SPARKY
Ch.3 - The "M" Rated Chapter
By That Gamer!
Disclaimer: The chapter is rated "T"
It had been four months since Tara's first day at Hubbard High. Well, 4 months, 4 days and 18 hours and 38 minutes, to be exact. In case you're wondering what happened in those 4 months, 3 days, 18 hours and 13 minutes, I'll give you a brief recap: Nothing happened. 'Cause if something did happen, I'd tell you. Well, Tara's friends never stopped calling her Sparky (and Tara never got used to it), but that's important. So let's move on.
It was a beautiful Saturday morning. The sun was shinning, the birds were singing, it was the opposite of dark & stormy and Tara was sleeping in. She had spent all night the previous night reading various random books until 1 in the morning and had fell asleep on her couch. And she stayed there until the phone rang at 9 A.M. It gave her quite a startle, making her fall off her couch and only half waking her.
"Urgh... What is it?" Tara groaned sleepily into the phone.
"Where are you, darling?" demanded Rachel, who was on the other end. "We've been waiting for you for..." Her voice got quieter, apparently asking somebody else, "How long has it been?"
"An hour," AJ's voice could be heard saying.
"An hour!" Rachel repeated, slapping concern onto it.
"Wha... What are we doing today?" Tara asked, rubbing her eyes.
"Remember the pool I pointed out the other day?" Rachel asked in return.
"It was last week!" AJ shouted in the background.
"Actually, I think it was three days ago," Rene could be heard saying.
"Don't try fooling me with your fancy mathematics!" AJ said back.
"Um, yeah, let's say five days ago," Rachel told Tara. "And could you hold on a second?" Her voice got farther away as she said the following, "HEY, YOU TWO, COULD YOU PLEASE STOP ARGUING?! I'M TRYING TO TALK TO TARA!!"
There was a pause as Tara forced her 3/4-sleepy mind to think. Then she thought of it.
"You know, darling, we're planning on going to that pool over there tomorrow," Rachel told Tara as the two passed the place.
Tara nodded, reading The Chronicles Of Narnia, and said, "That's very interesting, Rachel. By the way, thanks for walking home with me."
"You're welcome, Tara," Rachel replied with a nod. "Sure my house is on the other side of town, but I don't want to disappoint a friend."
"Yeah, you're loyal like that," Tara said.
"Mm-hm..." Rachel was quiet for a few moments before asking, "So why didn't Rene and Pinkie walk with you?"
"I dunno; they said something about cupcakes," Tara replied with a shrug.
"How remarkably odd," Rachel muttered. "...So, do you want to go to the pool with us on Saturday?"
"Eh, sure, why not?" Tara blushed.
"And why did you blush?" Rachel asked.
"I... Have no idea, honestly. I'll look it up when I get home and tell you tomorrow."
"Oh, shoot, you're right!" Tara exclaimed after the flashback was over.
"Tara, you're shouting in my ear..." Rachel whined.
"I-I'm so sorry; I'll see you girls there!" Tara told Rachel before hanging up and going to get dressed or something, saying to herself, "How in the world could I forgot this?! Well, I did read my books forever and fell asleep for longer then I had planned, but still! I feel awful..."
About fifteen minutes, Tara finally arrived with a bag over her shoulder, trying to change things up by wearing different leg warmers.
"I'm sorry I'm so late," Tara said. "I don't know what happened to me last night!"
"Was it drugs?" Felicia asked, worried.
"No, it was books," Tara corrected her shy friend.
"So basically drugs," Rene joked.
Tara smirked at Rene and shook her head before telling the group, "I'm going to go get changed, OK?"
"Why didn't you change before you came?" AJ enquired, crossing her arms.
"That was an option?" Tara wondered aloud.
"Of course!" Rene answered with a small laugh. "Sure, you get a lot of weird looks, but I know what they're thinkin'."
"I know, I know," Tara said before going to the changing rooms.
"'Course you do!" Rene laughed. She turned to Pinkie and added, "I'm sexy and she knows it."
"You wish," Rachel scoffed jokingly.
"Yes you do," Rene shot back.
"Well, at least my wish came true," Rachel retorted.
Rene took a deep breath, but could not come up with a comeback.
"Ooo, she got you Rene!" Pinkie laughed.
"Shut up!" Rene said, also chuckling.
"I'm glad that didn't evolve into anything," Felicia mumbled, but nobody paid attention to her. Poor thing.
"I'm back, girls!" Tara said.
"Still, wearing yer leg warmers, sugarcube?" AJ asked.
"Hey, they can get clean in the water," Tara explained. "It sticks to your leg for a little while, sure, but I find it all worth it in the end."
"That's just weird," AJ remarked.
"But it's my motif!" Tara argued.
"Motif?" AJ asked.
"We have motifs?" Felicia asked as well. "N-not that I-I'm d-disagreeing w-w-with you a-at all..."
"Yeah, I like purple," Tara answered, listing it of on her fingers, "you have a country theme, Rene likes rainbows, Rachel's really white and Felicia is yellow, with various nature stuff on it."
"I see you've been paying attention," Rachel said with a nod of approvement.
"Yeah, yeah, of course," Rene muttered. "So, anyways, AJ, Pinkie, you two ready?!"
"Wait, ready for-" Tara started, but, by that point, Rene, AJ and Pinkie had already jumped in the water, making a big splash. It made Felicia blush.
"AAAH!!! I'm all wet!" Rachel cried.
"So?" Tara asked. "Isn't that point of going the pool? To swim in the water?"
"Personally, I prefer to work on my tan," Rachel said.
"Yeah, you really have one!" Rene shouted from the water, laughing.
"I like to read!" Tara said, referring to the bag she still had.
"What? You can't read here!" Rachel exclaimed, taking the bag from Tara.
"HEY!"
"Look, you should enjoy yourself," Rachel told Tara, going over to one of the beach chairs near-by, placing the bag next to her and sitting on said chair.
"Aw, come on!" Tara complained. "You're not doing anything!"
"My point still stands," Rachel argued.
Tara wanted to make further arguments pointing out the complete obvious, but that would be completely pointless. So she, instead, sat down in the chair next to Rachel, trying to look angry.
"See, there ya go!" Rarity said happily.
So nothing happened for a little while: Rachel sat around, Tara made one or two attempts to get her books back, Felicia was chatting up with the animals (to quote what Pinkie said at one point, "She cray-crayon!") and AJ, Rene and Pinkie were all messing around in the pool, generally annoying each other and almost getting Rachel wet again, much to her annoyance. However, at one point, Rene snuck out of the pool without anybody noticing. She went over to Tara's chair, picked her up and tossed her in the pool.
"HEY!" Tara yelled once she got above the water's surface. "THE HECK WAS THAT FOR!"
"You got Punk'd!" Rene shouted, cracking up pretty bad.
"Punk'd?" Tara repeated.
"It means she pranked ya," AJ explained, swimming over to Tara. "Which she really, didn't do, all things considered."
"But... But it was... It was funny anyways!" Rene said between gasps for air.
"I didn't even bring a towel..." Tara muttered to herself.
"'S OK, ya can borrow mine, sugarcube," AJ told Tara before going back to the other side of the pool.
Tara stayed there for a minute or two, wondering about what to do. But then she thought of it. She quickly got out of the pool and went to where Rene was. Was. She had moved in the time it took Tara to get there.
"Um... Rene could you come back here?" Tara called.
"Sure..." Rene mumbled, coming back with a hot dog in hand. "...What? It's almost lunch.
"That's fine, but... Could you stand right here?" Tara asked politely.
"OK, sure." Rene obliged.
"Now face the pool," Tara instructed.
Rene did what she was told. "You'd better not be planning anything."
"Of course not," Tara lied, pushing Rene into the pool afterward.
Rene didn't have time to yell in surprise before she met the water. When she breached, she yelled, "F*** YOU, TARA! I CAN'T BELIEVE I FELL FOR THE OLDEST TRICK IN THE BOOK!... AND MY HOT DOG'S ALL WET!"
"Well, that's what you did to me!" Tara retorted before laughing just like Rene did. "Man, now I see why this is so funny!"
"DAMN YOU!" Rene continued to yell, now having a jovial tone to it all. "DAMN YOU, DAMN YOU, DAMN YOU!"
"Hey, sugarcube, calm down," AJ said calmingly, going to Rene.
"I am, I am, don't worry," Rene told AJ. "Jeez."
"I just thought you were actually mad," AJ apologized.
"Man, you guys need to take my books away from me more often!" was the last thing said by Tara for ten full minutes, laughing that entire time.
The girls were at the mall because girls do that. Well, it was also because the afternoon swim class kicked them out because they needed half the pool. So, yeah, Rachel suggested they mall rat for a while and meet up eventually to have lunch in the food court. They all agreed and went there (after getting dressed, obviously), Tara going to (obviously) a book store, Rene going to Moonrise Records, Rachel going to various clothing stores, Pinkie was just wandering around aimlessly and AJ & Felicia sitting at a table in the food court to make it reserved, in a sense. None of them bought anything, so it was kinda pointless, all things considered. Eventually, they did all go to the food court and get what they wanted. Rene ended having to order something for Felicia and helped her make it more friendly for eater of no meat.
"OK, I found this book while I was browsing," Tara said when Rene was done with Felicia.
"NO!!!" Pinkie gasped.
"Actually, yes," Tara chuckled. "Anyways, I forget the title, but I do remember it saying that life is a lot easier when you give all your friends titles."
"What kind of whack job wrote that book?" Rene asked through a mouthful of food. "A spy?"
"I dunno," Tara replied with a shrug. "Again, I forgot. Back to what I was saying, it said you should give all your friends labels based off of what they've done for you and it makes life a whole lot easier! Like, you, Rene, I'd label you kindness."
"I am not kindness!" Rene snapped. "I'm just benevolent some times, that's all. My label should be awesome!"
"Actually, I'm basing it off when I first met you," Tara explained.
"Then it should be crasher!" Pinkie pointed out.
"And you should interrupter," Rene retorted.
"Actually, I think Pinkie should be laughter," Tara told the two.
"I knew it!" Pinkie cheered.
Tara nodded and continued: "Felicia, I'd definitely say you're truth. Rachel, you're loyalty. AJ, there's no doubt about it, you're generosity."
"Ya sayin' ah can't be truthful?" AJ asked.
"Well, I don't want to insult you, but-"
"You could break a lie detector," Rene answered for Tara.
"That's not what I was going to say," Tara muttered. "Hey, can I take the kindness thing back?"
"Nope," Rene replied.
"Excuse me, Tara," Rachel said, "since you've given all of us labels, what about you? What would you be?"
"What would I be?" Tara mused, rubbing her chin. "Ooo! I know! Magic!"
There was a small quiet as everybody let that sink in.
"Really... Magic?" Rachel enquired in disbelief. "That's what you choose for yourself?"
"Of course!" Tara chirped. "And I can prove it! OK, Everybody blink at the same time!"
"Why should we-"
"Just do it!"
"Fine..." Rachel mumbled.
Everybody blinked and looked around. Nothing happened.
"OK, so how did that prove anything?" AJ asked the most obvious question anybody could think of at that point.
What followed was about a minute of quiet by Tara. She didn't say anything, just had a devilish grin on her face. And right before AJ could ask another question, she held up something.
"I... Is t-t-that what I think i-it is?" Felicia stammered.
They all checked themselves and, sure enough, it was.
"Tara, that's disgusting!" Rachel exclaimed. "Why would you even do that?!"
"Well, you want me to prove it!" Tara replied.
"Actually, as ah recall, she didn't," AJ argued. "Ya were the one who wanted ter prove what yer label. And ah guess you did. Now give us... That back. Ah'm beginning to feel indecent."
"Fine; just blink again," Tara instructed the five. They did so and checked themselves.
"Um... Sparky, ah got Rachel's," AJ told Tara.
"I did? Oops, sorry," Tara said back. "And don't call me Sparky."
"Wait... How do you know what it looks like?" Rachel demanded.
"It's much too white for me," AJ explained.
"So, by that logic, I have AJ's!" Pinkie announced.
"Hey, not so loud!" Rene hissed. "We don't want everybody here to know what's happened!"
"So who's did you get?" Pinkie asked.
"...Felicia's..." Rene mumbled. "H-hey, can we talk about something different?"
"Yes, let's," Rachel said.
"Hey, Rachel, are you having trouble-" Tara started.
"Yes, let's," Rachel repeated. "So, how have you been enjoying Canada, Tara?"
"Well, I have been writing a little speech on it," Tara replied. "It's not ready yet and I doubt it will be for another month."
"Then can you read to us what you have?" Rachel enquired, hopeful.
"Well, um, the thing it, it's not here," Tara answered, starting to look a little nervous. Truth is, Tara hadn't written most of her speech and, what she had written, made her look like a drunken hobo. Really.
"Is there something wrong?" was the question AJ had to ask, touching Tara's shoulder.
"I-it's fine," Tara responded quickly. "So can we get a different topic?"
"Ooo, I got one!" Pinkie shouted.
"And what would that be?"
Pinkie took a deep breath and said, "MALE HOOKERS!!!"
The rest of the group all started crying out in disgust and protest.
"Why the f*** would you bring that up?!" Rene cried.
"Hey, shut up!" shouted a random person from across the court.
"You shut up!" Rene shouted back. "We are having a very mature conversation over here... About male hookers!"
"Smooth operating there," AJ commented.
"I try," Rene said.
"I-I don't think I-I want to talk about this," Felicia spoke up.
"Yeah, me neither," Tara muttered in disgust.
"But, I have this story-" Pinkie tried to protest, but she got a lot of glares from her friends and said, with a smile nonetheless, "Fine! I can live with that!" She took a sip of her Coke and laughed.
"Oh, goodness, I feel embarrassed right now," Tara sighed. "I bet you all do, too."
"Yes, but for different reasons," AJ agreed.
"Hey, I have a good idea!" Rachel suddenly exclaimed.
"Does it involve males selling themselves?" Tara demanded.
Rachel thought about it briefly. "Um... No," she replied eventually. "Anyways, my sister's going to be over a friend's place tonight and I wanted to know if you would all like to sleep over at my place tonight."
"Ah'm game," AJ said. "Mah sister's over at a friend's, too, so ah'm as free as a bird."
"Say, would your sister happen to be April?" Rachel enquired.
"Always has been, always will be," AJ responded. "Well, unless she decides it and ah'm sure she'll be stickin' with her given name."
"Then my sister knows her!" Rachel deduced. "My sister's Sandra, BTW."
"Then ah guess we've met before we've met!" AJ added.
"Actually, that's impossible," Tara told them. "For one, I presume they've never mentioned either of you by name, because, if they had, you would have recognized each other by name. But even then, neither of you would have met because you only know each other by name, you don't know the actual-"
"So who's yer sister visiting?" AJ interrupted.
"Scout Loudie," Rachel answered slowly, taking her precious time to think.
"Then that confirms it!" AJ said.
Tara sighed.
About five hours later, the girls were at Rachel's place, Tara taking a little longer then normal because she had to take the time to do up all the locks. They all stayed in Rachel's room, which had a huge bed that could hold 18. Not once did anybody question it.
And, in all honesty, nothing worth writing about happened for quite some time. Sure, Rachel and AJ talked some more about their sisters, but nothing really happened. Except for setting Tara's little “magic trick” from earlier straight. And this:
"Um... Truth..." Felicia whispered.
"OK, I got a question," Rene chuckled. She whipped out a piece of gum and asked, "Does this get you off?"
Dead silence from Felicia.
"So can I take that as a no?" Rene asked.
Yeah. So anyways, let's get to the important thing, after they all fell asleep... On the floor, of course. At one point, Tara woke up with a scream, waking all the rest up.
"W... Wow, that was an awful dream," Tara said to herself.
"Mrph... Shut up... Can't sleep..." Rene muttered, tossing her pillow at Tara.
"What did you dream about Tara?" Felicia enquired sleepily, rubbing her eyes.
"Darkness..." Tara replied in a fearful tone. "Darkness and idiocy."
"Hey, Tara can you give me my pillow back?" Rene asked from where she was. "I can't sleep without it."
Tara rolled her eyes, tossed it back and continued talking to Felicia: "Yeah, it was an awful dream. The worst part was... Was... I was purple! Purple!"
"Ah think ah had the same dream, sugarcube," AJ said to them. "Except mine had more squirrels. A lot more squirrels."
"Mine was the same, darling," Rachel told Tara. "Except less squirrels. I'm assuming Pinkie, Rene and Felicia had the same dream."
"I-I'm... I'm never buying a shed," Felicia said before putting her face in her hands and crying.
"Um... Sure," Tara murmured. "Say, do you girls think that the fact that we all had the same dream means anything?"
Beat.
"NAH!!!" they all said in unison before going back to sleep.