Babysitting sucks

A few steps away from the golden horseshoe of CHS, Thorn Thistle stared at the long roads in front of him; at the buildings that stood tall in the distance; the houses and apartments in which people rested and families enjoyed each other’s company.

Today, however, he didn’t think of his home as a place to rest and enjoy others’ company, but rather to exhaust himself, because of others’ company.

“What if...? I got myself into detention! That way, I can skip all of this nonsense! My parents will think I’m not responsible and that’ll be the end of that, right?” Thorn contemplated, paying little attention to the fact that he had said it aloud.

Thorn stared at the city, plotting other ideas, but he was taken aback by a feminine voice.

“Um… were you talking to me?”

Startled, Thorn turned to his right to see another student. Or at least, he assumed she was a student. The girl had bushy, green hair and wore a brown, striped sweater.

‘Has she been there the whole time?’ Thorn thought before clearing his throat. “Uh, no… I was- uh… I was talking to myself,” he explained, adding a sheepish smile.

“Oh! I-I thought… since you… I mean…” Out of awkwardness, a blush formed on the girl’s cheeks. She closed her eyes and sighed, then looked away. “Sorry, my bad.”

An awkward silence followed as both green students avoided eye contact.

“I uh… I have to go... So uh… bye!” Thorn said before heading in the direction he was staring at a moment ago. The girl sighed again and hugged her backpack.

‘Guess I’m giving this babysitting thing a chance now…’ Thorn thought, a frown on his face.

…………………………………………………………….

“There you are, Thorn!” a masculine voice called as soon as Thorn closed the door to his house. He turned to see it was his father who had greeted him.

“Hi, Dad,” Thorn replied.

His father chuckled, “You know, your mother thought you were going to force yourself into detention rather than go through with babysitting! But I knew you’d come!”

Thorn tittered awkwardly at the accurate assumption. “Haha… right… as if I’d let you guys down,” Thorn said, adding a hand gesture to dismiss the thought.

“Anyway, our guest is already here, come introduce yourself,” his father said as he walked into the kitchen; Thorn followed reluctantly.

Inside, there was a little girl with curly blue hair. She was filling in a coloring book while occasionally sipping on her juice box. Not far away, there was the crust of a pizza slice.

“Thorn,” the father began, “this is Cozy Glow.”

At the call of her name, Cozy Glow’s head raised. “Oh golly! Are you Mister Wildfire’s son, Thorn Thistle!? Your dad told me allll~ about you! My name is Cozy Glow, nice to meet you!”

Thorn acknowledged her with a nod.

“Alright,” Thorn’s father said after clearing his throat. “Listen, kids, this is the plan. While Cozy’s mother is out of town, I’ll pick her up from school and we’ll stay here until you arrive, Thorn. Then, I’ll go back to work while you take care of the rest, understood?”

Thorn nodded.

“Good. Your aunt is picking you up at seven, right Cozy?”

“Yep, that’s correct!”

“Very well! Guess I’ll be going then. There’s some pizza left and your mother is in her room in case you need anything.”

Thorn nodded, and Cozy waved goodbye. “Bye Mister Wildfire!”

Thorn’s father waved back, then put on the rest of his uniform and left.

…………………………………………………………….

“And that’s how I decided I liked pink better than blue!” Cozy exclaimed with excitement.

“Great,” Thorn replied with opposite excitement, “but I only asked where your mom traveled to.”

“Oh! I don’t know,” Cozy said with a shrug.

Thorn‘s head fell flat on the table.

He sighed and raised his head. “Anyway, I’m kinda busy. You can do your homework or something,” he said, standing up from the chair he was sitting on.

“I already finished my homework.”

‘What!? H o w?’ Thorn inwardly questioned, but shook the thought away quickly.

“I guess you can watch cartoons if you want to, or read a book?” he suggested, motioning to the living room.

“Can I play… those?” Cozy said, pointing at a stack of video game cases.

“Yeah, sure,” Thorn said while heading to his room.

Once inside, he noticed Whistle, who was running around inside of his little cage.

“So, that’s why you weren’t stealing food in the kitchen,” he said, grabbing the cage from the top. He headed outside of his room with the cage in his grasp.

Once in the living room, he noticed Cozy checking out the games’ cases.

“Ugh, no, I can’t work with this!”

Thorn cleared his throat, which caused Cozy to jump in her place.

“Hey, are you allergic to ferrets?” Thorn asked.

“Nope!” she said cheerfully. “But, uh... What’s a ferret?”

Thorn lifted the cage for her to see.

“This is Whistle, he’s my pet,” he explained with a slight smile on his face. “I always let him run around the house. Do you have any problem with that?”

Cozy recoiled a bit. “D-does it bite?”

Thorn shook his head, “If anything, he might steal your stuff. If you lose something, just tell me. I know where he stores it.”

“Oh, well that sounds just peachy! As long as it doesn’t bite me, then there’s no problem!”

Without a second thought, Thorn lifted the door of the cage, and Whistle flew through the living room.

Thorn went back to his room, while Whistle ran hysterically around the house and Cozy began to reconsider her decision.

…………………………………………………………….

Some hours later, Thorn returned to the living room after having finished his homework. The first thing he noticed was Cozy Glow curled in a ball, in a corner, shakily staring at Whistle, who was being held by Thorn’s mother.

“You’re back!” cried Cozy. “Can you tell Ms. Flame to stop scaring me?!” she added with tearful eyes.

Thorn tilted his head and looked towards his mother, who looked back.

“She’s just trying to show you not to be scared of Whistle, Cozy.”

“Y-yeah?”

Thorn nodded.

“T-then why didn’t she say so!?” Cozy demanded, still recoiling from Whistle.

“You won’t get a word out of my mom anytime soon.”

Thorn’s mother—Sward Flame—nodded at the statement.

After a while, Cozy relaxed a little bit and gently shoved Ms. Flame’s hand away, along with Whistle. “M-maybe some other day...”

‘Maybe it’s not too late to back away...’ Thorn pondered, making sure he wasn’t talking out loud this time, ‘after all, it’s only the second day, they’d unde-’

His thoughts were interrupted, however, when he once again heard a feminine voice. This one, though, he was familiar with.

“Where’s Flash!? I know you’re friends with him so speak up! Or else!”

Some lockers away, Thunderbass, Valhallen, and Brawly Beats were trying fruitlessly to back away from Sunset Shimmer, who was grabbing the latter by the shirt.

Seeing this, Thorn grabbed his stuff from the locker and made a 180º turn towards the opposite direction from the pleading cries for mercy.

Thorn saw the panic in their faces as Sunset cornered them, but ultimately decided not to intervene. It would only bring more problems.

Thorn arrived home not long after and once he opened the door, he greeted his father.

Mr. Wildfire, however, seemed distracted.

“Um...” Thorn looked around the house and spotted his mother, and Cozy Glow in the kitchen, the latter cheerfully waved hello at him.

He returned his attention to his father. “Did you lose something, dad?”

His father didn’t answer and kept lifting books and pillows. Thorn’s mother approached and tapped him on the back.

Hardwood snapped back to reality and turned around. “H-huh? Oh, Thornsly! You’re here? So soon?”

Thorn deadpanned and Ms. Flame pointed at the clock in the wall next to the kitchen. Mr. Wildfire’s eyes went wide. “What!? Already!?”

“Did you lose something, dad?” Thorn reiterated.

“Yeah, I haven’t seen my silver watch since yesterday, so I figured I’d look around while you arrived. Oh well,” he sighed, “I should get going. Tell me if you happen to find it, please.”

A few moments later, Hardwood grabbed his keys and left the house.

“Hello, Thorn!” Cozy called from the kitchen.

“Hi, Cozy Glow,” Thorn replied mildly irritated.

...

Just like the previous day, Thorn grabbed some food and then retired to his room. This time, however, Cozy followed him.

“So, why do you always come home so late? Do your classes run late?” Cozy asked from behind him.

“No.”

“So, when do they finish then?”

“About two hours ago.”

“Is your school that far away?”

“No.”

“What do you do, then?”

“Training sessions.”

“Ooh! Are you on a team? One that depends on your presence or otherwise it will fall apart and everyone on the team will blame you for their failures?”

Thorn turned around with a worried, quizzical look and stared at Cozy.

“What?” She asked innocently.

Thorn turned back to his room, where he unlocked Whistle’s cage. Cozy flinched as Whistle bolted out of his cage, and into the living room.

“No, I’m not in a team. I practice martial arts, and I’m pretty sure no one would miss me if I skip a class... Not that I want to.” Thorn answered.

Cozy gasped. “Golly! Are you a master martial artist!?”

“No.”

“Oh. So how long have you been training?”

“A little over a semester,” he said while unpacking some notebooks.

“And what did you do before that?”

“I was in the swimming team, which isn’t much of a team honestly.”

“And why did you leave?”

“I learned everything I wanted to learn, and it got kind of intense afterward.”

“And you left? Just like that?”

“Yes. Now, if you don’t mind, I have homework to do.”

“You can do that while you talk with me!”

“I’d rather not,” Thorn curtly said.

“Aw, c’mon! I could help you!” Cozy offered.

“Do you know how to make a graph of a rational function?”

“No... But maybe you could teach me!”

“Absolutely not.”

“Pretty please~. That way, I’ll do better in a few years when I study that!”

“Cozy, I barely understand the topic myself, so if you could please leave so that I can focus...”

“B-but I don’t want to be alone with that... that… thing!”

Cozy pointed at Whistle, who was preparing itself to jump from one couch to another.

He failed miserably, bumping head-first with the edge of the second couch and then fell face-up on the floor.

Unamused, Thorn looked at Cozy, who was somehow still freaked out.

“You could always stay with my mom,” Thorn pointed out.

“Wh-what!? After what happened yesterday!?”

“I’m sure it won’t happen again,” he reassured her.

Still unsure about it, Cozy pouted and looked at Thorn with puppy eyes.

“Good luck!” Thorn exclaimed, closing the door shortly after.

Thorn was once again leaving school supplies inside of his locker when he heard fastened steps approaching. Turning around to identify the person responsible for the noise, he found an agitated Flash Sentry, Sunset Shimmer’s boyfriend.

The blue-haired guitarist looked around trying to spot someone, anyone, and then noticed Thorn so he ran up to him. “Hey, you! I need your help, um... What’s your name again? I know it had a ‘th’ sound somewhere...”

“Thorn.”

“Yeah! It had a thorn somewhere!”

“No, my name is Thorn Thistle.”

“Oh, sorry, sorry, my bad. Anyway, do you know Sunset Shimmer?”

Sarcastically, Thorn replied, “Sunset Shimmer? The reason the majority of the martial arts students decided to enroll? The red-and-yellow-haired girl who got called in detention 8 times this week? Never heard of her.”

Flash got the point and continued. “Right... Uh, Sunset’s been dragging me along everywhere! And when she gets in trouble, I too, get in trouble, because I’m dragged along with her, but if I don’t help her, I also get in trouble, with Sunset! It’s driving me crazy! You won’t happen to know someplace where I could hide, would you?

‘Well, yeah, but… should I share that information with him?’ Thorn contemplated while faking to be thinking for an answer to Flash’s question.

“Can’t you just leave?” Thorn suggested, attempting to end the conversation there.

“No, my ride doesn’t get here for another hour.”

‘Fine,’ Thorn said to himself, sighing.

“How about...” Thorn looked at the air in thought, and then returned his attention towards Flash, “the third floor of the library?”

“The library has a third floor?”

Thorn nodded, “No one ever goes there... I’m not even sure if the teachers know it’s there,” Thorn explained.

“Do you think Sunset knows about it?” Flash said warily.

“No way, that’s one of the many places where I go when I need to hide from Ms. Biggest meanie,” Thorn said air-quoting Sunset’s title.

“Hey! That was years ago! Principal Celestia asked everyone not to call Sunset that way anymore, I can’t believe you still do it.” Flash said, indignated.

“Flash, everyone calls her that behind her back.”

“Well don’t! It hurts her feelings…”

“Right…” Thorn replied, wondering why Flash was defending Sunset now, when he straight up came asking for someplace to hide from her. Or why he’d be defending Sunset at all. Period.

He cleared his throat, “Anyway… about the library…?”

Flash pondered for a few seconds and then lightened up. “Yeah, that should work! Thank you very much, Thorn!”

“Yeah, sure, but if you get caught in the act, don’t tell her it was my idea! I really like the serenity of that place!” Thorn exclaimed as Flash left for the library.

…………………………………………………………….

“See you later, son,” Hardwood said as he closed the main door.

“Bye, dad.”

“Hello, Thorn!”

“Hi, Cozy.”

“Hey, can I ask you a question?”

“N-“

“When Mister Wildfire brings me here, Miss Flame’s here to wave hello, and then she goes to her room for a while... Hey! Just like you!”

Thorn stood arm-crossed, unamused.

“Uhm, but I didn’t see her today, and Mister Wildfire said she left to do her job. So, was she not working the last two days?”

Thorn nodded, “Mom works several weeks straight, and every month or so she gets a five-day-long break,” he explained as he reached into the fridge and took out a cooking pot from the inside.

“What!? Several weeks!? What’s her job!?”

“She’s a fire ranger, she can’t leave her post due to the possibility that a wildfire might happen while she’s gone.”

“So she stays there and just looks at a forest 24/7?”

“No, she monitors weather, temperature, humidity, stuff like that. She’s also a sort of tourist guide, on the rare occasion that someone might get lost. And she does sleep, or so she’s told me.”

“Well, anyhow, isn’t that a really short break?”

“Yeah… but I think she starts getting really anxious if she’s away for too long…”

Cozy didn’t say anything for a few seconds, so Thorn figured that was it, and turned back to the stove.

“So... Ms. Flame is a fire ranger…” Cozy said as Thorn was about to turn around.

“Yes,” Thorn replied looking down, crestfallen.

“And Mr. Wildfire’s a firefighter…”

“What are you getting at?”

“So what do you do? Do you… manufacture stoves in your free time or something?”

Thorn slowly walked away from the stove.

“No, I’m not really into the fire business, just your average high school student.”

“Oh! That reminds me... Do high schoolers break into songs in the cafeteria or something? Like they do in the movies?”

“Hasn’t happened yet, which is kinda strange actually, considering how many students know how to play an instrument flawlessly...”

“So... You don’t break into songs...?”

“Nope.”

“High school sounds sad...”

“It is.”