“Good morning, class.” Luna smiled at the front of the room.

The whole room seemed to groan at the mere mention of the morning. After weeks of trying to get the students enthralled in her lessons, Luna had them in a firm routine. They would be in their desks after the bell, or it was detention for them. They would read silently for more than half of the class, only after a discussion about their previous reading. Luna would sit at the front of the class with her eyes scanning the room for any disturbances such as notes being passed, gum being chewed, and rabbles being roused.

“Now, what did you all think of the chapter from last night?” She asked innocently.

“The ending was off.” A boy in class noted after raising his hand. “The ending didn’t solve anything. They just leave. Nothing is solved, and nothing gets fixed.”

“That’s one point of view, yes.” Luna nodded. “Any others?”

A girl raised her hand. “They left, and that sort of gave them back what they had lost while they were there. In leaving, they got their conscience back, and they started feeling guilty for what they did.”

“Excellent.” Luna grinned slightly. “Anything else?”

“I think the author just ran out of ideas and called it quits.” A boy in the back called out.

“Funny.” Luna deadpanned. “Do you want detention?”

“No, Vice Principal.” They muttered.

“Good.”

Rivet hadn’t said anything to the boy who sat just ahead of him about seeing him on the bridge. Whenever he thought back to it, it made him a little jealous, but also made him feel strange. It made him conflicted about making new friends. It may seem trivial to some, but to him, it was one of the biggest issues plaguing him.

Over the past weeks, he had had many chances to talk to the boys in his classes, but he had let them slide. He would answer questions with quick, few word answers. Rivet stayed away from people during lunch, which came after Gym, and kept to himself for the rest of the day.

Once the final discussion was over, Luna called attention to herself an a stack of papers.

“Class,” she began, “since we have finished the required reading it is time we consider the final project. It may be early, but some of the potential books are rather long, and you will be doing several assignments on your book.” This caused a groan to rise from the class.

“Settle down. These are the books you may choose from. Only one person per book. I will be giving you over a week to consider what book you want to read, during which time we will be reading short stories and poetry.” Another groan.

“Class!” Luna looked sternly at them. “After this unit, you will tell me what book you want to read. It’s a first come-first serve basis, so if the book you want is taken, have a second or third option.”

Rivet’s mind began to consider his options. He was completely unsure what to do, so he thought to what his tastes were. He loved comedy, and action, and adventure, but what author could he read. he could only hope that A.K. Yearling was on the authors’ list in Luna’s hand.

His mind seemed to be on a loop, the same ideas and thought rolling back and forth through his head. Luna continued to talk about the assignment, naming off authors that most people only ever heard of by name when talking about masterpiece novels.

Rivet’s trance was broken with the words, “Daring Do.” His head snapped up to better understand what Luna had just said.

“I heard the books were very well written by miss Yearling. I am allowing these, as well as books written by A.R.R. Coltien and Marey Pratchett. They aren’t considered classics, but they are well written and may appeal to you more than the others.” Luna dropped the sheets back down onto the desk.

Rivet almost smiled from ear to ear, but he would have felt silly. Instead, he nodded his head and felt his excitement grow. His excitement was put on hold as the bell rang out for the end of class. Collecting his things quickly, he took one of the sheets off of Luna’s desk and headed straight for Gym class.

As he got changed, his mind was still filled with ideas of what book he could read. It was the only thing that had happened since he had gotten to the new school that seemed to go his way. The grey boy from the bridge and his English class once again asked Rivet to pass him his things from the shelf. Rivet wondered why he kept his things in the locker room, but never bothered to ask. He handed it over, with a mixture of absent-mindedness and forceful apathy.

He didn’t see the glance that the boy gave him, or that he gave the blue boy from the English class. But soon, he would understand.

After Gym class, Rivet was back in the locker room, drying his hair with his towel. Most of the others had left the room, leaving Rivet in relative silence. He had offered to help clean up after the basketball game they had played, so he was running behind. It didn’t really matter to him, though, there was nowhere he had to be for lunch. When the bell rang, the others rushed from the room, but Rivet took his time.

As Rivet pulled the towel off of his head, he saw the blue boy standing in front of him, and the grey boy off to one side.

“What’s your problem with us?” The blue boy asked, his voice an unclear mix of emotions.

“What?” Rivet cocked his head, unsure of the problem.

“You don’t talk to anyone.” The boy shook his head. “You don’t work with anyone. The only time you say anything is short answers to teachers. So, what’s the deal?”

“I don’t…” Rivet couldn’t think of the words.

“I don’t remember seeing you with anyone around here.” The boy continued.

Rivet didn’t say a word.

“What do you think is wrong with other people?”

Rivet stared intently at the floor.

“What’s wrong?”

“Everything!” Rivet shouted, his head snapping upward to meet the gaze of the boy. “Everything is wrong with people!”

Now it was the blue boy’s turn to be speechless. Rivet’s shout echoed through the locker room.

“We make friends and enemies, only to leave them behind. We feel loss and pain when they leave our lives. We hate for no reason, we like for less. The only reason people seem to make friends is to alienate everyone else!” Rivet clenches his fists. “I don’t make friends because I don’t want friends. Friends make everything harder in life.”

As his voice fades from the room and surrounding halls, Rivet looked from one boy to the other.

“Friends don’t make everything harder.” The blue boy shook his head. “In fact, most things, they make easier. It sucks when you have to leave, but it doesn’t have to be the end of the world.”

“Maybe someone else out there feels the same way you do.” The grey boy raised an eyebrow. “Everybody loses people.”

Rivet suddenly felt embarrassed for his outburst, and for the weeks before. All of his emotions from the weeks passed came rushing up like a volcano, and he had had no time to prepare. Perhaps his words were more true when he didn’t have to filter emotion through his mind. How could he have been so selfish? He kept everyone at arm’s length to make himself feel safe. He had built a wall around himself to keep his own mind safe from pain, not thinking that it was a problem for everyone to face.

“I’ve…” Rivet stared back at the floor. “I’ve kept everyone away… What makes you think anyone even wants to make friends with the guy who pushed everyone back. The guy who only spoke to teachers. How am I supposed to make friends?”

“A conversation is a good start.” The boy reached out a hand to Rivet. “My name is Swift. Swift Justice.”

“Rivet.” Rivet took his hand, standing up.

“I’m Clyde.” Clyde waved from the side.

“Nice to meet you, Clyde.” Rivet waved back, weakly.

“What do you say we get something to eat?” Swift asked, offering a smile. “That game today took it out of me.”

“I think I’d like that.” Rivet nodded, throwing his bag over his shoulder as he felt something change inside of him. It wasn’t a feeling of absolutely needing friends now that he made two, but it was a feeling of accomplishment, mixed with dread. These two had been nice to him, and he still wasn’t sure if he wanted to make friends, but he couldn’t be rude to them.

He followed them to the cafeteria, where Swift and Clyde sat down at what Rivet assumed was their usual spot. The cafeteria itself was plenty large enough, with the static noise of people talking and laughing with some even singing random songs. The whole area seemed to be teeming with colour and life. Normally, he would have expected to see some pretty limited groups around the tables. He was used to seeing kids only sit with people with the same interests. But for some reason, the groups in the room were diverse in taste and colour.

“Where are the other guys?” Swift looked around.

“I think most of them have a detention today.” Clyde shook his head.

Detention? Rivet was not sure what to think of hanging around with a bunch of guys who spent a lot of time in detention.

“Again?” Swift shook his head. “Those guys…”

“Rivet.” Clyde leaned over the table. “Where’d you move here from?”

“Way up north.” Rivet nodded upward. “We had to move because my dad got transferred.”

“Your dad’s with the Guard?” Clyde presumed.

Rivet tilted his head. “Close. Air Force.”

“Cool.” Clyde nodded.

“How about you?” Rivet asked both of them.

“I live with my brother. He’s in the Guard. We moved here a little while back.” Clyde’s eyes lowered slightly.

Rivet caught the emotional twinge of Clyde’s words, allowing him to understand. Swift gave a consoling look to Clyde before turning back to Rivet

“I’ve been here forever. My sister’s always trying new stuff so it never gets boring.” Swift raised his eyebrows.

Rivet shook his head. “Tell me about it. My sister can’t go more than a day without doing something new.”

“What’s your sister’s name?” Swift asked.

“First Light.”

“That’s your sister?” Swift laughed in disbelief.

“What about her?” Clyde turned to Swift, equally as interested as Rivet was.

“She’s only been here a few weeks, and she already knows practically everyone at this school. And everyone knows her! Well, almost everyone.” He shook his head. “You’re saying that First Light is your sister. You two are like complete opposites!”

Swift started talking directly to Clyde, and Rivet seemed to lose focus. His eyes began to wander around the cafeteria, getting lost in the sea of colours. Suddenly, his eyes fixed themselves upon something. Strangely, the thing that caught his eye was a mixture of all of the colours. Even stranger to him was the fact that it wasn’t something his eyes chose to focus on, rather someone. There was a girl, her hair done in streaks of rainbow colours, just on the other side of the cafeteria. He had never seen anyone do anything quite like it before. He could not see her face, but she looked to be a little shorter than he was, and quite fit.

Rivet shook his head, realizing he was staring, which caught the attention of Swift and Clyde.

“Rivet? You alright?” Swift asked.

“Hm? Yeah.” Rivet nodded. “Just a bug buzzing around my head.”

The buzzing, however, was not around his head, but rather in his head. Part of him wanted to go over and say hello to the girl, but the rest of him slammed a hard boot down on the first part with a loud ‘no!’ Rivet quickly shook off the idea of saying hello, remembering that he was still reluctant about making the two friends he had. Even the thought of attempting a relationship at this point was almost enough to make him cringe with worry.

He returned to a polite conversation with his new friends. He did not open up very much, but there was a crack in his armour, in the arm’s length wall he had kept himself in. The crack was big enough to let out some feeling, some emotion.

When he thought back to his friends from before the move then, he did not feel so bad. He remembered that, even though he may have left them behind, others had had to do the same in the past, and everyone would have to go through it again at some point.

“Did you hear about that movie?” Swift asked.

“Which one?” Rivet cocked his head.

“It’s about three guys who head to an asylum. It’s a found footage thing.”

“Just in time for Halloween.” Clyde smirked. “Yeah. I heard about it. Me and my Boo are going to see it.”

“Your what?” Rivet turned to Clyde.

Swift chuckled, “That’s what he calls his girlfriend.”

“She’s not my girlfriend.” Clyde shook his head.

“Yet.” Swift added, pointing a finger at Clyde.

Clyde tried in vain to hide a smile that crept across his lips. He raised his eyebrows at Swift, nodding slightly.

“So, what are you guys planning for the English assignment?” Rivet asked.

“We have a few weeks to think about it.” Swift shrugged. “I haven’t even looked over the list yet. Do you have something in mind?”

“Not sure.” Rivet quirked. “But I have some ideas in mind.”

“Take your time.” Swift smiled. “You have weeks to decide. Don’t choose a book right now. You might not really like it.”

“I guess you’re right. But I’ll still probably take a look somewhere tonight, just to see what my options are.” Rivet grinned.

It was beginning to rain just as Rivet crossed the bridge to the shopping district. It was slow at first, only a drop here or there. The sky was completely clouded over, but not with thick storm clouds, just a thin layer of rain clouds offering a slight drizzle which became a light mist as Rivet moved along. Taking a breath, Rivet could taste the water, and he could see his breath in the cool air interrupt the flow of the mist.

He saw no point in rushing to the bookstore, it would still be there when he arrived, and rain couldn’t hurt him. The ground quickly became damp, allowing for a watery tapping noise as he walked. In his head, it sounded like soldiers marching, when in reality it was little more that a small click. He could see the faded sign of the bookstore, in fact he was close enough that he could read the words on it.

“Just a little further,” Rivet told himself, grinning.

As he was about to turn the corner to the door of the shop, the door swung open quickly, and a blur of colour charged out the door. The blur slammed into him, knocking them both to the ground, and launching a bag full of books onto the sidewalk. As it skidded to a halt, the bag tore open and spilled its contents on the damp sidewalk.

“Hey! Watch where you’re going.”

“Sorry, miss.” Rivet apologized, pushing his back off of the pavement and rubbing the back of his head. “Are you okay?” He paused. Sitting on the damp pavement was the girl he had seen in the cafeteria.

Her rainbow coloured hair was made damp by the rain, and obscured by the blue hood that had rested atop her head until she had fallen. Her face was a light, sky blue. One of her eyes was closed as she patted herself over, looking for any injuries. She shook her head to clear anything that may have gotten into her hair, as well as clearing a bit of rain. Her open eye was a deep pink colour, sparkling in the dim light, despite the dark atmosphere. Rivet forced himself to stop staring as she looked up.

“Fine.” She huffed, looking at him with a twinge of anger. Suddenly, a look of realization washed over her face. “My books!”

She looked around shortly until she found the torn bag with the books on the wet pavement. The girl scrambled over to them, attempting to group them together. When she noticed that the bag was torn, she let out a loud groan and threw the shredded remains.

“I could help you carry them, if you’d like.” Rivet offered politely.

His father had always taught him to be polite to a lady, no matter what. The idea of chivalry may have been outdated, but Rivet felt that he should still follow that simple rule. It wasn’t that he thought women couldn’t take care of themselves, in fact, he knew they could. He thought that by being polite, he could maybe brighten someones day, and he knew people could have hard days. At that moment, he realized that by that standard he should probably extend the same kindness to everyone, even men.

“Sure. Then you can tell everyone at school what an Egg-Head I am.” The girl mumbled sarcastically, still gathering up her books. “I’ll pass.”

“Why would I do that?” Rivet raised an eyebrow, moving over to help her get her books.

“Seriously?” She stared at him blankly. “Why wouldn’t you do that?” She started faking a jock’s voice. “Look at her, she’s such a dork, she buys stacks of Daring Do books.”

“I like Daring Do.” Rivet defended.

The girl stared back at him again. “The main character’s a chick, you know that, right?”

“So? A guy can’t like a strong female lead?” Rivet asked. “Let me help, please. It’s the least I can do. After all, I ran into you.”

The girl shook her head before looking back at Rivet. “You seriously have no idea who I am?”

“No clue.”

“How?”

“Pardon?”

“How can you not know who I am?”

Rivet considered the remark a bit conceited, but replied anyway. “I’ve only ever seen you around the school. I don’t even know your name.”

“You have to be joking.”

“I just moved here a little while back. I haven’t gotten a chance to know very many people.”

The girl looked at her books which she was now covering with herself to protect them from the rain. Looking back up, she saw Rivet still offering to help.

“Fine.” She nodded.

Rivet took off his jacket and used it to wrap up the majority of the books, tying the arms around them. The rest were divided between him and the girl.

Rivet let her lead the way to her house, walking side by side on the sidewalk. The whole walk was fairly silent, which Rivet was fine with. Occasionally, he caught himself staring over at the girl for some odd reason. He would give his head a shake and look back forward. For some reason, he would keep looking back over at her.

At one point, she looked back at him while he was in one of his staring dazes.

“Are you staring at me?” She asked, a little on edge.

“I don’t mean to.” Rivet apologized.

“It’s the hair, isn’t it?” She sighs. “Everyone stares at the hair. Some people say it’s too flashy, some people say it’s weird. Other people think I’m trying to make a statement with it.”

“I think it’s nice.” Rivet replied, absentmindedly.

They continued to walk, both of their footsteps making the similar tapping noise. The girl pulled her hood further over her hair when they reached a residential area, with more than a few teenagers from Canterlot High living in the houses. Whoever she was, she did not want people knowing that she read so many books.

Eventually, they came to the door of an average looking home, and she paused when they got to the threshold of the house. She propped open the door and ferried the books in, giving Rivet his jacket back as soon as it was empty.

“Well…” She rubbed her arm, “thanks for the help.”

“No problem.” Rivet shrugged, sliding his jacket back on.

“But.” She looked at him seriously. “If I hear one word about this is school-”

“Don’t worry about it.” Rivet shook his head. “I still have no idea who you are.”

The girl paused with her mouth open, as if she was about to say something, but closed her mouth. She nodded in understanding, and then raised a hand, waving slightly.

“Well, see ya, I guess. And… Thanks.”

“Yeah.” Rivet nodded, turning for home. He heard the door creek shut behind him.

With one quick peek over his shoulder, Rivet shrugged, turned up his collar against the rain, and headed towards home. He could have gone back to the bookstore, but he didn’t feel up to it. By then, the rain had started to come down harder, making his tapping more like a splash with every step.

When Rivet came through the front door at home, his hair was soaked and hanging down into his face. His jacket had served the purpose of keeping the rest of his body dry, but his cargo pants were soaked. Rivet hung the jacket on a hook so it could air dry, and ran a hand through his hair to clear some of the water.

“Rivet,” his mother called, stepping into the room. “You’re soaked! Go put some dry clothes on.”

Rivet nodded and started heading up the stairs.

“How was the bookstore?” his mother called after him.

“It was fine.” Rivet recited, still climbing the stairs.

When he got to his room, Rivet rolled onto his bed. He laid his arms outstretched, causing his hands to brush against something on the night stand. Turning his head, he saw the second Daring Do book sitting there, with a bookmark next to it. He pulled the book over and flipped open the cover, starting to read.