The Nerd and the Cellist

Chapter 10

The thought of dancing with Octavia occupied my mind at school the next day. For the first few classes, I imagined the two of us waltzing alone close together, with me staring at her mulberry eyes and seeing her smile, impressed with me as her dance partner. At the same time, I thought about how best to ask Rarity if she knew how to dance and if she was willing to teach me. I was optimistic that she would be glad now that she and Octavia are friends, but she could also be unsettled with less than two weeks of teaching me. Either way, I was determined to ask her in the halls after lunch, where none of our other friends were around to know about my mission.

Lunch with the group went by with all of us eating and talking like any other day. Soarin, Caramel, and I got into a heated debate over the Star Wars sequel trilogy, which annoyed Rainbow Dash, who rebuked us every now and then. But whenever Soarin and Caramel were expressing their opinions in detail, I would glance at Rarity, who was laughing and giggling with Fluttershy. Eventually, the bell rang, and we all put away our lunch trays before saying our goodbyes with Soarin and me about to head to gym class together. Rarity was walking to her next class in the opposite direction, but I was willing to risk being late.

"Hey, Soarin, I have something I need to do really fast, so you go ahead," I said.

Soarin looked at me, confused before he replied, "Alright, but don't be late."

"I'll do my best," I said.

I ran to where I last saw Rarity all the way to the main hall just in time to see her walking up the steps to the second floor. I looked around to make sure no one in our group was around before I ran up the steps to Rarity, bumping into students as I went.

"Hey, Rarity!" I called out.

The white girl turned around to see me catch up with her and asked, "What is it, Rough Draft?"

"I wanted to talk to you about something with our friends not around," I said.

"Oh? This wouldn't have something to do with you and Octavia, would it?" Rarity asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Uh, well, if you want to put it bluntly, then yes," I said, scratching the back of my head.

"I thought as much," Rarity said with a smirk. "Well, out with it then."

I paused to think of the best way to phrase it before I said, "You see, after we went to visit you at the Carousel Boutique for Octavia's dress for the wedding, she asked me to be her date."

Rarity's eyes widened, and she clasped her hands together.

"Ooo. That's marvelous, dear," she said. "You must be very excited."

"I am, but there's more," I said. "Yesterday, the two of us realized that we aren't going to have much of a date since Octavia will be playing with the band the whole time, so Octavia suggested that the two of us dance together alone when the wedding is over."

"She did?" Rarity asked before saying with a playful grin. "My, my, my, Mr. Draft, fate is being very generous to you."

"I know, right?" I said with a light chuckle. "But the thing is, I do not know how to dance."

"Oh, that is a bit of a dilemma," Rarity said.

"Exactly. Octavia offered to teach me, but I said I wanted to learn from someone else so that she only gets my best as her dance partner," I said. "So, I was wondering if you know how to waltz and if you could teach me."

"Well, I should certainly hope I know how to waltz as a Manehattan girl," Rarity said before she frowned, "Unfortunately, finding time to do that might be difficult. I do have a lot to do at the boutique, and I will be using a lot of my free time to work on Octavia's dress."