Hey! It looks like you're new here. You might want to check out the introduction.
Organised by
RogerDodger
Word limit
400–750
Mondays
beep… beep… beep…
Cheerilee opened her eyes and immediately snapped them closed again to block out the light of her living room lamp. A series of pops ran down her neck as she lifted her head from the arm of her sofa and tried to shift herself into a sitting position. Her legs felt like lead. After a night of them sticking out over the edge of the flattened cushions on her secondhand couch they were swollen and numb. Her right shoulder and haunch were both sore as well. Over the night they had sunk in a bit to the crevice between the cushions and the back of the couch leaving her wedged like a haydog in a bun.
A few minutes of awkward flailing and unladylike words later and Cheerilee, stiff joints and all, hauled herself free of her couch. She had tried to stay up late the previous night grading the last of the Founder’s Day essays but from the look of her coffee table, currently sporting a nearly empty bowl of ramen and a nearly full cup of coffee beside a stack of papers that had toppled out onto the floor, she had not made much progress. Taking note of the darkness outside the window she briefly considered grabbing a few hours of decent sleep. She scowled at the papers strewn across the rug and stepped around the table to start picking them up.
I’ll just tell the class that they’ll get them back on Tuesday. Cheerilee nodded to herself as she turned to place an essay back on its stack. Besides, it’s not—
beep… beep… beep…
Her left ear twitched. My alarm? Why would it be going off already? Cheerilee’s eyes went wide. Her head whipped around towards the clock hanging above her bookshelf.
7:48
Cheerilee frowned and turned back towards her window. Lightning flashed, illuminating a landscape dark and hazy with heavy rain. She sighed.
“Great. At least my umbrella is nice and dry—all the way at work. Where I need to be in, oh, about ten minutes. I guess I won’t need to worry about a shower, at least.”
Lightning flickered again. Thunder cracked sharply as her power winked out.
It had been a day full of wonder and enchantment, she mused with a slight frown as she finished cleaning the chalkboard.
My mane’s a mess, I stink of wet hair, I’m running on maybe three or four hours of sleep, and I’ve got vomit in my tail. It’s college all over again.
Her day had not improved from when she had woken up. When she got to the schoolhouse there were already a group of students huddled under the roof of its small porch, dashing her hopes of trying to at least straighten her mane out before anypony arrived.
The whole day the students had been more sullen and unruly than normal. She often had to stomp on her desk to get their attention during class and being cooped up indoors for both lunch and recess had only made it worse. And then there was the milk incident. Cheerilee had rushed Sweetie to the filly’s room when she noticed the sickly look on her face but only mostly made it. At least her tail only caught a little of the sour milk and fruit salad.
She set the eraser down and turned back around and sat at her desk to start grading the day’s art projects.
Cheerilee flipped through the papers. Scootaloo had drawn Rainbow Dash. Again. Sweetie had started to draw Scootaloo it appeared but had been interrupted by the return of her lunch. And Apple Bloom had drawn, to no surprise, an apple. The rest of the crayon pictures were fairly predictable but at least showed that, even for the last activity of the day, the students had put their best into it. She straightened the stack and flipped them over to begin writing down their grades and blinked at the paper.
“Thank you Miss Cheerilee!” was written in red above two stick ponies hugging a larger stick pony.
She flipped over the next. “We love you Miss Cheerilee!” was surrounded by little pink hearts.
Cheerilee spread the papers across her desk and stared. “I hope your day gets better, Miss Cheerilee!” “I’m sorry about your tail, Miss Cheerilee.” “Your class is awesome, Miss Cheerilee!” All the students had put similar notes on their work.
Cheerilee sat back on her stool and smiled her first real smile of the day.
Cheerilee opened her eyes and immediately snapped them closed again to block out the light of her living room lamp. A series of pops ran down her neck as she lifted her head from the arm of her sofa and tried to shift herself into a sitting position. Her legs felt like lead. After a night of them sticking out over the edge of the flattened cushions on her secondhand couch they were swollen and numb. Her right shoulder and haunch were both sore as well. Over the night they had sunk in a bit to the crevice between the cushions and the back of the couch leaving her wedged like a haydog in a bun.
A few minutes of awkward flailing and unladylike words later and Cheerilee, stiff joints and all, hauled herself free of her couch. She had tried to stay up late the previous night grading the last of the Founder’s Day essays but from the look of her coffee table, currently sporting a nearly empty bowl of ramen and a nearly full cup of coffee beside a stack of papers that had toppled out onto the floor, she had not made much progress. Taking note of the darkness outside the window she briefly considered grabbing a few hours of decent sleep. She scowled at the papers strewn across the rug and stepped around the table to start picking them up.
I’ll just tell the class that they’ll get them back on Tuesday. Cheerilee nodded to herself as she turned to place an essay back on its stack. Besides, it’s not—
beep… beep… beep…
Her left ear twitched. My alarm? Why would it be going off already? Cheerilee’s eyes went wide. Her head whipped around towards the clock hanging above her bookshelf.
7:48
Cheerilee frowned and turned back towards her window. Lightning flashed, illuminating a landscape dark and hazy with heavy rain. She sighed.
“Great. At least my umbrella is nice and dry—all the way at work. Where I need to be in, oh, about ten minutes. I guess I won’t need to worry about a shower, at least.”
Lightning flickered again. Thunder cracked sharply as her power winked out.
It had been a day full of wonder and enchantment, she mused with a slight frown as she finished cleaning the chalkboard.
My mane’s a mess, I stink of wet hair, I’m running on maybe three or four hours of sleep, and I’ve got vomit in my tail. It’s college all over again.
Her day had not improved from when she had woken up. When she got to the schoolhouse there were already a group of students huddled under the roof of its small porch, dashing her hopes of trying to at least straighten her mane out before anypony arrived.
The whole day the students had been more sullen and unruly than normal. She often had to stomp on her desk to get their attention during class and being cooped up indoors for both lunch and recess had only made it worse. And then there was the milk incident. Cheerilee had rushed Sweetie to the filly’s room when she noticed the sickly look on her face but only mostly made it. At least her tail only caught a little of the sour milk and fruit salad.
She set the eraser down and turned back around and sat at her desk to start grading the day’s art projects.
Cheerilee flipped through the papers. Scootaloo had drawn Rainbow Dash. Again. Sweetie had started to draw Scootaloo it appeared but had been interrupted by the return of her lunch. And Apple Bloom had drawn, to no surprise, an apple. The rest of the crayon pictures were fairly predictable but at least showed that, even for the last activity of the day, the students had put their best into it. She straightened the stack and flipped them over to begin writing down their grades and blinked at the paper.
“Thank you Miss Cheerilee!” was written in red above two stick ponies hugging a larger stick pony.
She flipped over the next. “We love you Miss Cheerilee!” was surrounded by little pink hearts.
Cheerilee spread the papers across her desk and stared. “I hope your day gets better, Miss Cheerilee!” “I’m sorry about your tail, Miss Cheerilee.” “Your class is awesome, Miss Cheerilee!” All the students had put similar notes on their work.
Cheerilee sat back on her stool and smiled her first real smile of the day.