Spoiler Alert: This chapter contains spoilers from Bad Girls with Big Hearts and Miracles and Mistletoes. This is meant to be read with knowledge of what occurred within.

Lindsay Statorowski

It had been 5 minutes since the bell had rung, signaling the start of the school day.

The kindergarteners had parted ways with their parents, and lined up single file in front of the doors to the school building to be escorted into the classroom. Ms. Spiller lead the group of youngsters into the building, and to their classroom, where they promptly removed their coats and book bags, and took their seats around miniature tables. The tables were labeled by graphics of different shapes, that were each different colors, obviously an effort to reinforce the small children's knowledge of such things. As usual, the Kanker girls took their seats at "green triangles", ready to start their day.

After the morning announcements, as well as the kindergarteners daily "good morning song," the Ms. Spiller passed out papers and crayons for art time, allowing the girls to work on some more of their art projects.

"So what color paper should we use for Mom's drawing?" said Annalee.

"Yellow!" yelled Annamae, "That's mom's favorite, and mine too!"

"Good idea Annamae," said Annalee, "Now remember what we said about sharing? You can pick the color and cut the paper and Annemarie will draw the pictures!"

"Okay," said Annamae.

Annemarie picked up the box of crayons provided by the teacher and dumped them out on the table.

"I love drawing and coloring!" said Annemarie, "What should we draw for mom?"

"Let's draw a ballerina." said Annalee, "She always talks about dancing when she was little like us and watches them on tv all of the time."

"Good idea," said Annemarie, "Hand me the pink crayon!"

It didn't take long for the girls to whip up a preliminary product. Annamae had cut the paper to perfect size and Annemarie had drawn an exceptional picture of a ballerina well beyond her years. Annalee was currently working on writing the words "I love you Mom" on the top of the card.

Annalee was never able to complete the second word, as a modest sized pink child's book bag was suddenly slammed on the table in front of her. This action caused her to instinctively recoil her hand, resulting in a large "zig zag" being drawn from the end of the letter v to the bottom of the card; additionally, the awkward placement of the bag caused the small piece of construction paper to bend at the corner, creating a small crease.

"Whoops, sorry about that," said a small girls voice in a sarcastic tone, prompting all three girls to turn towards the source of the sound.

Standing before them was yet another kindergarten aged girl. This girl was quite unique among the children, as she stood roughly a head higher than the remainder of the boys and girls in the classroom. She was thin in body proportions, and quite lanky. Her long blonde hair hung loose over her shoulder, secured behind her ears by a blue head band. The girl donned a lavender colored coat, it's white trim secured in the closed position by a brown belt. Complementing the coat was a pair of blue jeans, as well as a pair of brown boots.

"Hey Lindsay, what's the big idea?" asked Annalee in an assertive manner, "Our coats and backpacks are supposed to go in the cubby, not on table! You ruined our project!"

"My backpack in the cubby?" asked Lindsay, "It's bad enough that I'm forced to share a table with the Kankers, I don't need any of your nasty germs or lice infesting my new Brandy backpack. It's staying right where I can see it, besides isn't it much nicer to look at than some trashy paper?"

"It's not trash!" yelled Annalee, "It's a present for our mom! It's called being nice to people who care about you. You should try it sometime!"

Lindsay remained silent, seemingly ignoring Annalee's words as she took a seat in the small chair next. After a few moments, the tall girl trained her eyes on the card, it's torn end protruding out from underneath her backpack. She proceeded to slightly lift the backpack, allowing her to slide the paper out from underneath.

"Oh my word look at this," said Lindsay as she eyed the card, "The little Kanker girls working together to make their mommy a card."

"C'mon Lindsay!" yelled Annalee, "Give us back our card and work on your own project. We leave you alone, so why don't you just leave us alone?"

"I have a better idea," said Lindsay as she picked up a crayon, and proceeded to lift it towards the card as if she were going to write on it, "How about you let me help. I'll just put a little….

"GIVE IT BACK!" yelled Annemarie as she lunged out of her seat, taking hold of the card in an attempt to wrestle it out of the tall girls hand.

A proverbial tug of war ensued for a few second, with each girl pulling back and forth of the fragile construction paper in an oscillatory manner. Unfortunately, this action caused the small piece of paper to eventually reach its breaking point; a small tear formed in the corner, eventually propagating through the entire card as the sound of ripping paper filled the air.

The two girls fell deafly silent, staring at the jagged paper fragments held in each of their hands with blank stares; each appearing as if they were quite upset. Across the table, Annalee clenched her teeth and her fists out of anger, but elected to remain quiet. Annamae too remained silent for a few seconds; her lower lip soon began to tremble, an action that was soon followed by wailing and tears

A few moments passed, at which point Lindsay trained her gaze towards Annemarie.

"I….I…'m sorry," said Lindsay in a timid manner, "I didn't mean to…"

Lindsay was not able to complete her sentence as Annemarie, caught up in her emotions, and fed up with the tormenting from Lindsay, decided to act. She quickly reached far a jar of paste that was sitting on the table. In a fit of rage, with tears flowing out of her eyes, she picked up the jar, and threw it as hard as she could at Lindsay's face. The jar struck Lindsay, causing her to lurch back slightly.

In truth, the impact of the jar was not enough to cause significant injury, just some minor pain around the cheek bone area. However, moments after the collision, Lindsay glanced toward the teacher, still assisting another student, and in the blink of an eye, generated a slew of fake tears, while simultaneously wailing at a volume that the teacher was able to hear.

"Ms. Spiller!" cried Lindsay at the top of her lungs, "Annemarie threw the paste at me and hurt my nose!"

Ms. Spiller quickly ran over towards where the four girls were standing. She glanced at the slight red mark on Lindsay's face, after which she laid eyes on the jar of paste that laid on the ground at her feet.

Ms. Spiller examined Lindsay's face, after which she requested more information on what happened. As she did so, Annalee attempted to explain the incident.

"It was an accident," said Annalee, "There was an argument over our coloring project, and it accidentally got ripped. Annemarie was mad because she worked really hard on it, overreacted and threw the paste."

"She did it on purpose!" yelled Annemarie.

After a few minutes of arguing, Ms. Spiller ordered them to stop. She scolded both girls for acting as they did and placed them in "time out", ordering both to sit on opposite sides of the room in chairs.

Annalee, appeared quite distraught as she observed her sister and rival make their way to the other side of the room, but nevertheless did her best to maintain her resolve for the equally upset Annamae. The red headed girl eventually turned to her little sister; the little blonde was currently cradling the two pieces of her mother's card in her hand, whimpering slightly as she did so.

"Don't worry Annamae," said Annalee, "We're going to Daddy's tonight. And remember who lives next to Daddy right?"

Annamae's face lit up.

"Ms. McKinstry!" yelled Annamae.

Ms. McKinstry was an elderly neighbor of the Kankers father who treated the girls as well as granddaughters. She commonly to provided after school snacks, cookies and lemonade to the girls, as well as coloring books and crayons.

"Yep," said Annalee, "She always lets us use her coloring stuff and paper when we are on the porch. With her and Daddy helping, we can make an even better card!"

Yay!" said Annamae, after which she decided to begin doodling on another spare piece of paper, her left hand moving the crayon at what seemed like lightning speed. Annalee followed suit, returning to her crafts in a similar manner; however, it quickly became apparent that the ginger girl was attempting to hold back a shower of tears. After a few seconds of silence, Annamae took notice of her older sisters demeanor, and proceeded to question her in an innocent manner.

"Annawee," asked Annamae, "Are you okay?"

"Yes, Annamae," said Annalee, "Seeing the card rip like that just reminded me of when Lindsay ripped our drawing, and said that we weren't best friends anymore."

Annalee continued coloring in silence for a few moments, prior to continuing.

"I miss her so much," said Annalee, "We used to have so much fun together, but that day after her mommy yelled at her and drug her away from us, and said we couldn't be friends was the worst day ever. Lindsay used to be nice and funny, now she's mean and nasty and I don't know why. I hate seeing her like this, but I know there's nothing I can do…"

At the conclusion of her statement, Annalee returned her focus to her drawing in silence, once again holding back her emotions for Annamaes sake. Though she was still a child, bore many responsibilities, one of which was to keep her family together and to serve as the proverbial glue to keep the three balanced emotionally; in doing so, it was imperative (in her mind) that she stay strong for her sisters, no matter how upset she may be.

In a flash, it was 10 a.m, and time for morning recess for Annalee and Annemarie; Annamae would not participate in recess today due to attending her first speech class. The students lined up at the door to be escorted outdoors to the recess yard, at which point the speech teacher entered the room to escort Annamae to speech therapy.

The speech therapist conversed with the teacher for a few minutes, after which she turned her attention to Annamae. She leaned down to her eye level to greet her and told her how excited she was to be working with her.

Annamae quickly ducked behind Annalee, placing her hands on Annalee's shoulders while burying her face into her back. She was still quite uneasy and shy around unfamiliar adults. Annalee turned around and placed her hands on her shoulders.

"Annamae," said Annalee, "Don't be scared, she is here to help. Trust me, I would never do anything to hurt you."

Annamae looked up into Annalee's eyes, after which she nodded. With a sigh, she picked up her pink back pack and walked towards the speech therapist. With a smile, the woman took Annamae's hand and led her out the door towards the office.