"Are they doing this on purpose? Do they want me to fail?" Kristy grumbled. "Seriously, if they don't turn down that music I'm going to go crazy. It's hard enough for me to make sense of algebra as it is."
"Calm down Kristy," Mary Anne responded. She had to admit, the music that Dawn and Abby were playing was obnoxiously loud; they could hear it though both doors that separated the rooms were closed.
"I can't! I just don't get this! Seriously, 'x' means nothing to me." Kristy flung her pencil across the room, hitting the wall. It fell on the floor dangerously close to Tigger, who ran underneath the bed to hide.
Mary Anne's eyes opened wide. She had been friends with Kristy since they were toddlers, but she rarely seen her act this way. Kristy wasn't normally the type who let little things frustrate her. Especially things like algebra.
"Don't worry Kristy, we have lots of time. You'll understand this before we're done tonight," Mary Anne assured, though she was in no way as confident as she sounded.
"Mary Anne, the test is tomorrow," Kristy said slowly. "There is no way I will understand everything by then. I might as well give up. This is all Abby's fault."
Dejected, Kristy shoved her notebook to the floor and stared glumly out the window.
Mary Anne looked at Kristy "And it's Abby's fault because…?" She asked
"Well, for one thing, she and Dawn are playing the music so loud that I can't concentrate," Kristy, explained, yelling the last part in the direction of Dawn's room. "Also, we were in the same math class last year, and she always distracted me. I didn't learn anything then, and now I have no foundation to learn any of this stuff. Case and point."
Mary Anne rolled her eyes. Once Kristy got something like this in her head, there was no convincing her otherwise. "Maybe we should take a break. A short one. Do you want to go downstairs and get something to eat?"
"Sure, it's almost dinner time anyway. I might need some Advil as well. I have a throbbing headache," Kristy replied angrily. "Just don't expect me to eat any of that health food crap that you always have an abundance of."
"We'll find something, don't worry," Mary Anne said as they left her room and headed downstairs and into the kitchen.
"Hey, are those the infamous flowers from Howie Johnson?" Kristy asked as they passed through the hallway.
Mary Anne glared at her, and continued into the kitchen.
"Well at least now you have something to remind you of why you shouldn't be stupid and go to huge drinking parties," Kristy commented cheerfully.
This earned another glare from Mary Anne. Kristy's mood was elevating at a direct result of her own personal misery. Wonderful.
Opening the panty, Mary Anne pulled out graham crackers, chocolate bars, and marshmallows. "Will S'mores work? We can make them in the microwave. I think they will help us study."
"Chocolate is the ultimate brain food," Kristy said, nodding.
Mary Anne set up the snack. Kristy was pouring glasses of milk for each of them as they heard the door to Dawn's room open, music spilling out from it. Seconds later, Abby and Dawn came bounding down the stairs and into the kitchen. Mary Anne held her breath, remembering what had happened that last time all four of them had been together.
"Are you eating chocolate? Can you even comprehend the additives and other toxins that will now become part of your bloodstream?" Dawn asked.
Mary Anne rolled her eyes. At least Dawn had broken the ice. Before she could say anything, Abby did it for her.
"Relax Dawn. You get way too into the health food thing." As she said this, Abby rooted around in the cupboard and came out with a stick of beef jerky. She took a bite and smiled at Dawn. "Yum. Want some?"
"Why don't you just eat a live cow Abby?" Dawn muttered. "I think that I'll just have a bottled water, thanks." She turned her gaze to Mary Anne and Kristy: "You're having a party, and you didn't invite us?"
"We're just studying for the algebra test that we have tomorrow," Mary Anne explained quickly. The last thing that she needed right now was more conflict.
Dawn turned to Abby "Do we have any tests tomorrow?"
Abby shrugged her shoulders. "I hope not." They laughed.
"I take it that you haven't started all the work that you're behind on?" Mary Anne asked, staring at Dawn.
Dawn rolled her eyes. "The work will get done. I've transferred schools about a million times. I think that I know what I'm doing."
"If you say so," Mary Anne said simply. "But-"
Before she could finish, Kristy cut her off. "Come on Mary Anne, let's go back upstairs. I can't speak for all of us, but I for one would like to make it to eleventh grade." She handed Mary Anne a glass of milk, and the two of them carried their snacks upstairs. As they left the kitchen, Abby said something, causing both her and Dawn to burst out laughing.
Once they were back into Mary Anne's room, Kristy shut the door securely. "When Dawn first came back from California, she seemed normal. I guess that was before she happened upon Abby Stevenson."
"I honestly don't think that most of this is Abby's influence. Dawn's changed a lot since eighth grade. Maybe this is just who she is now."
"How can you just accept that? Doesn't it make you mad? Why do people have to change so much? Don't they realize that not everything is about them? Turning away from Mary Anne, Kristy quickly wiped away a tear that had just formed.
"Is everything going okay at home Kristy? Mary Anne asked gently. "With Watson and everything?"
"I don't know!" More tears had formed, and they were now running quickly down Kristy's cheeks. "I don't even know what an okay family would be like. I don't think that I have ever had one. Have you?"
Mary Anne simply shook her head and handed a box of tissues to her friend.
Kristy went on: "Watson is still living at a hotel, and Mom still isn't sure how she feels about him moving back. Meanwhile, Karen and Andrew are totally confused, because they don't know much of what is really happening, and they're not living with either one of their real parents. Charlie refuses to visit until Watson is gone for good. I don't think he realizes that that isn't the perfect solution. Sam spends all his time with Stacey doing God knows what, and Nannie has basically taken over the entire household. David Michael has it in his head that all dads are evil, and I don't even know what poor Emily Michelle is thinking. She's so little."
"What should I do Mary Anne? How can I make things better?"
At this point Mary Anne reached to give Kristy a hug, but she was pushed away. Though she had been rebuffed, Mary Anne wasn't too hurt. She understood that sometimes sharing the pain hurt more than keeping in all inside.
"I think that you are doing everything you can Kristy. Really and truly, you can only do so much. You are not the adult in this situation, and no one expects you to be. You know that, right?"
Kristy nodded her head, tears still streaming down her face.
"Right now, you just need to take care of yourself. Neither you or I have any idea of what will happen with Watson and that situation, so it is pointless to worry about it when that only makes everything hurt more, you know?"
"Yeah."
"You need to take things one day at a time. We both do. And today, we worry about algebra, okay?"
Wiping away the last of her tears, Kristy made a face. "I hate this stuff."
"As do I. But because neither of us have the math brains of Stacey, we need to study," Mary Anne explained.
Kristy shook her head. "Stacey McGill, the math genius. Some things in this world just don't make sense. Like what my brother sees in her," she grimaced. "Oh wait. I know what he sees in her."
Mary Anne giggled, earning her a look from Kristy.
"Let's get back at it," Kristy said, resigned.
This girls spent the rest of the night studying together and preparing for their test. Around nine, Nannie arrived in the Pink Clinker to take Kristy home. Kristy begrudgingly offered Abby a ride when everyone realized, without acknowledging it out loud, that there was no one home at Abby's house to pick her up, and no one at the Spier house to give her a ride home.
Without Kristy and Abby there to keep them occupied and apart, the uneasiness between Mary Anne and Dawn became more apparent. They stood in the entryway of the house, the air around them thick and uncomfortable.
"Do you have any idea when mom and Richard will be back tonight?" Dawn asked.
Mary Anne shook her head. "No, I don't think they left a note."
Dawn frowned. "That's weird. They always leave a note."
"Yeah, I know. You don't think something's wrong, do you?"
"I hope not. Let's look around. There's got to be a note here somewhere."
"I'll check the living room, you check the kitchen," Mary Anne directed.
Bonded by fear of the unknown, Mary Anne and Dawn forgot about whatever was going on in between them.
Ten minutes into their search, Dawn was triumphant: "I found it!"
Mary Anne came rushing to the kitchen. "Where? What does it say?"
"It was inside the blender. I'm not sure why mom thought we would look in there. Anyway, it says that they are at a dinner party in Mercer, and they won't be back until after midnight."
"I guess it's just us then," Mary Anne said, sighing.
"Just us," Dawn echoed.
The girls stood in the kitchen for a few minutes trying to make small talk before retreating to their separate bedrooms, shutting the doors, and shutting each other out.