Chapter Nine

"Soarin?" Sonata's mouth dropped. What was he doing here?

"I, uh, had soccer practice," He said slowly. His hair was looking wild and his uniform was stained with mud. Sonata didn't have to guess he was at practice. She also noticed how cute he looked with his hair like that, and that mud on his cheek was- Ack! Why was she even thinking about how cute he was?

"And you know your friend, Aria? Well, she was kinda knocked unconscious…" Soarin continued. Sonata shook her head. What?

"You mean, purple haired Aria?"

Soarin shrugged. "Do you know any other Aria's?" Sonata shook her head again. This time in disbelief.

"How?" She immediately asked.

"Well, she was in the goal," So that WAS her on the field! "And while she was blocking balls, one hit her in the stomach and then I guess she just fainted." Soarin said. Sonata couldn't believe it. She also couldn't imagine the Aria she knew laying on the grass, beaten. She was always acting all tough, but now look at her; Totally owned at soccer. Soarin gulped awkwardly.

"Well, where is she now?" Sonata asked.

"She's on her way home; The activities bus just left…" He replied. She gasped.

"Wait: Just left?!" She exclaimed looking out of the hall window to see the school parking lot empty. No trace of the activity bus. She almost fainted. How in Equestria was she going to get home? The bus ride to the tree house was long anyway, and she couldn't imagine walking. Sonata turned to Soarin suddenly.

"Wait, what about you?" She was pretty sure he took the activity bus too. The boy just shrugged, looking down at his shoes.

"I thought you might want to know about your friend, so…"

"So you missed the bus?" Nobody had done anything like that for her before, and she found it hard to accept. "What? How could you be so stupid?! What kind of idiot misses a bus to tell someone about their friend? You know you could've told me on the bus! And now we're both gonna have to walk!" To her surprise, Soarin looked up, smiling.

"Thank god, I thought you were going to go all sappy on me! But here's the Sonata we all love!" All she could do was roll her eyes at him. "Plus, you would've missed the bus anyway," He then smiled deviously. "And who said we were walking?"

...

Sonata took one look at the vehicle and frowned.

"No; I do not do motorcycles." She hissed through gritted teeth. She had a right to be angry; Soarin was the reason she missed the bus. She didn't care how much he protested. She was sure she would've caught it if he hadn't held her.

The two stood in the door way of a shed behind the school. The shed had always stood alone, looking gloomy and secretive, and Sonata had always thought it was just an empty shed. Nope, this was where Soarin stored all of the stuff he needs at school, but is not allowed. Take, for example, his bike. He kept it in there to ride home if he ever missed the bus. Like today. How he got the shed was anybody's quess.

Soarin grabbed a helmet and pair of goggles from a hook on the wall.

"Oh come on, Crazy hair. Your hair won't get any crazier from riding on a bike." Sonata was starting to wonder if he knew her real name. He tossed her the helmet and slipped the goggles onto his own head. Sonata had never ridden on a bike before. It was something The Dazzlings never needed to know. Soarin hopped onto the seat, making just enough space to fit another person behind him.

"I am not getting on that thing." She said, but she knew there was no other way. Saorin placed the goggles on top of his eyes.

"Well, when you find another way home call me." He said, smiling. Sonata gritted her teeth harder. Boy, how she hated it when he smiled at her like that. Was it because it was extremely annoying in the first place, or that it made her stomach all warm and fuzzy? Never the less, she reluctantly climbed onto the motorcycle and adjusted her helmet. It was too big for her, assuming it was for Soarin's head.

"Okay, you might want to hold onto something." He cautioned. Sonata was so not listening to the boy who got her into this mess, but when he booted the bike up and they were off, she found herself gripping as tightly as she could onto Soarin's soccer jersey. She blushed at how close they were, and scooted back an inch, expanding the empty gap of comfort that was the only thing keeping this from becoming the most awkward thing she'd ever done. She could feel the wind blowing relaxingly through her hair, and the breeze that slapped into her face was painful in an enjoyable way.

"See? Isn't this great?" Soarin called in front of her. Sonata just growled at him, but inside felt like the luckiest girl in the world.

...

Ten minutes after they had departed the school, Sonata felt the motorcycle slowing. She looked around her, noticing how her surroundings became clear. They were no longer whizzing past everything. She heard Soarin cursing, and took that as a bad sign. She tapped him on the back.

"Everything okay up there?" She asked. Soarin turned to her, a nervous expression on his face. "Uh, well, we might've run out of gas…" He braced himself for the rage to kick in. It came sooner than expected. Soon, Sonata was whacking him with the helmet, yelling.

"Who forgets to fill up their gas before leaving?! Oh, yeah- IDIOTS, that's who! I shouldn't be surprised, you are a dim witted twerp who keeps people from getting on their bus!"

"Oh, come on! Are we still arguing about that?" Soarin smiled, and Sonata smacked him again. He jumped off the bike, and handed Sonata his goggles.

"Here; Make yourself useful."

She tilted her head.

"What're you doing?" She asked as he walked to the back of the bike, placing his hands on the rear. Then, he started to push the vehicle forward with a grunt. Sonata's face filled with understanding, and she immediately jumped off.

"No way; You are not pushing this bike all the way home." She crossed her arms and placed the helmet and goggles into the basket up front. Soarin shook his head.

"I'm only pushing it to the nearest gas station." He said smartly. Sonata shot him a glare. "And from my calculations, that's about fifteen miles away." Soarin rolled his eyes.

"Oh yeah, and when have your calculations ever been right?" He said. Sonata flinched. That stung, a lot. She already knew she wasn't that bright, and didn't need everyone reminding her 24/7. When she didn't respond. When Soarin realized how harsh his words had been, he winced, wondering if it was a little too harsh.

"Look, Sonata…"

She didn't even look at him. She turned, jutting her nose up.

"Fine; You wanna push that? Go ahead." And with that she briskly walked off, her arms crossed and muttering. Soarin looked after her in exasperation.

"Sonata? Sonata! Come on!" But she didn't stop or look back at him.

Author's note

Okay! So how did you like that chapter? Sorry it was kind of slow, but I didn't know how to proceed with how Chapter eight ended, so I think this was just a chapter for playing around with Soarin and Sonata's relationship. Well, please don't get mad at me for such a dragging chapter! Oh yeah, and I finally figured out how to indicate that it's a new setting/ paragraph thing (Ack! Can't explain it! Now I have those three ...), so sorry for any confusion in previous chapters!

-Cath