CHAPTER 4: PATTY'S FOLLY

As the rest of the day progressed, things were much calmer than before, but there was still some tension in the air, particularly with Peppermint Patty and Marcie, who still weren't speaking to each other. Patty decided to keep her distance from Marcie for now. In fact, she hadn't said much to anyone the whole day after the "Come-To-Jesus" with Krissy and Red earlier in the day. So she pretty much kept her distance from everyone. However, someone was about to reach out to her. And that someone was her former crush, Charlie Brown.

He pretty much stayed out of the whole drama that had been going on; just adding his two cents here and there. But he figured that Patty needed to hear from someone who wasn't emotionally involved in the whole mess. Someone who could bring some clarity to the situation and not be confrontational about it. While Frieda, along with Eudora, Claudia, and Jadan, took Marcie out for a Girls-Only day, Charlie Brown decided to have a heart-to-heart talk with Patty. Linus, Franklin, and Skylar went with Andrew and Zac to the arcade. Everyone knew that Charlie Brown was going to talk with Patty and actually be a friend to her. Even Marcie, who was still angry with her, supported him and wished him luck.

Patty eventually came out of the room. She saw Charlie Brown watching TV and relaxing. She asked, "Hey Chuck, where did everyone go?"

"The girls are doing something together, and the guys went to the arcade with Zac and Andrew," Charlie Brown replied.

"How come you didn't go with them?"

"I wanted to talk to you about this whole situation with you, Franco, and Zac. I figured you'd want to hear from someone who won't yell or reprimand you." Patty went over and joined Charlie Brown on the couch.

"First of all, I am sorry that you and Marcie are fighting right now. But I won't get involved in that, as that's between you and her and I'll respect that. I do want to give you some advice on Franco, though."

"Okay?"

"You do understand why he did what he did, don't you? With punching Zac and all?"

"I guess I do, Chuck."

"And you should know by now that Zac was, in fact, flirting with you. So you see where Franco was coming from?"

"Yeah."

"Now I know it still doesn't excuse what he did, but at the same time, can you blame the guy? To tell you the truth, I don't know what I'd do if some guy did the same thing to Frieda. Hopefully I hope I'd have a more even-tempered response to it and be able to tell the guy to back off without resorting to violence. But putting that aside, what made the situation worse is that you lead Zac on, which wasn't right, either."

"I didn't-"

"You did, Patty. I get it, Franco upset you with hitting Zac. And you got caught up in the moment. But you didn't stop after the first kiss to Zac; you kept seeing him. That's what upset Franco more than Zac's flirting itself; you betrayed your boyfriend."

Patty suddenly realized the ramifications of her actions. She felt her eyes well up with tears. She possibly ruined her relationship with the one boy, who wasn't Charlie Brown, that she cared for more than anything.

"This is all my fault, Chuck," she wept. "I messed up everything."

"Well, you're not the only one to blame, Patty," said Charlie Brown. "Zac shouldn't have flirted with you in the first place, Franco shouldn't have decked him, but talked to him first about it himself, and you should have been more respectful of Franco's feelings about this and seen where he was coming from. To put it bluntly, all of you had a hand in this."

"You're right, Chuck. But how can I make this right?"

"Well Marcie kind of already said what you needed to do. I'll repeat it, albeit without the fury behind it that she had. You need to first make things right with Franco and apologize for your part in this. If you don't settle things right then and there, at least promise to talk about it more when we get back to Sparkyville. But then, you need to cool things off with Zac. Let him know you need to work things out with Franco first, then see where you and him are at afterwards."

"I will, I promise. And Chuck?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for being a good friend, and actually telling me what I needed to hear."

"What are friends for?"

"But what about Marcie? She still refuses to have anything to do with me."

"I'll talk to her too after the girls get back. I let her know what we discussed." And the two friends hugged each other. They continued to watch TV, and even discuss some baseball, as they always did. Patty knew she had some work to do to fix things with both Franco and Marcie. And she hoped that both would forgive her.

END OF EPISODE 7

Next time, Jadan puts her plan to stop the poachers into action, and Patty reaches out to Franco, and attempts to make peace with Marcie.