This summer was going to be quite fun. The village of Gavaldon had implemented a summer program years ago, per Agatha's request. After Sophie and Agatha had returned from the famed School for Good and Evil, Sophie set about making plays based events that never happened and ate twice her normal amount of cucumbers for the statue that was going to be made in her honor. Agatha had known better. For one thing, she had known Sophie would never be satisfied with the sculpture. ("They didn't get the curve of my hips!" "The shade of paint doesn't match the exact color of my eyes!") Gavaldon wasn't known for the questionable art it produced, after all. Agatha had just wanted to do something for the people in the tiny town. Specifically, children. Sophie had laughed for a full minute when she had explained her plan.
"You're going to do what?" Sophie finally had enough breath to ask, wiping tears from her eyes.
"Run a camp. For a week. All day, so that kids can have fun and their parents don't have to worry about them."
"But...why?"
"Because." Agatha simply said. "Gavaldon is my home. Don't you remember all the fun we had? We could take them on trips all around the town square. We could read aloud to them in the bookshop, or get them sweets at the bakery, or even let them take boats on the lake. They should have a happy childhood, not work in a butchery!"
Sophie pursed her lips. "I suppose it could be good- Hold up. Did you say we?"
There was a lot of arguing and fighting after that, but eventually, Sophie agreed, on the condition that it was her idea. Agatha rolled her eyes and agreed, of course. She just wanted to spend the summer with Sophie at her side. And she did. The Elders thought it was a fabulous idea, which made Agatha a little annoyed, because she was sure they would've been displeased if she had asked, but made Sophie glow with pride. The first summer, they spent a whole week with little ones ages six to thirteen and grew accustomed to their tribe of seven girls and boys. They liked to hear the pitter-patter of small feet behind them, smile at each other when they did something funny, and even wipe up the messes they made when eating. It was a little bit of being a mother, something Sophie had never had and always wanted, and Agatha had had but this time, had a chance to tweak. It was perfect.
What Sophie liked most, she had to admit, was spending time and bonding with Agatha. She missed her best friend. She missed their time at the lake and trying on goopy facials, which she knew Agatha secretly loved. But she just loved being in her presence. Agatha was different after coming back from school. She didn't smell anymore. She was this breath of fresh air, just like her personality.
They had had this tradition going on five years. Sophie and Agatha were twenty-one now, and no matter if they went to Rainbow Gale or Murmuring Mountains for months at a time, they always came back for this very special week.
"Are you excited for the first day?" Sophie asked Agatha absentmindedly as they were walking down to the bookshop, the meeting spot where all the parents dropped their children off.
"Of course! This is our thing, remember?" Agatha said. Sophie had never seen Agatha this excited about anything. It made her think for a moment, how sad she was she had never made her feel this way. But she would have so much time to this week.
"Alright, everyone has lunch, an extra sweater, and they're ready to have fun, right?" Agatha asked. She and Sophie were in front of the book store and ready to start. In return, eight faces smiled up at her.
"Who wants to have a spa day? We're going to make homemade cucumber juice, make an oats-and-honey face mask, and I'm going to teach you the trick to applying perfect eyeliner! Come stand by me!" Sophie called. Three of the oldest girls, who reminded her of Beatrix and Millicent, pranced over to her. They immediately flipped their hair and examined their nails as if the short walk would damage them. Sophie gave a small nod of approval. Agatha rolled her eyes.
All in all, Sophie ended up with the three mini Sophies and another little boy who had a surprisingly good fashion sense following her around. Agatha had a boy who was picking his nose, another who was examining the bugs on the ground, a girl whose tooth gap was four teeth long, and one more who looked perfectly normal. Thank goodness.
For the first half of the day, Mr. Deauville was letting everyone (although this was geared more towards Sophie and her posse) use the back room for their "beautification lesson," as Sophie so eloquently put it. Later, Agatha was leading all to the bakery where the cooks so graciously offered to teach everyone how to make cookies. They would have lunch on the picnic benches and let the kids play a game by the lake before the day was over.
Surprisingly, everything went smoothly. There were a few almost mishaps, like when the bug kid almost dropped a whole carton of eggs, or when someone almost drew a mustache with the eyeliner stamp. The worst was all the complaining. The snotty girls (who Agatha called Secondhand Sophies in her head) said even being in the same room as the cookie making would make them gain five pounds. Agatha was not fazed. Sophie could be far worse. They'd never had her butterless, sugarless, almond flour cookies.
They were relaxing by the lake, Sophie tanning her legs and Agatha trying not to burn herself when a little girl came up to her.
"Agatha, we need your help!" It was the normal girl. Juliet. She was a sweetheart in third grade and hadn't caused a single problem. She tugged Agatha away, who gave Sophie a shrug.
"What's up, buttercup?"
"It's you and Sophie." She said it so firmly, Agatha almost thought Juliet was older than her for a second.
"What about us?"
"I know you like her." Agatha had a heart palpitation. No, two. What was she saying? (And was it really that obvious?)
"I don't 'like' her, sweetie. When you get older, you don't really use that word anymore."
She crossed her arms and stuck out one hip. "I know you have a crush on her."
"Again, we don't really-"
"Whatever you call it!" Juliet raised her voice. "Sorry," she apologized, looking bashful. "It's just...you're making us so happy. You're so nice and doing this instead of churning butter is the best thing ever! I want you to be happy too," she explained.
Agatha smiled gently at the girl. "I am happy."
"No, you're not. I can see it. You're looking at Sophie constantly, and you blush whenever she catches you. You're always sharing smiles with her and laughing at her weird obsession with her looks. You always have a smile on your face around her. But you won't touch her."
"Juliet, you have to believe me when I say-"
"No. You like her. I'm not going to believe anything else. That's the truth."
Agatha sighed. Why did she have to be right? "J-Juliet...it's complicated. Even if I did like her, what would I do about it?"
"Go tell her." Agatha wished she could have the fearlessness of an eight-year-old.
"I can't make her like me back."
"Uh, she already does. Duh."
"What?" Agatha's eyebrows shot up and her heart resumed its gymnastics session.
"She's doing the same things you are. That's called mirroring. It's when you unconsciously start doing what the person you're watching is doing. And also, she kept purposely touching your hands when you were sharing trail mix."
No. No. No. It couldn't be. She glanced at Sophie, who turned her head a fraction of a second too late. She could see that her cheeks were pink. No way.
"Juliet...do you know what the word sexuality means?"
"Yeah, it's who you like." Wow. Okay. So this was the most cultured eight-year-old she had ever met.
"So, Sophie has only had crushes on boys. We've been best friends since we were sixteen. She can't have a crush on me. She was probably just embarrassed we caught her watching us."
"No, no, no! You like her. She likes you."
One thing occurred to Agatha. "Wait, Juliet...how do you even-"
"My father ran off with some other man. It's not a big deal. My family has been discussing it since I was six."
"So, you're okay with people of different sexualities?"
"Yeah. I mean, it's like this. I picture Cupid as a blind guy. He has an arrow, shoots it at someone, they get a crush. But he can't see who they fall in love with-"
"I'm not in love-"
"Shh! I'm not done! Anyway, Cupid can't see, so he can't judge. He just makes people happy by being in love with each other. Cupid and love don't judge, so why should I?"
Agatha felt tears in her eyes. That was the singlehandedly perfect thing she needed to hear. How could one little girl understand her better than everyone else? Juliet wrapped her in a hug and patted her on the lower back, the highest she could reach. She heard footsteps and hoped it wasn't the Secondhand Sophies. She had had enough drama. But no. It was the firsthand Sophie, the one she was shockingly, not shockingly, kinda, maybe, sorta, totally, irrevocably in love with.
"Hey, is everything okay here?" Sophie asked. Agatha dried her eyes while Juliet distracted her.
"Yup! Agatha was helping me sort something out, but now it's all good! I'm going to go find caterpillars with Friedrich," Juliet said and skipped away. Sophie eyed her suspiciously and then walked back to the blanket, Agatha in tow.
"So, what were you talking about?"
"Nothing." Everything.
"Aggie, seriously, you can tell me. It's okay. I won't tell her parents."
"It wasn't about anything. It-it was about you."
"What?" Sophie arched her perfect eyebrows.
Agatha took a breath in and started talking. She couldn't hear herself because of the blood pounding in her ears. But she knew that this was it. No turning back.
Sophie was in shock. She had assumed that Agatha maybe was taking care of that little girl being picked on, at worst. This was different. Far different.
"Aggie, seriously, you can tell me. It's okay. I won't tell her parents." Aggie. How Sophie loved to see Aggie's smile when she called her that. To Sophie, she would always be Aggie.
"It wasn't about anything. It-it was about you."
"What?"
"I was talking to her about how much I look at you to see if you're having fun, or if you're mad because your nail chipped. I eat your super gross sweet potato chips because you like them. I let you try out your horrible eyeshadow combinations on my face. I always let you go first and I always save you because I care about you."
"Aw, Aggie, I care about you too. You'll always be my best friend."
Agatha shook her head. "That's not what I mean. I...I-I...well-"
"Just spit it out already!" Sophie teased. She didn't know that that sent Agatha into a mental frenzy, because she loved how her green eyes lit up and her blinding smile showed.
"I really, really, really, really like you."Sophie was a little confused.
"I like you too. Otherwise, we wouldn't be friends. Is that what you wanted to say?"
"No! I really, really, really, really, really like you...romantically." Sophie blinked. She couldn't think. In a way, she wondered if this was the universes' way of giving her an in. A way of saying, "tell her you like her too!"
"I…" Aggie's face fell, and it broke Sophie's heart into a pattern she didn't think possible.
"I get it," Agatha whispered. "I'm going to round them up and then I'll take them into the bookshop." She turned to leave, her face flushing a deep shade of red.
"Aggie! Wait!" Sophie called. Agatha turned around, and their heartbeats synchronized. Sophie held up a notebook.
You ok? it read. Of course. Sophie had made Agatha watch the You Belong With Me music video as part of this past summer, where she tried to reinvent them. It never worked.
Tired of drama, Agatha's read. Sophie supposed it had been pretty dramatic.
Sorry :((( Sophie said. Agatha shrugged. She knew what came next, and she didn't want it to happen.
I love you. There it was, in black and white. Except Agatha didn't close her curtain. She saw it.
I love you. Agatha wrote back as fast as she could. They both smiled up at each other, suddenly shy.
"I'm sorry I freaked out. It was just a shock to hear my crush say what I had been thinking for a year."
"A year?"
"Yeah. Last summer, when you came out and showed me your impression of Elle Woods, pink and all, I thought, I need this girl in my life forever. And I knew."
"I think it was always there for me. Just like an underlying thing that was always watching me. Wow, we could've done this a whole year ago?"
"I guess so, but I'm glad it happened now and I have this perfect moment with you." Sophie paused for a moment, and then, "What now?"
"One second." Agatha walked away and picked something up from the garden. Then she walked back to Sophie, who had a curious expression on her face.
"Will you be my girlfriend?" She offered her a mini cucumber. The whole thing was so absurd and utterly sweet that Sophie burst out laughing. Finally, she stopped, looked at Agatha, and got dizzy all over again.
"Aggie, will you be mine?"
"Hm...I don't know. Okay, I guess. Ugh." Agatha rolled her eyes and pretended to be snotty.
"Good, because I say... yes, yes, yes!"
They spent the rest of the day in a tight hug, listening to love songs and thinking of one another. They were perfectly content with saying nothing.
On the way back to the bookshop, Juliet waggled her eyebrows at Agatha. There was an unmistakable look on her face. I told you so.
Oh, how she had.