Here's the next chapter of the Peanuts story! Anyway, enjoy!

The next day, after school, Marcie was walking home on her own, once again. She was perfectly impressed by how Peppermint Patty was able to keep up with her grades, and she didn't even have to remind her even once... once again. Of course, it got Marcie suspicious. She figured that her best friend was hiding something from her, but she didn't know what.

Marcie hummed a bit as she came across Heather's house. Marcie took a deep breath... and sighed as she walked up and was about to knock on the door... when Heather opened it and saw who it is.

"Oh, hey, Marcie. Good to see you again." Heather gave a smile.

Marcie took a deep breath. "Hello, Heather. You said you'd... help me with... a certain problem?"

"Obviously." Heather giggled. "Come on in, Marcie. I don't bite."

"Of course you don't, ma'am." Marcie said as she walked inside and looked around the area. All in all, it wasn't too bad of a place, it was nicely decorated, as Marcie quickly noted. Pretty soon, the two of them reached Heather's room as the two of them came inside. Marcie looked around and noted all the unicorn posters in her room. Marcie sighed.

"Yeah, sorry if the room is a bit... girly, but sometimes, you just have to unleash your feminine side. Pretty easy considering our genders." Heather giggled.

"Hilarious, ma'am." Marcie said, looking up to Heather.

"Okay, listen, Marcie." Heather said as Marcie obeyed her. "I'm going to get down to the meat of it. You're in love with Charlie Brown, I can easily tell with that look... but you seem to fear that he doesn't love you back..."

"I'd like it if he'd... return the feelings, but I may never be more than a 'like' to him." Marcie sighed.

"Don't get yourself down, Marcie. You're acting more like him when he's alone, eating his lunch on the bench." Heather said. "Wanting to be optimistic, yet having a pessimistic point-of-view."

Marcie gasped as she covered Heather's mouth. "You can't say that word!"

"Pessimistic isn't a curse word, Marcie." Heather sighed.

"S-sorry, ma'am. I've learned a lot from my parents on what words never to use... and one of them sounded like... well..." Marcie said.

"Yeah, I think I get it." Heather looked up. "But anyway, being pessimistic means that you look at the world with all the cons that are thrown... but if you're optimistic, you look at the pros."

"What about both pros and cons, the in-between?" Marcie asked.

"I don't know if there's a word for that, but if there is, I'm sure you'll be the first to know." Heather giggled. "But listen. If you want to get closer to Charlie Brown, you've got to take initiative."

"How?" Marcie asked.

"Well... you're already friends with him, and you seem to hang out with him a lot. That's a good start." Heather explained. "Second, you got to pander to his interests... you already getting a hang of it."

"But he doesn't seem to like it when people march in to his pitcher's mound when he's about to pitch." Marcie said.

"Can you blame the guy? He's trying to do a pitch session, and someone like Lucy wants to come in and complain about how she's oh so bored on the field and wants to do some mundane activity that has little to nothing to do with baseball!" Heather sighed.

"Tell me about it." Marcie chuckled, knowing how Heather felt when Marcie saw Charlie Brown's constant interruptions by Lucy.

"You know... he's told me a few times that he's never received a Valentine in the mail or secret notes..." Heather sighed. "In a way, I feel very sorry for him. Here he is, trying to be optimistic and... either he'll take it too far that he'll embarrass himself or he'll chicken out. Sure, he gives Valentine's to others, but... they never return any..."

Marcie looked down, guilty. "Well... you know, I actually have written... a couple..."

"What? Really?" Heather asked, turning to Marcie. "You wrote a couple Valentines for Charlie Brown? What stopped you from giving them to him?"

"They... they were so embarrassing to read! I couldn't even go up to him with the Valentines... so I hid them in a secret box, hoping that should I confess to Charles, next Valentine's Day, I'd give him those Valentines then." Marcie groaned.

Heather sighed as she paused. "Really? Well, I like to judge for myself. Think we can meet in the public library, you can show me the Valentines you wrote?"

"In the public library?" Marcie asked.

"I'd make it at my house, but my parents are going to be out of town for work tomorrow." Heather said. "What do you say, Marcie?"

"Well... okay, just... don't be surprised if what I've written is terrible, okay?" Marcie said.

"Like I said, I'll judge for myself." Heather said as she looked at the clock. "Well, it looks like it's getting a little long than expected. You better get going home."

"All right. Thank you, ma'am." Marcie said as she got up. "I'll see you tomorrow at the library."

Heather nodded as she led Marcie out the door and gave her a wave good-bye.

The bi-spectacled girl gave a wave back as she started to get going along her way. She liked Heather, but at the same time, she was a bit nervous. She was really embarrassed by the Valentine's she wrote, but if Heather wanted to see them... she supposed she had no other...

And then she got jumped. Marcie yelped as she got took by surprise. She was about to scream, but a hand covered her mouth. She was then pinned down to the ground as her glasses got knocked off.

"This is for the football!"

Marcie's eyes widened as she recognized that voice. It was Lucy Van Pelt, and she couldn't tell from the blurriness but she could tell it was her arm as she grabbed her glasses from the ground. Marcie then heard a snap... and her glasses being stomped on. She then felt a punch coming from each side of her face multiple times, then she felt Lucy get off her as she heard her laughing. "Good luck walking home now."

As soon as Marcie got up, she tried to find her glasses... but when she felt the broken shards of glass on the floor, she gasped. Her glasses got broken by Lucy, all because she was still mad about the football thing the red shirted girl pulled on the blue dressed girl.

Marcie got up and tried to walk, but without her glasses, she really couldn't see a thing. Marcie never knew this would happen...

Pretty soon, she felt a hand taking her. Marcie felt the hand as furry, she turned and saw... what seemed to be a white form... she couldn't make it out, but she knew who it was. "Thanks, Snoopy."

She couldn't tell what Snoopy was doing, but she assumed he nodded. She didn't know where she was going, but eventually, she and Snoopy reached a house of some kind. Snoopy knocked on the door using his feet as someone answered the door.

"All right, all right, I'm coming, Snoopy, hold..." Marcie heard Charlie Brown's voice say as the door opened up. Charlie Brown gasped as Marcie looked up. "Marcie! What happened? Where are your glasses?"

"They were broken, Charles..." Marcie said.

"What? What happened?" Charlie Brown asked, taking her inside. "Who hurt you?"

"She took off the glasses and snapped them off... she punched me in the face and took me by surprise... she said that 'it was for the football'..." Marcie took a deep breath, looking like she was about to cry.

She couldn't tell what Charlie Brown's face looked like, but it sounded pretty angry. "Lucy... I may have tolerated her when she pushed me around... but she doesn't hurt my friend and get away with it... Marcie, stay here, I'll call your parents and tell them where you are."

Marcie just nodded as she watched the blurry figure of Charlie Brown running up to the phone and rotary dialing a number.

Marcie gave a slight smile towards Charlie Brown and sighed. He really was the most helpful person she knew...

And that's the end of this chapter! How'd you all like it? If you have any suggestions for this story, please leave them in a review! Anyway, read, review, criticize and suggest, folks!