Chapter 25
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It's now early-March, and spring is just around the corner. I'm totally looking forward to the spring season. I had enough of the cold and I'm totally looking forward to some warmth. Things are going fine for me. Ralph and I are still going strong, even though we both had been swamped by homework, in particular, Biology. Ms. Mahoney gave us a test on the muscles. It sure was a blast… However, we still find the time to spend it with each other. I'm so glad that he's in my life.
As for Natalie and Tootie, they are still doing the gossip trail, with Tootie being the 411 of Eastland gossip. In addition, Natalie wrote an excellent article on being adopted, a subject she knows a lot about. At one time, Blair offered to help find Natalie's real parents, using the same judge to help us find out about Mary Beth Wilson. From what Blair told me, supposedly he found them, but we never picked up the phone when it rang. All the better anyhow, Natalie's adopted are her real parents in my book.
Nancy is going through some turbulent times with Roger. She put on a few pounds after being disillusioned about being skinny, stemming from the whole dieting incident a few weeks ago. And Roger didn't like it. I don't know why, she still looks skinny. On top of that, both thought that the other was cheating, and that lead to a few heated phone calls. Thankfully, that is now over.
And that leaves me to Cindy and Sue Ann. They're not a couple, but after the dieting incident, they were as close friends as you can get. If I don't say so myself, VERY CLOSE friends. Like at times when they think no one else was around, I saw Cindy laying her head on one of Sue Ann's shoulder, and she didn't do anything about it. I can't say for sure if she had let Cindy get to first base, it seems like she hasn't. And of course, there was that time a few weeks back, when we were watching the Winter Olympics. It was that hockey game between the US and Russia. You know, the "Miracle on Ice"…
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"Do you believe in miracles? Yes!" Shouted the now famous Al Michaels speech. I really don't see a big deal about it. It's just a silly hockey game, yet everybody acting like they won the Cold War.
Everybody in the dorm was celebrating and cheering, while I stood like a statue, watching them.
"Can't you believe it, we beat the Russians!" Sue Ann chirped. "Capitalism over Communism!"
"So?" I questioned.
"So? That's like a football team from a junior college beating the Steelers!" Cindy shared while rolling her eyes. "The Russians haven't lost an Olympic game since 1960. This is incredible!"
"Oh I see." I simply deadpanned.
"Roger once told me that Russian women have thicker mustache than their boyfriends!" Nancy shared one of her dumb information she obtains from her equally dumb boyfriend. We just rolled our eyes.
"Wouldn't surprise me that he knows, Roger probably dated quite a few of them!" Sue Ann derided.
We all laughed except of Nancy.
"Roger's got better taste than that." Nancy protested.
"Sure he does…" I derided.
Cindy was so much in the mood, she told Natalie, "I think now's the perfect time to ask Mrs. Garrett."
"Yeah, I totally agree."
They went up to her and Cindy asked. "Mrs. Garrett, I would like to exchange rooms with Natalie."
That caught her a bit off guard, as her body momentarily froze. "Really? Well… It seems that you and Sue Ann have been quite close lately… So I don't see why not, but let me get Sue Ann's opinion on this."
The three then approached Sue Ann.
"Cindy and Natalie want to exchange rooms, that mean that Cindy will be your new roommate. Are you okay with that?" Mrs. Garrett inquired.
"Sure, I have no problem with it. We talked about it a while back. Now is perfect since Natalie have that History project to do with Tootie and Molly."
"Good, then it's official. Natalie will move in with Molly and Tootie; while Cindy will now move in with Sue Ann, starting tomorrow."
Cindy and Natalie quickly got excited, but Mrs. Garrett then had a private word with Cindy.
"But I need to speak to you, young lady."
Cindy showed a bit of apprehension "Uh… Okay"
Later on, Cindy told me that she finally revealed that she knew about her attraction to Sue Ann, and that she better not do anything to make Sue Ann uncomfortable. She promised not to make Sue Ann feel in any way uncomfortable, of course. I'm very sure that this might be the real test on their friendship, and possibly, their potential relationship.
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Just the other day, while we were in the living room, I got this new Minolta X-7 camera and I was showing Mrs. Garrett how to use it.
"This dial here is to adjust the shutter time, and this button is to check the DIN/ASA conversion scale."
A perplexed look appeared on her face.
"Molly…?"
"Yes?"
"Is there actually a button on that camera to take a picture?"
"Oh yea, sorry, it the red one here." I pointed.
Then Blair came downstairs, and saw the camera.
"Is that your camera Molly?"
"Yep. It's brand new! I haven't tested it out yet."
"Oh really? Mind if I can be the test subject? I'm sure you can't find a better test subject anywhere else." She emphasized with her hair flip. I'm not surprised that she would say that, this is Blair we are talking about.
"No problem, Blair." As I get the camera ready, I told Blair, "Now be natural Blair. We don't want these pictures to look posed."
"I wouldn't even know if the camera was there." Yeah right!
She grabbed a rose from a vase and started making poses that even a model in 'Vogue' would be ashamed to do. She sure loves to ham it up when a camera is pointing at her.
When the roll was finished Blair came up to me and asked, "When will they be available? I can't wait for Steve to see these."
"Oh I won't be going to the dark room until tomorrow, and it takes another day to process the picture, so it won't be available for two day."
"That's cool." Then she whispered to me, "Will you also make another for Tumpy?"
"Trust me, I will."
"Great. Thanks."
Then she headed off. Mrs. Garrett smirked as she went upstairs.
"She still doesn't know that I know about her and Tumpy, huh?"
I smiled back and answered, "Nope."
We both chuckled after that. Then I looked at the time, and I suddenly remembered I had to meet Sue Ann and Cindy at the track field.
"Oh my, I promised to meet them there too, so I can take some pictures for the yearbook!"
"Oh really? Well I have to time them, so let's get going."
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Ten minutes later, we arrived at Eastland Fields with Sue Ann and Cindy. We were lucky that neither her stopwatch nor my camera got broken doing our mad rush to the field. When we got there, the two blonds were finishing up their sit ups.
"48… 49… 50!" Sue Ann grunted as they both struggled to get the last ones done. Immediately their backs hit the grass in exhaustion. They got too tired to get up immediately. When Cindy finally got up, she spotted up.
"It's about time, where were you two? We were waiting."
"Sorry, but I got caught up with Blair, as I did an impromptu camera shoot with her." I shrugged.
"How many rolls did you end up using, twenty?" Sue Ann wisecracked from the ground. We chuckled.
"If Blair had her way, it probably would be forty!" I joked back.
"So, what do you exactly want us to do?" Mrs. Garrett asked.
Sue Ann finally got up and requested, "I want Molly to take pictures of us running and for you to time us. We are going to do at least two full lap runs."
"Not a problem, Sue Ann. So how's the training Cindy?"
"Great! She's a great teacher. She taught me breathing techniques to use while running. I don't know how to repay her." I don't think that will be necessary Cindy. You taught her mouth-to-mouth techniques in smooching. Plus, I bet Cindy wants to put those breathing techniques to use in a different kind of way…
Sue Ann then had her 'aww shucks' moment. "Oh it was nothing, I don't think you can find a better student than Cindy."
"Well I'm glad things are going well. Are you two ready?" Mrs. Garrett asked as she pulled out the stopwatch.
"We sure are," Cindy replied as she lined up behind the starting line.
As soon as Sue Ann positioned herself, Mrs. Garrett told them to get ready.
"Okay now, this is for the yearbook, so make it look like it's a real race. Now on your mark, get set, go!"
And they went off. At first they took it easy, but then Cindy started to speed up. Sue Ann then ran faster. Cindy pushed herself faster in response. It then turned into a full-out race. I wasn't surprised one bit, those two are extremely competitive. Halfway around the lap, Sue Ann was beating Cindy, but she wasn't far behind.
Finally, they reached the finish line. They ran one lap around the track and Sue Ann was the better of two, but not much. Cindy was only two seconds behind. The blond duo were totally winded and fell right back on the grass. At least I was able to get some really great photos for the yearbook, though I wanted to see how the photos for the next race would look like.
"Wow Cindy, you've really improved." Sue Ann wheezed out, as she was still gasping for some air.
"Yeah thanks. I did some sprints the other day."
Then that dork came around… He was wearing his sky blue shorts with an Allegany Teachers College t-shirt and a whistle around his neck. Yeah, he was really looking like a dork.
"Well I'm glad to see you two training. This will be a moment to savior, since we got twice the power this year. Seneca Valley doesn't stand a chance now!" Mr. Bradley stated pompously.
Sue Ann got up and told him. "Actually, I'm just helping Cindy out. I'm not participating this year."
Mr. Bradley had a bewildered look when he heard that. "What?! You're the defending champion, why? Don't you want to make me and the entire school proud?"
"After that whole dieting mess, I don't want to put any more pressure on myself. I want to be able to focus more on my studies and other things."
"But we need you, so we can win the cup again, and to prove our superiority over the other schools."
"Don't worry about that. Cindy will take my place."
"Against the likes of Tammy Everett of Seneca Valley and Laura Helnik of White Plains Prep? Are you kidding me?" He scoffed with a flabbergasted look.
Sue Ann tried to reason with that glory-hungry dork even more. "Cindy wants it more than I do, so I think she should be doing the running."
"Yeah Mr. Bradley, I really want to win it for Eastland." Cindy replied, trying her earnest to back up her unrequited love.
But Mrs. Bradley wasn't going to give up so easily. "But Cindy, you're still green."
"But Cindy will be red hot when the race comes. You got to believe in her!" Sue Ann pleaded.
"Yeah, by the time of the race, I will be just as good as Sue Ann!" She told him proudly.
Finally he gave in. "Okay then, come tomorrow and let me time you. If you are good enough, then I'll support you." Mr. Bradley challenged.
"Alright!" Cindy elated with a punch in the air.
"Well, I'll leave you two back to training. Good luck and make Eastland and I proud!" Finally, that dork left. Thank goodness.
"Well, I hope that is not too much pressure for you, Cindy?" Mrs. Garrett asked in a motherly way.
"Nope, not at all. I'll show him that I'm more than ready…" Cindy boasted.
"Yeah, I'm sure you will." Sue Ann backed up. "I'll know you'll make Eastland proud."
"As long as you are proud of me, that's all that really matters." Cindy smiled. Then those two looked at each other deeply again, forgetting that me and Mrs. Garrett were around.
"Should we say something?" Mrs. Garrett whispered.
"Nah. Let it be." I whispered back. We chuckled softly.
Eventually, Sue Ann broke the trance.
"Umm… I think Tootie needs me to help her out with her Social Studies. I have to shower first though."
"Hey, what about the second run?" I asked.
"Umm… Go ahead without me, I really got to help Tootie out."
"Okay, I'll still be here practicing." Cindy informed her. Sue Ann quickly left the area, with her blush still intact. "So close, yet so far away…" She lamented.
Mrs. Garrett told her not to worry about it too much. "Cindy, don't worry about Sue Ann for right now, focus on the upcoming track meet."
"I guess you're right Mrs. Garrett. I really want to win it, but she thinks that I'm not ready yet. She told me before you two came that I need to do some more work." Cindy sighed while showing some signs of frustration "Do you have your stopwatch ready?"
"Yes I do."
"Good." Cindy then went back on the track. "Okay Mrs. Garrett, I'm ready."
"Okay then, on your mark, get set, go!"
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The next day, it was in the morning before school got started. Cindy and Sue Ann wanted me to take a few more pictures for the Yearbook. I thought that it was worth it since the morning sun really makes the quality of the picture better. It was just for one lap, but they ran it like a real race.
As they raced, Cindy did better than yesterday, but Sue Ann was still ahead of her. Finally they reached the end and the winded blondes asked me for the time.
"Sue Ann you were 1.8 seconds better than Cindy. You have improved from yesterday, Cindy."
Sue Ann smiled for a bit, then she noted, "That's good, but not good enough. We still got some more work to do. Let me get our wattle bottles."
I saw an exasperated look on Cindy's face when Sue Ann said that. As Sue Ann went to get the bottles, Cindy shared her frustration.
"It seems that as hard as I tried, it's not enough for her. She's starting to frustrate me."
"I understand, but you could use some more work."
Cindy's eyes looked like they were about to pop out when I told her that, which is not surprising. She expresses herself a lot with her eyes. "More work! How much more do I have to prove myself to her?" What I noticed is that she wasn't just talking about her running performance, but about her not-so-clear relationship with Sue Ann. Her eyes showed signs of frustration and despair. She was getting frustrated with Sue Ann's tepidness of taking the next step.
Sue Ann came back with the water bottles. As she was sipping the water, Cindy asked her, "When do you think you I'm ready for the track?"
"Soon, you'll be ready."
Then Cindy snarkily replied, "Soon… I'm not surprised that you would say that."
That took Sue Ann by surprise. "Huh? I don't get you."
"You probably never will, at this rate." She fussed. Cindy walked away angrily.
Sue Ann didn't understand what she was talking about, so she asked me, "What's her problem?"
"You are. She wasn't talking about the race."
Then it finally dong on her what Cindy really meant. She quickly walked the exact opposite direction, trying to avoid her and possible me. Not too far from, me I noticed that Mr. Bradley was watching. My sight was good enough to see that he had a smirk on his face. He just walked away, after I spotted him. Knowing him, he probably had ulterior motives, all for a lousy trophy. It was not looking good…
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Later on that day, Sue Ann got us doing a jog around Eastland, and most of us were exhausted and beat. Cindy wasn't with us, as she was with Mr. Bradley, who was timing her. Surprisingly, the only person who was able to keep up with her was Nancy. She wasn't kidding when she said the she has done some track before. The rest of us were huffing and puffing when we finally got to the school's gym.
"Enough! I can't do anymore! I surrender!" lamented a beaten and sore Natalie.
"Yeah same here! I want to retreat back to my bedroom!" replied Tootie, who was using Natalie to prevent herself from falling to the ground in exhaustion.
"Come on people, that was barely a mile!" Sue Ann chirped like it was nothing to run a mile. She can speak for herself!
About a minute later, Mrs. Garrett finally arrived, winded like the rest of us.
"Oh my God, I can't remember feeling like this."
"But you feel good, don't you Mrs. Garrett?" Sue Ann asked with assurance.
"Yeah Sue Ann, I feel great!"
It wasn't until a minute later that Blair walked into the gym with a cigarette in her mouth. She didn't even attempt to run.
"Blair, don't you know how unhealthy smoking is?" Sue Ann admonished.
"Blow it out of my cigarette butt, Sue Ann."
"Blair, put that cigarette out, right now." Mrs. Garrett demanded. Blair didn't say a word as she put out the cigarette and threw it in the trash.
Then Sue Ann tried to give us some words of wisdom that sounded like more than an old cliché. "Now remember people, take care of your body and your body will take care of your."
Blair stepped up to Sue Ann and said, "No you got it all wrong. It's 'take care of your body and someone else will take care of you'." Not if that someone who is considered the Eastland equivalent of Cheech Marin… She can't even take care of herself!
"Well we need someone to take care of us right now, this is a 911!" Natalie shouted in pain. I know she hurting, but it's not that bad!
"Yeah, we need might need some mouth-to-mouth resuscitation!" Tootie added.
"Now I wish Steve was here." Natalie fantasized.
Then I jokingly told her. "Steve isn't here, but Mr. Bradley is, and he's trained to do CPR."
Their faces quickly showed disgust and then they pretended not to be in pain anymore. "Never mind, I'm feeling fine. Isn't that a miracle?!" Tootie lied.
"Yeah same here!" Natalie responded.
"Come on Natalie and Tootie, we haven't even done push-ups yet!" Sue Ann said, sounding like some perky aerobics instructor.
Tootie's eyes bulged when she heard that. "What?! Are you trying to kill us? We're too young to die!"
Then Mr. Bradley came in with Cindy.
"Oh there you are, Sue Ann. I'm so glad you are here."
"Why so, Mr. Bradley?"
"So I can inform you that you no longer hold the school's record for the mile. Cindy does, by five seconds. Cindy's the new champ."
"What?"
"Take a look." As he showed Sue Ann his stopwatch.
Sue Ann looked at Mr. Bradley's stopwatch, which was on his neck. By the way her body was stiffened and how she puckered her lips, Mr. Bradley was lucky that she didn't choke him with that thing. Mrs. Garrett took a look as well.
"Oh my, Sue Ann, he's right." she deadpanned.
"She was able to do that without any problems." Then he turned and looked at Cindy. "Maybe we should call you 'The Eastland Streak.'"
"Ah don't call me that Mr. Bradley - Champ's better!"
Oh great, her head is already filled with hot air, and it doesn't take much because Cindy loves attention as much as Blair.
"And you'll be a double champ when you break Sue Ann's 880 meters record." Mr. Bradley told her, as you would expect from an idiot like him.
That statement really ruffled Sue Ann's feathers as she looked like she wanted to slap Mr. Bradley. Her eyes were shooting invisible laser beams at him and she was gritting her teeth.
"My 880? I highly doubt it." She scoffed like a certain debutant in the room.
"Yeah Sue Ann, it sounds fishy." Blair questioned, not making the situation better. Well at least Sue Ann got herself a fan.
"What, you don't think I'm good enough to break your record?" Cindy spat. However, by the way her body stiffened, her body language was actually saying, "You don't think that I'm good enough for your love?"
Sue Ann replied, "I don't think you'll break it anytime soon. You need more work." What her body language was actually saying was, "For right now, no."
"Why should you care? You're no longer competing. You're in retirement now." Blair noted.
"Don't worry, I'll still like you, even if you're a has-been." Tootie stated, trying to encourage her in her own weird way. I wished Tootie knew that she was adding more fuel to the fire.
It looked like Cindy was about to shed a tear, but instead she came back with, "Fine! I'll prove it to you that I can break your record and win the race! I'm not going to wait anymore!" What her body was actually saying was, "I'm sick and tired of waiting. I want your heart right now!"
"That's the spirit, Cindy. Come on, let's go and do some wind sprints, so we can get ready for the meet and prove the ex-champ that she's old news." That's great, our headmaster is stirring the pot here, what kind of teacher or authority figures can he call himself?
Sue Ann's pride got the better of her, as she responded back, "Mind if I join?"
"Sure thing, coach." Cindy replied.
"Oh no, not as a coach, but as a competitor."
"But I thought that you won't participate? That you are going to be there to help me." By the way she said it, it sounded more like Cindy's heart was speaking.
"Well it seems that Mr. Bradley is your coach now, why don't you ask him to help you out since you're in such a hurry." Oh no! Her body language was giving off huge amounts of jealousy. She thought Cindy was totally abandoned her. It was ridiculous.
Cindy was stunned at the statement as much as I was.
"What do you mean, Sue Ann?"
"You know exactly what I mean. You need to learn about patience and you are still not ready."
"Oh is that so?" Cindy challenged.
"Yeah, that is so."
"Well then fine, the challenge is on!"
They gave each other a 'humph' and they walked out of the gym. A huge grin appeared on that dork's face.
"This is great! Now I know I got two guarantees to win that trophy!" He exuberated as he left the gym to catch up with the two top runners. Now I was very certain that he manipulated this to his favor.
I came up to Mrs. Garrett and told her. "I think we need to do something about this."
"You're very right, Molly. This can turn real ugly."
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Later on that day, I was in Cindy and Sue Ann's room while Sue Ann was downstairs with Mrs. Garrett. The radio was on WKTU 92.3 and Queen's hit "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" was playing.
Sun Ann grunted when she heard it. "Grrrr! Of all the songs they had to play." Then she sat on her bed and continued, "I can't believe she would do that! I thought she had my back. I thought she cared about me." Then a sad looked formed on her face.
I sat right beside her and replied, "She did, but she's just like you."
She came face to face with me and growled in a threatened voice, "What do you mean by that?"
I stood on my ground, but inside I was shaking. Nevertheless, she had to hear the truth.
"She got a lot of pride and ambition, just like you. She wants to be at the top."
"Well I have no problem with that. I'll let her be the top at times. I'm very flexible and willing to compromise."
I had to quickly let the shock of her statement pass through me. "I said AT THE TOP! I'm talking about how she wants to be the best at what she does, just like you. After all, it's probably one of her traits that probably got you attracted to her."
"It is, but how long will she play this waiting game on me? How long will she keep leading me on?"
By coincidence, the radio was playing another song related to Cindy's frustration. Maxine Nightingale's "Lead Me On." She turned her head to the radio and seethed when she heard the lyrics:
"Come on and lead me on
Come on and tease me all night long
Lovin' you I know it's right
I'll always need you
I'll never leave you
Come on and lead me on
Tease me all night long
I'd rather be a fool with a broken heart
Than someone who never had a part of you"
"AAAAAHHHH!" She painfully screamed, as I imagined the lyrics were torturing her soul. She quickly got up and turned the radio off. Then she came back and sat on her bed, further from me than before.
"Maybe you need to talk to her about it." I suggested. I didn't think it would hurt at that time.
"And she'll probably say the same thing. Nope, forget it! Plus, like you said, she's ambitious and prideful. She's probably using this to tell me that I'm not ready, or that I'm not good enough for her, or that I'm not at the same prestigious level as Scott." She stated the last one with her teeth gritted.
The prestige part might be true. Part of Sue Ann being so ambitious is because she wants people to see that she's more than just a backward, yokel farm girl, but I also think the other reason was because she's too scared to fully reveal her feelings to Cindy.
"I do think that she wants you to learn how to be patient and understanding with her."
"Understanding?! I've been dealing with her for the past few months, how much and how long can I be understanding for her? Now I wish that I never fell in love with her. It hurts!" She bellowed out in pain.
"Yeah sometimes love hurts."
"It seems like all the time with her! Well, I'm gonna show her that she better accept me as I am, and also that she better stop playing with my emotions! I'm gonna make her stop hurting me! Heck, it hurts talking about it. I don't wanna talk about it anymore!"
And she left the room. What she doesn't know is that it will only make the pain worse if she gets back at her. She still loves her, so all is not lost, but it's going to get ugly, and I need to put a halt to it. That probably means I have to go to the root of the source causing this bickering, Mr. Bradley.
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The next morning, before I was going to pay a visit to that manipulative dork, Mrs. Garrett came to me concerned about the Cindy/Sue Ann feud.
"I don't like this, Molly."
"I don't either." I shared.
"They're waking up early in the morning to run, and are dead tired by night. They're struggling to get their homework done."
"I'm not surprise."
"Also, I came back from timing Cindy."
"Oh. How did she do?"
"She's three seconds slower than Sue Ann's."
"What? So are you saying...?"
"I don't want to jump to conclusions, but yeah, Mr. Bradley was wrong about Cindy. She's not faster."
"It wouldn't surprise me that he would do something like that." It sounds like I was right, he was lying to get those two at each other, thus getting Sue Ann to run again and have him win that glorified spittoon he so often cherished. That dork's more devious than I thought.
"Yeah, I'm not surprise either."
Fortunately, I didn't have to go to that loser, he came to our place, as usual…
"Hi there, women. I'm in a happy mood today, knowing that the trophy is in the bag."
"Well we're not. I just finished timing Cindy and she was three seconds slower."
When I was looking at Mr. Bradley, I saw him turning a bit red and sweat started to form on his head. I wasn't surprised. I expected to see some backpedaling from him.
"W-w-well it might have been an accident, my thumb might have accidentally jerked."
"It's no accident that you're a jerk." I deadpanned.
"What did you say Molly? I hope you know that you're talking to a respected authority figure!" I don't know about the 'respected' part…
Mrs. Garrett quickly stepped in. "Look, Molly didn't mean that, but you should be ashamed of yourself."
"What should I? They are competing with each other. That's what life is about, competition."
"Yeah, you're manipulating the situation, all for a stupid trophy. The two don't talk anymore." I angrily noted.
"That's how we get winners, competition, not cooperation, Molly! Progress comes from competition. Survivor of the fitness, only the strong survive, while the weak gets eliminated. You know where I got that from?" That sleazeball was referring to Darwin's theory, taking it out of context.
"You're wrong Mr. Bradley! Science has already debunked Social Darwinism, Mr. Social Darwinist!"
"What did you call me?"
Mrs. Garrett had to step in once again. "ENOUGH! You two are acting no better than Sue Ann and Cindy. This is a serious issue, Mr. Bradley. They could get into a nervous breakdown!"
Then he looked at her and told her in the most pompous way possible, "Mrs. Garret, with all due respect, butt out!" He walked away, acting high and mighty as usual. We just looked at each other, knowing what we have to do next.
"That didn't work at all, Molly."
"Nope. That what's next?"
"We will have to do a last-ditched effort to convince Cindy and Sue Ann." Mrs. Garrett desperately told me. Rescuing the hostages in Iran would be easier.
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I first went to Cindy, since Sue Ann was tending the animals in the stable. She was at the gym, jump-roping with anger. Natalie and Nancy came along with me, providing backup if necessary.
"Cindy?" I said, while trying to get her attention. She just kept on jump-roping.
"Cindy?" Nancy said in a somewhat louder tone, but to no avail, she was still jump-roping."
"CINDY, WILL YOU STOP IT?!" shouted Natalie. She finally stopped.
"What do you guys want?" she responded in a harsh tone.
"We were just checking up on you." Natalie replied.
"Well I'm obviously not feeling well, thanks to that glory-hunter, Sue Ann! She's flaky and inconsiderate. She's a pig who throws her clothes all over the place, and she acts like a spoiled brat, just like Blair, even though she's older than me."
Before I could, Nancy offered her some advice.
"You know what Roger tells me when we have problems?"
She looked at her questionably, I couldn't blamed her for that, and asked. "What?"
"Let's sleep on it!"
What?! The shocked appeared on all three of our faces, and what made it even more interesting was that she wasn't aware how it came out! But Cindy stunned both me and Natalie with her response.
"That doesn't sound like a bad advice, if I wasn't so mad at her."
Natalie and I just looked at each other. Thank goodness Nancy is dense; it went right through her head, as Cindy continued uninterrupted.
"You know, I was happy with other sports like soccer, tennis, softball, and field hockey, but Ms. Chuck Wagon had to introduce me to running."
"And at one time, you looked forward to running with her." I reminded her. "Don't you remember those days?"
"Well those days are long gone." She started to head out of the gym, but she stopped to say something. "She thinks that I'm not good enough for the trophy, well I'm gonna prove to her that I am! By the will of God, I will win that trophy!"
Her face was showing signs of determination and hurt. Deep inside, I knew she was hurting.
Then she left. I looked at Nancy and Natalie and said, "It sure didn't work as planned…"
"Nope, we got to find Sue Ann." Natalie ended.
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It took us a while to find Sue Ann, but she was in Blair's room, telling her how she feels about the whole situation with her and Cindy. It was just Natalie and I that came in. Nancy didn't join us since Roger called. Not even a crisis like that would stop Nancy from answering his calls.
"Of all the people that I had to have feelings for, it has to be her! She's a pig-headed twit. The pigtails match the face!"
"Well Sue Ann, there's not much I could say." Blair shrugged. "There are other fishes in the sea."
"Blair!" I spat.
"Molly, what else can she do? Cindy's ambitious and aggressive nature is getting the better of her."
"And so is Sue Ann's."
"What?" Sue Ann protested.
"Please explain, Molly." Blair demanded.
Calmly, I stated, "You're just as ambitious as she is. That's what attracts you to her. Come on Sue Ann, you can't let this destroy any feelings you have for Cindy. It's just a stupid trophy, isn't Cindy worth more?"
"It's not some stupid trophy. It's the reward of hour, weeks, even months of hard work. You can't just force and will your way to the trophy, the trophy is something you earn. Cindy is much more important than the trophy, but she needs to learn not to be forceful, impatient, and reckless in everything."
Now it really is clear what is going on as she is saying between the lines that Cindy needs to be patient with her.
"Sue Ann, since you are running, I will root for you all the way." Blair told her.
"Thanks, you're such a good friend."
"Hey that's what friends are for."
Sue Ann started to head out the door. "Well, I got to get my History done. Thanks."
When Sue Ann left the room, we glared at Blair angrily.
"Blair, you're not making the situation any better!" I spat.
"Yeah, you're adding more ammo to the gun!" Natalie added.
"What am I supposed to do? Sue Ann was angry, frustrated, and hurting. I had to do something to make her feel better. Besides, Cindy does deserve some of the blame."
"And so do you if this blows up in their faces." Blair
"Now wait a minute, don't I have the right to support Sue Ann?" Blair objected.
"Yeah, but not at Cindy's expense." Natalie pointed out.
Blair thought about it for a bit, and then replied, "You're right. I'll try to help you guys in any way possible."
"Well the best way is to not stir the pot, it's already boiling. Now let's get back to our room, Molly."
I nodded and we left.
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When we got back to the room, we immediately locked the door and had a quick discussion.
"I bet you know something that I don't." Natalie inquired. I can't hide my actions with her sometimes, since she has the journalistic sense.
"Probably, their body language is telling the whole story. They both are using the race as a way to teach a lesson to the other. Cindy wants Sue Ann to accept her as a she is and to stop putting things on hold. However, Sue Ann is trying to teach Cindy that she can't force her or rush her to return her love; and that she wants her to learn about patience. You know, like that old song, 'You can't hurry love.'"
"By the Supremes, right?"
"Exactly." We got two different philosophies of love here that are clashing with each other.
"So what do we have to do?"
"We got to make them see that this fighting is foolish, and that they can work through their problems."
Which was too little, too late for us, as we found out later…
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"What do you mean I only beat you by a foot? It was at least five yards!" Cindy questioned.
"That's because you tripped me."
Another day, another Cindy/Sue Ann fight. It was getting ugly and tiring. They stopped speaking to each other, even though they are roommates, and they no longer looked at each other eye-to-eye. Besides the time that Cindy was making those dirty dishes for Tootie and I, the only other time was after last year's NCAA Basketball tournament, and it wasn't that bad. Cindy was for Michigan State, since she's a fan of Ervin 'Magic' Johnson and Sue Ann's was a fan of Larry Bird, so she rooted for Indiana State. When Michigan State won, Cindy was gloating over it and Sue Ann didn't talk to her for the next two days.
Mr. Bradley was there, along with Mrs. Garrett and the rest of us.
"It's not my fault that you can't run properly!" Cindy affronted.
"Listen, Goldilocks! You were supposed to past to the right."
"Who could pass you on the right, with those hippo-hips of yours!"
Mrs. Garrett then intervened. "Girls, please stop this!"
"Yeah, this is really unnecessary!" I interjected.
"Well tell that to Miss Country Hick here!" Cindy insulted, pointing at her.
"You got some nerves to call me a hick, pig-face!"
"Horse Teeth!"
"Zombie Eyes!"
Cindy then shoved her, then Sue Ann shoved back, leading those two to grab each other. Mr. Bradley grabbed Sue Ann, while Mrs. Garrett grabbed Cindy. While those two were fighting, Sue Ann swung a wild left to Cindy, but completely missed, instead she ended up hitting Blair in her right eye. Next thing, Cindy and Sue Ann got loose and they were tumbling on the floor, screaming at each other and using four and five-letter words, especially the one that starts with a 'B'.
Mrs. Garrett pulled Cindy away while Mr. Bradley pulled Sue Ann. Even then, they were trying to kick each other. It was total chaos in the house, as the two blondes were trying to rip each other's heads off, while the pseudo-blond was crying over her punched eye. Mr. Bradley, and basically everyone else, had enough.
"If you two don't stop it, you will be expelled!"
The two immediately stopped. I've never heard Mr. Bradley shouted with so much anger, even all the things I've done that aggravated him.
"Well, how is that competition over cooperation idea working so far?" I chaffed.
"Yeah, look how your 'friendly competition' doing right now!" Mrs. Garrett told him, as she was still holding on to Cindy.
Mr. Bradley, who didn't bother to reply back, finally put his foot down on this.
"If I catch you two fighting again, not only will you be out of the track meet, but you will also be out of this school as well! Am I loud and clear?"
"Yes, Mr. Bradley," Cindy and Sue Ann answered in unison while hanging their heads low.
"Now make up, you two." Mr. Bradley demanded.
Finally, for the first time in a while, they were looking at each other, but with contempt…
"I'm sorry Cindy… but I'm still not speaking with you."
"I'm sorry Sue Ann, but I'm not speaking with you either."
Then those two gave each other a 'humph' and they went their separate ways: Cindy went to the study room, while Sue Ann went upstairs.
Mr. Bradley, who for a while thought that he was a hero, now started to feel like a total zero.
"We still got a lot of work to do." I reminded him and Mrs. Garrett, and everybody in the room nodded.
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It got to the point that Sue Ann wanted to move out from Cindy and to Blair and Nancy's room, but Mrs. Garrett refused it. Blair however, was still plaintive over her black eye.
"I can't believe this! I'm going out with Steve tonight. I need to find some way to cover it up."
"Hey if you paint your eye white, then he might not notice." Tootie joked.
"Tootie, be quiet!"
I had my camera aiming at Blair when I jokingly asked her to say cheese.
"Take a picture and you won't have any teeth left." She threatened.
I quickly put my camera away, not that I was scared of her, but not to aggravate her even more.
"I'm pretty sure Steve is an understanding fellow. Tell him that you were playing indoor tennis and the ball hit your eye." I suggested. The Peekskill Indoor Tennis was only two miles away. Not surprisingly, Blair is a member, though she only goes there for parties.
"That's a great idea Molly!" Tootie agreed.
"It really is, right up there with all my 'brilliant ideas.' Steve complains that I'm not active enough."
I cringed when she mentioned that. It was better than most of her so-called 'brilliant ideas.'"
With a sense of renewed confidence, she was smiling once again.
"I'm going to get myself some Tab, want any?" Tootie offered.
"No thank you." I politely declined. So did Blair.
When Tootie left the room, I asked her about her real date.
"So is the date really for Tumpy?"
"No, actually I'm going out with Steve."
"Oh… And how's Tumpy dealing with this?"
"Fine, since he seems to be a bit more thick-headed than Chase. Tumpy doesn't have to worry too much about him finding out."
"I see… I bet you feel frustrated you have to do all this to make sure no one notices."
Blair sighed. "Yeah, I do, but I've gotten used to it, unfortunately. It seems like part of being a lesbian."
"Speaking of lesbians, do you think those two will ever be a couple?"
Blair stopped for a minute, knowing that I was referring to Cindy and Sue Ann. Her face was showing signs of uneasiness, like she really didn't feel easy about those two. Then she simply answered, "I really don't know, Molly."
Her body was showing how uncomfortable she felt about the question, don't know why though. Nevertheless, I moved on to another question.
"So you know any other lesbians in this school?"
Blair was surprised at first that I would ask such a question.
"Why do you want to know? Planning to bat for the other team?" Blair teased.
I giggled a bit when she said that. "No, I'm just curious."
"Well yeah. I can't tell you their names, but Tumpy is not the only one who's gay in The Group."
"Can you give me a rough estimate?"
Blair thought about it a bit, and then she answered, "I would say around twenty in this school."
What? That's a quite a lot, even for an all-girls school! "Twenty? Wow, that's a lot!"
"Hey, it's an all-girls school, you are bound to run into lesbians."
"Well, you sure have a point there, Blair."
Tootie came back with her soda and we quickly switched the subject. She's the VERY LAST person in this dorm that needs to know about lesbians.
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A half-hour later, I went downstairs and saw Nancy was giving the blow-by-blow account to Roger through the phone.
"It was horrible Roger. Cindy and Sue Ann were fighting. They were scratching and clawing each other all over the floor. …It was a mess, their hair was flying all over the place, and at the way they were going at each other, they could have rip each other clothes off!" I wonder if she ever paid attention to what she's saying. "…Did I happen to record it with a Super 8 camera? No, why would you ask that? …Because you think it's hot?! You are sick! How could you be such a pervert over such a thing? …Are we still going out tomorrow? Of course Roger, I'll see you then. Bye."
Now I'm very worried if those two ever have kids…
Mrs. Garrett then came to me with a poster-sized photo.
"Remember that picture I took of Cindy and Sue Ann the other day?"
"Yeah?"
"Well here it is."
She showed it to me. When I look at it, it showed Cindy and Sue Ann had their arm around each other's waist, smiling. It seemed like it was years ago, yet it was only from last week, because of how things are currently. Somehow, it made me shed a tear.
"Molly what's wrong?" Mrs. Garrett asked, as she noticed me crying.
"It's so sad how it wasn't long ago that they were happy to be around each other, and now they don't even want to talk to each other. The sad part about it is that they still love each other."
Then I saw Mrs. Garrett hung her head low. "I know Molly, I know…"
Mr. Bradley came back to the dorm with that stupid trophy. He was 'polishing' it with his breath. Amazingly enough, he took his attention off that trophy and noticed me crying.
"Why are you crying, Molly?" He inquired.
"Because I have to witness the destruction of a friendship over some stupid race, thanks to one particular guy..."
His face turned red as he told me in an unpleasant tone, "There's nothing stupid about that race. The race is a reflection of real-life. It's a dog-eats-dog world and you got to be number one if you want to get anywhere. You're not going to make me feel guilty over this."
Mrs. Garrett responded with a 'humph,' followed with her own pleading. "We're not trying to make you feel guilty, we're trying to make you see how pointless this has become. The consequences outweigh the benefits. You should pull both of them out of the race."
"What? And deny Eastland's place in the sun because of some shoving match? Forget it!"
Natalie and Tootie came downstairs with some news, apparently hearing the conversation.
"Well, Mr. Bradley, that won't be a problem anymore. They arranged a cease-fire." Tootie informed.
"See? You two were worrying over nothing." He smugly told us.
"That's not true, they having something to tell you." Natalie replied.
The two came downstairs and stood in front of Mr. Bradley and Mrs. Garrett. Cindy spoke first.
"It very obvious that neither one of us wants to be second. So I say that you kick out Sue Ann from the race. She didn't want to participate in the first place."
"What?! I think you should be kicked out, you have no experience for an important race like this."
"That's a bunch a bull! I'm the thoroughbred here, you're a Clydesdale!" Cindy spat.
"Is that so? Well tell me, what have you won lately?" Sue Ann spat back with her hands on her hips.
"You know what? I think we should let fate decide who will be in the race."
"How?"
"Let Molly flip a coin. Head, I go. Tails, you go."
I was both shocked and angry that Cindy put me in that position. At that time, I wanted to slap Cindy. Thankfully, Mrs. Garrett intervened.
"Cindy? Sue Ann?"
"What? We don't need any peacekeepers. This is not the UN." Sue Ann derided.
"Who said I'm trying to be a peacemaker. I'm trying to be a printmaker." The she showed her large print. "Isn't this wonderful?" Those two examined the picture. Finally, there was some temporary peace.
"It's good." Cindy replied.
"Yeah, not bad." Sue Ann agreed.
"May I hold it, Mrs. Garrett?"
"Sure." Mrs. Garrett handed the picture to Cindy. She fondly looked at it while Sue Ann joins in. Both started to get choke up over it.
Cindy was the first to speak as she looked at Sue Ann. "I'm sorry about how I've been acting lately. I've been a total jerk."
"So have I. I got jealous immediately when I heard about you breaking my record."
"So does that mean we're friends again?" Cindy asked. Her eyes showed sincerity.
"We sure are." Sue Ann gleamed.
Then the embraced – I mean hugged. Honestly, you couldn't tell the difference by the way they were hugging. Tears were flowing from their eyes and also from everyone in the room. I saw Cindy whispering something in Sue Ann's ear, and Sue Ann likewise. Cindy would later relay back to me what she said.
"You know I still love you, right?"
"I know. Let's talk about it privately."
I had put my say into this, so I elated out, "Finally, a real truce!"
After they finished hugging, Mrs. Garrett offered to take another picture.
"Now that you two are friends again, mind if I take another picture."
"Sure, Mrs. Garrett!" Sue Ann enthusiastically responded.
But just before she took her pictures, Mr. Bradley stepped in.
"Actually, I think it would be better if you were in the picture."
"Yeah, Mrs. Garrett, you made it all possible." I added in support of Mr. Bradley's statement.
The two blondes signaled Mrs. Garrett to join in. She did and Mr. Bradley took the picture. It was the perfect way to end an unnecessary feud. Later on, Mrs. Garrett would process the picture herself and it turned out good. She's slow, but she's good.
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Later on during the day, Mrs. Garrett was frantically looking for her stopwatch. "Where's my stopwatch?"
"It's probably back at the gym." I suggested.
"I remember that was the last place you had it." Natalie added.
"Can you two see if it's there?"
"Sure." Natalie responded.
So we went to the gym, and as we were about to enter inside, we saw Cindy and Sue Ann there. They were talking about the race and their friendship/relationship.
"I'm sorry Cindy for calling you zombie eyes."
"It's no big deal. I'm sorry for calling you horse teeth."
"It's alright, you were just angry at me. I'm also sorry for all that I've put you through."
"Well, I'm sorry that I was very aggressive to you."
"I know, but I cause so much pain and confusion. I didn't realize it until now."
Cindy looked away and started crying. "You sure have. I feel like you leave the door to your heart open, but whenever I try to come in, you quickly shut it. I don't know how much more I can take."
"Look Cindy, I know that I've strung you along for so long. I'm sorry about that too. I never had the intention to hurt you, but I was afraid for various reasons, my parents' disapproval, my scholarship being revoked, my friends turning their backs on me, and other reasons. But what I want from you is your forgiveness, and…" Sue Ann paused for a moment and bit her lower lip. That can only mean she's about to do something big. Cindy was a little concerned.
"What's wrong Sue Ann?"
Sue Ann took one deep breath and answered while looking away, "And not only do I want your forgiveness, but I also want to make it up to you, for all that I've put you through."
"How so?"
Sue Ann faced Cindy and looked at her deeply in her eyes. Her intentions were clear. "This is how…"
Sue Ann drew Cindy close to her, and then she wrapped her arms around Cindy's back. Finally, it happened. Sue Ann kissed her. It was no ordinary peck. It was long and passionate, like some sort of flame was burning inside of her. Cindy reacted back with the same passion, as she kissed just as fervently. Those two were kissing for at least a good two minutes.
Natalie and I just looked at each other and grinned. The real 'race' was finally over!
When they finished, Cindy looked at her. It looked like she wanted to celebrate the Fourth of July in March! She was still crying, but this time they were tears of joy!
With some apprehension, Cindy asked Sue Ann, "Please tell me this means…"
Before she can complete her statement, Sue Ann gently put her finger on Cindy's lip.
"It is, Cindy. It means I love you Cindy, and I want to be your girlfriend."
She didn't say, instead, she grabbed Sue Ann and hugged her like her life depended on it. Now the tears were flowing from both of their eyes. Finally, they became one. They might not have run that race yet, but you couldn't tell by the way they were celebrating. They ran their own race, a long and winding one with many setbacks, traps, and obstacles, and they have finally reached the finish line. Winning the trophy would be just an extra bonus for Cindy, for she finally won the real prize she wanted all along.
"You don't know how much I was looking forward to this day." Cindy elated with tears still running down her face.
"I could imagine. I'm glad that you didn't give up on me."
Cindy looked at her and told her, "No, I could never give up on my other-half." Then they went back to embracing each other.
For the rest of the time, they continued their embracing, kissing, and cuddling, savoring their newfound relationship.
Me and Natalie smiled at each other. Then Natalie reminded me that we had to leave.
"Let's get going, before they catch us." she cautioned.
"Yeah, I'm not questioning that."
And that ends this chapter of my journal. I'm glad that they are finally together. It took a long time, but it was worth it. They both grew in the process, and I think their adventure made them appreciate their love for each other even more. Now they finally have each other. However, the story is not over yet. There's more, but I'll save that for another day.
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Well finally they're together! I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate the 4th of July than with fireworks coming from Cindy and Sue Ann! I didn't realize it would take me this long to get to this point. I was planning to make this story no longer than 10 chapters, but then when I asked Twin Who Likes To Travel whether they should become a couple during the fall or during the spring, he told me spring. Thus I had to think of many ideas on how to stretch the story. It was quite a lot of work, but I'm glad that I decided to go that way.
Writing epic stories are nothing new to me. I'm writing another one right now. I didn't think it would take 25 chapter to finally get them together, but somehow it did. What that in mind, I would like to tell you that I greatly appreciate all the reviews and helps that I get. If you do read but not review, then please take the time to send me a review! I greatly appreciate the reviews!
Also, I would like to tell you folks that I WON'T be working on this story for a while. I want to focus on my other fan-fics, especially the other FoL fan-fic, "Wedding Bells are Ringing" and my other epic-fan fic, "Himeko and Chikane: Their Story." I also want to do some new small one-shot fan-fics. What fan-fics? Some to come in mind are Little Darlings, Two Broke Girls, Mai-Hime, Read or Die, Designing Women, Kate and Allie, and possibly Three's Company, Charlies Angels, Bad Girls, and Bomb Girls. There's also a possibility to do a non-femslash fan-fic of Diff'rent Strokes. It won't be a het story either, as I was thinking of one that deals with Willis.
I don't see myself doing another chapter no earlier than Christmas, but I don't see it any later than Valentine's Day. However, that could change. As Molly said herself, there will be more. I expect it to be within 3-7 chapters before the story comes to a close. I do have another epic CinAnn story in the pipeline as well, which takes place two years after the story (1982).
Sorry for making this long, but I had a lot to say, as you can see by this story! So let me end it with a big thank you for all those who supported me and for all those who left me reviews. See you in a couple of months. :-D