CHAPTER 4: GETTING TO KNOW YOU BETTER

Charlie Brown was with Tyler, Marcus, and Abigail after school at Charlie Brown's new house. Charlotte was also with them. Abigail, in particular, was smitten with the round-headed kid, not going far from him. Sally had also managed to make some friends, though some kids were weirded out by her eccentrics at times like talking to the school building and trying to find an easy way out of doing hard work. Charlie Brown had actually fared better. In addition to Tyler, Marcus, and Abigail, as well as his reunion with Charlotte, he had also made friends with some of the kids in his class, as well as some of the older kids. It was a sharp contrast to his old school where most of the kids, save for his inner circle, either hated him for no good reason at all, or completely ignored him. While most of the boys, especially Linus, Schroeder, and Franklin, were decent towards him, the girls, save for Peppermint Patty, Marcie, and to a lesser degree Frieda, treated him awful. At his new school, everyone seemed to get along with him and never turned away from him or treated him like an outcast. There were more nice kids than mean at this school.

"And no one called her out on it?!" asked a bewildered Marcus, after Charlie Brown told them about a certain football game where Lucy pulled the ball away from him, causing him to take the blame.

"No one, Marcus," said Charlie Brown. "And to this day, they still think I lost the game for the team!"

"What a bunch of jerks!" fumed Tyler. "Well we would never do anything so underhanded!"

"I'm so sorry, darling," said Abigail, comforting Charlie Brown. "You met a lot of injustice in your short life."

"I guess if it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have any," sighed Charlie Brown.

"I know first-hand about these kids, guys," said Charlotte. "A few of them aside, yeah they were awful to Charlie Brown here. Two of them were actually worse to him than Lucy was. Yeah, Lucy was meaner, but Violet Gray and Patty Swanson were crueler."

"Needless to say, I am happy we moved from there to here in Kansas City," added Charlie Brown.

"And I know I'm glad you moved here too, Charlie," said Tyler. "You seem like a cool person. And don't worry about being clumsy or losing games here. While we may get sad for losing a game, we won't be looking for a scapegoat to blame."

"I know I'm happy you moved here, cutie," cooed Abigail, who kissed Charlie Brown on the cheek, causing him to blush.

"I.. uh… um.. I just…," Charlie Brown stammered. Abigail giggled. "Sorry, Abigail. I'm not used to this. I only had one other girlfriend, whose name was Peggy Jean. She kind of broke my heart in the end when she said she had another boyfriend."

"Oh I'm so sorry," said Abigail. "Well, if you're interested, we could do something together like go to the movies, or out to the malt shop."

"I'd like that, Abigail," said Charlie Brown, smiling.

"Abigail is a great girl, Charlie," said Marcus. "I think you two would be great together."

"Same here," added Tyler.

"Abigail, you'd never find a better boy than Charlie Brown," said Charlotte. At that moment, Sally stormed in and slammed the door, startling everyone.

"Good Grief, Sally, what's wrong?" asked Charlie Brown.

"THE SCHOOL YEAR HASN'T STARTED YET, AND ALREADY MY TEACHER HATES ME!" fumed Sally. "I HAVE A TON OF HOMEWORK TO DO AND I HAVE NO IDEA ABOUT ANY OF THE SUBJECTS, EXCEPT FOR MAYBE MATH, AND EVEN THAT'S HARD!"

"Oh boy," sighed Tyler.

"You're not kidding," said Charlie Brown. "This is where she tries to rope me into doing her homework for her, but not this time!"

"You gotta help me, big brother!" pleaded Sally. "I don't know what I'm doing!"

"Well get mom or dad, when he gets home, to help you," said Charlie Brown, firmly. "I have company and my own homework to do later." Sally just sulked and went towards the den.

"She's always like that, Charlie?" asked Marcus.

"You have no idea," sighed Charlie Brown.

NEXT CHAPTER: TWO BEAGLES GET TO KNOW ONE ANOTHER