Hi! Thanks for the reviews and I was wondering if anyone was interested in what Rosie and the other girls are doing or if you think the story should stay the way it is. Do the friendships in the story seem more like a girl's? A guy who is a friend of mine (just a friend) told me once that guys normally don't have the friends that are more special than any others like girls sometimes do, so I was wondering if I was writing it right. Pippin will be here soon : ) I'm kind of nervous, I've got callbacks for a play I'm auditioning for tomorrow, so wish me luck!
Sam carried the box of surprises for Bilbo and Frodo's party carefully as he wondered what was in them, but he had been told not to open them. The party was sure to be grand; Bilbo was turning one hundred after all.
He fell over as something pushed into him from behind. Sam dusted himself off, shocked that the person kept walking. The boxes around him had scattered and he had heard glass breaking. "Did your parents not teach you some manners?" Sam called, angrily. The small hobbit hardly ever had a temper, but something as rude as that was appalling.
The older lad turned to him and Sam realized how much larger the boy was. "What? Do you have a problem runt?"
Sam took an involuntary step back from the threatening gaze, but still replied. "Yes, you just ran into me and kept going without an apology." His stomach had dropped to the ground and he tried to look calm. Why couldn't he have kept his big mouth shut? His Gaffer always told him that anytime he opened his mouth he put his foot in it.
"Lotho," another boy from the small ring that had formed behind Sam called, "you won't let him get away with that, will you?"
"Frodo, it's been a little while, would you please see if Samwise needs any help with those boxes?" Bilbo asked, not looking up from the invitations he was writing.
"Wait for me. I'm coming, too," Merry called as the boys raced for the door, both happy for an excuse to get outside. The two jumped along the path, slaying pretend dragons and saving imaginary worlds as they went.
It was Frodo who heard it first, the noise from the bushes. "What's going on here? Get away from him, what's wrong with you, Lotho? Does it really take four of you to beat up one lad?" Frodo snapped.
Lotho stood slowly and glared at his cousin and it seemed to Sam as if Lotho were Frodo's distorted mirror image. While both had a slight resemblance to the other, the dark-haired boy's face was kinder than his relative's and seemed wiser, as well.
Merry helped Sam to his feet and tried to get some of the grass out of his hair while Sam winced as he touched the new bruises. "Get out of here, all of you," Frodo said, and Lotho's friends listened. "Let's go home, Sam, Uncle Bilbo will put you back together."
Lotho had ignored Frodo's command for them to leave and called to the retreating lads, "You know, cousin, sometimes I think you are queerer," he looked directly at Merry, "and dumber," he glanced at Sam who was wiping blood away from his nose, "than both of your friends combined."
Nobody spoke for a moment and it was Sam that broke the tense silence. "Leave my friends alone. Mr. Frodo and Merry will be heroes someday!"
The only reply was mocking laughter.
