A Day in the Life - written by Corli
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Pippin struggles to get through a lonely day in junior high without his best friend Merry, whom he's forbidden from seeing because of a shoplifting escapade they shared.
.
Pippin wiped the fog from a corner of the mirror and carefully examined his face. Although his eyes were still a little puffy, the shower had done a decent job of at least making it look less obvious. He yawned - he was tired of getting up early every day, but it was easier than dealing with his family's concerned looks and questions.
"Pippin!" His sister's voice was accompanied by a loud knocking on the door. "There are other people who live here too, you know!"
"Just hold your ponies," Pip called back snottily, grabbing a comb and running it through his wet curly mop before heading for the door.
"It's about time," Pervinca said, shoving Pip out the door and slamming it behind him.
"Love you too, sis," he hollered back, heading for his room.
Once there, he quickly got on his jeans and pulled a clean t-shirt on over his head. Getting ready to head out to breakfast, he glanced in the mirror above his bureau one last time to make sure his shirt hadn't mussed his hair, but something else caught his eye. Hanging from the knob of one of the drawers was his pendant, one of the two matching ones that he and Merry had bought at the faire last summer. Pippin stared at it a moment, suddenly overwhelmed with loneliness, and wondered why he hadn't noticed it hanging there before. He thought about wearing it, as if that would somehow help the pain go away...
"Breakfast, Pippin!"
But his parents probably wouldn't approve, and what if they took THAT away from him, too? "Coming, mom," he called out, leaving the pendant and hurrying out to the breakfast table.
"Morning, dear," Eglantine said as her son sat down at the breakfast table. She scrutinized his face, and Pippin prayed she wouldn't comment on his puffy eyes. Instead, she smiled sadly and said, "Are you okay, honey? I never hear you singing in the shower anymore."
"Shouldn't we just be counting our blessings?" Pimpernel teased, taking a big bite of her bacon and heading for the door. "See you all later. I've got a test in my night class tonight so I won't be home till late."
"Well, have a good day, dear," Eglantine said, kissing her middle daughter goodbye.
But Nel's mention of her test made Pippin suddenly remember HIS test, the one he hadn't studied for yet, and he wondered when he'd have time to look stuff over before school.
"Pippin's just embarrassed to sing anymore," Pervinca said, towel-drying her hair as she entered the kitchen. "His voice is changing, and he doesn't want us to hear it crack."
Pippin lunged at his sister. "My voice is NOT changing," he said, unfortunately only proving her point as his voice squeaked awkwardly on the word "not".
"Okay," she laughed. "Then you must be turning into a mouse," Vinca teased, grabbing a sausage and hurrying back towards her bedroom to finish getting dressed.
"Did you hear that, Paladin?" Eglantine said, walking over and putting her arms around her only son as he ate his eggs. "Our baby's growing up and turning into a man."
"About time we had another man in this house," Paladin mumbled, looking up from his newspaper and winking at Pippin.
But Pippin didn't feel like a man. In fact, he felt the furthest thing from it. He longed to crawl into his mother's lap like a little baby and sit there forever, protected by her warm embrace. But, unfortunately, junior high called, and Pippin ate hurriedly, hoping to have some time to study before his test.
...
Lately, it seemed, Pippin had been doing all his best studying whilst walking to school, and he had almost mastered the art of reading and walking simultaneously, only occasionally crashing into things.
"What's it in?"
Pippin glanced up from his book to look blankly at his sister who was walking beside him. "Huh?"
"The test you're obviously cramming for," Pervinca teased. "What's it in?"
Pippin closed his textbook, keeping his finger in the middle to mark his place, and held it up so she could read it. "Pre-Algebra," he explained.
Vinca smiled. "With Mr. Boffins?"
Pippin nodded. "Is that who YOU had?"
"Yep. And let me warn you," the high schooler said with an air of superiority. "his tests blow."
Pippin sighed. "Great - that's just what I need today."
"But don't worry - by some miracle, he actually believes in curves. I got a 73 on one test and it was still an A-minus." Vinca smiled, patting him on the back. "You'll be fine."
A flash of yellow caught Pippin's eye, and he turned just in time to see the number 11 school bus pass by. Pippin desperately scanned the windows, but the bus went by far too fast for him to recognize any of the faces sitting inside. But he didn't NEED to see the faces - he knew who was on it. So Pippin stood and forlornly watched the bus drive on towards the school, carrying his happiness away with it.
Suddenly Pippin felt Pervinca take his hand and tenderly squeeze it. Turning to look at her, she smiled. "You'll be fine," she repeated, this time with an entirely different meaning, before running to catch up with her high school friends.
...
Pervinca was right - the test was AWFUL. But Pippin was just glad that he got to get it over with first period so he didn't have to spend the rest of the day worrying about it. Following the test, geography seemed painfully boring, and Pippin doodled mindlessly in his notebook, counting the minutes to choir.
Of course, choir wasn't much to look forward to this year. The seventh graders all had to take the class, which meant that many of the students couldn't sing. And it wasn't like Pippin was a musical snob or anything - after all, he listened to the Barrow Boys like everyone else - but it drove him crazy to sing alongside the tone-deaf. He couldn't wait till next year - in eighth grade the choir would be a select group, where the singers had to audition, and Pippin knew that he'd easily make it.
But for now, this was all he had, and Pippin was happy to make the best of it. He didn't even mind that he still had to sit with the girls - Pippin was proud of his high soprano voice, and he worried what would happen when his voice finally changed. And from the way it was squeaking this morning, he probably didn't have long to wait.
As Pippin walked into the choir room, he noticed Merry sitting with the other boys whose voices had already changed. Pippin looked away quickly, but he knew that his friend had already seen him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Merry stand up and start walking over towards him, and Pippin wondered what his friend was going to say.
But he never found out, for Daisy ran up to him, exclaiming, "Pippin! Pippin! Did you hear?" Daisy grabbed Pippin's wrist excitedly and dragged him over to the soprano section. Pippin glanced back at Merry, realizing that his friend looked almost as miserable as he felt, before turning his attention back to the girl. "Some of us are thinking of starting a special singing group, you know, to sing at pep rallies and stuff," Daisy continued. "And we'd totally LOVE for you to be in it!"
Pippin couldn't help but smile - after all, they wanted HIM. "Sure," he said, his voice cracking awkwardly.
...
After choir, Pippin walked to the cafeteria for elevensies with the girls who were starting the special singing group. But today it was Pippin who felt special, for Daisy and Vi fought over who could sit next to him. And several of the girls offered him some of their food, so he got to enjoy banana, zucchini, AND pumpkin bread - he was in heaven.
And the girls couldn't stop fawning over him. "You have the best voice, Pippin." "You sing like an angel." "I'll bet all the boys wish they could sing like you." "Is it true that you play the violin, too?"
This last question came from Edwena, who was new to the school and had missed the first orchestra concert of the year.
"You haven't heard him play?" Daisy asked, astonished. "He's GREAT."
Pippin blushed modestly. "I'm not THAT good," he said, secretly hoping that someone would contradict him.
And Vi did. "Oh, he IS. You'd think he'd been playing since he was a toddler, like one of those prodigies or something. But he's only been playing since middle school."
"Well then," Edwena said, smiling at Pippin. "I can't wait to hear you play."
The conversation continued on about the singing group for awhile, gradually descending into general school talk - the pre-algebra test, the history homework, their new science projects.
"I'm HOPELESS at science," Pippin wailed melodramatically. "I don't know WHAT I'm gonna do for my project."
"Oh, .I. could help you," Edwena eagerly volunteered. "I won the science fair in my old school last year. Maybe we could get together sometime to work on it."
"Sure," Pippin said, glad to have the help.
"Like maybe after school some afternoon?"
There was a collective gasp, and Pippin could almost hear his heart stop for a minute. Luckily, though, he didn't have to explain anything, for Daisy quickly grabbed Edwena and whispered in her ear. Pippin blushed, suddenly very aware that he was the only boy at the table, which had now grown completely silent.
And through that silence Pippin suddenly heard something that made him want to laugh and cry at the same time - somewhere behind him in the cafeteria Merry was laughing. Pippin turned, trying to find where the sound was coming from, and saw Merry and Frodo sitting at a table by themselves, laughing uproariously. Pippin stared at them a moment before realizing it made him feel worse to watch. He quickly turned around, catching Daisy pointing whilst whispering something to Edwena. Daisy quickly dropped her arm as soon as she saw Pippin looking at her, but it was clear who she'd been pointing at.
"So...uh...Pippin..." Vi asked awkwardly, trying to relieve the tension in the air. "So...what are you playing in orchestra right now? Do you think you'll get another solo this year?"
But the magic was gone. Pippin no longer wanted to talk about his musical prowess or have Vi and the other girls tell him how talented he was. He didn't even want to finish eating the pumpkin bread that Audra had given him. He just wanted to be at that table across the cafeteria, laughing with Frodo and Merry. But since he couldn't be with them, he wanted to be someplace far away.
Where he couldn't hear Merry's laugh.
...
As he'd done for the past two months, Pippin came straight home from school. He wasn't in the mood for video games, and there was nothing on TV, so he went into his room and got out his violin. He thought about all the attention Vi and the other girls had given to him about his playing, and he wanted that admiration to continue.
According to his teacher, Pippin was a natural-born talent on the violin, but he didn't ever get any better because he "never applied himself". Of course, until now, Pippin had always been too busy to practice much - who wanted to stay cooped up inside with a stupid instrument when he could be out having fun with Merry? But lately he'd had more than enough time to play, and the improvement was noticeable.
Even by his sister. "Sounding good, Pip," Vinca said, poking her head into his room.
Pippin smiled and looked up, surprised at the genuine compliment coming from such an unlikely source. "Thanks!"
"I mean it," Vinca said, stepping into the room. "I guess you're living proof that 'practice makes perfect'," she teased. "Why, a few more months and you'll be..."
She trailed off as she saw the expression on her brother's face. "A few more months?" Pippin asked, almost in hysterics. "It's already been TWO!"
"I...I didn't mean that," Vinca quickly backtracked. "I meant...your practicing. A few more months of practicing..." But Pippin wasn't thinking about practicing, and Vinca knew it. She tried to calm him by saying, "It won't be much longer, Pip, I promise. I'm sure mom and dad will get over it and -"
"When?" Pippin asked, his voice now cracking not from hormones but from his unshed tears. He sat down heavily on the bed, gently setting his violin and bow down. "I don't think I can do this for much longer, Vinca."
His sister came and sat down next to her brother, putting her arms comfortingly around his shoulders. "You'll be fine, Pippin. I promise. You'll get through this."
"How?" he asked as a single tear escaped and ran down his cheek. "I'm beyond miserable, Vinca," he choked out. "I have to see him EVERY DAY at school, yet I can't even acknowledge that he's there for fear it'll get back to mom and dad and they'll do something worse." He gave a shuddering sigh. "Though at this point I can't even IMAGINE what could be worse."
"I know, Pippin," Vinca said soothingly, pulling him closer and tenderly patting his shoulder. "I know."
"It was a mistake, Vinca. A MISTAKE! It was one lousy Butterfinger and a couple of car air fresheners. And it was TWO MONTHS AGO! So why am I still being punished? WHY?"
Vinca sighed. "Because mom and dad want you to learn your lesson, Pip. And they think it'll be good for you to make other friends."
"But I don't WANT other friends - I want Merry!" Pippin said, the tears now streaming down his face. "And he's not a bad influence, if that's what mom and dad think. It wasn't his fault. I mean, he doesn't even LIKE Butterfingers!"
Such a statement coming out of her hysterical brother caught Vinca as funny and she quietly shook with laughter. "And he doesn't own a car, either," she teased.
Amazingly, this calmed Pippin somewhat and he swallowed hard, smiling through his tears. "We wanted our bikes to smell good," Pippin said lightly, smiling at his sister, and she laughed outloud, hugging her brother tightly.
"See?" she said, smiling at him. She let go of his shoulder and leaned back so that she could look him in the face. "I told you you're gonna be fine. All right?"
Pippin nodded, smiling and brushing the tears from his face, although his breathing still came in short gasps.
"Pervinca," Eglantine called out. "Pippin, have you seen...?" She stopped as she poked her head inside the door and saw her daughter. "Oh there you are, Vinca. I wanted you to help me set the table for dinner."
"Okay, mom," Vinca said, standing up.
But Eglantine was now staring at her two children suspiciously. "What are you two up to in here?" she asked. She stared at Pippin, who still had some tears clinging to cheeks, and Pippin did his best to hide his face.
"We were just discussing Pippin's violin playing," Vinca said smoothly, standing up. "Isn't he getting wonderful?"
"Oh, he is!" Eglantine said, smiling proudly at his son. "I can't wait to hear your next concert, dear."
Pippin smiled, even though he knew that moms were REQUIRED to say such things.
Eglantine looked at Pippin again, studying his face for a moment in silence, before Vinca interrupted, "Shouldn't we be getting dinner, mom?"
"Oh yes, dinner," Eglantine said as if suddenly remembering. "Pippin, dear, we'll let you get back to your practicing - dinner should be ready in about ten minutes," she said as she led Pervinca out of the room.
But for some reason Pippin didn't feel like playing anymore.
...
Dinner was good, and supper was excellent. For dessert, the family sat around in front of the TV eating some of Eglantine's cookies. She had made a triple batch, yet they were still gone in a manner of minutes.
"Nel isn't gonna be happy when she gets home," Vinca said as Pippin stuffed the last cookie in his mouth.
"Oh, don't worry," Eglantine said. "I saved her some." Vinca and Pip smiled and shared a look, and their mother recognized the evil glint in their eyes. "Don't even THINK about it."
"We weren't thinking," Pippin said innocently.
"You're NEVER thinking," Vinca teased, and Pippin playfully hit her with a pillow.
"No violence," Paladin mock-scolded, ducking out of the way as Vinca picked up a pillow to defend herself.
"No violence?" Pervinca repeated, laughing. "Then what d'you call THAT?" she asked, pointing to the TV screen where the rugby players were mid-tackle.
Paladin laughed. ".I. call it a bad play," he said, causing everyone to laugh.
...
When the rugby match was over, Pippin went into his room to get ready for bed. He'd been enjoying just being with his family all evening - he'd been so distracted that he'd momentarily forgotten. But now that he was alone again, the weight of his loneliness descended on him so that it was almost too much to bear.
After brushing his teeth and kissing his parents goodnight, he crawled into bed, hoping that sleep would come quickly. But, just like the many nights before, the tears started to flow as soon as he turned off his light. He missed Merry, and there was nothing that could fill the emptiness that filled his chest. Pippin wondered how much longer he could do this before his heart broke completely in two.
But suddenly he remembered - his parents may have taken Merry from him, but they hadn't taken everything. Afraid to turn the light on, Pippin crept out of bed and felt his way across his darkened room to the bureau. He fumbled about the knobs until he felt the cording in his hand, grasping it tightly as if it were a lifeline.
Once back in bed, Pippin ran his fingers over and over the pendant, repeatedly tracing the raised "M" with his thumb. It wasn't Merry, but it was the closest thing he'd had to his friend in two months, and he wondered why he hadn't noticed it hanging there before. But he clung to it now, silently letting the tears flow, until he finally fell asleep.
THE END