"Ohh, look at that one!" Lee pointed to something in a magazine of May's, while out lounging in the sun. "Wait, no. That one."
"Let me see!" May complained.
"Hold your horses, May," Lee told her, tilting it just so May could make out the pictures. "See? That one. That's the one I want."
"Well, you can't have that one," May replied crassly. "Choose another."
"Why?"
Snatching the magazine and rolling onto her front, May stretched across a towel like a lazy cat. "Because that's the one I'm getting."
"Says who?" Lee asked, a frown on her face.
"Says mom," May told her. "And I already asked her, so you'll just have to pick again."
Marie rolled her eyes and brushed her bangs out of her face. She adjusted her baseball cap and said, "Would you two can it?"
It was one of the hottest days all summer, with temperatures expected to be in the 90s. Normally, because Lee was such a brat and had to have her way, the three of them would be cooped up indoors; Lee huddled around the air conditioner. Marie smirked. Luckily the air conditioner was out of commission, courtesy of another Epic Kanker Throw down. That gave them an excuse to be outside, at least.
Lee moved her face to the sky and used her arm to shield her eyes from the sun. "See anything yet?"
"No," Marie said with a bored sigh. "Maybe they aren't coming today."
"Not coming?" May asked sadly. "But why?"
Lee shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe on account of how bad we beat them up last time."
"You mean how bad you beat them up," May corrected with her nose high in the air. "All I wanted to do was say hi, but you had to go and ruin it."
"Men are like children and animals," Lee explained. "Show 'em who the boss is, and they'll respect you for it."
"Who's the lamebrain that told you that?" May muttered.
"Mom," Lee said proudly. She fidgeted around in the lawn chair and reached for the bottle of sun block on the grass between her and May. "Hey, Marie! Get down here!"
"What?" Marie, perched atop their trailer on a padded life vest, glanced over the side. Lee didn't look happy, but then again it was kind of hard to tell without being able to see her whole face. The whole bangs-in-your-face thing is so last year, Marie thought, rolling her eyes.
"Get down here!"
Marie groaned and complied, hopping down and landing between her two sisters. "What, Lee? Do you want me to watch for them, or not?" The Ed boys rarely came by these parts, but when they did (or even when they were close to being on Kanker Turf), the girls would always know. Living somewhere they never came had its advantages; there was no shortages of look-out posts, for one.
"I was just gonna let you to put sunscreen on my back," Lee said. "But if you're gonna be like that, then forget it."
May pushed herself onto her elbows, anticipating a fight. The magazine was quickly forgotten.
"Like I'd wanna rub lotion on your crocodile scales, anyway," Marie said beneath her breath.
Within seconds, Lee was hovering overhead, big red curls blocking out the sun. Marie squinted and covered her eye. "What did you say?" Lee barked.
"You heard me!"
May said softly, "Guys..."
"You've got some nerve, missy!"
Louder this time, "guys."
"Me?" Marie never let her short statue get in the way. Lee might be bigger, but Marie was more clever. "You think you're Queen of the trailer park; like May and I really wanna rub lotion on your back and paint your gross, crooked toenails!"
"GUYS!"
"WHAT?" Marie and Lee shouted in unison, only inches from one another.
"Stop fighting," May told them, pushing herself to sit on her towel. She brushed her front side off, frowning at the little indentation dots from the material of the towel. "It's too hot to fight."
"Shut up, May!" Both girls said at once, heads swiveling to the other in surprise.
Marie shoved Lee hard, putting what little weight into it she had. "Quit copying me!"
"Me? You're the one copying me!"
May jumped to her feet and exploded, hands balled into tight fists. "YOU GUYS! STOP FIGHTING! This was supposed to be a nice relaxing day, but all you wanna do is pick fights with each other. So cut it out!"
Marie bent her head in shame. May was right. It was the heat getting to them, turning them against one another. That and Lee's usual crummy attitude. But if she was willing to apologize, then Lee just might be, too. She glanced up, hoping to see her sister just as distraught as herself. What Lee said next surprised her.
"'S not my fault," she huffed, folding her pale, gangly arms across her chest.
"That does it!" Marie cried. She grabbed Lee's sun-bathing chair and slammed it over her head, storming away before she could free herself. "I'm out of here!"
"Marie!" Lee called after her angrily. "Marie, you get back here!"
"Fat chance," said Marie, booking it. Forget Lee and her stupid attitude. It was a nice day out, one of the nicest she'd seen in a while, and there was no way she was going to waste it like a chained up mutt with only five inches in each direction she could go.
"Ma-rie!" May squealed.
"Don't just stand there, May, get me outta this thing!...You know what? Get lost, Marie! See if I care!...MAY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
"I'm trying, gosh, hold still!"
Good, Marie thought. I'll just take my sweet time, then. See what everyone is up to. Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll find me an Ed.
A/N: I'm not entirely sure, but I think I've managed to turn Marie into a sue without even trying. Or maybe I'm just not as familiar with her character as I first thought. *Shrugs* Ho well, looks like we'll find out.