Chapter Two
"Gosh darn it!" AJ snarled, kicking violently at the broken bag of fertilizer at her feet. She had been hauling the sacks out to field and this one in particular had decided that giving her the slip was the best idea in the freakin' world. Tears of anger stung at her eyes, and she pushed them bag, bending to pick up what was left of the bag.
"Y'okay?" Mac murmured, deep, rumbling voice startling her. For someone so large, he could move a quiet as a field mouse when he wanted to. He crouched beside the broken bag, yet didn't make any move to help her. It was a good thing they knew each other so well. AJ really didn't want help, it would rub her entirely the wrong way.
"Yeah. No. Maybe. I dunno." She sighed, blowing a stray lock of hair out of her eyes. "I will be, once I get this darned horse crap out to the field."
"No time now, AJ, we gotta get changed and get ready for the bus." Mac reminded gently. He stood slowly, taking the bag from her dirty hands. "You go wash up, I got this for now." She glared at him and he merely smirked. "Go on. Get now. You need a shower, you're filthy."
As she rushed through the house and upstairs to her bathroom, she realized Mac really should have called her in sooner. She only had fifteen minutes to shower, dry off, and get changed. Darn it, she swore again, mentally, I ain't gonna be able to dry my darned hair in time. Darn darn darn!
Clothes strewn across her bedroom floor, AJ hopped under the hot rush of water, bowing her head to watch the grime slide down the drain. Going to school with wet hair wasn't nearly as bad as going to school dirty. And if there was one thing she didn't want to do, it was add dirt bag to the list of names the richer kids had begun to call the Apple trio.
Fighting back tears for the second time that day, AJ silently closed her eyes. It felt like a lifetime, yet today was only her second day at the new school. Somehow, she just knew it would be worse than the first.
ZZZ
"So AJ, how was day two?" AJ was surprised to see Pinkie standing at her locker when class let out for lunch. A part of her hidden deep inside was secretly grateful for the energetic, insanely friendly pink haired girl. It was nice to see a friendly, if not familiar face.
"Ah, not the best..."
"No?" Pinkie's brow furrowed in confusion, as if she were unable to grasp the concept of a bad day. "Oh! I know! You can tell us girls and Mac all about it at lunch! And then we can make you feel better! Maybe we'll have a 'Be Happy AJ Lunch Party' in your honor! That'll have to be tomorrow though, because I'll need to make a cake and," She gasped, "Muffins!" Pinkie had her arm firmly locked with AJ's as they strutted through the school and out back to the picnic table.
"Uuh, Pinkie, I don't know if I need a par-"
"Hey girls, AJ's had a rough day, so we're going to make it better. Okay?"
Mac raised an eyebrow, amused, but said nothing. Rainbow leaned forward, curious, and the others gave AJ sympathetic looks.
"I used to be the new girl, too. I only moved here a year ago, from an even bigger city than this. I had to leave my best friend Spike behind." Twilight said quietly, poking at her salad. "I really didn't know anybody around here, and...well, no one was very nice to me. Pinkie ended up dragging me over to this group of people, and I ended up fitting in. It'll get better." She paused, before adding, "Eventually."
AJ sat across from Twilight, curious now. "How did y'all meet anyway?"
"Fluttershy and I went to the same grade school, we've known each other for as long as we can remember." Rainbow said thoughtfully. "We met Pinkie Pie in grade six."
"Dashie saved me from some mean bullies who wanted to beat me up and steal my stuff!" Pinkie cried, hopping up onto the table. She sat at the end of it, so she could see everyone. "I didn't know what to do, and all of a sudden, Dashie was there. She was like my knight in shining track shorts!"
"And I'd known Pinkie for a while as well, we were in a few of the same classes. When my group of friends turned out to be...lying, coniving backstabbers...Well, Rainbow was the one who told me what they'd been saying in the girls locker room. So I started hanging out with these three around the same time Twilight joined the group."
"And we've been a happy family ever since." Fluttershy finished. AJ was startled by the soft, sweet voice, and she could see Mac's head jerk up from the corner of her eye.
"So what happened to make your day so bad? Do I need to kick some ass?" Rainbow asked, leaning across the table. Her eyes were bright with rage and excitement, and AJ wondered if the girl was just looking for a fight.
"I can handle my own, if I gotta." AJ replied shortly. She heard Bloom snort. "It's not that big a deal. Just little comments about hicks and rednecks. You know." She shrugged, not really knowing what else to add. Saying it out loud made it seem like it wasn't a big deal at all. She felt foolish for getting so worked up over such a small thing. Words. They really couldn't -
She wasn't expecting the burst of outrage from everyone at the table, aside from her siblings. Even Fluttershy was muttering angilly. She watched, astonished, as all at once they began to speak. She caught bits of their sentences, how upset they were for her, how rude some people could be. Sweetie Belle threw in a few angry, "I hate people!"s as well, her older sister nodding in agreement.
Suddenly, AJ laughed. She was bent in the middle, clutching desperately at her stomach. When the laughter began to subside, she realized there was silence all around her. Cautiously, she looked up.
"The heck was that about silly willy?" Pinkie was grinning as well, on the verge of laughter herself. Pinkie was always up for a good laugh, even if she didn't know what the heck they were laughing about.
"Y-you guys. Gettin' so angry over nothin'."
"But you were the one who was sad!" Pinkie protested, leaning forward to steal an apple slice. "Silly head, we were only upset because you looked so upset!" AJ must have looked confused, because Pinkie stopped eating long enough to continue. "That's what best friends are for! Friends will pat you on the shoulder, but best friends will offer to kill someone and help hide the body!"
Rainbow clapped a hand over her oldest friends shoulder, grinning widely. "Oh Pinkie, you're so random!"
It caused a bout of laughter amongst the original group and, even though she didn't know why, AJ laughed as well. She left lunch that day feeling limitless. It helped too, that Rainbow walked her to class.
AJ hated accepting other people's help but...what the hay. That's what friends were for, right? A little voice in her head, one that sounded irritatingly familiar whispered best friends. Smiling, AJ nodded. Yeah. Best friends. That sounded good.
She'd never had one of them before.
ZZZ
"Sorry I didn't notice you were in my class yesterday." Bloom said to Belle, walking side by side with the slightly shorter girl. They had just left lunch with their Older Sisters and Co - as they had begun to call the 'group' - and were on their way back to their own school.
"No worries. It can't be easy being the new kid. You had your head down half the day!" Belle exclaimed, flashing Bloom a charming grin. "I asked the teacher though, and she said you could sit beside me if we promise not to talk through class."
"That's what notes are for!" Bloom added, snickering to herself. Her arms began to flail wildly, and she felt the world spinning around her. She closed her eyes, trying to prepare herself for hitting the cement face first, when two hands caught her 'round the shoulders. "Wha?"
"Sorry about that, I was just -"
"Scootaloo!" Their teacher, Mrs Cheerilee hollered from the back steps. She looks disapointed, although not angry. "What have I told you about leaving your skateboard lying around?"
"I was just -"
"No!" Mrs Cheerilee bounced over to grab the board from the ground. "I'm taking this for the rest of the day, and I don't want to see it back here for the rest of the week! Am I understood?" The three preteens could see that being mean was nearly physically painful for their favorite teacher.
Scootaloo nodded, yet said nothing.
"Good. Now you can come to my office and get this back at the end of the day. Go to class, all three of you."
As she walked away, they could hear her mumbling about how badly someone could have been hurt.
Bloom took a deep breath, raising her eyes to Scootaloo. The girl was tall, awkwardly so, with a mop of wild hair sitting atop her head. Everything about her screamed reject. Apple Bloom bet that Scoot was probably amazingly nice. "Sorry about that, shoulda been watching where I was going."
Scowling and scoffing as if it were no big deal, Scootaloo tossed her hair. "Whatever." She shrugged and walked away, shoulders hunched up as high as they would go.
"What's her deal?" Bloom asked her new friend.
"No idea. She's always been like that. I wouldn't bother with her."
As they finally arrived at their class, Bloom watched Scootaloo take the seat in the very back left. "But she looks lonely." She said quietly, brow furrowed in concern.
"Like I said, she's always been like that."
Well, Apple Bloom decided, I'm just gonna have to change that. After all, if AJ could make friends, she could too.