Eudora made her way through the loud crowd of kids, and looked towards the marching band, who were preparing themselves for the national anthem. She craned her neck, trying to see Sally. It didn't take long for her to spot her, holding the clarinet as she fiddled with her hat. Eudora laughed. Sally liked playing in the marching band, but she absolutely hated the uniform; especially the hat with the big white feather on top of it. Sally looked up and caught her friend's eye; she waved, grinning. Eudora waved back and Sally made a face of disgust, pointing at her hat. Smiling, she turned her head to the benches, trying to spot anyone she knew. Her eyes rested on Charlie Brown, sitting on the end of one of the long benches, and she lit up. She began making her way towards him, ignoring the complaints of the people whose toes she was treading on.

"Hey, Charles," she said brightly once she had reached him. She sat down next to him. "I'm actually early for once!" she laughed. Charlie Brown didn't answer. He seemed to be fixated on something. She followed his gaze and sighed as her eyes rested upon a mass of red hair.

Not something.

Someone.

"Charles?" she said tentatively. She prodded him gently and he jumped.

"Wha – oh, hi, Eudora. I was just looking at the gymnasium. It's really big," he gabbled. Eudora sighed. Was he ever going to forget that red-haired girl?

"You know, if she doesn't like you she's not worth it, Charles. You should go for someone who does," said Eudora.

Like me.

"I don't even know if she doesn't like me, though."

"You'd know if you ever bothered to actually talk to her, Chuck," said a voice behind him. Peppermint Patty. Eudora knew her name, but had never really spoken to her. She always just seemed to be one of those faces who was always in the background. She knew she was a good friend of Charles', and sometimes wondered if there was something between them. She was relieved to hear her say that; if she was encouraging Charles to talk to another girl, it was obviously not the case. The tomboy sat down next to her, trying not to drop the sandwich and coke she was carrying.

"Need some help with that?" Eudora asked politely. Peppermint Patty grinned. It was a very infectious grin, the kind that made you feel at ease.

"Oh, thanks, could you just hold these for a second? Just so I can take my backpack off…" she handed Eudora her stuff and dumped the backpack at her feet before taking the things off her. "Thanks! You want some? I don't know about you, but I'm starved…"

Eudora took a sip of the coke and thanked the older girl. Charlie Brown shook his head distractedly, craning his neck to get a better view of the red-haired girl. Peppermint Patty shook her head in despair, rolling her eyes at Eudora.

"He's a hopeless case, I'm afraid, poor Chuck. What's your name?"

"Eudora," she replied, smiling.

"Oh, right, you're Sally's friend, aren't you?" asked Peppermint Patty, not waiting for an answer. "She looks really chuffed."

Eudora looked over at Sally and laughed. She was now fanning herself with her hat, talking to Marcie who was beside her. Eudora smiled fondly at her best friend. They were more like sisters than friends, really; they argued all the time, but made up very quickly afterwards. The reason for most of their arguments was the embarrassing situations Sally tended to put Eudora in. Most of them were to "make a point": like when they walked around with cardboard cutouts saying "QUESTION AUTHORITY" in front of the whole school because the principal had told Sally that her shorts were too short. Or when Sally dragged her towards the religious sorority girls and started harassing them with questions about God and virginity.

"You're the one who went with Sally in front of the cheerleaders with signs saying 'Cheerleading is sexism', aren't you?"

That was another example.

"Yeah. It was all her idea. I'm pretty easily convinced, as you can probably tell," laughed Eudora, grimacing at the memory. Sally had had a fight with one of the cheerleaders. She couldn't remember what it was about.

"Violet and Frieda weren't happy about that. Still, she was right about the sexism thing. It's so backward the way the only girls' sport at this school is cheerleading. I'm thinking of starting a girls' baseball team. Wanna join?"

Eudora laughed, shaking her head wildly.

"No way. I can't play baseball to save my life!"

"You can learn," insisted Peppermint Patty.

"There almost aren't enough boys in the boys' team, Patty. How on earth do you think you're going to manage to get enough girls for a girls' team?" asked Charlie Brown, unexpectedly joining in.

"Oh, so if the boys suck, the girls must be terrible as well, because there is no way a girls' team is going to be better than a boys' team, right? Is that what you're saying, Chuck?" snapped Peppermint Patty indignantly, her friendly expression vanishing and leaving a frown in its place. Charlie Brown widened his eyes in surprise.

"What-? No, I didn't mean…"

"I'm disappointed in you, Chuck! I never thought you'd be a sexist pig!"

"But-!"

"Oh, shut up, Chuck."

Charlie Brown sighed. Why was it that whenever he opened his mouth, everything he said was either stupid or wrong? Feeling depressed, he turned his gaze back to the red-haired girl, who was seated a few bleachers away, laughing at something one of the jocks was saying to her. He was a good looking guy. Charlie Brown turned away, feeling a pang of jealousy. Why was he such a loser? Why couldn't he be the guy talking to the red-haired girl, making her laugh? He got up, mumbling something about finding Linus.

"I'll save your seat for you!" smiled Eudora, her smile fading as Charlie Brown took no notice of her. She sighed and looked at the red-haired girl. She was so pretty. Eudora would have given anything to be that pretty. She was perfect. Shiny red hair. Bright green eyes. Smooth tan skin. Long legs.

"Sorry about that. I love Chuck and all, but he can be such a…well, such a blockhead sometimes," said Peppermint Patty. She caught Marcie's eye and comically gave an exaggerated wave.

"You can say that again," murmured Eudora. Peppermint Patty gave her a curious glance but said nothing, since the marching band had begun playing the national anthem.

Then the cheerleaders came out. All pretty, all popular, all flexible. It was strange that the red-haired girl wasn't in the squad. Eudora pretended alongside Sally that she hated Cheerleaders and thought they were sexist, but in reality, she thought that if she was a good dancer and had flexibility, she would have tried out for the squad.

And if she was pretty, of course.

Charlie Brown re-appeared with Linus, Rerun, 5 and Franklin, looking a tad more cheerful but still not quite happy. Then again, Charlie Brown never looked really happy. They sat down next to the two girls.

"Still cheering?" asked Linus.

"Yup" answered Peppermint Patty. "It should start in around five minutes though, I guess. Lucille didn't feel like coming?"

"Nah, she's at Schroeder's. She hates football, anyway," answered Linus. Rerun and 5 didn't answer; they were much too busy watching the cheerleaders.

"When's there a baseball game?" asked Peppermint Patty, sipping her coke.

"Hopefully not anytime soon," groaned Charlie Brown.

"But you love baseball, Chuck!" she exclaimed in surprise.

"We suck at it, though. People keep dropping off. Schroeder's already complaining that it interferes with his music. Maybe I should just quit, too." Charlie Brown sounded absolutely miserable.

"CHUCK!"

A few people turned round. Charlie Brown jumped, as he always did when anyone shouted at him.

"You can't quit baseball, Chuck! It's your life! You have to try and get more people. If you get more people, then baseball will be more popular in the school, and then Coach Carr might consider trying to form a girls' team too!"

"Oh yeah, that'll happen," muttered Franklin.

"It could."

"It won't. All the popular kids hate baseball. They're all about football. Nobody wants to join our crappy team," added 5.

Peppermint Patty threw her hands in the air, almost splashing coke over Eudora.

"What's with you guys? Why do you have to be so negative?!"

Charlie Brown sighed.

"Look, if you want to try and get a girl team together, try. But it won't work."

"Fine. I'll do it. I'll make you eat your own words, Chuck. By the end of this month, I'll have a girls' baseball team," said Peppermint Patty.

"You'll never manage it," retorted Charlie Brown.

"Wanna bet? If I manage to form a girls' team by the end of the month, you go and talk to that red-haired girl."

There were immediate sounds of wolf-whistling and laughs from the boys and silence from Eudora.

"What? No," said Charlie Brown, looking scared.

"Yes. C'mon, it's not like I'll ever manage it, right?" retorted Peppermint Patty, smiling sweetly.

"Fine. And if you don't you…you…you have to tell me her name."

Everyone rolled their eyes and groaned.

"I'm not going to do that, that's pathetic. What would be the point, anyway, if you didn't talk to her?"

Franklin's face suddenly lit up.

"I have a better idea, Charlie Brown. If she loses the bet, she has to try out for the Cheerleading squad," he suggested.

"No. Franklin, no!" began Peppermint Patty, looking horrified, while the others roared with laughter.

"Come on, if he loses you'll make him do what he considers to be the hardest thing in the world. Cheerleading…well, it's not exactly the worst thing ever, is it? I mean, you can always drop out after," said Linus sensibly. Peppermint Patty glared at Franklin.

"I hate you," she declared, throwing a piece of sandwich at him.

"I know," replied Franklin, grinning from ear to ear.

"Fine, fine. If I lose, I'll try out for the stupid cheerleading squad. I won't lose, anyway. Mark my letters."

"Don't you mean 'words'?" corrected Linus.

"Whatever."

Once the boys had recovered from their laughing fit, the game began, and all their focus turned to the players and the ball; except from the numerous glances Charlie Brown threw at the red-haired girl, the frequent sideways looks Eudora gave Charlie Brown, the more than occasional peeks Peppermint Patty flung at Marcie, and the recurrent glimpses Linus caught of Sally. And, of course, the stares Rerun and 5 gave the cheerleaders.

After the game was over, Sally dragged Marcie into the girls' bathroom, claiming she couldn't stand to be in the stupid uniform any longer.

"Thank god I can take this thing off! It's killing me!" she complained from inside the bathroom stall. Marcie leaned against the door, laughing.

"You say the same thing every time."

"I mean, I know it's to stand out from the rest of the crowd and everything, but why do they have to be so hot? I'm seriously considering leaving."

"You also say that every time."

"Yes, well, I like playing clarinet. And I like the kids too much to leave. It seems like all the more human people go into the marching band in this school. It's just that…"

"…you hate the uniform," finished off Marcie.

"That and the fact I don't want to have to do anything else anymore with those stupid jocks. I feel like a hypocrite cheering them on when I hate most of them. And don't get me started on the cheerleaders," went on Sally, throwing the uniform over the door as she got changed. "The only thing I would love cheering for, if the guys had a decent team, is baseball. But we both know what a complete fiasco that always is."

The baseball games were never a success. Very few people showed up for them, and only a few cheerleaders showed up to cheer. Most of the marching band, who liked the baseball team players much more than the football team players, went to show support, but the cheers tended to turn to groans, and basically they were just painful to watch.

"The kids from the band are getting together at the pizza place to eat in about an hour. You coming?" asked Sally, as she walked out of the cubicle in jeans and a red t-shirt, going over to the sink to wash her hands. Marcie hesitated.

"I don't know. I have to catch up on some homework," she answered, taking of her glasses and cleaning them on her shirt.

"What, more homework? C'mon, Marcie, you study too much. Come out with us. You know you want pizza," insisted Sally, shaking her hands dry and tying her blonde hair back into a ponytail.

"No, really, I can't," replied Marcie. Sally sighed and looked at Marcie, crossing her arms stubbornly. Then she gave in.

"Fine. But promise you'll at least go to Laura's house on Saturday," she insisted. "No one's going to put you on the spot, Marcie, they know you're shy. Most of them are dorks like you anyway."

"Thanks a lot," replied Marcie sarcastically.

"It's a compliment! I'm a dork too. Viva la dorkness!" exclaimed Sally, doing a little jig. They both laughed, and Peppermint Patty came in, munching another sandwich. Sally wondered for the hundredth time how the girl could eat so much and still stay so long and lean. Even with all the sports she did.

"Did I just hear someone say 'viva la dorkness'?" she grinned.

"You sure did," replied Sally.

"That's why I'm proud to know you, kid," laughed Peppermint Patty, high fiving the blonde.

"Anyway. Any of you both fancy going to Franklin's place? His mom's cooking lasagna."

"Tempting. However, I can't. I'm going to the pizza place with the band kids."

"Okie-doke. Marcie? And if you give me any of that homework shit I will slug you."

"Don't bother. I've just been trying to convince her to go with us. She gave me the homework excuse," Sally replied witheringly before Marcie could open her mouth. Peppermint Patty groaned.

"It's not an excuse, I really need to catch up on stuff," protested Marcie.

"If you need to catch up on stuff then what do I have to do? Eat the freaking books? Gimme a break."

"How did you come up with that logic?" snapped Marcie.

"Come on, you need to relax. You're always studying and doing homework!" Peppermint Patty went on.

"Well, one of us has to do it! Who else would you copy from if I didn't?" she retorted angrily, stomping off, leaving Peppermint Patty looking stunned. She turned to Sally, a look of bemusement on her face.

"How touchy can you get?"