Tuesday, January 19, 2016

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Today's Horoscope (Virgo): Someone you've recently befriended is going through a problem you've already faced. Show solidarity and support; it will deepen your bond with that friend.

After School

While I'm tuning my guitar in the Music Club room, Octavia walks in. Her posture is stiff and angry. Everyone gives her a wide berth.

She grabs one of the electric basses nobody ever really touches, plugs it into an amp, and just starts...playing a really angry-sounding bass riff. Everybody stares at her.

Lyra wanders over to me. "I didn't even know Tavi could play one of those," she says.

"She can't," I say. "Not that I'm about to tell her that..."

Octavia's foul mood poisons the atmosphere to the point that everybody leaves early. After I pack up my guitar, I walk over to her. "Octavia? What's wrong?"

Octavia looks up at me with a scowl, then sighs. "Today has been...horrible," she says. She looks down at the bass. "Vinyl wouldn't really talk to me at lunch. She wouldn't even take off her headphones. It's the only time I can really spend time with her at all, and she wouldn't..."

I sigh. "Yeah...she was kinda like that yesterday, too. I think this whole business of learning how to be blind has her down."

Octavia nods. "I suppose so." She frowns. "Also, I had...a fight with my mother. She's been getting on my case lately about how she refuses to let me ruin all her careful plans and hard work by making the wrong kind of friends."

"Ouch."

"I..." Octavia swallows. "I said something very rude to her this morning. I've been screening her calls and ignoring her texts all day."

"That...probably wasn't a good idea," I say. "I mean, it's going to be that much worse when you go home, right?"

She looks away. "I know..." She sighs. "I'm just...so frustrated with her! My friendship with Vinyl is the one choice I've ever made for myself! Do I not have the right to make one stupid choice for myself?"

"Of course you do," I say. "You can't let your mother control your entire life. It isn't right. It isn't normal."

"It is in my family," Octavia says. "My grandmother did the exact same thing to her. And her mother before her..." She sighs. "That's just...the way it's been."

I hesitate before asking, "What...what about your dad?"

Octavia snorts. "He might as well have 'Welcome' tattooed on his arse," she says.

"Yikes."

Octavia's phone rings. She pulls it out, looks at it, and grimaces. "I...I guess I should...face the music." She puts down the bass. "Thank you...for listening."

"It's what friends are for."

"I just wish Vinyl had felt up to listening," Octavia says.

"Hey...don't hold it against her if she gets like that sometimes," I say. "Neither of us can really even begin to imagine what she's going through."

Octavia sighs. "You're right, of course." She collects her things and leaves. I take a few minutes to straighten up the room, then head back to the dorm.

Evening

Apple Bloom asks me for help with her homework when I get back.

We're sitting in the dining room because Luna and Rainbow Dash are making entirely too much noise in the lounge.

"Is she like that at school?" Apple Bloom asks. "Ms. Luna, Ah mean."

I shake my head. "At school, she's the scariest teacher in the world. You do not get on her bad side." I laugh. "But here at the dorm, she's an entirely different person."

"Why're yer principals hangin' out at th' dorm, anyway?"

I sigh. "We've had...some problems this year. Your sister didn't tell you about any of it?" When Apple Bloom shakes her head, I shrug. "There's been a lot of bullying centered around everyone in this dorm, especially me, Twilight, and Rainbow, and somebody even hacked our computers and our webcams."

Apple Bloom's eyes widen. "Y'all git bullied too?"

I frown. "What do you mean 'too'?"

Apple Bloom flinches, then looks down and sighs. "Ah'm havin'...problems at school," she says. "Don't tell Applejack, alright? There's...there's this girl, Diamond Tiara...she's like, super-rich, an' a lotta kids hang around with her because of it."

"And she's been teasing you."

Apple Bloom nods. "Ah don't even know why," she says. "She just picks on me all th' time fer bein' so...country."

"Then she's an idiot," I say.

"But...she gets other kids laughin' at me...she's got this friend, Silver Spoon, they're like, attached at th' hip or somethin'...whatever Diamond Tiara says, Silver Spoon laughs at it, then says things that...that really cut me deep." Apple Bloom looks like she's about to cry. "An' Ah don't know why," she says. "Ah ain't never said one word t' them girls. They jes'...started in on me outta nowhere!"

"Hey, I know what you're going through," I say. "This bi—" I cough. "Nasty girl I had never even spoken to started spreading rumors about me as soon as I transferred here, for no reason."

Apple Bloom gives me a cross look. "You can say bitch if you wanna say bitch," she says. "You think Ah don't know them words?"

"I think I don't want Applejack smashing my head in."

Apple Bloom giggles.

"Anyway..." I shake my head. "Don't let those girls bother you, okay? You've got friends, you'll make more friends. The people who matter will see you for who you really are...not for what some dumb little rich girl wants them to think you are."

Apple Bloom sighs and nods. "Thanks," she says. "Ah...Ah'll try not t' let them gals bother me so much..." She looks down. "It's jes'..."

"I know," I say. "Believe me, I know."

Apple Bloom has just finished her homework by dinnertime. After dinner, I have my own homework to deal with; I have more than usual today, and by the time I'm done, I'm ready for bed.