Chapter 2, darlings! I'm updating quickly, but that's not because I have a good work ethic. It's because I happen to have a chapter 2. Not to say of course that I don't have an ethic. I do. It's just not spectacular.
My last disclaimer is the one that applies to all chapters hereafter. End of story. Thank you for reading!
It wasn't clear to Mrs. Plummer what had happened between Polly and Digory that afternoon, but all she could see was an obvious improvement in the way they treated each other. After serving the cider, she had stepped next door to have a little talk with Mrs. Kirke, and when she came back, the pair were teasing and getting along in a much easier way than they had been before. After a little look at the two, she just went into the kitchen to see the smallest of splashes on the floor, sticky with the sugar she hadput in the cider. Around the mess were signs of a struggle. Mrs. Plummer just sighed and decided to make Polly clean it up when Digory left, as it was safe to say that it was the fault of the two young people.
She sat in the kitchen and started up her knitting. She was hoping to complete the light blue shawl for before Christmas, and she worked diligently for sometime before the sounds from the parlour really caught her attention. She spent a moment in deliberation before deciding it wasn't evesdropping to listen in on her daughter...
"...Who's that?" Digory asked. He seemed to be slightly concerned, butit seemed inncocous enough.
"Cedric Daughtry. He moved in three homes down and goes to my school."
Mrs. Plummer recognized the name and the tone of voice Polly had used. She made the safe bet that things were not going to be as easy anymore.
"Why'd you quote him them? He doesn't seem important enough for that; after all, you barely know him." Digory had to bee sneering, the way those words came out. Perhaps he didn't mean to be, but he was obviously disgusted.
"Well, Cedric says that everything people say is important, no matter how well you know them. You learn a lot about people if you listen to them." Polly defended her "friend."
"That doesn't mean you have to adopt all his opinions as your own." Digory retorted.
"I do not! I just think some of the things he says are quite brilliant."
"You've quoted him three times in the past three minutes!" Digory gasped. It was then quiet for a while, but Digory didn't leave that way for long. "Are you keen on him?"
"Well I..." Mrs. Plummer knew Polly was blushing furiously. She wondered if she should come to her daughter's aid, but decided to wait a little longer before blessing her with matronly interseedence.
"You are, aren't you? Alright, then why isn't he here with you? Does he even like you in return?" Digory prodded.
"Yes he does! We've been steady for two months now. He's having holiday in the country with his grandmother. She's very wealthy and lives in a manor in Derbeshire." She retorted brutally, not liking his implications. She had dealt with the lack of return for Cedric's feelings for months before he finally asked her to go riding in his buggy two months ago.
"That's miles from here! Surely he doesn't go all the way across the country just to see his granny."
"His parent's want to stay in the will. They go there every Christmas." Polly muttered.
"Ah ha! He's a sap. I can tell already by what you've told me. He isn't your type Polly." Digory said proudly.
"And who are you to know my type, Digory Kirke! As a matter of fact, Cedric is exatly my type. He's not a stuffed-shirt like some people. He's really brilliant..." She tapered off the sentence as if she didn't know how to finish it. Digory didn't seem afected by her at all, and just continued his speech calmly.
"I can tell he's a 'stuffed-shirt' as you say. All those quotes, your description of his family; Bloody hell.." Mrs. Plummer gasped at the expletive. "He sounds like a real git to me."
Mrs. Plummer wouldn't not stand to hear anyone talk to Polly with such language. And she had thought Digory was such a nice boy!
"Bugger off, Digory! You don't even know him!"
"I know his type, Polly. I go to school with them all the time."
"Bollucks..." Polly swore. Mrs. Plummer was about to have a heart attack. "You are just... Digory Kirke, get out of my house!"
Mrs. Plummer cheered silently for her daughter.
"No." Was all she heard Digory say, but there was some mumbling going on.
"I find that most insulting!" Polly gasped indignantly. Mrs. Plummer was starting to wonder what had happenedand if she should show herself yet.
"Well, think about it! Has he ever..." Mrs. Plummer stoodup and walked into the kitchen where she couldn't hear them anymore. What she thought was the two of them becoming friend again had escalated into a fight she wasn't sure she really wanted to hear. While trying to decide what to do, she cleaned up the cider mess. She couldn't think if there was a stain on her floor! While she was on her hands and knees scrubbing, she heard the sudden opening and closing of the door and a sob. Polly ran into the kitchen, distraught.
"Oh momma!" She fell into a chair by the dining table. "I can't stand him! He always ruins everything!"
"I know dear." said calmly, despite all the anti-calm feelings flowing through her.
"Why do boys have to be so aggrivating? Except Cedric, he's never annoyed me." She smiled slightly through her tears, but itwas a confused smile.
"I knew a boy like that once..." Mrs. Plummer smiled fondly at the memory. "He was a very, very pleasant young man."
"Father?" Polly said delightfully.
"No,no. Father was the boy that irritated me to death." Mrs. Plummer grinned even wider as she watched Polly's eyes grow wide and her lips parted.
"Oh." Was the only thing that would come out of her mouth.
Then, gentle as a lamb, Polly stood. She looked around the room before she saw her cape. She put it on and headed out the kitchen door.
"Where are you going dear?" Mrs. Plummer asked, amused.
"To apologize!" She called back. She came up to the door and opened it, and wentout into the darkness. There was a faint "oomph!" and the sound of two bodies falling into the snow. Mrs. Plummer leaned a little bit closer and could head the awkard apologies of the run in and scrambling to stand in an upright position. She then heard both young people launch into their apologies at the same time. Then awkward laughter, and then silence.
Mrs. Plummer wondered what Mrs. Kirke had told her son, but based on the coversation she had had with the woman only a little while before, she didn't have to guess to hard.