Heh…heh…so, hey guys. It's been like, what, four and a half months since I last updated? Yeah…I have no excuses except laziness and lack of motivation. I know most of you probably thought I abandoned this story, but here I am with the next chapter. I'm not making any promises about when I'm updating again (mostly because I don't know if I'll be able to live up to those promises), but I will tell you guys that this story will NOT be abandoned. I'm too engrossed with it. ;)
Liesel Meminger was drowning in her dream. The tidal waves of despair were hitting her repeatedly as she was forced to witness the horrible nightmare her mind had conjured up.
The boy was clasping the girl's hands, holding them tight. Their knees were touching each other's ever so slightly, and their noses bumped one another's as their lips met with passion. Tongues were introduced and heavy breathing ensued. The two youths were trapped together, unable to relinquish their holds on each other's mouths.
His hands were now around her waist, pulling her practically on him. She moaned and held on to him as tight as she could. His mind was reeling. He wanted her unclothed. He wanted all of her. The boy's hands went up the back of her shirt, finding the clasp of the girl's brassiere…
Liesel's eyes flew open. The sun was peeking through her window, and her mama was shouting at her to get ready for school. Liesel, however, remained in bed, feeling sick to her stomach. The nightmare was playing over in her head.
Images of Rudy and Stefanie's entwined bodies flashed through her mind. She remembered their passionate kiss and Rudy's look of longing for his girlfriend. A pang of jealousy hit her. Had he ever looked at Liesel like that?
I'm being ridiculous, she thought. It was only a bad dream.
She was right. It was only a dream. But dreams can easily become reality if you don't watch out.
Monday morning. Time for another long week of school. Of course, nobody likes Mondays, but they're especially awful when you have no friends to endure them with.
Liesel was in this particular boat due to her fight with Rudy the previous weekend. She was determined to win him back, though, and spent the entirety of the school day trying to get him to talk to her.
The most she managed to glean from him was a sideways glance.
That day, Liesel went home from school feeling like even her best friend didn't give two shits about her. If I died, he wouldn't even attend the funeral, she thought.
An even darker thought soon hit her. That's not true, she thought. He would attend so he could rejoice over my death with his beautiful girlfriend. It would be a happy occasion for him.
She was so incredibly wrong. You know it, and she knows it, too. But, don't worry. Soon enough, Liesel would find out how very wrong she was.
Despite all of Liesel's negative feelings, she had come up with one last way to repair her and Rudy's friendship: writing him a letter. Even though he was ignoring Liesel's verbal words, he couldn't ignore her written words, could he? She thought it was worth a try.
The letter went like this:
Rudy,
I know I'm probably wasting my energy writing this letter, and I know you may very well rip this thing up before you even read it. However, I don't care. I really don't think I have anything to lose by trying to apologize to you again, so that's why I'm writing this.
I'll start off by saying that I have never (and I repeat, never) talked badly about you to others. I'm not that cruel of a saumensch. If I had an issue with you, I would say it to your face, not behind your back. Besides, why would I tell others that I think you're too poor? My family is just as impoverished as yours!
If you still don't believe me, then fine. You can choose to ignore me and believe whomever you want. But please remember: You are my best friend. I do care about you. I've never told you that before because I've never liked telling others about my feelings. But if this is what it takes for you to talk to me again, then so be it.
Lots of love,
Liesel
Liesel went to the Steiners' house to drop off the letter, but Frau Steiner told her that he was currently out with Stefanie. Still, she said she would make sure to give it to Rudy once he came home.
Meanwhile, Rudy had taken his beautiful girlfriend Stefanie by the Amper River for their date. After having a pretty standard conversation about school and the latest stupid act Ludwig Schmeikl had committed (attempting to set Sister Maria's desk on fire), Stefanie steered things in a completely different direction.
"You won't believe what Liesel did to me yesterday", she exclaimed. Nightfall was approaching, and, therefore, both teenagers' faces were darkening. Otherwise, Rudy would have been able to see the manipulating expression that was currently on Stefanie's face.
"What?" Rudy asked curiously. Truth be told, part of him really wanted to believe Liesel when she denied ever saying those horrible things about him. He hoped whatever Stefanie had to say about Liesel would be good; otherwise, his worst fears about her would be coming true.
"The girl completely attacked me!" Stefanie cried. "I was just walking past her when she went crazy and jumped right on top of me!" At that moment, Stefanie pulled back the sleeves of her dress to expose some cuts she had received from the incident.
Rudy turned away from her, fuming. I knew it all along!, he thought. Liesel's turning against everyone! He pulled himself out of his thoughts, turned to Stefanie, and put an arm around her shoulders.
"I don't know what's gotten into her, but everything's going to be alright," he reassured her. "Liesel won't hurt you again." Or, at least, she better not, thought Rudy.
With that, Rudy gave Stefanie a small kiss on the top of her head, and proceeded to walk her home.
After dropping Stefanie home at her huge mansion on Grande Street, Rudy made the long trek back to his own house, and found his mother waiting for him in their tiny kitchen. She handed him a letter, saying it was from Liesel.
Reluctantly, Rudy read it in it entirety. When he was finished, he gave the paper another couple glances, went outside, and proceeded to rip it up into little pieces, letting the wind blow the letter away.
Contrary to what Liesel had hoped for, the letter had made Rudy more furious than he had been before. How dare she lie straight to my face, he thought. She claims she cares so much about me, but then she goes and attacks my own girlfriend! Why shouldn't I believe that she also said all that shitty stuff about me?
He wanted nothing to do with her.
The next day, Liesel stumbled upon Rudy as she was running some errands for Mama. Liesel was feeling much more at ease with herself after she delivered that letter, believing wholeheartedly that it would fix her friendship with Rudy. She was thrilled to get the chance to talk to him again.
"Hi, saukerl, what are you up to?" Liesel flashed him a big smile, her eyes twinkling. Rudy, however, kept his eyes to the ground.
"Um, well, I don't know-" Rudy was cut off when Liesel started speaking again.
"I was thinking that maybe we could go to the Amper today, you know, go for a swim or something? Or maybe go steal a book from the mayor's house; we haven't done that in awhile. Anything would be fun, really."
"Uh, I mean-" Liesel cut him off once again.
"Actually, I've been meaning to ask you about one of the books we stole. Do you think-" This time it was Rudy's turn to cut Liesel off.
"No, Liesel. No." There was a determined look on Rudy's face as he looked into Liesel's warm brown eyes with his hardening blue ones. "I don't care about your question or anything you want to say to me."
Liesel' heart seemed to freeze. Her eyes and her face and her entire body drooped a little. "Why? What do you mean?"
"Stefanie told me you attacked her. She showed me the cuts and, frankly, I'm really upset that you would write me a letter declaring that you care about me, but then go and beat my girlfriend. Not to mention, all the horrible things you spread about me." He knew he was rambling, but he couldn't seem to stop. He needed to get all his anger towards Liesel off his chest.
Liesel, though, felt like collapsing. She almost wanted to clutch at her heart from the pain of it. When she spoke, her voice was full of tears. "Rudy, none of that is true. I didn't-"
"Forget it, Liesel. I'm done with this friendship." With that, Rudy looked straight into Liesel Meminger's eyes, letting his ice-cold bitterness and resentment penetrate right through her.
Liesel felt like she had just been cut open a million times. She wanted the wounds to kill her.
"Rudy, please". Her words and her tears pleaded with him.
Rudy, however, was resolute. He turned around quickly and walked away, without even a goodbye.
Liesel half-dragged, half-crawled her way home. At one point, she stopped in the middle of the road and cried for a good five minutes. When she got home, all she wanted to do was sleep. However, there was yet another surprise waiting for her.
As Liesel went to open the front door of her house, she saw a folded piece of paper stuck between the door and the ground. Looking closer, she discovered that it was addressed to her. She pulled it out, opened it, and saw Stefanie's perfect, curly handwriting all over it. It looks like I'm not the only one in Molching writing letters, am I? thought Liesel grimly. He then began to read.
Dear Ugly Cow,
You don't deserve Rudy. There. I've said what everyone in this town has been thinking for years. We're all aware of your inferiority compared to Rudy, and I'm just here to inform you of it.
Rudy's the perfect German. Blonde hair, blue eyes, intelligent, athletic, sociable. Rudy's destined for greatness. It's the reason why I'm his perfect match. My father's a well-established Nazi under his Fuhrer's leadership, I have some of the highest grades in the class, I'm an excellent sprinter, and I have more friends than I can count. Rudy and I are the same. It only makes sense that we're made for each other.
You, on the other hand, are quite the opposite. You and your dirty Jewish eyes, your lack of any real friends, your failure to be more than half-decent at any sport besides childish street soccer. And let's not forget how you didn't even learn to read until you were ten years old. Clearly, you can see straight off the bat that you are not the right match for Rudy, and your association with him will only hinder his progress.
However, Rudy is a kind person, and he can look past these things. He shouldn't, but he can. Regardless, Rudy will never love you or marry you or love you in any way, purely because of how hideous you really are (though he'll never admit it).
I think it's mainly your scrawniness. You're so thin that the slightest touch could crush you. I don't know if you've noticed, but boys like girls that don't look like they're going to die of starvation in the next couple of minutes. Face it, you look like a stick and Rudy would rather die than love a girl made of skin and bones.
Don't worry, there are plenty of more reasons why Rudy would never want you, but I don't want to give it all away in one letter. There's more of these coming, so stay tuned!
Love,
Miss Stefanie
She could almost feel the punches. Every word. Every word of Stefanie's was a punch, one made to her head, another to her chest, another to her stomach, until her entire body was bruised over by this girl's words.
I hate word, I hate them, I hate them, I hate them…Liesel's tears were relentless. She couldn't stop them if she wanted to. Her emotions bled out of her eyes. Hopefully until she died. If only I had a friend, Liesel thought. A friend who would listen to me as I vented about my feelings…
Oh, Liesel. You had that friend.
What happened to him?
She sensed her stomach starting to turn. Knowing her mama would kill her if she made a mess on the floor, Liesel ran to the nearest bathroom, letting the contents of her entire day upturn themselves into the toilet. All that crying must have made her sick.
When she finished, she didn't bother to leave the bathroom. Instead, she laid down, right on the bathroom floor, letting the tears stream down her face, letting herself wallow endlessly in misery.
She wrapped her arms around her bony midsection, feeling the jabbing ache of her ribs poking her arms.
So, there it is. The next chapter of A Love Conflict. I guess I should be making disclaimers about not owning The Book Thief because I'm not a middle-aged man in Australia named Markus Zusak, just so you know. Anyways, I'm so, so sorry again for the long-ass wait, but I hope it was worth it. (By the way, I hope I've made you all really, really hate Stefanie by now. Cause I'm really hating her, and I created her.) Thanks for reading, guys, and see you next time!
