Ever since they were kids; Charlie Brown ignored her advances, played ignorant, or blatantly wasn't interested- sometimes she couldn't tell, though she would press on, at least their friendship would be intact, something she took great solace in, since often she felt like she wasn't a great friend; she had never really stood up to Lucy for him, or the other girls, often blaming him for things no fault of his own, too hard-headed to listen to him, or Marcie's voice of reason. Her competitive spirit wasn't much help, either, it was like being herself wasn't enough, especially with all the better looking girls he seemed to chase, especially the queen of them all; Heather Wold.
"Maybe I should just give up… even you would probably have a better chance at dating him, you're more girly, than I am," she sighed, leaning on the wall.
I don't know about that, sir, besides; even if I wanted to, he's dating Peggy Jean. I can't, in good faith try and come between them, it's possible one day, one, if not both of us will get our chance."
"That could take forever, we might not live that long!"
"We're in fourth grade, we have years ahead of us, sir."
"Stop calling me sir! Maybe I should just leave it be, maybe you're right; he is dating Peggy Jean, after all."
"Of course I'm right."
"But as soon as that's over; I'll step up to the plate," she raised her fist high.
Marcie just sighed.
she caught wind of the rumor that Charlie and Peggy Jean broke up, she sought out there friends that went to school with him, to figure out if it was true.
"Hiya Sal, so is the rumor true; did Chuck and Peggy really break up?"
"It's true, he's been moping around about it doing his usual; 'oh, I can't do anything right, I'm a failure face,' thing he does."
"Good Grief."
"I know! I can't even get him to do my homework!"
"Well, do you know what happened?"
"I don't really care, it's typical big brother stuff."
"Thanks a lot, Sal," she walked away.
"Any time, Peppermint Patty!"
Peppermint Patty found Linus later on, he usually knows everything Charlie Brown, explaining the whole breakup to her, and how he was upset that now he wouldn't have a date for the spring dance. She tried to act as concerned as she could, but she was too excited.
"He'll bounce back! One thing Chuck never does is give up!"
"That's true. The kid has conviction, and drags himself out of every trial and tribulation, ready to go right back in, again," Linus agreed.
"I think I'll see good 'ol Chuck, right now, and cheer him up," she ran off.
Charlie sat in his bean bag chair watching a television show, when he heard a knock on the door.
"Hi Peppermint Patty," he answered.
"Hiya Chuck, I heard Peggy Jean broke up with you?"
"Yeah, and before the spring dance," he sighed.
"Everything will be okay, you'll find another date."
"How? No other girl even likes me… it's hopeless," he sighed.
"I don't have a date to the dance either- why don't we go together?"
"Us?"
"Yes, us, I'm your friend, and I'm a girl."
He just stared at her.
"You act like I've grown a second head, Chuck! We're friends, and I'm a girl, right?"
"Yeah."
"Yeah? Then it's settled! You'll pick me up, and we're going to the dance, make sure you're dressed nice."
"Ummm…"
"Don't worry about it, it'll be fun! See ya at the dance," she left.
He just stood there watching her skip off, sighing, knowing there was no way he could get out of it.
Charlie put on his cheap suit, making sure everything was nice, after struggling to tie his bowtie, Snoopy shook his head at the boy, tying it himself, and setting him off, so he could enjoy movie night with Woodstock. Peppermint Patty stared at herself in the mirror, her hair up, light blue dress, shiny white flats, and lip-gloss.
"I look great… but it just doesn't feel right."
"Well I tried my best, sir- I'm not that great at these things, either," Marcie admitted.
"No, you were a big help, it's not what you did. I just… I can't figure it out… it just doesn't feel like me, feels fake."
Those feelings subsided once she was at the dance with Charlie, enough to be ignored. They all rolled their eyes as Schroder complained about having a dance without a single Beethoven song, Charlie chatted with Linus and Franklin, Sally mostly ignored her date; Cormac, fawning over Linus. They sat out the dance while Pig-Pen and Frieda were on the dance floor, literally dirty dancing.
"I can't believe you made Pig-Pen your date," Violet complained.
"I don't mind getting a little dirty," she giggled.
"That's just disgusting!"
"Ope, can't leave such a gorgeous girl dirty," Pig-Pen walked up with her punch.
'Thank you, Pig-Pen," she said.
He held out his hand, all the dirt on her crawled and jumped on him, leaving her sparkly clean again. The other girls sat with mouths agape at what just happened. She just giggled again.
"Dance with me Schroeder," Lucy purred.
"I don't dance to music, I play music," he stated.
"You're dancing tonight," she grabbed him.
Charlie was staring at Schroeder with a slight pink tinge, tugging at his collar. Marcie tapped his shoulder.
"Hey, are you okay?"
"Umm… yeah, I think… I had a weird feeling for a second."
"Oh? What was it, does your stomach hurt?"
"No, I was just watching Schroder and- never mind, would you like to uh… dance, Peppermint Patty?"
"I was hoping you'd ask," she jumped up.
On the dance floor, while they danced, enjoyed themselves, though they were slightly distracted, she was watching the other girls, trying to relate, he was watching Schroeder and Lucy- mostly Schroder. A song came on, they both liked, drawing their attention back to each other.
"That was fun, Chuck!"
"Yeah, I actually enjoyed myself, how about you, Lucy?"
"When ever he wasn't stepping on my feet, sure."
"So… you still game for that jam session, Schroder?"
"Sure Charlie, although I'm not sure how you can impliment a guitar with Beethoven, or if it's even a good idea."
"I think even you might like what I have in plan."
"Okay, let's give it a shot."
Charlie started to blush, getting that weird feeling, he shook his head quick, eyes landing on the little red-headed girl.
"Wow… who is that?"
"Who," Lucy snapped.
"That little red-headed girl."
"Her? I don't know, she's new in town."
"Pretend I'm not here, why don'cha," Peppermint Patty frowned.
"Rats… I'm sorry Peppermint Patty, that was rude."
"What a blockhead," Lucy groaned.
"Whatever… not like we're actually dating," she huffed.
"Well," Violet and Patty walked up, "looks like you actually can girl up, Peppermint Patty, you and failure face had some good moves- at least he can do something right."
"I thought he was going to land on his back somehow," Patty laughed.
"Well he did great out there," Linus snapped.
"Never mind those witches, Chuck; I'm having fun."
"So am I."
Conversations went on around them, he kept stealing glances at that little red-head girl, and Schroder. Peppermint Patty was feeling rather uneasy, feeling like she didn't fit in with the other girls. The night passed pretty quick, Charlie and Franklin walked both girls home.
Peppermint Patty called Marcie once she got home.
"Hello Sir," she answered.
"Marcie, stop- okay, so I did enjoy myself…"
"That's good, I enjoyed myself, too."
"I didn't feel like myself."
"Because you had to wear a dress?"
"No Marcie, not because I had to wear a dress. Well, I guess wearing a dress was a part of it, but it wasn't just the dress, none of it felt right."
"I'm not understanding it, sir."
She sighed, "I don't really understand it either… maybe I'll figure it out tomorrow."
"If you do, let me know."
"You'll be the first to know, 'night Marcie."
"Good night."
The next day Charlie was excited to see the little red-headed girl was now going to his school, she was all he could think about.
"Well if you like her so much, why don't you go talk to her," Linus suggested.
"I can't do that! Wh-what if she doesn't like me, what if Violet or Lucy got to her first‽"
"You won't know, until you talk to her, Charlie."
"I know, I know…"
"Hey guys," Schroder sat down.
"Hey," Linus greeted.
"Oh, hi- hey, umm… hey Schroder," he coughed and blushed.
Linus gave him a look.
"Are you okay Charlie," Schroder raised an eyebrow.
"I'm fine! Finerealfine."
"It's that girl he's crushing on; the little red-headed one," Linus explained.
"You got a crush on her," Lamar walked up with Frieda.
"The girl with the not so curly red hair," she asked.
'That would be the one," Linus and Lamar said.
"He's worried that you girls might have corrupted her."
"She seems nice, almost too nice."
"See, Charlie, she's nice," Linus repeated.
"Frieda, what's her…"
She had already walked away, laughing with the other girls.
"She's probably telling them all about it," he sulked.
"So what? As long as they leave her alone, you might still have a chance, dude," Lamar said.
"You know how Charlie is," Schroder looked concerned.