Tommy almost hadn't been able to enjoy his summer with the knowledge that when the fall came around again, he'd be back in the same boring classroom, studying the same boring subjects. So he'd messed up a little last year, and hadn't gotten the best grades he could... Well, if he found it boring and unbearable the first time around, what made them think he'd find it interesting enough to do better next year?
Ignoring and eventually forgetting the fact that he'd be in the same classroom with a bunch of kids he didn't know the following year, Tommy was able to enjoy his summer. However, September did eventually come, and he did eventually have to go back to school. He didn't sit with anyone on the bus, he didn't want to explain to the kids from his old class why he wouldn't be in the same class as them this year, he'd just disappear. Maybe they'd think he'd died or something. It didn't much matter. Unless they demanded his return.
"Hey Tommy! Give me your lunch money." Terry, the bully, demanded from him.
"No." Tommy calmly spoke. "I am above caving into the evil requests of bullies."
When the bus stopped and the school and let the children off, Tommy was last, with some bruises and now lunch money less. "Hey Terry! You may have one this battle, but Ultralord will win the war! You will be suffering at the hands of good very soon! Ha!" he shouted as he stood on top of the stairs.
"Oh brother." Tommy's classmates from the previous year sighed.
"There he goes again." another said. Terry just laughed.
"And now I'M going to the NURSE'S." Tommy frowned as he walked away. Then he thought maybe he shouldn't have announced that, as much laughter followed him. The nurse patched him up, and then sent him to class much after the bell had rung. As he went to the door. He noticed something funny. Caution tape around it. "Hm..." he said as he reached under it for the doorknob.
"Hey Ultra Dweeb, what's going on?" a familiar voice asked him.
"Oh, hi Scootaloo. Looks like you're late for class. Just like all the time last year. I'm late for class too. Isn't that funny? I'm not usually late for class. But I am today. Hey, wait, don't you remember, this isn't the classroom you should go to this year, you should be-"
"Shut up." Scootaloo said calmly, rolling his eyes. "And just tell me what happened here."
"I don't know. I'm late. Because, you know... Hey, where are you going, Scootaloo?" Tommy went after him.
"I'll just say I thought class was canceled." Scootaloo muttered.
"Hello, boys!" the Principal stopped them both. Then both stopped. Scootaloo glared a little over in Tommy's direction for calling attention to them. "You want to start this year off on the right foot, don't you? Of course you do! If you had both come to class on time, you'd know that the classroom was moved to the library temporality because there was a little accident. You both should go over there right away. Do you need me to escort you?"
"It's just right over there." Scootaloo said in a half mumble as he dragged his feet over to the library.
"Yeah, thanks Mr. Principal." Tommy said before he ran off with Scootaloo. When they entered the library, they found it in chaos. The children talked loudly, and sat out of order in the tables, plus there was no teacher in sight. Scootaloo stood aside, so Tommy did too. "So Scootaloo, you got held back too? It's nothing to feel bad about. It doesn't mean you're stupid, just that you should try harder That's what my psychiatrist told me both times. You sh-"
"Tommy?" Scootaloo interrupted him.
"Yeah?"
"Shut up before I weld your mouth shut for good." Scootaloo said just as coolly as ever.
"You can do that?" Tommy asked, wide eyed and amazed. Scootaloo responded with a glare. "Um, right." Tommy made a motion with his hand to say he'd zipped his mouth shut.
"Class, calm down!" Miss Fowl said as she'd entered. "Scootaloo, Tommy, why are you standing up?"
Tommy wanted to reply, but remembered what Scootaloo had told him, so he said nothing. Scootaloo did. "Wasn't sure if this was the right class."
"Well it is, and you two should sit down right away." Miss Fowl said. "The rest of you, settle down and get in order!"
Scootaloo pulled over a chair and sat at the end of one of the tables, then Tommy got his own chair and sat down next to him. The other kids groaned as they had to move over more.
"Thanks a lot Pippi, because of your stupid little experiment, we're all stuck in here." Annika said. She was not too happy, being squashed between Applebloom and another girl. There's wasn't a lot of room in the library. Many others glared at him, their thoughts similar. "Maybe you could let us in on your plans to ruin the other one-hundred seventy-nine days of school?" she turned around and faced the big-headed boy.
"Actually, there are one-hundred and eighty-four days of school left after today, they add five days to the school year in case of unplanned snow days." Pippi said knowingly.
"Well if there are five snow days, then I guess you'll be wrong and I'll be right, won't I?" Annika said. "Showoff." she commented to the girls around her.
"Well-"
"That's enough from you two." Miss Fowl said. "Silence now, as I take roll call. Wait, first I have an announcement. There's two new students in your class this year that you might not know." Miss Fowl said. Retroville Elementary was a small school, but students tended to stick around the other students in their own grade level. "I know you'll help them feel welcome. There's Scootaloo Dean,"
"Hey." Scootaloo turned around and casually waved to his classmates. Many girls oooed and giggled shyly.
"And Tommy. Now be quiet for role call, so I can learn all of your names." Miss Fowl said.
The class was quieter, but there was still much talking going on. "Scootaloo is so cute. And we get him in our class this year!" Annika said.
"I know, it's like a dream come true." Applebloom said. "It's going to be great to have him around this year, I bet."
"I don't see what's so great about him." Pippi commented.
"Don't get jealous because there's no way you'll ever be as cool as him. And who invited you into our conversation, anyway?" Annika asked.
"Sorry." Pippi said darkly.
"Here!" Applebloom called as Miss Fowl said her name. "Maybe he could blow up the library, so we could get out of school early." she then suggested.
"Or at least get to move to a better room." Annika said.
"The library is no place for experimenting, it's a place for research." Pippi said.
"Away!" Annika pointed, not even looking at Pippi.
"Fine." Pippi stopped leaning across the table, and just talked to his friend Sweetie Belle.
"How about that guy in the Ultralord shirt?" Applebloom grinned, trying not to laugh.
Annika nodded. "Ninety-nine percent chance of freak."
"I don't see why you bother with those girls anyway, Jim." Sweetie Belle said. Pippi shrugged.
Tommy was thinking something quite different. He was thinking, maybe this year of school wasn't going to be so bad. After all, he was older than the other kids here. That made him cooler, like Scootaloo. Well, maybe not exactly like Scootaloo. He smiled as he a groups of girls giggling and pointing at him. Yep, they liked him, he was sure of it.
"Here." the boy sitting next to Scootaloo spoke.
"HERE! Oh, I'm here!" Tommy shouted.
"I already passed your name, Tommy." Miss Fowl said. The girls giggled and laughed at him.
Lunchtime. It took a moment before Tommy remembered he had to sit down with his grade level, and not the kids who were in his old class. He looked around the two tables set aside for Miss Fowl's class for an empty place. He went over to where Scootaloo was sitting with the boys. Scootaloo, sensing his thoughts, moved his lunch tray to the empty seat. He had seen far too much of Tommy for one day. "It's taken." Scootaloo said. "Guess you'll have to find somewhere else."
"Okay." Tommy said. "No problem." he looked around, and then decided to sit with the girls who liked him. Across from a cute blond with pigtails and a button-up pink shirt there was an empty seat. "Hello ladies, the Tommy is here." he said, and then sat down before anyone could protest.
"The Tommy?" Applebloom repeated. The other girls laughed.
"Yeah, I noticed that you wanted me to come over and talk to you, so here I am." he said, smiling at the girls.
"Sooo, what's going on?" Tommy asked. No one responded to him.
"At least he's not asking about Ultralord." Annika whispered to Applebloom.
"Do you girls like Ultralord?" Tommy said, right on cue.
Annika was the one to talk for the group. "No, we do not like Ultralord, and we don't like annoying boys either. So if you would please just leave."
"But I'm the Tommy and-"
"Leave." Annika repeated herself simply.
Tommy said nothing, he just glared at the blond girl, before picking up his tray and moving to the more deserted end of the table. "Stupid girls. Maybe they're just shy. I like it when they play hard to get. Why am I just talking to myself?"
"You are?" a chubby redhead spoke to him.
"Sweetie Belle, maybe we sh..." Pippi paused. Maybe they shouldn't talk to him, that was obvious, but Pippi himself knew what it was like to be the odd one out. If he ignored Tommy, he would be just like the kids he'd hated. And Tommy was a little eccentric, but he still seemed like an overall good guy.
"What were you saying, Pippi?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Hello Tommy." Pippi greeted him. "On behalf of Retroville Elementary, I'd like to welcome you to our school. We're not all like mean like some people around here. Don't let Annika get to you, she's like that to everyone."
"So she has other boyfriends, huh?" Tommy thought.
"What are you talking about?" Pippi blinked.
"Nothing!" Tommy said quickly. "Thanks, but I'm not new to this school. I was left back last year."
"Oh." Pippi said, now uncomfortable.
"Maybe Pippi could help you with your homework." Sweetie Belle suggested. "Pippi's real smart, you know."
"Pippi?" Tommy thought, where had he heard that name before. "Oh, Pippi! The kid that blew up the classroom."
"I didn't blow it up." Pippi sighed. "It's just a little charred right now... Maybe some of those desks are now totaled.. But I didn't blow anything up, there wasn't a lot of damage. Not compared to some of the other times."
"Cool!" Tommy exclaimed. "Oh, I'm Tommy but you knew that already."
"Pippi Pippi, same thing." Pippi shook Tommy's hand. "Pleased to meet you."
"Um, yeah, same here." Tommy wasn't used to such formalities, but still thought Pippi seemed kind of cool. "What about you, what's your name?" he asked Sweetie Belle.
"Oh, um, it's Sweetie Belle Weezer." Sweetie Belle said shyly.
"Hey Sweetie Belle! Say, do you guys watch Ultralord?" Tommy asked.
"Yeah." Sweetie Belle nodded.
"Me too, when I get the time and I'm not working in my lab." Pippi said.
"Ultralord forever! You have a lab?" Tommy's eyes widened.
"Yeah." Pippi said.
"I want to see."
"Well, I don't know, it's kind of a secret lab. The only person I've shown before is Sweetie Belle."
"Secret? Now I really want to see it! You'll show me, right?"
"Okay.." Pippi hesitantly agreed.
"ALL RIGHT!" Tommy jumped up in excitement.
"Settle down, Tommy." one of the lunch monitors, familiar with the boy, said to him.
"Right. Sorry." Tommy sat down again.
"Looks like Ultrageek found his own kind." Annika said. "Then there were three." she spoke to herself as she stabbed her peas with a spork.
"Wow..." Tommy looked around with wide eyes at Pippi's lab. "It's awesome! It's the coolest thing I've ever seen! And probably will be until I meet Ultralord."
"Thanks." Pippi smiled, he did enjoy compliments. "I'll show you some of my inventions, but then we should leave, okay?" he said, mostly because he didn't want to the hyper kid to accidentally break anything.
"Okay." Tommy and Sweetie Belle agreed.
"This is my jet pack." Pippi held it up. "It still has a few bugs, but once I get it to work, I should be able to fly anywhere."
"Cool, can I see?" Tommy asked. Pippi carefully handed it to him. He put it on. "Let me try!" he said.
"No, Tommy, weren't you listening it's not ready." Pippi said.
But Tommy wasn't listening then, or afterwards, he turned on the jet pack and went sailing up into the air, shouting excitedly. But he soon hit the ceiling, and then tumbled back to the ground. "Ow." Tommy said.
"Well, it seemed to work all right. Just need to remember to start it outside, I think I can handle it." Pippi said as he took notes.
"Ah, are you all right?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"That was cool! Can I try again?" Tommy asked.
"Maybe that's not a good idea." Pippi said, but he was smiling.
"It could use some rocket launchers to go on it! Oh, and you know how Ultralord's is? Maybe you could.."
Pippi just nodded at Tommy's suggestions. It was the start of a really weird friendship.
The End