I am Muffy

Muffy's parents have been arguing a lot especially about her father's 'business'. Now Mrs Crosswire wants to move out and take Muffy with her. Will Muffy survive life in the real world and which unlucky family will take them in? Please R&R

Disclaimer:I do not own any of the characters in Arthur.

Chapter 5

Caroline Crosswire turned to her daughter Muffy. "Guess what honey?" she said excitedly.

"What?" said Muffy, in a bored tone of voice. All of this talking was getting tedious; it didn't happen like this on 'The bold and the Beautiful'. There should have been a kidnapping by now, to liven things up. "No wait!" she said more excitedly, "Dad's had a heart attack and passed away and we've inherited the house and all the money and we can go back?"- It came out in a rush.

Mrs Crosswire shook her head slowly, and Muffy felt all the hope and excitement drain out of her. "It's not that is it?" she said dully. "They said yes, didn't they?"

Mrs Crosswire nodded and Muffy felt a bit miffed.

Secretly, she had been hoping that the Reids would say "No!" and that she would be able to live with Francine's family.

"Muffy dearest? Please get into the car again – we're going to the Reids' house" said Mrs Crosswire sweetly.

Muffy looked up, an incredulous look on her face. "You seriously mean that you're going to drive that thing?" Muffy gestured to the Toyota. "Though I guess it wouldn't be much of a loss if you crashed it…:" she added.

Mrs Crosswire assumed a I'm-your-mother-listen-to-me face. "Listen Muffy, I could have always asked Mr or Mrs Reid to pick us up, but they have enough troubles as it is. Besides, what would we do with the Toyota? I'm going to need it to drive around the place, and they couldn't possibly tow it behind them."

"Yes…" whinged Muffy, "But…Aha! You don't have a license! It's illegal to drive that thing without a driver's licence!"

Mrs Crosswire looked a bit worried at first but then she said, "How hard could it be? The Reeds house is only a couple of blocks away from here anyways"

And so it came to be that Mrs Caroline Crosswire tore down the streets of Elwood city in her Toyota, with a shrieking Muffy in tow. They must have broken at least 5 traffic rules: going through red lights, driving on the wrong side of the road, not driving on the road (unless of course, the footpath was considered part of the road), speeding (which is very easy to do when you can't remember which pedal is the brake) and several other misfortunate incidents which would have been against the law if they existed.

Meanwhile at the Reid household, Jane Reid was cleaning everything in a frenzy. "The Crosswires are coming to stay, the Crosswires are coming to stay…" she muttered under her breath like a mantra, picking up Baby Kate and giving her head and face a good dusting. ("Achoo!")

"Honey is something wrong?" Mr Reid walked into the living room coated with a fine layer of mud and dirt; prompting Mrs Reid to instantly run over and gave him a good dusting. "Small accident involving me falling in the hole I was digging…" muttered Mr Reid embarrassedly.

"Muffy and Caroline Crosswire are coming over!" cried Mrs Reid, "They're on their way here David! What am I going to do?"

"Caroline Crosswire…" Several emotions chased their way across David's face; apprehension, nervousness and something else… Mrs Reid wasn't sure what it was but it definitely irked her for some reason. She thought back to her high school days….

Caroline Crosswire (a la Windler) was the 'it' girl at school; she was sweet, very pretty, slim, a Cheerleader, three time Prom Queen and head of the social committee. She was also the daughter of the town mayor and was very rich.

Jane Reid on the other hand was not a nerd, yet not popular – just comfortably in-between – your typical girl-next-door.. Her best friend Bixie Baxter was a bit of a gossip but she was harmless too. Problems arose however, because all of the boys were just crazy after Caroline; three boys in particular.

One was Oliver Frensky, a good natured jock who had the strangest fondness for garbage. He wasn't terribly good looking but Jane got along with him well.

Next was Ed Crosswire, a puny, sly little nerd who enjoyed putting together broken parts of things to make things that looked good, but worked badly. By fifth grade, Ed had been supplying pot to all of the stoners in school and he was a cut throat dealer. He was also the heir to a car business "Crosswire Motors" and that made him very rich

Finally, the boy who Jane was besotted with: David Reid. David was Ed's best friend (though a lot more scrupulous); a hard working studious boy who couldn't be called a 'nerd'; more like a "Cake Boy". David was one of those rare people who was perpetually optimistic and who didn't care what other people thought of him and this lead to him to commit what was considered "Social Suicide". David was the only boy to do a Culinary Cooking course and because of this, he was made fun of incessantly. However, this didn't deter Jane; she though he was the most swoon- worthy Aardvark she'd ever seen and she constantly tried to gain David's attentions.

David, however, was in love with Caroline Windler (Caroline's surname before she married Ed) – no, more like obsessed with her. He wrote her name all over his text books, he bought her flowers every Valentine's Day, and he even wrote poetry about her, which Mr Hetters (the History teacher at Elwood high) held up in class to David's great embarrassment. In general, as long as Caroline was around, Jane didn't stand a chance of gaining David's affections.

However Caroline was oblivious to the crushes these boys had on her; she had eyes only for one man; her boyfriend "The Baxter". The Baxter was the coolest, slickest, most handsome guy in the whole school and his floppy ears and sultry smile won the hearts of many girls (Bixie was beyond obsessed with him). However the Baxter was a bit of a player and he didn't like commitment, so no one expected Caroline to marry him or anything – it was just a high school fling.

But as these things tend to go, The Baxter dumped Caroline for a more adventurous relationship with Bixie Carter, who suited him more. There was of course the inevitable fact that The Baxter was a rabbit and Mrs Crosswire was a Monkey – no one in Elwood City ever married anyone from a different heritage background. Add to that, the fact that Caroline was rich and of a blue blood compared to The Baxter's middle class parents – things would never work out.

Upset and confused, Caroline sought refuge in the arms of Ed Crosswire (who had now filled out considerably and seemed very appealing because of his substantial wealth). They were soon engaged.

Realising now that he had no chance with Caroline, David opened his eyes to the other girls (primarily Jane) and discovered that the woman he truly loved had always been right there for him…

…or so Jane thought. Did David still harbour some of his feelings for Caroline? No…that was impossible. He had a family now and he always seemed so happy with her. She was just imagining things.

"Jane are you with me?" David was calling to her in his caring voice.

"Um… Yes, I was just reminiscing about the old days" said Jane carefully, not allowing her voice to betray any emotion. "I guess we're going to have to tell the kids – I'm really not sure how Arthur will react…"

David smiled, but then his voice faded – "Um honey?" he said slowly, "Business with catering hasn't been very good lately – for the fourth time in the past couple of months, I've reported a loss. I don't know if we'll be able to afford having the Crosswires over"

"Excellent!", Jane visibly brightened up, "I have a good excuse for not taking them in!"

"But think of the situation poor Caroline and Muffy are in – they need our help! Maybe we could organise some sort of a charity fair for them"

Mrs Reid had to forcibly contain a snort – "Charity? Since when have the Crosswires lost their pride? Since when did the Crosswires ever donate a cent to charity?"

But she also knew that it was mostly Ed who was unbearable – she couldn't impress his faults onto their family.

"OK, I'm sure we'll manage somehow" she sighed

"You are such a beautiful soul" smiled David giving his wife a hug and a kiss.

Meanwhile… "Mum! That's the fourth time we've driven past the Reid's house! Can't you work that brake?" cried Muffy in exasperation.

"I'm trying honey! But I keep pressing the accelerator instead of the brake!" Mrs Crosswire called back.

Finally, they stopped outside the Reid's home, and Muffy could have sworn she could have known every house in the street with her eyes closed – they had driven past them that many times!

"I want to press the bell!" said Muffy bossily.

Ding Dong…Ding Dong.

Arthur opened the door, looking quite surprised. He stared at their suitcases and said "Hi Muffy. Are you going on a holiday or something?"

Mrs Crosswire looked puzzled, "But didn't your parents tell you…"

"Tell me what?" asked Arthur impatiently.

Just then Mr and Mrs Reid walked into the hallway, and they both stared at each other – they'd forgotten to tell Arthur!

A/N: He he, that was a long chapter but I hope it was interesting. Things will definitely pick up from here.