CHAPTER SEVEN
Michelle was explaining a new pass play she'd invented. She wanted her team to have fun. But, she decided to be creative, too.
Mark walked up behind Simon. He put an ice cube down his back as Simon listened.
"Hey, what was that for," Simon shreiked.
"Suzie says Michelle said you were hot," Mark explained.
Michelle's face turned several shades of red. She spoke to Cassie out of the corner of her mouth. "Remind me to apologize to Stephanie for the last five years of teasing her around boys." Her friend nodded.
Derek waved Mark and Suzie away with his hand. "Go on, you two. Go play by the swings. I don't want you to get run over. Lee really eats up the yards when he runs."
Suzie's eyes grew wide. "Wow, he must be hungry."
Mark agreed as they walked to the swings. "That's nothing. That man on TV Sunday, he said some team was eating up a clock."
"There you are," Rachel said from out of the blue. "Come on, Suzie. Today we're going to try some leaps. Let me see your best ballet moves."
Suzie spun while kicking her leg. She danced quite gracefully.
However, Rachel was not easily impressed. "Hmmm, not bad for your age. Of course, I was a lot better."
"You were? Are you a real ballerina?" Suzie asked.
"Of course. Watch this. It's from 'The Nutcracker.'" She danced for a couple minutes. Suzie and several others watched. "Lee's older sister and I get to be sugar plum fairies."
Suzie smiled. Rachel liked to talk about herself. But, she seemed pretty nice. And, she had good advice. Suzie wanted to be like her.
As Suzie practiced some moves, she thought about Michelle's cousins. "How do I find out if a boy likes me?"
"When I start to really like boys, I'm asking them out. I'm not waiting," Rachel said. "Okay, good jumps. Now call for a letter and spin at each jump."
Suzie jumped and twirled while shouting "Gimme an A!"
Rachel glared. "I mean a letter in Comets! It starts with 'C.'"
"Oh. Gimme a 'C,'" Suzie shouted as she leaped.
"C," Rachel shouted. They repeated this until she'd done every letter. "You're actually getting pretty good," Rachel said. For the first time, there was a hint of approval in her voice. She enjoyed teaching Suzie.
"Thanks. So, I should ask Michelle's cousin if he likes me?"
"Why stop there? If you really like him, you oughta ask him to marry you," Rachel told her.
"I'll ask him tomorrow. We can have the wedding before the game," Suzie said.
Michelle walked over to the dancing duo several minutes later. She held her hands in the form of a "T." "Wait a minute. This is cheerleading practice, not ballet."
Mandy walked up to her. "Rachel was having so much fun, we couldn't stand to stop her."
"Yeah. Rachel's teaching me everything she knows. She's so cool," Suzie said excitedly.
Michelle smiled at Suzie. She tried hard to hide her shock. She'd been hoping it would happen. But, sometimes it seemed like Rachel would never become friendly. She was sometimes even mean to the one classmate with whom she was friends. "So, she's being really nice to you?"
"Why wouldn't I," Rachel declared, putting her hands on her hips. "She can tell I'm the best. And you said if I was nice, that would happen."
"Well, yeah." Michelle froze for a second. She still didn't like Rachel's boasting. And, she didn't want Suzie to become like her.
Still, she could talk to Suzie about that later. Right now, the important thing was, Rachel was being nice. Maybe not overly friendly. But, this was a start. "It's fun being nice, isn't it?"
Rachel had to think. Finally, she nodded slowly. "Yeah, yeah it is," she said with a sudden look of recognition. She grinned. "It feels kinda neat." Rachel walked away, not wanting to discuss it any more.
Once out of Rachel's hearing, Michelle pumped her fist and whispered "yesss!"
The next day, Suzie decided to try what Rachel had told her. She and Derek ran in the Tanners' front door. Derek quickly sat down with Joey to play video games. Joey was home watching Nicky and Alex while Jesse did their radio show. Suzie ran upstairs, where Nicky was looking under Michelle's bed for a stuffed animal. "Can I help," Suzie asked.
"Wait...here it is." He pulled out a brown dog.
Suzie wasn't quite sure how to do what Rachel said. So, she blurted out, "Do you like me?"
"Yeah. Come on." Nicky led her up to his room. "My brother's getting the other stuff."
She noticed a large collection of dogs, bears, horses, and other stuffed animals. "Oh, are you giong to put on a play with stuffed animals? I love doing that."
"Yeah. Michelle still likes this sometimes. She does the horsies. Do you want to do them?" Nicky asked her.
"I'd love to." She picked up a dapple gray horse and made it gallop along Nicky's bed. "So, would you want to get married?"
"Now?" He was stunned.
"No, we can play this now. How about Saturday," Suzie asked.
Nicky shrugged. "Okay. Wait a minute. I forgot something in Joey's room."
Suzie played with the stuffed animals for a minute. As she did so, she dreamed about getting married and playing with stuffed animals all her life. Of course, at her age, she didn't comprehend what all went into having a boyfriend, let alone getting married. But, Rachel seemed to know.
Then, Alex came upstairs. "I'll wear this Saturday."
Suzie gave a look of shock. She held her hands to her face. Alex was dressed as a mascot. He was wearing a golden retriever's head. He also wore Joey's oversized, fuzzy bunny slippers.
"You can't wear that at our wedding," Suzie cried.
"We're getting married," Alex asked, greatly astonished.
"That's what you're supposed to do at a wedding. What did you think we would do at our wedding, play hopscotch," Suzie said, with a hint of Rachel's sarcasm.
Alex scratched his head. "You mean you and me?"
"Of course. You want to, don't you?"
Alex hummed. He didn't know it could happen this early. He was very attached to Nicky - he didn't want to be without him. "Can my brother still live with us?'
Suzie didn't know. But, the Tanners had a large family. So, they could, too. "Sure."
"Okay."
"Good. Now, go take off that silly costume."
Derek ran up to the third floor. "It's time to go."
"Okay." Suzie walked downstairs with Derek. When they got to the second floor, they saw Nicky walking with a stuffed lion. "See you later. And remember, wear a normal suit for our wedding. Not a Halloween mask."
"Okay." Nicky looked confused, then shrugged and went up to his room. Alex joined him after a moment. "Did you find a mascot mask for Saturday?"
Alex nodded. "Yeah, it looks just like Comet."
"Guess what. I'm getting married Saturday."
"Good, me too." Alex smiled as he picked up a teddy bear. "I like it when we do things together."
CHAPTER EIGHT
Suzie was really excited Saturday morning. Lee's sister had been on a sleepover elsewhere. So, Michelle spent the night with Suzie.
"Oh, that's so pretty," Suzie said when they got back to Michelle's house. She was in the crawlspace above the attic apartment with Mark, Stephanie, and Michelle. She held up a white dress. "You wore this, Stephanie?"
"Yep. In fact, I had a little play wedding in it myself," Stephanie remarked.
Suzie dug around in the box of clothes. "Where's the train?"
"Over here." Mark held up an old toy train that Nicky and Alex used to enjoy.
"Not that kind," Suzie snapped.
Stephanie noticed Suzie's attitude. "Has she been like this," she whispered to Michelle.
Michelle hummed. "Now that you mention it, she sounds more... unpleasant." She turned to Suzie. She'd thought it was her imagination on the sleepover. But, Rachel might be rubbing off too much on Suzie. "Suzie, let's talk in our room for a minute," Michelle said. She led the others to the second floor. Mark went down to the living room with his parents.
Stephanie sat Suzie between her and Michelle on her bed. "Suzie, Rachel's not the kind of person you should be like."
"Duh, she's the best," Suzie explained. "And, she knows so much."
Michelle sighed. She repeated something Stephanie and D.J. had done many times. Michelle had picked up words like "duh" from hanging around her Uncle Jesse's band when she was little. And, Stephanie and D.J. would always stop everything and make Michelle speak politely before continuing. Thanks to their persistent efforts and modelling of good behavior, Michelle couldn't recall saying such things as "duh" or "you got it, Dude" beyond age five. Michelle prided herself in being very polite now.
"Suzie, before we go any further, you are going to say that without the 'duh' - you know better than that," Michelle emphsized.
Suzie caught the look. Michelle was glad they wouldn't have to delay the play wedding to make Suzie talk nicely. "Okay. I'm sorry. But, she is the best," Suzie said meekly.
"Suzie, Rachel's getting better. But, she still isn't as friendly as she should be," Michelle said.
"How can you say that? She's your friend," Suzie protested.
"I can see why you thought that." Michelle put her arm around Suzie. "The truth is, I wanted her to teach you so she would see how fun it is to be nice. Because, she often isn't very nice."
"Rachel would tease Michelle soemtimes because she has a mom and Michelle doesn't," Stephanie added as an example.
Suzie's mouth flew open. "Rachel wouldn't do that. That's mean!" she said with a scowl.
"But she did." Michelle looked down. She wished she didn't have to disillusion Suzie like this. But, she had to be told.
"You're starting to sound like Rachel," Stephanie informed her.
Michelle said, "Maybe not so much your parents notice yet. But, you were a little nicer when you first came. Like when Mark held that toy train up," Michelle said. "That was funny. And yet you acted rude. You know better, don't you?"
Suzie rested her head in her hands. "Yeah, I guess," she muttered.
Michelle could tell Suzie felt bad. "It's okay. We still like you. We just want you to be good to others, and not rude like Rachel. You should look up to someone like us. Because we're nicer than Rachel would be, aren't we."
Suzie sat up quickly. "Yeah. But, that doesn't mean Rachel would be mean about you not having a Mommy. Rachel says she can't even think about that. It's too scary for her."
Michelle closed her eyes. There it was again. Why did Rachel have to be so mean? Probably becasue nobody ever taught her to be nice in such a situation. How could Michelle teach her?
Michelle grinned as she considered a solution. "Tell you what. I'll talk to Rachel, and help her not to be so scared. But, if I do that, you have to promise me you'll be nice. And not sound rude just because Rachel does."
"Okay." Suzie jumped off the bed, grinning proudly. "You know what? I'm gonna go ask Mommy if I can have a sister. I want an older sister just like you." She ran downstairs.
Michelle began to unpack her her overnight bag. "She's so cute. It would be great to have a sister like that to help." Once Michelle finished, she said, "I have others, though, like Rachel to help, though, I guess. She is getting better, though," Michelle emphasized. "She's coming over this morning because Suzie invited her to this 'wedding.'"
"She must be getting better. I can remember when Rachel wouldn't think of stooping to come over here. She thought she was too good, with her dad being so rich with his national bakery." Stephanie pulled out a camera. "I think you made the right choice, pairing her with Suzie."
"Thanks." Michelle left their room and walked downstairs. Rachel and Suzie were at the bottom of the steps. "Rachel, it's great to see you. We're glad you could come."
Rachel put an arm around Suzie. "Yep. I'm here to see this beautiful bride on the most important day of her life. Where we do the most fun thing of all."
"Eat cake," Mark spouted.
Suzie noticed Rachel glowering. She cut Rachel off before she could say anything. "Come on, Rachel, that was funny. Although I'd rather have ice cream."
Rachel bit her tongue. She was still going to try to be nice. Why not? Michelle was right. It had been fun. Her old habits died hard, though. "Okay, besides that. Now, does your dress have a train? If not, go get a linen tablecloth."
"I'll find one. The boys are so excited to play wedding," Becky said. She went upstairs to their apartment.
"Yeah. Let's just hope Suzie can spell Katsopolis," Rachel said sarcastically.
Suddenly, the thought registered with Michelle. Rachel was setting up this whole thing. The way she talked, and the way Suzie had talked last night, Michelle wondered: Did Suzie understand she wasn't really getting married? And, did her cousin? In fact, which cousin was it?
Suddenly, her mind was flooded with questions. So many, she almost forgot she was supposed to coach a football team in a few hours.
Michelle was explaining a new pass play she'd invented. She wanted her team to have fun. But, she decided to be creative, too.
Mark walked up behind Simon. He put an ice cube down his back as Simon listened.
"Hey, what was that for," Simon shreiked.
"Suzie says Michelle said you were hot," Mark explained.
Michelle's face turned several shades of red. She spoke to Cassie out of the corner of her mouth. "Remind me to apologize to Stephanie for the last five years of teasing her around boys." Her friend nodded.
Derek waved Mark and Suzie away with his hand. "Go on, you two. Go play by the swings. I don't want you to get run over. Lee really eats up the yards when he runs."
Suzie's eyes grew wide. "Wow, he must be hungry."
Mark agreed as they walked to the swings. "That's nothing. That man on TV Sunday, he said some team was eating up a clock."
"There you are," Rachel said from out of the blue. "Come on, Suzie. Today we're going to try some leaps. Let me see your best ballet moves."
Suzie spun while kicking her leg. She danced quite gracefully.
However, Rachel was not easily impressed. "Hmmm, not bad for your age. Of course, I was a lot better."
"You were? Are you a real ballerina?" Suzie asked.
"Of course. Watch this. It's from 'The Nutcracker.'" She danced for a couple minutes. Suzie and several others watched. "Lee's older sister and I get to be sugar plum fairies."
Suzie smiled. Rachel liked to talk about herself. But, she seemed pretty nice. And, she had good advice. Suzie wanted to be like her.
As Suzie practiced some moves, she thought about Michelle's cousins. "How do I find out if a boy likes me?"
"When I start to really like boys, I'm asking them out. I'm not waiting," Rachel said. "Okay, good jumps. Now call for a letter and spin at each jump."
Suzie jumped and twirled while shouting "Gimme an A!"
Rachel glared. "I mean a letter in Comets! It starts with 'C.'"
"Oh. Gimme a 'C,'" Suzie shouted as she leaped.
"C," Rachel shouted. They repeated this until she'd done every letter. "You're actually getting pretty good," Rachel said. For the first time, there was a hint of approval in her voice. She enjoyed teaching Suzie.
"Thanks. So, I should ask Michelle's cousin if he likes me?"
"Why stop there? If you really like him, you oughta ask him to marry you," Rachel told her.
"I'll ask him tomorrow. We can have the wedding before the game," Suzie said.
Michelle walked over to the dancing duo several minutes later. She held her hands in the form of a "T." "Wait a minute. This is cheerleading practice, not ballet."
Mandy walked up to her. "Rachel was having so much fun, we couldn't stand to stop her."
"Yeah. Rachel's teaching me everything she knows. She's so cool," Suzie said excitedly.
Michelle smiled at Suzie. She tried hard to hide her shock. She'd been hoping it would happen. But, sometimes it seemed like Rachel would never become friendly. She was sometimes even mean to the one classmate with whom she was friends. "So, she's being really nice to you?"
"Why wouldn't I," Rachel declared, putting her hands on her hips. "She can tell I'm the best. And you said if I was nice, that would happen."
"Well, yeah." Michelle froze for a second. She still didn't like Rachel's boasting. And, she didn't want Suzie to become like her.
Still, she could talk to Suzie about that later. Right now, the important thing was, Rachel was being nice. Maybe not overly friendly. But, this was a start. "It's fun being nice, isn't it?"
Rachel had to think. Finally, she nodded slowly. "Yeah, yeah it is," she said with a sudden look of recognition. She grinned. "It feels kinda neat." Rachel walked away, not wanting to discuss it any more.
Once out of Rachel's hearing, Michelle pumped her fist and whispered "yesss!"
The next day, Suzie decided to try what Rachel had told her. She and Derek ran in the Tanners' front door. Derek quickly sat down with Joey to play video games. Joey was home watching Nicky and Alex while Jesse did their radio show. Suzie ran upstairs, where Nicky was looking under Michelle's bed for a stuffed animal. "Can I help," Suzie asked.
"Wait...here it is." He pulled out a brown dog.
Suzie wasn't quite sure how to do what Rachel said. So, she blurted out, "Do you like me?"
"Yeah. Come on." Nicky led her up to his room. "My brother's getting the other stuff."
She noticed a large collection of dogs, bears, horses, and other stuffed animals. "Oh, are you giong to put on a play with stuffed animals? I love doing that."
"Yeah. Michelle still likes this sometimes. She does the horsies. Do you want to do them?" Nicky asked her.
"I'd love to." She picked up a dapple gray horse and made it gallop along Nicky's bed. "So, would you want to get married?"
"Now?" He was stunned.
"No, we can play this now. How about Saturday," Suzie asked.
Nicky shrugged. "Okay. Wait a minute. I forgot something in Joey's room."
Suzie played with the stuffed animals for a minute. As she did so, she dreamed about getting married and playing with stuffed animals all her life. Of course, at her age, she didn't comprehend what all went into having a boyfriend, let alone getting married. But, Rachel seemed to know.
Then, Alex came upstairs. "I'll wear this Saturday."
Suzie gave a look of shock. She held her hands to her face. Alex was dressed as a mascot. He was wearing a golden retriever's head. He also wore Joey's oversized, fuzzy bunny slippers.
"You can't wear that at our wedding," Suzie cried.
"We're getting married," Alex asked, greatly astonished.
"That's what you're supposed to do at a wedding. What did you think we would do at our wedding, play hopscotch," Suzie said, with a hint of Rachel's sarcasm.
Alex scratched his head. "You mean you and me?"
"Of course. You want to, don't you?"
Alex hummed. He didn't know it could happen this early. He was very attached to Nicky - he didn't want to be without him. "Can my brother still live with us?'
Suzie didn't know. But, the Tanners had a large family. So, they could, too. "Sure."
"Okay."
"Good. Now, go take off that silly costume."
Derek ran up to the third floor. "It's time to go."
"Okay." Suzie walked downstairs with Derek. When they got to the second floor, they saw Nicky walking with a stuffed lion. "See you later. And remember, wear a normal suit for our wedding. Not a Halloween mask."
"Okay." Nicky looked confused, then shrugged and went up to his room. Alex joined him after a moment. "Did you find a mascot mask for Saturday?"
Alex nodded. "Yeah, it looks just like Comet."
"Guess what. I'm getting married Saturday."
"Good, me too." Alex smiled as he picked up a teddy bear. "I like it when we do things together."
CHAPTER EIGHT
Suzie was really excited Saturday morning. Lee's sister had been on a sleepover elsewhere. So, Michelle spent the night with Suzie.
"Oh, that's so pretty," Suzie said when they got back to Michelle's house. She was in the crawlspace above the attic apartment with Mark, Stephanie, and Michelle. She held up a white dress. "You wore this, Stephanie?"
"Yep. In fact, I had a little play wedding in it myself," Stephanie remarked.
Suzie dug around in the box of clothes. "Where's the train?"
"Over here." Mark held up an old toy train that Nicky and Alex used to enjoy.
"Not that kind," Suzie snapped.
Stephanie noticed Suzie's attitude. "Has she been like this," she whispered to Michelle.
Michelle hummed. "Now that you mention it, she sounds more... unpleasant." She turned to Suzie. She'd thought it was her imagination on the sleepover. But, Rachel might be rubbing off too much on Suzie. "Suzie, let's talk in our room for a minute," Michelle said. She led the others to the second floor. Mark went down to the living room with his parents.
Stephanie sat Suzie between her and Michelle on her bed. "Suzie, Rachel's not the kind of person you should be like."
"Duh, she's the best," Suzie explained. "And, she knows so much."
Michelle sighed. She repeated something Stephanie and D.J. had done many times. Michelle had picked up words like "duh" from hanging around her Uncle Jesse's band when she was little. And, Stephanie and D.J. would always stop everything and make Michelle speak politely before continuing. Thanks to their persistent efforts and modelling of good behavior, Michelle couldn't recall saying such things as "duh" or "you got it, Dude" beyond age five. Michelle prided herself in being very polite now.
"Suzie, before we go any further, you are going to say that without the 'duh' - you know better than that," Michelle emphsized.
Suzie caught the look. Michelle was glad they wouldn't have to delay the play wedding to make Suzie talk nicely. "Okay. I'm sorry. But, she is the best," Suzie said meekly.
"Suzie, Rachel's getting better. But, she still isn't as friendly as she should be," Michelle said.
"How can you say that? She's your friend," Suzie protested.
"I can see why you thought that." Michelle put her arm around Suzie. "The truth is, I wanted her to teach you so she would see how fun it is to be nice. Because, she often isn't very nice."
"Rachel would tease Michelle soemtimes because she has a mom and Michelle doesn't," Stephanie added as an example.
Suzie's mouth flew open. "Rachel wouldn't do that. That's mean!" she said with a scowl.
"But she did." Michelle looked down. She wished she didn't have to disillusion Suzie like this. But, she had to be told.
"You're starting to sound like Rachel," Stephanie informed her.
Michelle said, "Maybe not so much your parents notice yet. But, you were a little nicer when you first came. Like when Mark held that toy train up," Michelle said. "That was funny. And yet you acted rude. You know better, don't you?"
Suzie rested her head in her hands. "Yeah, I guess," she muttered.
Michelle could tell Suzie felt bad. "It's okay. We still like you. We just want you to be good to others, and not rude like Rachel. You should look up to someone like us. Because we're nicer than Rachel would be, aren't we."
Suzie sat up quickly. "Yeah. But, that doesn't mean Rachel would be mean about you not having a Mommy. Rachel says she can't even think about that. It's too scary for her."
Michelle closed her eyes. There it was again. Why did Rachel have to be so mean? Probably becasue nobody ever taught her to be nice in such a situation. How could Michelle teach her?
Michelle grinned as she considered a solution. "Tell you what. I'll talk to Rachel, and help her not to be so scared. But, if I do that, you have to promise me you'll be nice. And not sound rude just because Rachel does."
"Okay." Suzie jumped off the bed, grinning proudly. "You know what? I'm gonna go ask Mommy if I can have a sister. I want an older sister just like you." She ran downstairs.
Michelle began to unpack her her overnight bag. "She's so cute. It would be great to have a sister like that to help." Once Michelle finished, she said, "I have others, though, like Rachel to help, though, I guess. She is getting better, though," Michelle emphasized. "She's coming over this morning because Suzie invited her to this 'wedding.'"
"She must be getting better. I can remember when Rachel wouldn't think of stooping to come over here. She thought she was too good, with her dad being so rich with his national bakery." Stephanie pulled out a camera. "I think you made the right choice, pairing her with Suzie."
"Thanks." Michelle left their room and walked downstairs. Rachel and Suzie were at the bottom of the steps. "Rachel, it's great to see you. We're glad you could come."
Rachel put an arm around Suzie. "Yep. I'm here to see this beautiful bride on the most important day of her life. Where we do the most fun thing of all."
"Eat cake," Mark spouted.
Suzie noticed Rachel glowering. She cut Rachel off before she could say anything. "Come on, Rachel, that was funny. Although I'd rather have ice cream."
Rachel bit her tongue. She was still going to try to be nice. Why not? Michelle was right. It had been fun. Her old habits died hard, though. "Okay, besides that. Now, does your dress have a train? If not, go get a linen tablecloth."
"I'll find one. The boys are so excited to play wedding," Becky said. She went upstairs to their apartment.
"Yeah. Let's just hope Suzie can spell Katsopolis," Rachel said sarcastically.
Suddenly, the thought registered with Michelle. Rachel was setting up this whole thing. The way she talked, and the way Suzie had talked last night, Michelle wondered: Did Suzie understand she wasn't really getting married? And, did her cousin? In fact, which cousin was it?
Suddenly, her mind was flooded with questions. So many, she almost forgot she was supposed to coach a football team in a few hours.