Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait, college and all. Hope you enjoy this one because I certainly did.
Chapter Two: First Meeting
Jakee and Romance walked down the corridor to the school nurse's office, with the latter trying to walk as steady as she could.
"Jakee, I know you've helped me quite a lot when I'm down and such," Romance said with gratefulness in her voice until it turned a little serious. "But you know you don't have to walk me to the school nurse. My legs aren't broken, you know. My knees are probably just bruised."
Jakee gave his friend a slight frown and she just looked at him with a worried look. It was like she was about to give the puppy eyes which had worked a few times but this time it won't.
"Hey, you got tripped by Beautify and from your expression earlier, your knees aren't fine and someone has to keep an eye out on you incase something happens."
Romance rolled her eyes and looked away with a frown then crossed her arms.
"Last time, something happened to any of my knees, was when I pulled a muscle in the back of the left one during martial arts practice. It hurt like heck and it took a while before I could walk better and continue my training."
Jakee sighed as if he just couldn't argue with her no more. He never wanted to get on her bad side as there were times, something would annoy her and she got angry.
The duo got to the school nurse's office, knocked on the door gently and walked in as soon as the nurse said they could.
"Hello there, what can I do for you two?" the school nurse asked sweetly with a small smile.
Romance sat down on one of the soft chairs against the wall and Jakee sat in the one next to her.
"There was something going on at the front doors and Romance just hurt her knees very badly." Jakee responded with worry and nodded his head slightly.
Romance quickly turned her head with a frown.
"First off, I got tripped and I'm pretty sure my knees aren't hurt very badly. They're not broken!"
The school nurse looked at the two with concern and she got out a bottle of disinfectant, some plasters and a cloth.
"Just roll up your leggings to above your knees so I can see how bad they look."
Romance sighed softly, rolled up the ends of her leggings to above her knees. She looked down to see that they had slight bruising, the bruises were a pinkish red and she winced as the school nurse set an ice pack each on the bruises.
Jakee patted Romance on the back with his left hand, as if to tell her that she would be fine. She held the ice packs on her knees as the school nurse went to put away the supplies she had brought out earlier.
After what seemed like a while, the ice packs were put away and all Romance could feel, was the coldness after holding them there for a long time but it was worth it to get the bruises away.
"Come on, let's get to class."
Romance nodded slowly and got up, trying to ignore the pain in her knees. This time, Jakee didn't have his arm around her shoulder, maybe just to avoid her from kicking or hitting him in a martial arts style.
They got to the classroom in a short time as the classroom wasn't very far from the school nurse's office. It was upstairs and the first room that they would walk into. They walked in and sat in the back as they usually did even if there were so many of them.
"Ah, Romance and Jakee, you've arrived!" Patrick Rowberry responded and he gave a grin.
Patrick Rowberry was one of the young adults in the group. He mostly did anything comedic and tried to be funny to cheer anyone that was feeling down. He was a Formula One fan like Romance and while the two had disagreements on different teams, that didn't stop them from having fun talking about the sport.
"Yeah, we are, just glad I get to sit down with you guys." Romance replied with a small smile and she sat down at the window while Jakee sat nearby to her desk with the others.
She looked up at the blue sky through the window before the teacher came into the classroom, with piles of paperwork held against her chest.
"Morning, class. Sorry I'm late, " Miss Lightbulb exclaimed with her usual joyful personality as she set the paperwork on her desk. Everybody nodded their heads and said "Morning" back. "All of you have free time as it's your last week of school and you don't have any homework for me."
Everybody except Romance started looking at each other with excitement while the latter just continued looking at the clouds. She laid her chin on her right hand and started thinking of the time she first came to the Rift City High School.
Romance walked to the Rift City High School, her hands shaking and she tried to control her panicky breathing. She was wearing a plain black t-shirt, black leggings and her black sandals, her hair was loose around her shoulders as she usually preferred it. Her mum, Hoof Sparkle had put some concealer on her face and a little blush. Romance didn't exactly like wearing makeup except a little blush or concealer but certainly not eyeshadow or lipstick
She knew that a first day at a new school was very difficult, especially because this one wasn't in Canterlot like her last high school and it was where she lived. She had been a loner type who preferred reading a book, listening to music and working on projects for a few years now. As a kid and preteen, she would've been happy to talk to anyone and make friends but with the extreme bullying she got, she wanted to stay away from crowds because of the amount of back stabbings she got from bullies.
Romance walked up the front steps of the school, looking up with fear and nervousness in her eyes. There were lots of students just standing outside, talking in groups and laughing about whatever they were talking about.
She walked through the front doors and to the principal's office, her hands starting to shake even more. She knocked on the door and the principal told her to walk in. She walked in and sat on one of the seats at his desk as the principal was looking through some paperwork in a metal drawer.
"Welcome, Miss RomanceWriter, since you are new here, I'll show you to your classroom for your first class. I hope that you're not one of those troublemaker students." the principal said as he looked at Romance with a stern expression.
"I swear, sir, I'm not a troublemaker at all," Romance responded shakily and she started fidgeting with her hands that were on her lap. "You know
that my school record says I've never been in any sort of violent fights in any of my schools."
The principal nodded in agreement and gave a warm smile. Romance tried to smile but she just couldn't seem to.
"Come on, let me show you to your classroom."
The principal got up from his seat behind the desk and Romance got up from her seat, both of them walking out the door. They walked up the stairs to the first classroom on the right, walked through the door as Miss Lightbulb gave a small smile.
"Ah, sir, is this the new student you said I was going to have?" Miss Lightbulb said with a smile as she set her black pen down on her desk.
The principal nodded slowly then he gave a reassuring smile to Romance and he walked away out of the classroom. Romance looked at the teacher with the still nervousness in her face and her hands continue to shake.
Miss Lightbulb signalled for the nervous girl to sit at one of the desks. Romance nodded slightly and sat at one of the front ones. She set her rucksack at her feet and took out a romance novel set in the medieval era and went to the page she bookmarked.
"What you reading there?"
Romance gave a small smile, she turned the book to see the cover. It had a male pirate with long flowing black hair with a grey bandana, holding a woman with flowing brown hair, in his arms as they looked at each other. Love and passion showed in their eyes.
"Oh, uhhh, it's just a story of a girl who falls in love with a pirate. It's pretty romantic even if there are… some scenes." Romance replied in a quiet voice but it was still loud enough for Miss Lightbulb to hear.
Three girls walked in, laughing and when they saw Romance, they whispered to each other with smirks. They sat beside her and she looked at them slightly.
"Hi! You must be the new girl!" Beautify exclaimed with excitement and she held out her hand. "I'm Beautify and these are my friends, Face Shine and Sparkly Eyes."
Sparkly Eyes and Face Shine nodded in agreement and gave small smiles. Romance shook Beautify's hand slightly as she still held her book in her other hand. She then turned away to continue her reading.
It was half past nine when one student walked into the classroom, Miss Lightbulb stood from her desk, hands on her hips.
"Jakee Arnold! It's your first day back and you're thirty minutes late!" Miss Lightbulb yelled and Jakee just looked at her with no fear in his face.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry, I overslept." Jakee replied, obviously lying about his excuse and Miss Lightbulb didn't seem to believe him.
"You always use that excuse and I don't believe you. Just sit down at your desk so class can get started."
Jakee walked back to his desk without a word and his friends all just laughed.
"Did you really oversleep?" Robert Who asked with a teasing tone and Jakee just laughed loudly.
"Ha, ha! Not really!" Jakee yelled and him and his friends laughed with him.
Romance stifled a giggle with her right hand and she looked at the group slightly over her shoulder. She heard Beautify snort with disgust and Romance looked to the front of the class, acting like she didn't do anything.
"Now class, back to what we were doing, we were discussing on what makes a good story. So today, we're going to write our own stories and I'll give you feedback for them."
All the students nodded and flipped to a blank page in their notebooks. They took out a black pen from their pencil cases and started writing, the sound of pens being used on the paper was all that was heard along with students whispering to each other.
Jakee laid his chin on his left hand, tapping his pen slightly on his notebook with his right hand. He tried to think of something to write but nothing came to mind. He didn't exactly want to come into school but his friends needed a leader and someone to protect them from the bullies.
He turned his head slightly and noticed the girl that had her brown hair loose around her shoulders, that sat at the window in the front row. He had seen her a few times months before while he was in Canterlot, but never talked to her.
"Hey Robert, do you know who that girl is? The one in the front row with the brown hair?" Jakee asked quietly and Robert looked at him with a small smile.
"Oh, that's RomanceWriter, I helped her out a little for a project she's been doing. I just did a theme song and voiced a character for her and hopefully I'll help her out more," Robert replied with the smile still on his face and he wrote a little in his notebook. "She seems very nice and maybe you can talk to her."
"Yeah maybe, when I get the chance."
Twenty minutes had passed and everyone put down their pens as Miss Lightbulb stood up from her desk.
"Alright class, time's up. Since you've ten minutes until your next class, you hand me your notebooks and I'll give them to you tomorrow." Miss Lightbulb responded with a smile and everyone nodded and murmured in agreement.
The bell rang for the next class and Romance put her pencil case into her rucksack, put it on her shoulders as she set her notebook onto Miss Lightbulb's desk. She walked out of the classroom, wondering where the next class would be.
"Oh, darling, come with us, we'll show you to the next class!" Beautify squealed with delight and Romance had an unsure chill run down her spine. She nodded slightly and the girl grabbed her arm, dragging her to the classroom a few doors down.
The classroom had different paintings, all in different art styles that Romance looked at them with wonder. She had always loved the style of Vincent Van Gogh and Leonardo da Vinci for some years but she knew she couldn't draw like them.
Sure, her mum was the more artistic one with painting in her family but what she was most passionate about, was writing. She never did much painting and instead would rather draw on paper and colour in with pens or pencils or go on her Macbook Air and draw.
Romance was pulled over to one of the desks in the back and Beautify, Sparkly Eyes and Face Shine sat at the same one. She looked at them with an unsure look and gave a soft sigh.
"You know… I should sit at the front… as I've bad eyesight…" Romance stuttered and she gave a look of fear when Beautify looked at her with a disgusted frown.
Beautify gasped with shock as she put a hand on her chest, leaning back in her chair slightly.
"Are you refusing to hang out with us?" Beautify demanded with a glare and Romance froze in place, unable to get herself to get off her chair and go to one of the front desks.
"No, no, I-"
Sparkly Eyes gripped Romance's arm tightly that she could feel the sharp nails.
"I knew it, you'll never have any friends because of the way you are. Like look at your hair, you've no makeup and what type of girl wears black? That's so not cool!"
Romance looked at the girls with tears building up in her eyes and she noticed that Face Shine had a look of worry. Beautify and Sparkly Eyes punched their fists against their palms as if ready for a fight. Romance had always been verbally bullied but never had anyone physically hit her except when she punched a girl in the arm for gossiping about her. She got her arm punched back and it hurt for some time.
Romance thought she was a goner and going to be home with bruises, when someone stomped up to the desk and slammed their hands on it.
"Hey, leave her alone!"
The three girls looked at the figure with frowns and Romance looked at them with shock, surprised someone was standing up for her. Jakee was helping her out like this?
"Hey! Mind your own business, cowboy!" Beautify yelled with anger and she also slammed her hands on the desk.
"Uhhh, Beautify, don't want to wreck your nails." Face Shine protested with a worried look.
Sparky Eyes nodded slightly as she still glared at Jakee.
"Hey, you're clearly threatening to punch a new student, all because she said she needs to sit up front as she has bad eyesight," Jakee scolded and he crossed his arms on his chest. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to take her to the front since you don't seem to want to. Try anything else and I'll get you for it."
Romance blinked in surprise and she grabbed her rucksack that was on the back of her chair.
"Fine but we'll make her school year as horrible as possible. Don't think we'll stop at all, little Miss Goody Two Shoes." Beautify threatened with a glare and Romance gulped.
Jakee gave one last glare before he held out his hand to Romance, who looked at it with confusion. After a moment's hesitation, she put her hand in his and he led her to one of the front desks where a few others sat. She recognised them as the other guys she saw in the previous class.
"Hey Jakee, I see you brought a girl along." Robert teased with a smile and the cowboy just rolled his eyes.
"Guys, this is RomanceWriter, just saved her from getting physical violence from those three girls in the back." Jakee replied with a smile and Romance looked at the others with a shy look.
"Well not in the saving a damsel in distress like situation you see in books and movies but yeah." Romance responded with a blush and she sat down in one of the chairs.
"Yeah those three have always been trouble, Beautify gets away with things just because she's rich and can surprisingly get what she wants with puppy eyes." Pat Rex muttered and he crossed his arms.
"Always causing trouble and the principal never seems to notice unless he's being blackmailed by Beautify's family." Lefty finished with a nod of his head.
Beautify, Sparkly Eyes and Face Shine looked in their direction and the lead bully gave a "I've got my eye on you" signal with her right hand.
"So… what interests do you guys have?" Romance asked shyly when they didn't talk for a moment.
Lefty gave a small smile and leaned forward slightly in his chair.
"I'm a racing fan."
Romance gave a small gasp of surprise. A fellow racing fan!
"So am I! I finally meet a fellow racing fan!"
Lefty and Romance gave each other grins and instantly gave high fives.
"What racing are you a fan of?" Pat Rex asked with a warm smile as he leaned forward in his seat like Lefty did.
"Well I'm into Formula One, been watching it since I was nine years old." Romance beamed and Lefty and Pat Rex just looked at each other with disbelief.
"Seriously? That sport sucks." Lefty replied with a disgusted sigh and Romance blinked at them as if she was offended. How dare someone say that her favourite sport sucked?!
Romance put her right hand to her chest and leaned back in her seat as if she was just shocked or something scared her.
"Excuse me?! What did you say about Formula One?" Romance demanded, smacking her hands on the desk. Jakee stifled his laugh with his right hand as he tried not to start bursting out laughing.
"You heard what he said." Pat Rex teased with a smirk and Romance just glared at him. Jakee still tried not to laugh and Robert also did the same.
"You will be a fan of NASCAR and that'll be a mission for me to do." Lefty challenged with a smirk and Romance just rolled her eyes with disgust.
"Oh, is that a challenge? We'll see about that." Romance responded with a mischievous smile and she crossed her arms.
Whack!
Romance jolted awake then she looked to the front of the class. She had slept in class? The teacher, Mr Algebra, held a long ruler in his hand and everyone looked at him with slightly widened eyes.
"Listen here, all of you, I don't care if it's your last week of school, you're still going to be doing some maths questions!" Mr Algebra yelled that Romance almost jumped out of her seat when he once again smacked the ruler on his desk.
Author's Note: Well that's the end of that chapter and hopefully soon I'll get the third chapter up.