt like punching myself in the face for making such a stupid decision in front of my crush. She climbed on the other side of the wall and lowered the board next to her. I gasped as she jumped on top the board. She fastened her helmet. The skateboard rocked as the redhead went to kick off.
"Wait! Wait!" I cried.
She stabled herself with her foot. She turned to face me, my face blushed bright red.
"I, uh, I don't think that's a good idea," I said as I started to sweat. "You-you could get...hurt."
She laughed.
"Relax, Spike, I do this all the time." She kicked off and yelled, "Don't be such a worry boy!"
I growled.
"I am not a worry boy!" I shouted. "I'm a vicious bad boy!" I grinned with my head high and crossed my arms.
The smile vanished when I heard her laugh at my declaration. I opened my eyes and slumped. She looked back at me. I gasped and shut my eyes as we collided. When I opened them, I saw her laying on the ground with a few scraps and a bleeding arm.
The bicycler picked up his vehicle and checked on her. I dashed down the stairs and knelt down beside her
"I'm so sorry," the other student cried. "I didn't-I didn't see you."
"Hey, it's okay," she said with a groan. "I wasn't looking either."
"We should get you to the nurse," I suggested.
I took hold of her hand and helped her to her feet. She winced at the pressure on her wounded knees. I slipped her arm over my shoulder. The other boy, mirrored my gesture. She limped as the me and the other kid assisted her to the nurse's office.
The nurse looked up as the patient walked in. She sighed but nonetheless, she motioned her to take a seat. She then walked out to grab a new box of gloves.
We aided her over to the cot. The boy apologized again which Applebloom immediately forgave. He exited the infirmary, leaving me alone with her.
"That wasn't necessary, I could've walked here myself," she said.
"I-I know," I stammered. I started to sweat again. I brought both lips in. "I-I just-I didn't."
I looked over at the smiling girl. Again I averted my eyes. She laughed.
"As expected of worry boy," she teased.
"I'm not a worry boy," I countered. "I'm as mean and bad as the next guy."
"There's not a bad bone in your body," she retorted.
"Oh yeah? Watch this," I cried.
I looked around and went for the first thing in sight. I saw some papers and disorganized them. Seeing as she still wasn't impressed, I made a karate stance and tried to chop a jar contains cotton balls. I yelped at the pain coursing through my hand. The jar toppled to the ground. The lid fell off and seveal of them rolled on the floor.
I felt my face heating up as she laughed. The nurse walked back in and gasped at the mess on the floor. I pulled the strings on my hoodie, blocking out my face. I then knelt down and picked up the tainted cotton balls and threw them in the waste basket.
After about fiveteen minutes, Applebloom's wounds were disinfected and bandaged. She thanked the nurse although she seemed to be mad at me for the mess I caused. I apologized and we took our leave. Once we were in the hallway, I picked up speed to put distance between myself and my crush.
"Spike," she said and clamped her hand on my shoulder.
I turned, but only my nose was visible from the hood.
"Please stop trying to be someone you're not."
I slumped and pulled my hood back open and looked into her calm, beautiful eyes.
"There's nothing wrong with being the worry boy," she said. "You don't have to be bad to be cool."
I sighed as she said that.
"I wish I could believe that."
"The real Spike is just as cool as the baddest boy in this school," she said and nudged me in the arm.
I blushed and my mouth formed into a smile.
"You-you think I'm cool?" I asked.
She nodded.
"Who else besides you would've waited for me to get patched up?"
I looked away and I felt my face turned a darker red. We walked outside and her skateboard sat discarded in the grass. She ran down the stairs much to my chagrin and picked it up. I released the breath I had been holding.
"Later, worry boy!" she called and jumped back on her skateboard.
I smiled as I watched her skate off into the distance.
Two heavy hands pushed me in the back. My feet caught their balance before I toppled down the stairs. I turned to see my crazy friend smiling wide with her fists pressed against her chin.
"I saw that~," Pinkie sang.
"What-what?" I stuttered.
"Oh, just you playing it cool with Applebloom there," she said with a giggle. "'You think I'm cool?'" she teased, mimicking my voice.
"Pinkiiiie," I whined.
She laughed as she clasped her hands and changed the subject.
"So guess what happened in class," she exclaimed. "We were making cakes and I told her I could do that too, only super fast, and I tried to rain down cupcakes. But something went wrong and only the icing..."
I tuned her out and smiled while thinking of Applebloom's compliment to me.
"Just be yourself, huh?" I whispered.
Maybe she's right. Trying to be someone your not isn't the way. People will like me for who I am. Not who I want to be. Thanks... I will do that from now on.
