A Strange New Math Club World
The bell rang on Friday afternoon indicating that, thankfully, the first week of the school year was over. I packed my things at my locker proud of myself that I had gotten through. Well, alright, maybe it wasn’t so bad. At least not any worse than it would have been at my old High School. It’s not like I had a whole bunch of friends there. I still envied my brother, Zephyr Breeze. He was a freshman, so more people his age were new. How was I supposed to make myself home here as a random junior transfer?
I walked through the halls. It didn’t take long to figure out the cliques and who hung out with who. I saw a group excitedly going out of the bathrooms in uniform–probably having just changed for practice of some kind. I had a class with the rainbow-haired girl. Brash and cocky, but from what I could tell, had a good heart. I then passed by the “popular girls.” Okay, I shouldn’t have made any presumptions. I didn’t know them. But they intimidated me even more than the sporty kind kids did. They sat near me during lunch a couple times. Perhaps they intimidated me because they were everything I wasn’t. They seemed to make friends easily. They seemed so sure of themselves. Could intimidation come from jealousy?
But nonetheless, as much as I would have liked to go home and relax after the first week at a new school, this Friday afternoon was the first day of Math Club. My parents urged me to join at least one extracurricular activity this year since at my old school I wasn’t a part of any. Even though I was 17 and didn’t need to listen to them, I always had a secret passion for math, so when I heard there was one at Canterlot High, I decided to join. Math was sort of a secret weapon. No one expects the quiet girl who keeps to herself to be in calculus.
I also was acquaintances with the person running the club. We had calc together. Though he was wary at first, and I wouldn’t say we were good friends now, he warmed up to me. I found out about the club through him. He was with a couple of his friends as I walked in the club meeting.
“Hi Fluttershy. Glad you could join us,” he said.
I nodded and sat down. After everyone was there, we began with introductions and such. A couple minutes after the meeting started, a girl with fabulous indigo hair came in. She was part of the group that I’d see at lunch sometimes.
“Rarity? Didn’t expect to see you here,” the club leader said.
I didn’t, either. But I suppose stranger things had happened.
“Oh, I apologize. Wrong room,” Rarity said.
The others snickered–to me implying that someone like Rarity could never be in the math club. I honestly expected for her to just roll her eyes and walk away. But instead, she furrowed her brow.
“Ya know, actually… need a new member here? I’ll stay,” she declared.
The guy looked at his friends then back at Rarity.
“You? In math club?”
Rarity said nothing in response, but continued giving the club leader a glare.
“Go for it,” he said. “Let’s partner up. Our first activity will be in pairs.”
Rarity noted me sitting to the side. She walked towards me, making my heart rate rise.
“Would you like to be my partner?” she asked.
“Um… sure.”
“I’ve seen you around,” Rarity continued as she sat down. “You must be new to Canterlot High. I’m Rarity, as you might have guessed. What’s your name?”
“Fluttershy.”
“Well, Fluttershy. Let’s show everyone here what we’re made of, shall we?”
I didn’t know what to expect when Rarity offered to be my partner. Perhaps subconsciously, as much as I didn’t want to admit it, I felt the same way others in the club did. But they had accepted me, and I needed and wanted to do the same for Rarity. And besides, Rarity didn’t know anyone and neither did I besides the organizer. I figured being partners would be a nice gesture.
And Rarity did well. She seemed to even surprise herself with how much fun she was having filling out the problems with me. Yet at the same time, she didn’t completely take over. She definitely allowed me to have a voice, which I found myself using more than I expected.
“Thank you for a fun afternoon, Fluttershy. In return, would you like to come to my house? Maybe we could bake something or help each other with homework.”
My first instinct was to say no. Though Rarity had no bad intentions, I had just met her. But I then realized that perhaps my impression on Rarity went beyond this club meeting. She mentioned she noticed me around school before and recognized I was new. Perhaps I wasn’t as invisible as I thought.
“I could use a fun Friday out,” I said. “I’ll just text my brother to let our parents know.”
At Rarity’s house, Rarity introduced me to her parents, who were about to greet Rarity’s younger sister at the bus stop, and led me to her room to put our things.
In Rarity’s room, there were sheets of fabric as well as other art materials around.
“Sorry for the mess,” Rarity said. “I didn’t prepare the room for company. You can sit at my desk.”
I sat down and saw a fashion equivalent to a blueprint for an outfit she was designing on the desk. It was a simple, yet pretty summer piece with a white sleeveless top and short green skirt with pink butterflies in the corner. The outline was surprisingly meticulous with measurements and all.
“So I guess you really do like math, huh?” I asked Rarity.
“I never thought of it as math. But I suppose numbers are involved in many things we do, aren't they?” Rarity said. “But if there’s one thing you should know about me, it’s that saying that I can’t do something just makes me want to do it more. I had a good time, though. I hope to see you there again.”
I looked at the dress again and around her room.
“You’re very talented,” I told Rarity. “So talented that I’m actually surprised I didn’t know how talented you are.”
Rarity blushed and gave a small shrug.
“It surprises many to know that before Canterlot High, I didn’t have many friends. The schools I went to were smaller and didn’t value the arts as much. No one in my family is super creative either, so it was hard for me to explain how unhappy I was. But once I did, they were super supportive and high school has gone much better. But maybe I still can be shy about my interests sometimes.”
Rarity paused as she blushed again.
“Thank you for listening to that. I don’t know what came over me just then to pour my heart out to a stranger.”
“I get the fear of explaining your problems to your parents because they probably won’t understand,” I said. “I’m glad they were supportive.”
Rarity smiled then noticed the drawing that was on the desk.
“I actually hope to get a job at a shop,” Rarity explained. “This is the last piece I needed for my application profile. It’s almost done. Something’s missing though and I can’t put my figure on what.”
“Hm…” I pondered. “Maybe something pink to line the skirt under it and to compliment the butterflies? I like the green, but maybe adding a layer would make it look more interesting.”
The fashionista glanced at the sheet of paper and then back at me as I saw her creative gears turning.
“Not a bad idea…” she said. “It’s a shame this has to go to the shop. It’d look lovely on you. Oh dear, I can’t unsee it now…”
“That’s alright, I don’t wear sleeveless things often…” I started to protest.
“Well, darling, I think we’d be a good team,” Rarity interrupted. “I don’t mean to pressure you, but let’s keep in touch. Maybe I’ll figure something out and this outfit can help bring out your confidence.”
I giggled at my new friend. As she mentioned, she really didn’t like taking no for an answer. Never in a million years would I have expected to hang out with someone like her. But I could see why she liked me. Though for different reasons, people could sometimes underestimate what we were capable of. I now knew truly what it meant to not judge a book by its cover.
Author's Note
I really liked this idea, but it was kinda hard to write because I know nothing about fashion nor math. I wanted to go into a bit more detail about the math club meeting, but I didn’t know how. But anyway, I think Fluttershy and Rarity are an underrated pairing that weren’t used to their full potential in the show. Green Isn’t Your Color wasn’t among my favorites by any means, but it was pretty good as far as early episodes go!
