"Oh, Lucy…"
Lucille Van Pelt looked up from her psychology volume with a roll of her eyes. "What is it, Linus? Can't you see I'm busy? And what are you doing in my room?"
Unfazed by his sister's fussing, Linus swung the door wide open and strolled into her room nonchalantly. "I have news for you."
"I don't care. Get out," she huffed, turning her attention back to her book. "I'm sure whatever it is can wait until I go down for dinner."
Linus scoffed. "All right, then, if you don't care about this critical piece of news that would be of great interest to you…"
"All right!" Lucy called after her younger brother, who was by now halfway out the door. "Just tell me, then. What is it?"
"Well, now you have to say please," he replied with a cross of his arms.
"Ugh. Fine. Will you please tell me your news?"
Suddenly a female voice called from the stairwell, "Hey, Lucy, guess what? Schroeder's back in town!"
"Oh, good grief," muttered Linus under his breath.
A slight blonde girl appeared in the doorway of Lucy's room, bouncy, lively, and wearing a breezy pink blouse. What she'd said immediately got Lucy's attention. "Really?!"
"Uh-huh. I just saw the cab pull up at their house a few minutes ago."
"Oh, I have to go over right away and greet him," Lucy said, mostly to herself, as she stumbled off her bed and ran into her closet to retrieve a dress.
Linus remained standing at the door of the bedroom, as did the girl, who, within a few seconds, had shifted her attention from Lucy and her news to Linus himself.
"Hi, Linus," she giggled, her cheeks flushing ever so slightly.
"Hello, Sally," sighed Linus, finally giving up and heading back to his room.
In almost the blink of an eye, Lucy was coming out of her closet, her tank top and striped pajama pants replaced by a red skater dress. "How does this dress look, Sally? Is it alright? Or is red too flashy? Do you think I should just wear something blue? Oh, Linus, wait! What is it you wanted to tell me?"
"Nothing important," he called over his shoulder as he slammed his bedroom door, but even that was barely heard as Lucy excitedly fumbled with her new earrings and asked Sally to tie her dress.
"Oh, I can't believe that Mr. and Mrs. Schroeder," Lucy fumed as she attempted to simultaneously brush her hair and put on her high tops. "Whisking Schroeder away to some musicians' camp and then to Europe for a whole month! What nerve!"
"Oh?" chuckled Sally. "And is that coming from your missing Schroeder or from the fact that this is his second trip to Europe and you've never been?"
Lucy paused to think for a moment, then answered as she continued to touch up her hair: "Both."
Sally laughed some more at this.
"Anyway," Lucy finally gasped, running through the cloud of perfume she had just sprayed, "I'm ready."
She and Sally headed out of her room, and as quickly as the fuss had started, it was gone, now making its way down the driveway, where the girls almost tripped over Lucy's youngest brother, Matthew.
"Good grief, Matty!" hollered Lucy, barely dodging him and the melting ice cream cone in his hand. "Watch it, will you?"
"Sorry," he called after the girls. "Oh, by the way, I heard Schroeder was back in town!"
"I know!" Lucy yelled back, her voice fading as she dashed up the street, leaving a trail of orange-vanilla scent in her path.
Sally had gone home. She had already said hello to Schroeder and his parents when she'd seen them arrive in their taxi, and she didn't dare interfere between him and Lucy.
With her heart racing, Lucy neared the steps of 1770 James Street, the Schroeder residence. She hadn't seen Schroeder in over a month — and they hadn't parted on good terms. She hoped that could be solved today.
A flurry of emotions ran through Lucy — she was excited yet nervous, shivering yet sweating, and a little angry, even, as the events of the last few weeks came back to her in a rush. She had run to Schroeder's house so hastily that she hadn't even remembered all that had happened until now: Schroeder was gone for five whole weeks and didn't even try to get in touch with her. He didn't say goodbye, and there were no phone calls, no emails, not even a postcard. Lucy grew even angrier as she remembered how she had waited every day to hear from him, to no avail.
That memory alone was almost enough to make her change her mind and go back home.
But a sudden thought stopped her from leaving: Then again, you made him angry first, Lucille.
Suddenly a new sensation took over Lucy — fear. What if he doesn't want to talk to me? Oh, dear, what if I made him so angry he's sick of me?
She hadn't even allowed herself to think that way before this moment. She had spent the last month blaming him for not calling her, thinking he was the one being unreasonable. But now, standing on the steps of his house, finally being able to see him if only she could bring herself to ring the doorbell, it hit her hard: maybe she had actually blown it this time.
As hard as it was, Lucy had to find out. And if Schroeder really was still angry, she had to try to fix things. With a deep breath, Lucy reached a trembling finger out to ring the doorbell.
But she hesitated. Her finger hovered just over the button as she considered turning back now and coming around later, when she was feeling stronger.
Suddenly the door opened, and Dana Schroeder's smiling face appeared only a few feet away. "Hello, Lucy."
Lucy's breath caught in her throat. She hadn't thought she might be seen out the window before even getting the chance to gather her thoughts. She took what she hoped wasn't an overly loud gulp of air and managed to squeak, "Hi, Mrs. Schroeder. How was your trip?"
"Just wonderful, dear, thank you. Please come in."
Lucy warily walked into the house, where she hadn't set foot all summer long. But as soon as she was inside, she felt good in the familiar coolness of the foyer.
She hoped to see Schroeder sitting at his piano, perhaps playing some calming sonata, as he so often did. If he had been sitting there, it might've made her feel more at ease approaching him. After all, their most meaningful conversations would always happen at the piano, as he played a tune and she leaned or sat or even lay on the piano cover. But today his bench stood bare.
"I'm afraid, Lucy," said his mother, "that if you're looking for Thomas, you won't see him for a while."
"Oh?" asked the teenage girl as she slowly backed toward the staircase, hoping for a glimpse of him.
"No, he's gone upstairs to shower. I was about to do the same, really."
"Oh," Lucy repeated.
"But I was making myself a cup of tea first. Would you like some?"
"Um…" She tore her sight away from the top of the stairs. "No. Thank you. I really just came over to welcome you back," she explained, slightly flustered, "but, um, I should've realized you'd be busy unpacking and stuff."
Dana looked curiously at her son's girlfriend. Lucy squirmed a bit under her gaze, feeling as if Mrs. Schroeder was judging her — though she wasn't sure why. It felt like a long time before Lucy could say anything else.
"So, um… I guess I'll go and, uh… I'll come back later when things are settled down."
"Oh, okay—"
"I'm glad you enjoyed your vacation," Lucy interrupted. "Good night." And just like that, she was out the door.
A/N: Hello and thank you for checking out my story! As you can tell by the title, this is a Peanuts high school AU. I originally planned to set it in the mid-1960s, but due to a number of issues this brought up for me in the writing process, I have decided to set it in the modern day, a.k.a. a non-pandemic version of 2020. However, you will see very few smartphones and modern things like that, except for when their presence serves the plot. Other things you should know about this fic: 1) Charlie Brown and Lucy are friends! :D Because who needs all that bullying? 2) All the kids now go to the same school, like in the 2015 movie, except I have kept the detail that they went to different elementary schools (how all this works will be made clearer as the story moves along). 3) My principal source material is the original comic strips (I'm proud to say I've read all of them) but I've also incorporated a number of details from the Peanuts Movie, especially names and last names of characters such as Marcie Carlin (who has no last name in the comic) or Heather Wold (the "little red-haired girl," who is unnamed in the comic but given this name in the movie). 4) And speaking of names, characters that don't receive a proper name in the comics (like "Pig-Pen" or "Rerun") will be given one in my story. 5) And finally, although the ships outlined in the description will eventually happen, I am going to be putting them through the wringer, so... bear with me. :) Well, that's the end of my rant. Enjoy the story! (Oh, and of course, I don't own Peanuts or its characters.)