CHAPTER 4: DOES SHE PASS OR DOESN'T SHE?

A couple of days later at school, Peppermint Patty was waiting nervously for her test. She wanted anything but D minuses. And she had done well, so far. But it would be the final grades of the year which would determine if she did good or not. And the teacher came back and handed the students their tests. Franklin passed with an A, as did Marcie who got an A plus. Melanie scraped by with a D minus herself, but unlike Patty, she was glad she got that instead of an F. Peppermint Patty looked at her test and saw the grade. Her nervousness became happiness.

"Marcie!" she began. "I got an A! I actually got an A on my test! I passed with flying colors this year!"

"Way to go, sir!" said a happy Marcie.

"I couldn't have done it without your help, Marcie," said Patty, getting emotional. "Thank you so much. With everything that has happened this school year, this makes it worth it!"

"I was glad to help, sir," Marcie replied. "All you need to do is keep the momentum going."

"Hey guys," said Melanie to Patty, Marcie, and Franklin, "end of school bash at my place Saturday afternoon. Peppermint Patty and Marcie, you can come after your boyfriends' citizenship event is done."

"Sounds like a plan, Mel," said Franklin.

"Can Thibault come?" asked Patty. "He just got back and he's no longer the same angry, chauvinistic guy he was."

"Sure," said Melanie. "Let him know what time it starts."

"And I'll tell Charlie Brown and his gang, as well," added Franklin.

Over at Birchwood School, Charlie Brown and his friends were getting ready to leave for home, as well. Charlie Brown was happy, as he actually had some decent grades for once with fewer C's than he usually got. He and Frieda were walking down the hallway when they spotted Violet, Patty, Shermy, and Ox. They heard about Thibault's coming home and wanted to see if Patty saw him at all.

"Hey guys," said Charlie Brown. "I heard Thibault is back in town. Did any of you see him?"

"We all ran into him yesterday," Violet replied. "And he actually apologized to Patty."

"And I forgave him," added Patty. "I figured since he went all this way to better himself, he deserves a second chance. As friends, of course."

"Of course," said Frieda. "Oh, that reminds me, did you hear about Franco and Hans? They are about to become US citizens this weekend!"

"Really?" said Shermy. "That's great. Peppermint Patty and Marcie must be happy about that."

"They are," said Charlie Brown. "We're happy for them, too."

"They've invited us to the ceremony, too," added Frieda. "You all should come, too. We told Lucy, Linus, Schroeder, Eudora, Sally, and others about it, as well."

"Okay, we'll be there," said Violet.

"All right, we better catch our bus," said Charlie Brown. "See you guys."

"Bye, Charlie Brown. Bye Frieda." And they went to catch the bus home. The weekend was around the corner and they had to get ready for the ceremony on Saturday.

NEXT CHAPTER: WELCOME TO AMERICA