Chuckie's always been the most awkward member in their group. He's had more trouble making new friends than the others and was completely hopeless when it comes to attracting the attention of girls.
Tommy and Phil never had this problem. Tommy could sit in a room full of strangers and be friends with them all by the time he left. He'd probably have the phone number of at least one girl too. When he wasn't being completely gross, Phil was funny, something everyone liked about him. Chuckie didn't have any of that.
Even in high school girls didn't notice him, except as Tommy Pickles' best friend, and that bothered him. So he decided to ask Angelica for help.
Angelica was of average height for a girl, and at the top of the football team's "Most Bang-able" list. In other words, she was gorgeous and she made all A's and B's.
As far as Drew and Charlotte Pickles were concerned, their daughter was perfect. She had to be perfect.
He name was Holly Mayes. She was tall, had beautiful brown hair and hazel eyes. Chuckie knew the minute he saw her that he liked her. But she didn't even know he existed.
Which is where Angelica came in. She'd helped him before, she could do it again. So he asked her.
"Sorry, Finster. I'm busy," she said. "I'm graduating this year and I have to make sure to keep my grades up."
Her parents wanted her to be valedictorian. Top of the class; 4.0 GPA. She had a 3.7. She thought if she worked hard enough this last semester she would manage it.
"How's school going, Princess?" Drew asked her that same night at dinner.
Angelica was sitting between her parents. To them her plate looked half empty. She was carefully cutting her chicken into small pieces before bringing one to her mouth.
Charlotte answered before Angelica could. "It's going fine, of course. She's got our DNA, after all, Drew."
"Yeah, Daddy, it's great."
He tried to talk to her one day when she was in the Java Lava. "Hey, I'm Chuckie. Do you mind if I sit here?" She didn't even look at him, just focused on the book in her lap.
He sat down anyway. He continued to speak as he sipped his coffee. "Is that any good? I prefer graphic novels and comic books, myself."
After a few moments of silence on her side she closed her book and stood. She finally seemed to realized he was sitting at the table. She pulled ear buds out. "I'm sorry. Did you need something?"
He shook his head mutely as she walked away. He was such a failure.
She couldn't sleep again. She crept down the hallway to her parents' home gym. She'd spend some time on the stair climber, she thought. She could sleep after.
When she knew Drew and Charlotte would be up soon she stopped. She took a quick shower and then hurried down the to the kitchen. If her parents knew she'd been up all night they wouldn't be happy. Hopefully bacon and eggs were a good reason to be awake so early.
"Oh, Angelica, this looks wonderful!" Charlotte said when she saw the table. "But shouldn't you be getting ready for school? You can't go dressed like that," she added, indicating Angelica's sweat pants and t-shirt. "You need to look more put together if you want to be taken seriously."
"Yes, I'll go change right now." When she came back down Charlotte approved of her pink sweater, white skirt and flats.
"Much better. Did you finish your homework last night?"
Chuckie was desperate. "Please help me, Angelica. I'll do anything for you. Even your homework if that's what you want."
The blonde looked up at him. He was nearly a foot taller than she was. When had that happened? "I have a little time this weekend," she said finally. "I'll come to your house, but you owe me. I will think of a way for you to pay me back."
He managed to hold back his smile until she was gone. He was still smiling when his friends joined him.
"What's the grin for, Chuck?" Phil asked after the customary greetings.
"I'm going to get a date with Holly," he answered. "Um... With Angelica's help."
Tommy looked incredulous. "But you don't even get along with Angelica. How is she supposed to help you?"
Kimi had another concern. "Don't you remember the last time Angelica tried to help you? You completely ignored us and you acted like a total dork."
"Oh, yeah!" Lil said. "The way he was walking and that ridiculous pose!"
"I'm not going to let her change me like that again. She's just going to help me be more confident," Chuckie protested to many sighs of exasperation.
"What's in it for her?" Tommy asked.
"I don't know yet."
"Angelica, are you feeling okay?"
She looked up to see her friend Susie standing above her. "Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"
Susie sat down at the library table. "You were half asleep and it seems like you've been avoiding everyone. I'm worried."
"I'm fine, Carmichael. I'm just really busy. I have homework and basketball practice and debate once a week. Plus I cook dinner almost every night."
Susie still looked concerned but she didn't push and changed the subject. "I still can't believe you like yelling at a bunch of sweaty guys. Don't you ever get tired of it?"
"Are you kidding? It's the best part of my day. You might call it stress relief." Angelica picked up her pen and stared intently at her half-finished English assignment. "Besides, it's good exercise and some of those guys are pretty hot."
"Whatever you say, Angelica."
Angelica showed up at precisely one o'clock Saturday afternoon. Kimi directed her upstairs to Chuckie's room.
"Okay, Finster. I have an hour and a half. Let's get started." She dropped her purse on his desk.
Chuckie stood and she eyed his untucked button down shirt shirt and unkempt hair critically. "Wait, Angelica. You can't change me like you did last time. I want Holly to like me for me."
"Got it," she replied. ''We'll start by changing your shirt." Chuckie started to protest as she dug through his drawers. "Now, take that one off."
"Right now? With you here?"
Angelica pursed her lips. "Yes, Finster. Off." He hesitantly pulled the shirt over his head, feeling very self-conscious. "Put this one on." She pushed a t-shirt that Kimi had gotten him for Christmas at him. While he tugged it on, she unbuttoned his other shirt. She handed it to him then. "This one on top."
Chuckie frowned. She'd barely been there for ten minutes and already she was doing strange things to his wardrobe. When she started going through her purse he hoped she wasn't going to put eyeliner on him.
Angelica turned around and directed him to sit in the desk chair before going to stand behind him. "You need to brush your hair more, Finster. It wouldn't stick up so much if you did."
The rest of the afternoon was spent tackling his hair and the way he carried himself when walking. At 2:30 she showed him what to wear on Monday and what he should say to Holly.
"When you get a date with her, Finster, I'll come back and help with that. It'll be next Saturday."
"You have a diary?" Savanna demanded. Angelica looked up. All her friends were sitting around her, eating lunch. "Aren't you a little old for that?"
Angelica scoffed. "A lot of people keep diaries," she said softly, shutting the book. "Age has nothing to do with it."
"Are you going to Sean's party tonight?" Brianna asked. "Everyone who's anyone will be there."
"I'm busy."
"You're always busy." Susie wouldn't be going either, but she thought Angelica should. When the blonde didn't answer she said, "You never eat lunch. Don't you think you ought to? I mean, it isn't healthy to skip a meal everyday."
"I eat a big breakfast," Angelica lied, shrugging. "I'll eat something after school, and there's supper too."
Susie bit her lip. "If you're sure." The others at the table were talking to each other, not even looking at Angelica. Susie was the only one worried about her friend. She just didn't know what to do.
Chuckie was on his second date with Holly. Once he caught her attention it was easy to talk to her. He discovered that they had a lot in common. They were allergic to some of the same things and they liked the same movies. It seemed like they had endless things to talk about and, boy, did she like talking.
"...And then he pushed her in the deep end! She couldn't even swim so I had to jump in and save her."
"Uh-huh." Chuckie watched her from across the table, feeling a little annoyed with all her chattering. She was pretty, she was kind, she was interesting, and she talked way too much.
"Your third date, huh, Finster. Have you kissed her yet?" Angelica asked. It was another Saturday and she was making sure Chuckie looked okay to go out with Holly that evening.
"No!" he said rather defensively. He softened his voice, watching her root around in his closet. "What if I do it wrong? I've never kissed a girl before."
Angelica laughed. "You just turned seventeen. Hey, what about that trip to New York when Susie sang in the Thanksgiving Day Parade? Weren't you going to kiss someone then?"
"No one wanted to kiss me."
She held out some clothing before turning around. "You know that you'll never do it if you spend your life afraid to. There's a first time for everything, Finster."
Chuckie shrugged. "I guess. You can turn back around now." He looked at her warily and wondered suddenly when he'd grown so comfortable with Angelica that he'd talk about his fears so easily.
He thought she looked a little pale as she reached for his hairbrush. She situated herself behind him and attacked his hair.
"Third date's a good time to do it. So, you know, just kiss her. Don't think about it. I'm not spending all this time just so you can blow it with the girl." Angelica yanked the brush through a particularly knotted bunch of hair. "Have you ever considered cutting it, or a ponytail? It could look good like that."
"I like my hair the way it is." He waited for a response. Behind him she swayed on her feet before dropping the hairbrush. A second later he heard a thunk and he spun. She was on the floor.
"Angelica?"
The last thing she could remember was standing in Chuckie's room helping him get ready for his date. Now she was laying in an unfamiliar bed. It wasn't comfortable. She didn't recognize the room, but quickly realized she was in the hospital. Chuckie was sitting in a chair nearby and a nurse was checking her vital signs.
"Why am I here?" she asked.
Chuckie looked nervous. "You passed out and wouldn't wake up. I kind of panicked and called an ambulance."
"A good thing, too," the nurse told her. "You're malnourished and underweight. We're going to keep you here a few days to bring you up to a proper weight."
Angelica scowled. "My weight is just fine. I don't need to stay here."
"Now don't try that. Your parents have already been here and have gone to get some things for you," the nurse reprimanded. "You will leave when the doctor says you can."
Of course Angelica threw a tantrum, though it didn't do any good. Chuckie left after a while to call Holly. He'd missed their date. Susie came to visit several times while she was there.
It took months before Angelica was ready to talk to the therapist. It seemed that when her parents pushed her so hard for perfection in everything, she felt like she had no control. What she could control, she had decided, was her weight. If she could keep herself at that perfect ninety-eight pounds, she could do everything else her parents asked of her. She could be valedictorian and she could go to an Ivy League school.
Most people assumed that she got better, that she didn't think about the three years she'd been starving herself. What no one understood, save Susie and Chuckie, was that she did. All the time. She had to fight it everyday.
She usually won.
I don't think endings are my thing. They always seem so rushed. I also think I made Angelica's anorexia symptoms pretty obvious.
Another thing, this is the longest thing I've ever written without stopping. All 2,170 words. And I may have done so when I should have been cleaning. Oh, well. I have time.