Bruises and Deli Busts
Don walked into his history class and noticed everyone staring at him, and judging by their stares he figured he was late or so he thought. "Ah, Senor Lacson, good of you to join us. I was just about to get started, please, have a seat." the professor said. Don scanned the classroom and found that his seat near the back had been taken. He mentally swore and made his way to a desk that was nearer to the front but in the middle of class. "Oh my," the professor started, "do I detect a hint of bile in the air?" Don mentally slapped himself, he was sure he cleaned out his pocket the best he could, bile must be more potent in smell than he realized. Don sat down at the desk and grimaced when the damp pocket touched his leg. Today was going to be one of those days.
The professor went over to the computer in the classroom and started booting it up for his power-point presentation. "Now if we could muster some patience, we can begin lecture as soon as I've downloaded my notes." It was about a full minute before the professor began to type in his login information after which the computer went through its setup phase. There was a brief moment before a message popped up saying that the computer was not connected to the network. Disregarding that message, the professor clicked the icon for the internet before he was faced with a "cannot reach the server" message. "Well, it seems as if I can't reach my materials." he said looking at the computer screen. "If only my intern were here, he'd know what to do, until then I'll just blame all this on demons attacking the schools network." Another student piped up, "So does this mean that we don't have class?" he asked in a hopeful tone. The professor laughed, which to Don, sounded rather amused, "Oh my, No, of course not, luckily for you I remembered most of what I wanted to talk about today." There was a collective sigh from the rest of the students, and the professor began his lecture. " Oh just so you all know, there will be a test next week, so be sure to review your notes. Now, when as the Spanish began to push further and further into what is now Texas..."
As the lecture continued on, Don felt the inevitable feeling of fatigue slowly begin to take over him as he took notes. He eyelids slowly closed and just like that he was asleep. Derpy noticed Don's pen wasn't moving anymore and looked up at him. Her brow furrowed when she saw he was asleep and took flight. "Hey! Wake up!" she called into his ear. "Hellooo!" Derpy tried several audible calls only to be unsuccessful in waking the human. She rubbed her chin with her hoof as she thought of more ideas before she decided on a last resort. She flew up to Don's face before turning around. "Sorry Don." she said before she put all her strength into kicking him in the face.
"Ow! What the fu-" Don nearly yelled before he stopped himself. Everyone in the class stopped and looked at him again. "Uh...sorry..." Don looked down at Derpy with a cross face. Derpy only responded with a smile before sitting down and listening to the lecture again. The rest of the class continued this way; whenever Don fell asleep, Derpy responded by kicking him in the face. Don's frustration was becoming apparent, however he didn't want to cause a big scene in class and waited till afterwards to confront her.
"What was THAT all about back there?!" Don nearly yelled. "I fall asleep and you KICK me in the face?!" Derpy landed on a nearby table. "You said you wanted my help! Plus I tried to wake you up, but you couldn't hear me!" Don sighed in frustration, "There's got to be a better way to do this." Derpy flew back onto his shoulder, "I don't think so." she replied. "You have so much confidence in me..." he said sarcastically. "One of us has to."
Don was about to retort when somebody called out to him. "Hey man-whoa, what's with your face? You have a whole bunch of little horseshoe marks on it." Lewis pointed out as he approached the two. Don scrambled for answers, "Well, uh, I.." he mumbled. "Oh I get, you're an Indianapolis Colts fan. That's a good team." Don had a confused look, "Umm, you know what, yeah that's exactly it. Let's go with that." Lewis only raised an eyebrow before continuing on, "Anyways, I just got more episodes of-" He was cut off, "Yeah, that's great, but I got another test I gotta study for." Don said. "Another test? In what class?"
He paused for a moment to think, "Um, History." he said, "But didn't you have a test like that already in that class? You know, when you had a test, then it got cancelled, but you went to go do it anyways?" asked Lewis, "Oh well, yeah, but, that was a...practice...test..." Don said unsurely. "A practice test?" Lewis repeated, "Yeah a practice test, and it would...give us some participation points for class..." Derpy raised an eyebrow, "You're a terrible liar." she said, Don quickly glanced at her, "Not now." he muttered. "What was that?" Lewis asked, "Oh uh, nothing, hey listen, I need to go, gotta go to another class and what not, I'll catch you later." Don turned to leave and he could've sworn he heard Lewis say "But you don't have class right now," but he wasn't about to look back.
The rest of the day mirrored his morning of repeatedly being kicked in the face every time he fell asleep. By the time school was out, Don's face had many little horseshoe hoof prints as well as a massive headache. He was at home when he decided to bring up Derpy's method of keeping him awake again.
"Seriously, this kicking me in the face thing is not helping me at all, at least not my health anyways." Derpy sighed, "Well, it's the only way we're going to keep you awake during class, so until we figure out something else, I'll keep doing it." Don faced her, "And disregard my health and well-being?!" Derpy stood up, "Well, Marie Curie worked with radioactive materials and she had no idea what they were doing to her, but she did it anyways." Don had a blank stare on his face, "That doesn't justify you kicking me in the face! And you need to stop reading my books."
"So aren't you gonna study?" Derpy asked. Don raised an eyebrow and looked from a magazine he was reading while lying down, "Study? For what?" Derpy flew to his desk, "For the test next week, didn't you hear the professor?" Don just waved a hand, "Oh, that's not till next week though, it can wait." Derpy flew over and landed on his chest with an angry look. "I think you should study." he looked at her, "Or I could study, sure. That sounds like a fantastic idea." He said while getting up.
The two studied for a while, Derpy would have Don read aloud to her and then she'd ask him about people and places he read about. This went on for about an hour before she stopped him. "I think we can take a break now." She said getting up from her place on the desk. "Thank God," Don said while looking up at the ceiling. "Plus I'm getting hungry." she said, "Sure what do you want?" Don asked while getting up to go to the kitchen. Derpy thought for moment, "I know, I want a BLT." Don did a double-take, "I'm sorry, you want a what?" Derpy looked at him confused. "A BLT, you do know what a BLT is right?" Don couldn't believe what he was hearing, "Um, yeah of course I do, but...you...want...that?" He asked again. Derpy sighed in frustration, "Yes, I want a BLT." Don shook his head, "Well, okay I guess...if that's what you really want..." he said leaving the room.
"BLT, why the hell does she want me to make a BLT?! I thought they ate hay and fruit and stuff, y'know a standard vegetarian diet." He rooted around in his fridge and pulled out a package of bacon. "Still can't believe she wants one of these things, but okay, if she says so..." He went on making the sandwich, still questioning the logic in all of this. Eventually he finished and returned to the room.
"It's ready!" Don called as he walked down the hallway. "Oh boy," Derpy said from the room, "I really love a good Bread, Lettuce and Tomato Sandwich!" Don immediately tossed the sandwich off the plate where it landed in the trash can in the bathroom. Derpy flew into the hallway, "Where's my sandwich?" she asked, "Um...it...it was ruined..." Derpy looked surprised, "What? How?" he scrambled for answers, "Uh, this guy...Hamton...yeah it wasn't pretty." Derpy furrowed her brow, "Well, that wasn't very nice of him." Don let out a nervous laugh, "Yeah, totally caught me off guard, although it would've been delicious. c'mon, I'll make you another one." He said motioning for her to go to the kitchen. When she was out of sight, Don let out a long sigh and slid down to the floor. "Bread, Lettuce and Tomato...BLT, I hate my life..."
After making her sandwich correctly the two sat down in the kitchen to eat. They sat in silence for a while before Don spoke up, "Can I ask you a question?" Derpy looked up from a small piece she was about to bite, "Sure, about what?" Don thought for a moment, "Your eyes, have they always been like that?" Derpy put down her portion of the sandwich, "As far as I can remember they have." she replied. "Do you see any different than a normal...pony would?" Don asked, "No, I see just fine, it's just..." she trailed off. "It's just what?" Derpy thought for a moment, "It's just that all the other ponies look at me strange and think that I'm...different." Don looked confused, "Different? What do you mean?" he asked, "They think that just because my eyes are like this, and that I'm clumsy, that I'm some sort of..." she stopped. "Invalid?" Don finished, "Yeah, that."
The two sat in silence again, before Derpy spoke up again, "You...You don't think I'm-" Don immediately shook his head, "No, of course not, Clumsy yes, but, some kind of mentally inept pony? No, of course not, I know you're intelligent and that you try your best. You may destroy a couple of things in the process, but at least you try." Derpy looked up and smiled, "Thanks, y'know, that's the first time that I've heard that said in honesty." Don looked confused, "What do you mean?" he asked, "Well, it's just that, I know the other ponies don't exactly... like me." she said. "Of course they like you," Don argued, "I mean, I'm sure they include you in things." Derpy shook her head, "Yeah, they do, but I can tell that they're just trying to be nice."
Don mulled the thought over, "Wow, she can see through their guises, who knew?" There was another lull in the conversation, "So, are you finished?" he asked motioning toward her plate. "Yes, I think I'm done." Don grabbed the plate with a couple of remnants of the sandwich still left on it and placed it on the counter before heading back to the room. "Don," Derpy called, "What?" She flew up and landed on his shoulder, "Thanks for accepting a clumsy pony like me."
The two walked back to the room before Derpy spoke up again, "What happened to your friend Hamton?" There was another awkward silence, "Umm, he ... he got thrown out..."