Pie in the Sky

Pinkie was sat alone on a bench in the school grounds, watching people chat and play basketball and football. Her friends were in the music room, but that was less important than watching these people. Or a person. A boy called Cloudy Sky, who happened to be sat on his own elsewhere in the concrete area.

He was new, this Cloudy Sky. Well, he wasn't really new, because he had been CHS for almost a month. Pinkie was just... Looking out for him. Yes. That was the right phrase. Looking out for a fellow student who was being picked on. New students were always picked on, but you were unlucky if it lasted for more than a fortnight. Which made Cloudy very unlucky, as it hadn't stopped yet. He had a kind face, with light blue eyes surrounded by dark grey glasses, which were covered by his shaggy silver hair. Well, it was more grey than silver, but it sort of shined in the sun as he slouched over his sketch book, so she assumed it was silver. She didn’t like grey, preferring bold and bright colours like pink, but it didn’t matter. He had jeans and a blue T-Shirt with a white guitar on it that was more often than not hidden by his leather jacket.

She wasn’t paying attention and didn’t see who slammed the football into his chest.
“Hey you! Cloudy!” shouted Flash Sentry. “Could you kick the ball back, mate?” The other footballers sniggered at this. Cloudy threw it back to Flash. It hit him again a moment later. Some scrawny kid from a lower year, who Pinkie thought must be called Bolt Thunder, had kicked it.
“Kick it back!” yelled Bolt. His identical twin Volt was also there. Cloudy threw the ball again. ‘The Great and Powerful' Trixie walked onto the makeshift football pitch and threw it back at Cloudy.
“See,” she taunted, “girls, like me, throw the ball back. Boys, like you, kick it back. Kick it!”
Cloudy gave in and kicked it. In the other direction. It hit a girl who was playing basketball. She gave him the two fingers, and all of a sudden, almost everyone was giving Cloudy the two fingers. Then Volt started chanting, “Cloudy girly, cloudy girly,” over and over, and everyone else soon joined in and the bell signalling the end of lunch time could barely be heard.

Pinkie looked up at the CCTV camera. Predictably, the glass was cracked. It had probably ignored the entire scenario, as the teachers always did. They didn’t seem to notice that he was different, so they wouldn’t realise that he was vulnerable to not just teasing. Because this was most certainly not just teasing. This, in Pinkie’s opinion, was bullying.

“Pinkie, where were you at lunch?” questioned Rainbow Dash. “We were having a blast! It would have been even better if you were there, Pinkie.”
They were at the park, as they always were after school. It was a big social area, the biggest apart from Sugarcube Corner, where Pinkie Pie had a job after school on Fridays. And it was a Friday.
“Hey Pinkie, don’t you have a job today?” asked Applejack.
“Huh? Oh yeah!” shouted Pinkie suddenly. “I had my head way in the clouds. See ya!” She sprinted to Sugarcube Corner faster than Rainbow Dash. Bad choice of words, head in the clouds, she thought numbly as she ran into the café.

“Hey Pinkie!” called Carrot Cake, the owner of Sugarcube Corner, from the counter.
“Hey sir!” she replied, giving a small salute before pulling on an apron. “I almost forgot to come here, my mind was on other things, y'know.” She started becoming her usual, bouncier self when in walked Cloudy. He looked so kind and gentle, a tall and gentle giant, and she felt genuinely sorry for him. There was something else, but admitting that would make her a target too. Nope. Not while everyone was here.
Uh oh, she thought. Flash Sentry and the basketball girl were here. They saw him and Flash threw him a packet of Salty Spicy Ultra Hot Roasted Peanuts and said, “The Sun's coming to burn you up, little Cloudy Girly!” Everyone except Carrot Cake and Pinkie laughed.
“Out!” Carrot shouted. “Out, unless you’re going to apologise. I will not accept behaviour like that in my café!” Everyone left, knowing that he would accept them again once they started buying more sweets and cakes and hot drinks and other snacks.

Cloudy was still in the store when everyone left. Pinkie said, “Cloudy, wait!”
“Got another mean thing to say?” he asked casually, raising an eyebrow. He clearly didn’t know who to trust.
“No, I'm not one of them, I can see they’re being horrible and I can’t stand it. Even my friends were talking about you in class, and they didn’t listen to me, and I just wanted to say...“ She was lost for words. She couldn’t say the thing she wanted to say.
“That you’re on my side?”
“Well, I guess so.”
“You really aren’t one of them. I have autism, see, and all the people our age can tell. They never let me explain myself, they just think, 'Oh he’s different from us, let's bully him!’ This is the third new school this year. There’s nothing I can say to stop it. I’ve tried hanging out with smart kids, popular kids, the ones who smoke and disrupt the lessons... and nothing. It never stops.”
“Ouch.” Was all Pinkie was capable of saying.
“But you know what? I've found something that works. Becoming friends with the teachers, because they’re actually really nice. That and waiting for people like you.” He smiled a sweet smile, sweeter than the buttercream icing on Sugarcube Corner's cupcakes, and it warmed her up inside. Her heart started beating faster as he took a step towards her. They both looked to make sure Carrot Cake wasn’t around and checked nobody was staring through the windows, and he leaned down and kissed her and she let him because she had been trying to ask him out all along, and was scared of being bullied for liking him.

***

A few weeks later, Cloudy whizzed on his motorbike to the estate where Pinkie had started renting a studio flat. He sat on the bike for a few moments, then he saw a mess of pink hair that could barely fit under a purple helmet. Pinkie jumped on the back of the bike, put her arms around his waist and smiled sweetly, and they set off on their first date. They had barely spoken at school, as Cloudy had been staying inside near the staffroom at lunch and Pinkie had been in the music room, but they were together now, and that was all that mattered.

Sunset was on her motorbike too, and she heard Pinkie shout, “Hi Sunset!” as they sped past her. Sunset shook her head. Of course Pinkie went for the unpopular kid. He was quiet and sensitive, and needed someone larger than life to bring him out of his shell. They were made for each other, and that was all that mattered.