Tears of Sunlight

Chapter 13: The Invite

As Sunset entered the band room, she spotted Twilight reading silently on the bleachers, yet to notice her entry. She wanted to leave, to avoid the task at hand but she knew that would only make her situation worse. She didn't want Twilight to hate her or think that she didn't like her. Continuing what she has been is not going to help the situation.

So, Sunset composed herself and walked over, sitting next to Twilight who glanced over to her.

"Hello, Sunset." Twilight said, a little flatly.

"Hey, Twilight." Sunset nervously spoke.

They sat there for a few moments, silent, glancing at each other. Eventually, Sunset was the first to speak.

"I'm sorry for how I acted yesterday." Sunset said.

Twilight sighed in relief that Sunset was the one to bring it up, "What happened? Did I say something wrong? You look really upset."

"It's complicated." Sunset said. "Things happened in the fall, even before then actually, that's hard for me to talk about. Yesterday I panicked. I'm really sorry for treating you the way I did."

Twilight nodded slowly, "So you have post traumatic stress disorder?"

This took Sunset a bit by surprise but after a moment of thinking about it, she shrugged, "I guess. I've never really been diagnosed but yeah that would make sense."

"I know this is really personal and we've only known each other a short time, but I really want to know what happened." Twilight said gently, "I'm not good with people and I've never really had a friend before but I keep thinking that there is this big secret that only I don't know about!"

"You don't like not knowing things, do you?" Sunset inquired.

"No!" Twilight said, "I'm a scientist, a straight A student. There isn't a whole lot I don't know. But people and friendship is a subject I know very little about. I even read some books on making friends over the weekend and I learned that friends need to be honest in order to have a stable relationship."

Sunset giggled, "Only you would read a book on friendship."

Twilight blushed, embarrassed, "I didn't want to make a fool of myself."

Sunset swallowed her laughter and gave Twilight a small smile, "In case you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly an expert at friendship either. I didn't have any friends until about four months ago."

This surprised the purple teen, "How? Why? You seem so nice and you obviously care about your friends."

Sunset shrugged, "It's a long story but I don't really want to get into it right now."

"Oh, OK." Twilight said.

Sunset sighed deeply, "Look, I want to tell you, it's only fair that you know. Just not here."

"I understand."

"You want to come over after school?" Sunset asked, "It might kill two words with one stone."

Twilight grinned, "I'd love to!"

Then anxiety crept in, I've never been to a friend's house before! What are her parents like? What if I make a fool of myself and they never let Sunset see me again?

Twilight's frantic thoughts were interrupted when Sunset spoke again, "Do you want to ride on my bike or find another way? I know a lot of people aren't comfortable with motorcycles."

"I'll ask my dad to drive me." Twilight said with no hesitation.

Sunset gave her a small smile and pulled out her sketchbook.