Authors Note: Hello everyone! I just wanted to take the time to say thank you for reading the story and sticking by me throughout the process. I really enjoy writing this story, and the readers make it all worthwhile. Please read and review!

Without further ado here's number 6.

Chapter 6

It was a tranquil late afternoon in Peach Creek. The time was 5:30 p.m. and due to it being December, the sun had already disappeared over the horizon. The cul-de-sac was far from total darkness, as the soft cream colored glow of the street lights intermittently placed along the curbs bathed the streets with their light.

The afternoon was quite difficult for Double Dee. Due to the unfortunate incident in gym class, he unable to concentrate on his beloved academic studies, resulting in a seemingly endless feedback loop of bad feelings. To make matters worse, he was not able to locate Marie to apologize for his abrupt exit from gym class, due to her being dismissed early from school.

As president of the Peach Creek High Safety Club, Double Dee had spent his time after school chairing the meeting and organizing school events for the club. This had allowed him to calm down and clear his mind, although he still worried about the present and future state of his beloved hat.

Double Dee had been home for around an hour, and had finished up all of his homework and afternoon chores, and had made already made dinner. He had decided that it was time to take Marie up on her offer to visit her that night so that she could assist him in repairing his hat. In addition, he wanted to apologize for his quick exit earlier in the day. He donned his thick winter coat, after which he exited his house intent on making his way across the street to the Kanker residence.

Meanwhile, at the Kanker-Lonergan residence, the entire family was seated around their dining room table, preparing for their evening feast. The family, in accordance with their Catholic traditions, had just said their grace. They were currently conducting the daily ritual of passing each dinner item around the table, allowing each member of the family to place a helping on their plate.

As the family began enjoying their meal, Marie decided that it was time for an important announcement. With a smile, she stood up from her chair, and tapped the side of her drink glass, jokingly imitating common tradition for toasting.

"Okay everyone!" said Marie, "It's time for me to share some exciting news!"

May placed her fork down on her plate, but continued chewing the absurd amount of food she had shoved into her mouth already, so much in fact that her cheeks appeared as if they were a pair of grapefruit stuck to the side of her face. Lee, in a much more lady like fashion, placed her utensils onto her plate, and turned her attention towards her sister, her thoughts still somewhat consumed with beating out her arch nemesis. Tabby and Rod momentarily ceased eating as well. As Marie stood up to deliver her news, the two adults glanced at each other with concerned expressions on their faces.

Around the same time that Marie had struck her glass with her spoon, Double Dee had arrived at the Kanker residence. While Double Dee held privacy in the highest regard, he accidentally glanced into the window of the house as he passed on his way to the front door. Realizing that the family was in the middle of dinner, he had planned to return at a later time to see Marie. However, just as it happened previously regarding Marie's sketchbook, his curiosity got the best of him when he heard Marie mention that she had good news. Against his moral wishes, he decided to crouch down below the window into a position in which he could not be seen, but could hear the conversations occurring within.

Marie continued with her delivery.

"Well, as you two know," she said, referring to Lee and Marie, "I left school early today to go somewhere with Mom. The truth is, Mom found an optomologist a few months ago who is the best in her field regarding eye muscle corrections."

"Annemarie..." said Tabby rather softly, "Maybe we shou..."

In a fit of excitement, Marie's ears did not register any of Tabby's words. She continued her story.

"We've been going to her the last couple of Saturdays, and she's been running a lot of tests to see if it would be possible to fix my eye. Well, we had an appointment with her today, and guess what she said?"

There was a slight pause, at which point May began smiling heavily, followed by a slight smile from Lee as well.

"I qualify for the surgery that's going to fix my eye alignment, and make me finally be able to see normally!" yelled Marie.

At that moment, May jumped to her feet, yelling out of excitement. She quickly ran around the table to her sister, wrapping her arms around her. Lee, while rather excited for her sister as well, rose from her seat in a much slower manner, and made her way around to show her support for Marie.

Outside, Double Dee had overheard the entire conversation, and was quite ecstatic as well. He was currently smiling from ear-to-ear, excited at the prospect that Marie would finally be able to have her eye fixed.

Rather than being excited for the news, Tabby and Rod remained seated with melancholy expressions. Tabby decided to break the silence.

"Annemarie," said Tabby, "There is something we need to discuss."

All three Kanker girls glanced toward their mother, their excited faces replaced with neutrality. Rod decided to continue the conversion.

"I called our medical insurance company as soon as Mommy told me the good news earlier today to get the ball rolling from a financial standpoint." said Rod, "Unfortunately, the firefighters health benefits program isn't going to cover the entire cost of the surgery, and we will have to provide $ 800.00 out of our own pocket to make it happen."

Rod paused prior to continuing.

"I know you were excited about having the correction done before the end of the year, but with the new bills, the chimney needing to be fixed last month, and the heater needing replacement, we can't afford it now or any time soon."

Rod and Tabby rose up out of their chairs and walked towards Marie. Both adults wrapped their arms around their middle daughter, both with disheartened expressions on their faces.

"I am so sorry Babygirl." said Tabby, "I was told by the provider that this would be ruled essential, not cosmetic. When they got the new information from Dr. Hutchinson, they changed their mind."

Lee and May stood as still as statues, watching their parents comfort Marie, and upset at the fact that their sister had the thing she had always wanted snatched away from her as it was right before her eyes. May appeared as if she was about to tear up, while Lee's face donned an expression of annoyance.

Surprisingly, Marie did not shed a tear, nor appear to be upset. She decided to reply.

"Oh well," said Marie, "Mommy, Daddy, you guys have done so much to help me try to get this done over the last few months, and I really appreciate all of the effort. You know, Double Dee once told me that he believes that things always seem to happen for the best, and that combined with the fact that Poppy always told us that God has a plan for all of us helped me realize that you can't control fate. Maybe this is all for the best."

Tabby and Rod glanced at each other, both still somewhat disheartened at the fact that their daughter was yet again denied having her visual handicap corrected.

"Hey," said Marie with a smile, "I've lived fourteen years with it already, and I've done fine so far. What is another seventy?"

Rod and Tabby smiled at Marie's statement, after which Tabby placed her hand on Marie's shoulder.

"Annemarie," said Tabby, "Poppy would be so proud of you. You are faced with many challenges but you are a fighter, and trust in your faith. You never cease to amaze me."

Marie smiled at her mother's words; deep down she was quite disheartened at the prospect of not being able to receive corrective surgery, but she knew that the outcome was completely out of her control.

Meanwhile, outside of the house Double Dee had heard the whole conversation unfold, and accordingly was feeling quite upset with the situation. Marie had done so well for herself since she and Double Dee had claimed themselves a couple. She had ceased allowing her past to haunt her, obtained a positive outlook on life, stopped misbehaving in school and had begun to show everyone the beautiful person she really was. Even though fate had decided that Marie should not receive the surgery, and Marie was accepting of the fact, Double Dee couldn't help but feel sorry that Marie continued to be dealt a bad hand even though she had improved herself so much. Marie was a loving girlfriend and a beautiful person; she deserved this.

With that thought, a solution to Marie's problem popped into his head. Double Dee had strived to make Marie happy at all costs, and in this case covering all costs would be the solution. He had made up his mind on Marie's Christmas present: somehow, someway he was going to raise the money to cover the costs of Marie's eye surgery. While the costs were much greater than any amount of money Double Dee had ever touched in his life, and while it's acquisition was quite implausible, he knew he could not let his girlfriend down; especially after all she had given him over the last few months.

Double Dee quietly made his exit from underneath the Kanker's window, all the while brainstorming his plan to fund Marie's Christmas present. He decided to return to the Kanker residence at a later time to see Marie, as to not interrupt the Kankers dinner.

Inside the Kanker residence, Tabby and Rod had retaken their seats at the dinner table. May, with a teary eyed expression, hugged her big sister tightly. May knew exactly what Marie was going through, as she was in the same situation regarding her overbite. She loved the self-confidence boost her braces had given her, and wished that Marie could experience the same feeling.

Lee was quite upset at the current state of affairs as well, as she hated to see one of her sisters feelings hurt. However, rather than remaining calm and concerned, anger was building up inside the red haired adolescent, due to the thought of yet another misfortune befalling her family, in addition to the stress she was dealing with from Lindsay in school.

All three Kanker girls retook their place around the table, and resumed eating dinner. After a few minutes of awkward silence, Rod decided to initiate a new conversation.

"So girls," said Rod, "How was school today?"

"Well," said Marie, "I figured that you would want to know that your youngest daughter is now the record holder for the school fitness test. One hundred and five laps on the pacer!"

Tabby and Rod congratulated May with smiles, delivering praise for her accomplishment, as May blushed. She decided to add her own comments.

"You know what else is exciting?" said May, "The school is having a formal winter ball and Ed is taking me! It's going to be so much fun!"

May hugged herself out of excitement.

"Yeah," said Marie with a smile, "I can't wait, Edd and I are going to have a blast."

Tabby and Rod smiled at their two younger daughters displays of joy, after which they turned to their oldest daughter. They couldn't help but notice that Lee was not displaying excitement, rather she seemed to be focused intently on her own thoughts.

"So Reds?" asked Rod, "Are you going to the ball?"

Before Lee could respond, May decided to absentmindedly interject.

"Ooh yeah!" said May, "That's the other exciting news. Lee and Eddy are going together, and guess what, Lee is going to run for Winter Ball Queen!"

Lee slammed her fork down on the table in a rather aggressive manner, causing some alarm from both Rod and Tabby.

"Bad subject May," said Marie, as she placed her hand on her face and slid it down over her chin.

"Winter Ball Queen?" asked Tabby, "What is that?"

"It's a prize that's given at the ball to the girl that has the best holiday spirit!" said May.

"Yeah," said Lee, "And no matter what it takes, I'm going to put that stuck up prissy blonde bimbo in her place!"

"Annalee!" said Rod rather sternly, "Language!"

"Why is everyone defending her!" yelled Lee as she rose up from her seat. She turned around, grabbed her coat off of the coat rack, and headed towards the front door, "She's the meanest, snottiest, sluttiest girl in the class, and everyone acts like she runs the place. Well I'm telling ya, she's falling off her high horse on the night of the dance if I have anything to do about it."

Lee opened the front door, turning around to deliver one last sentence.

"SHE AIN'T ALL THAT!" yelled Lee, after which she walked outside and slammed the door shut.

The resulting door slam made the house feel as though it shook off of it's foundation. At the dinner table, each member of the Kanker family was left in a state of shock: Rod sat staring at the door, surprised at the display he just witnessed, as did Tabby. May also remained locked in a gaze at the door, her cheeks once again puffed out as she had just stuffed a large helping of mashed potatoes into her mouth. Marie sat with her face in her palm, emnbarrased at the display Lee had just put on.

Rod decided to be the first to break the silence.

"I'm defending who now?" asked Rod in a confused manner

"I haven't heard language like that in around six months!" said Tabby, "Who the hell got under her skin?"

Marie glanced up toward her mother.

"Lindsay Statorowski," said Marie, "She and Lee are in a heated battle for this stupid winter ball queen competition. The funny thing is, I know Lee doesn't even want it for herself, it's just to spite Lindsay."

"Oh well," said Tabby, "She's at that age where she gets moody. As long as she doesn't get too carried away, I think everything will work out."

There was a pause for a few minutes, after which May laid her utensils down with an audible clink, declaring that she had cleaned her plate.

"Well that was delicious!" said May, "Well time for me to go practice pitching out back!"

May turned to Marie, who had just finished up as well.

"Marie, can you catch for me?" asked May.

"Sure!" said Marie, as she grabbed her and May's plate off of the table, "Go get ready while I take these out to the kitchen."

"Sure thing!" yelled May, after which she briskly left the dining room to go get ready for her softball practice. Marie placed all of the dishes on top of each other, and proceeded to carry them out to the kitchen, leaving Tabby and Rod in the dining room by themselves.

Tabby turned to Rod.

"Lindsay Statorowski," said Tabby, "I haven't heard that name in around six years prior to the girls starting high school."

Tabby paused.

"It's such a shame what happened between those two back then," said Tabby, "Children learn what they live, and unfortunately it lead to all of this bitterness."

"I know," said Rod, "Still, I don't like all of this negativity, and I think this winter ball queen thing is a bad idea."

"I'm not crazy about it either," said Tabby, "In all honesty, it sounds crazy, but I think this is one of those things that is going to resolve itself given time. I think this just part of Annalee's growing experience, and she needs to figure out the best way to handle this for herself."

Rod shrugged his shoulders as if he was in disagreement, at which point Tabby placed her hand on his shoulder with a smile.

"Have I been wrong before Roddy?" asked Tabby, "Besides, it's a girl thing, you wouldn't understand."

Tabby kissed Rod on the cheek, after which she stood up from her chair and made her way to the kitchen, leaving Rod in the dining room with a smile on his face.