NINE

Mark wasn't the same to me since then, he said no a lot more...a whole lot more, and didn't take me places anymore, it was probably because I was grounded.

Wow, being grounded was such a bummer.

I was petting Ash on my bed one day before I began school, when suddenly I felt a great pain in my left ear.

I looked up to see Oleh, pulling my ear I yelled,"Aw, do you want to like rip it off or something?!"

She chuckled and said,"Listen and listen good, my shoes are dirty and I want them squeaky clean, so find a rag and do the job."

She left me and I frowned while massaging my aching earlobe.

I struggled to open the door and saw the mountain of shoes blocking it...

How many feet does she have?!

I dusted only halfway when the main door opened and Mark came to my rescue.

"Tommy, what are you doing?"

Before I got to spill the beans, Oleh appeared and hugged him then said,"I don't know what you did to your little brother but it worked, he insisted he did something nice for me, so he is cleaning my shoes."

"Really?"

No! She made me do it and she pulled my ear so hard, I felt my brain stretch!

She began to sob then said,"Why? Now I know why he wanted to clean my shoes, so he'd have something bad to say against me!"

She continued crying as Mark gave me that deadly stare again...at least this was what was in my mind, this is what really happened:

"Really?"

"...yes."

"Wow, Tommy, I'm proud of you."

I felt a little better for making my little brother happy but Oleh sucked up all that joy when she kissed him.

Under normal circumstances, I would have turned away in disgust, but this time, I frowned deeply as I watched them.

The next day came and I was dropped off at school by Mark. The school was a classic, really expensive one, meant for the richest kids like ever and I was one of them.

I confidently walked to my locker and took out my books, then went to the first class, English.

The teacher said,"Good morning class, today we're having a new friend, would you like to introduce yourself?"

Not really.

I slowly stood up and all eyes were on me.

I took a deep breath and said,"Hi, my name is Tommy Hawkins and I come from Minnesota and now I live in New York."

Suddenly, everyone at my back began to laugh and when I turned, those at my front joined in.

"Okay class, that's not funny."

What's not funny?

The teacher removed the paper from my back and it read;

I'm a dumb dweeb.

With an emoji with crossed eyes and its tongue sticking out.

I wanted to show whoever did that that I wasn't affected so I laughed louder than everyone else, soon, their laughter intensified and the teacher soon joined in.

After class, I was on my way to my locker when I saw a little girl pinned to another locker by a group of bullies, she was cute and angry, dirty blonde hair, silver eyes, pink...it was the girl I met at the airport!

"Jeremy, why don't you just leave me alone?"

"Because I enjoy making you know your place, weakling."

"Leave the gal alone."A thick cockney accent said.

They turned to see the new kid.

"Buzz off newbie."

"A don't care much for bullies."I said in that same accent.

"We'll a don't care at all."He said, imitating my accent.

"The gal don't like you, so get."

"You are getting yourself some tickets to Black and Blue York."

"Well am lucky a missed the train."

"And am glad a have a private train."

I had run out of smart words.

"Get him!"

I screamed and ran away. I ran through the halls and the bell rang, but these guys didn't care about the bell.

The bullies made a turn and couldn't find me, they continued running, just then I came out of the janitor's closet and ran away.

The next subject was Equestria.

I ran to the stables and saw there was only one black horse remaining, the instructor came and tapped my shoulder and I was scared of the crazy acting horse.

"W- what's his name?"

"Thunder clap."

"Why?"

"Because when he kicks you in the face it sounds like the clap of thunder."

I gulped.

I went to the horse and it freaked out, neighing, standing and kicking...thunder was sounding from everywhere.

The instructor and the other teachers were able to tie it down in time and told me to get on.

"I can't."

"Sorry, but this is a test, if you're unable to get on the horse and do something amazing, you get an F."

I had never gotten an F before, I slowly got on the ruminant, shivering the whole time.

It looked at me with a deadly grin on its face...

Oh boy.

It kicked down the door and ran into the field, jumping, kicking and running, trying to throw me off, but I was so scared, I gripped it's mane like iron.

The horse fell down and rolled on the ground but I stayed put, the horse did everything in its power to throw me off but all its efforts were futile.

The instructor removed his glasses, amazed as the horse grew tired. When the horse was too exhausted to continue, he came to me and said,"You can get down now, champ."

I said between my tightly locked teeth,"I can't, I'm stuck."

He got on and pulled hard to get the stiff child off the horse and said,"You are amazing, you could be a bronco rider."

I fainted when I heard the words.

"...also, you get an A+"

I resurrected when I heard the words.

When it was lunch time, I heard singing from the janitor's closet, it was the most beautiful voice I had ever heard. I went closer and opened it to see...