Authors Note:
This chapter consists almost entirely of an extended flashback sequence, narrated by Marie. I have implemented a format in which Marie's "narration" is written in regular text, while the events and dialogue in the "flashback" are written in italics. I hope the effect works.
Without further ado, here we go.
Chapter 29
Twenty minutes had passed since Rod and his crew responded to their unexpected fire and, as planned, Double Dee and Marie had decided to head to the diner for dinner. The two adolescents were currently seated at one of the 1950's themed booths peppered across the diner floor, with Marie sitting across from Double Dee. The two teenagers had ordered and received their beverages, a soda for Marie, and a glass of water for Double Dee and were currently studying their menus.
"This chicken Parmesan entree looks quite impressive," said Double Dee as he viewed the selection on the menu, "It's been a while since I have enjoyed Italian cuisine, so I believe that is what I will decide to order."
"Excellent choice!" said Marie, "This place has breakfast all day, so I think I'm going to order the two eggs, bacon and toast option. There's really no wrong answer, I've had everything on the menu at least twice and it's all equally delicious."
Marie placed her menu down on the table and took a sip of her soda through the straw. Double Dee followed suit, taking a sip out of his glass as well, after which he decided to continue the conversation.
"I must say, it was very much a pleasure to be introduced to Father Sevino." said Double Dee, "I've heard so much about him through the stories you've told me, and he most certainly is the amiable, witty character you have portrayed him to be."
"I'm glad you liked him," said Marie, "He's really chill, and I can tell he really liked you too. He's not like the other uptight priests I used to know back in the city. He has a way of giving great advice through the word of God, and entertaining you with a good joke at the same time."
"As you know by now, I was not raised with religion," said Double Dee, "But even though I am not part of your church or the Catholic faith, I felt as though I was part of your extended family when speaking to Father Sevino, a testament to his great character."
Marie smiled at Double Dee's words, at which point the waitress returned to the table to collect the couples orders, as well as deliver a complimentary helping of the restaurants signature appetizer; fried pickles. The teenagers requested their dishes, after which the waitress collected their menus, and placed their orders into the system.
While Double Dee was hesitant about trying the fried pickles at first, a small amount of persuasion from Marie was enough to get him to take the first bite, after which he was completely hooked. As Double Dee and Marie enjoyed their appetizer in silence for a few moments, Double Dee's mind began to wander; he pondered several strange reactions he had witnessed from his friends over the previous few days, as well as Marie's sudden escort of Lee away from the group earlier in the day. At that moment, he suddenly realized that Marie was never able to get around to delivering the information that could possibly convince Eddy to cease from his plan to antagonize Lindsay, due to being distracted by Ed and Mays oafish antics. The intelligent boy had decided that it was time to pose an important question to his black-haired girlfriend.
"Marie," asked Double Dee, "Pardon my curiosity and the up front nature of this question but, what's really going on with all of this fighting over the Winter Ball Crown?"
Marie stopped chewing the fried pickle she had just placed in her mouth, as her eyes slowly trained upwards until they met Double Dees. The upbeat smile that had adorned her face had vanished, replaced by a concerned expression.
"I do not mean to sound as though I am putting on airs, so to speak, but I am quite the keen observer," said Double Dee, "I have witnessed several un-ordinary reactions from you and your sisters over seemingly minor issues over the last week. In addition, in recent conversations, including the one we were engaged in yesterday prior to Ed and Mays arrival, you have been behaving in a rather mysterious and nervous manner. On top of that, on several occasions, you have mentioned that there is more to this story than a 'childhood grudge', and that Eddy is treading 'dangerous emotional water'"
Marie remained silent, fixated on her boyfriends eyes for a few moments, at which point Double Dee reached across the table and grabbed her hand in hers.
"Marie," said Double Dee calmly, "The time for secrets is over. Based upon conversations that occurred earlier today, I am afraid that Eddy may be seriously contemplating ending his relationship with Lee over his forced involvement in this fight."
Marie's eyes widened at Double Dees words as she squeezed his hand in hers, still electing to remain silent.
"If there is something you know that can help," said Double Dee, "Now is the time."
Marie slowly closed her eyes, and emitted a long drawn out sigh as she lowered her chin to her chest.
"Damn you and that curious, observant nature of yours," said Marie with a slight chuckle, after which she lifted her head to make eye contact with Double Dee once again, "You are right in your assumption, there is much more to this story than meets the eye, and I will tell you everything if you make two simple promises."
"Sure Marie," said Double Dee, "What may those promises be?"
"First, this between you and me only," said Marie, "This information is really sensitive to Lee's emotional state, and if she found out that I gave it to somebody outside of the family, I have no idea how she would react. This is for your information only."
"You have my word." said Double Dee as he raised his right hand into position similar to one taken by those swearing on a bible within a courtroom.
"Okay," said Marie, "Condition two. No matter how you feel, no matter what you think is the right thing to do...do not try to play the hero."
Double Dee's face adopted a perplexed expression as he nodded his head in agreement.
"Okay," said Marie, "Remember how I told you on several occasions that Eddy is the only person outside of our family that I've seen Lee show any kind of emotional trust?"
"Absolutely," said Double Dee.
"Well, you may or may not believe it," said Marie, "But there was another."
Before Double Dee could respond with another question, Marie began telling her long overdue story:
"I can clearly remember the first time they met. It was a warm, sunny fall day, our first day of Kindergarten in fact. Remember, my mother delayed me and Lee from starting to keep us all in the same grade, so we were all started on the same day. Now keep in mind, we weren't by any means the boisterous trio you met for the first time in the swamp two summers ago. We had a somewhat sheltered upbringing under our Poppy, who tried to protect us from the horrendous reality of the neighborhood we grew up in, so we were all relatively shy and scared. Thankfully, we could always count on Lee to be our leader. I could tell she was just as scared as we were, seeing all of the new faces, but she made it a priority to stay strong and make the best of the situation for our sake. Anyway, we happened to be sitting on the jungle gym, talking amongst ourselves about the strange new surroundings...
The medium sized schoolyard, consisting of blacktop peppered with benches, teeter totters, and other classic playground fixtures was abuzz with small children, most of whom were running around playing tag, duck duck goose, and other school yard games. As most of the students carried on amongst themselves, easily making new friends, a trio of three sisters sat on top of the jungle gym by their lonesome. One girl, Annalee Kanker wore a frilly green dress, with a matching headband, beautifully complimenting her red, silky smooth curls. Her freckles were quite prominent against her fair skin. Due to the bright rays of the sun, her blue eyes glistened from behind her somewhat oversized black rimmed glasses, the nose piece of which was held together with masking tape due to an earlier accident. A second girl, Annemarie Kanker, sat next to her, her oval shaped face adorned with a slight scowl as her two black pigtails, secured by pink bows, waved in the cool autumn breeze. This particular girl was dressed in pink and also had freckles; however her most distinguishing feature was her severely exotropic right eye. Finally, a third girl, Annamae Kanker, who was somewhat smaller than the other two, occupied the remaining available space on top of the playground fixture. Her blonde hair was parted into two ponytails, secured by blue bows that matched her dress.
The three girls observed the antics of the other children, who all seemed to be quite happy socializing with the other students, at which point Annemarie decided to begin a conversation.
"So much for making a whole bunch of new friends like the teacher said," said Annemarie, rather unhappily, "Everybody's found somebody to play with, and nobody wants to talk to us."
"Don't worry Annemarie," said Annalee in a calm, motherly voice, delivered in the intonation of small child, "It's only been two hours since we got here. Besides, these kids might already know each other from playing together in pre-school. I don't think it's abnormal to be afraid to talk to new people."
"Yeah," said Annamae, "Remember what you and Poppy always tell us, don't ever talk to strangers."
"Yes, Annamae that's right," said Annalee, "But that is predominantly for strange adults that we may see while we are walking to the store or to school. In this case, talking to strangers may actually help us get to know people."
"So why are we just sitting here on the jungle gym talking instead of playing?" asked Annemarie in a slightly sarcastic tone.
"Because it's scawy!" said Annamae in a rather alarmed tone, her speech impediment rather prominent, "What if they don't like us?"
"Don't be silly!" said Annalee, "What's not to like about you two? There's got to be other kids in the playground that are a little scared just like us. I mean, this is a brand new place and it is kind of scary. Let's try to find someone and cheer them up."
A few seconds passed at which point Annemarie took notice of an individual that fit Annalee's description.
"What about her, she looks lonely." said Annemarie as she pointed her index finger across the playground.
Annalee turned her head towards the general direction indicated by Marie's finger. Around thirty feet from the jungle gym was a small playground bench, adapted for the use of children. On this bench sat a lone female child. Her blonde hair hung well past her shoulders, ending in loose curls around the area of her waste; a blue head band separated the front portion into bangs hanging down to her eyebrows. Mounted on the headband was a rather over-sized blue bow, hanging slightly off center from the top of the individuals head. Large golden hooped earrings dangled from her ears, standing out against the maroon color of her designer coat, which appeared to be quite expensive. Her legs were covered by a pair of blue jeans, and she wore a pair of brown high top flat boots on her feet. The girls blue eyes were currently focused on her hands, which were folded on top of her lap, as her feet dangled from the bench towards the ground.
"See what did I tell you," said Annalee, "She looks just as scared and lonely as we are."
At that point, Annalee began descending the ladder at the end of the jungle gym.
"Annalee, where are you going?" asked Annemarie.
"I'm going to go talk to her," said Annalee, glancing up towards her sisters with a smile, "What could it hurt? I'll be right back!"
The two girls watched as their older sister briskly made her way towards the playground bench, intent on fraternizing with the little blonde girl. Within seconds, Annalee had made it over to the bench and promptly lifted herself up to a seated position a few feet away from the girl. She twiddled her thumbs for a few seconds, after which she turned her face towards the girl and smiled.
"Hello," said Annalee.
The girl turned toward Annalee, her face displaying a somewhat nervous expression.
"Hi," said the girl.
"My name's Annalee," said Annalee, "What's your name?"
The girl paused for a few seconds, appearing to contemplate heavily prior to responding.
"Lindsay," said the girl.
"Lizzy?'" asked Annalee, misunderstanding Lindsay due to her somewhat soft spoken voice.
"No, it's pronounced Lin-see," said Lindsay, as she cracked a smile "But Lizzy sounds cooler so you can call me that if you want."
"Okay, that will be my special name for you," said Lee.
The two girls giggled.
"Hold on, I can't call you Annalee," said Lindsay with a smile, "You need a special name too."
Annalee thought for a few seconds after she decided on a nickname.
"How about LeeLee," said Annalee, "That way both our names start with 'L' and are both di-syllabic."
"That's okay with me LeeLee," said Lindsay, after which she chuckled, "But what does di-syllabic mean?"
"It means a word that has two syllables!" said Annalee, after which she clapped her hands while saying both words syllabically to demonstrate.
"Wow," said Lindsay, "You're really smart! You must be able to read big people books already."
"Thanks," said Annalee as she blushed slightly. At that point, Annalee took notice of Lindsay's nicely pressed coat as well as her perfectly manicured nails.
"That coat is beautiful!," said Annalee, "And your nails look like a movie stars!"
"Thanks," said Lindsay, "I did my nails myself."
"Really?" asked Annalee surprised.
"Yep," said Lindsay, "Maybe I can show you how to do it sometime."
"Sure, I'd like that," said Annalee, "But first, how about I introduce you to my sisters, and then we can play on the teeter totter."
Lindsay's face turned to a frown.
"I would like to play on the teeter totter, but I can't play rough because I'll get my coat dirty." said Lindsay.
"You can take it off while you play," said Annalee, "We can hang it on the coat rack near the door to the school."
Lindsay continued to appear apprehensive, at which point Lee stood up off of the bench
"C'mon," said Annalee, "What's the fun in just sitting around in the sun? We got a whole playground to enjoy. Let's get that coat off and go play, it will be fine."
At that point, Annalee raised her right hand towards Lindsay, keeping the pinky finger outstretched.
"I promise." said Annalee with a smile.
Lindsay looked up into Annalee's eyes, which were currently carrying an air of sincerity, and couldn't help but smile. She slowly but surely raised her right hand in the air, and interlocked her pinky with Annalee's, accepting her schoolyard promise.
Both girls shared a smile, after which Annalee grabbed Lindsay's hand, leading her toward the area of the coat racks.
They played on the teeter totter for the rest of recess, laughing and smiling the entire time. They played together everyday at recess, sat together during story time, and were craft partners during coloring time. As different as they were, personality wise, they were inseparable. It was like they were meant to be sisters. They were true best friends, and had each others complete trust.
As the weeks passed, their friendship only grew stronger.
It was "coloring time" in the Kindergarten classroom. All of the students were seated around several circular tables, each having the capacity for four individuals. At one particular table, sat the three Kanker girls and Lindsay, currently working on an art project using white construction paper and crayons. Due to a shortage of school coloring supplies, the students were asked to share supplies amongst groups of two; accordingly Lee had partnered with Lindsay, and Marie had partnered with May.
As Lee and Lindsay cooperated on their project, Lindsay decided to engage Lee in a conversation.
"LeeLee," asked Lindsay, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"
Lee completed the process of exchanging her red crayon for green one, prior to responding.
"A teacher," said Lee, "I've always liked helping my little sisters learn to read, do arithmetic, and basically anything else there is to know. I also love learning, and passing on that knowledge to other people."
"You'll make a great teacher!" said Lindsay.
"How about you, what do want to be?" asked Lee.
Lindsay paused momentarily, as a somewhat nervous expression appeared on her face.
"I want be a business woman, an executive of my own corporation," said Lindsay, "My dad is an engineer. He used to take me to work with him sometimes, and he would let me help his accountants file their papers. He even had a desk set up for me in his office, and my own calculator. I really loved counting the play money from the set he gave me, he said I was really good at it and 'a natural'. He would take me into meetings with him just to watch. He is really smart, speaks really well, and makes a lot of people happy with the things that he makes. I want to be just like him."
At that point, Lindsay developed a melancholy demeanor.
"But..eh...my mom, doesn't think it's a good idea for me to be an executive." said Lindsay, "She told me that it's not what little girls should be doing, and I should stay focused on keeping my hair and nails nice. Ever since then, she's been telling my dad that she wants to spend time with me so he hasn't taken me to work with him."
Lindsay paused
"I've always liked doing my nails, hair and fashion, but I don't want that to be everything. I'd rather have a job where I can go to work dressed up, work with money, and convince people to buy stuff." said Lindsay.
"Hey, if that's what you like to do, that's what you should be!" said Lee, "You can sell your own beauty supplies, that way you can do both."
"Yeah," said Lindsay as she smiled, "Hey, if you have time between being a teacher, you can help me make the supplies. You're very smart, and you like science, so you can be my lead scientist! We can be business partners!
"Wow, yeah!" said Lee rather exuberantly, "We can call it "L&L Supplies" for our names. We'll be famous!"
Both girls sighed dreamily, after which they continued working on their art project for a few minutes. After around ten minutes of coloring, the girls had finally finished.
On the large, 8x14" piece of white construction paper were two crude drawings of Lee and Lindsay. Lee was drawn as a "stick figure"; a circle representing her face, complete with two dots for eyes (her glasses drawn around them) and a smiley face for a mouth. Her long red curls where represented by squiggles drawn with a red crayon, which draped down over her shoulders. Her green dress was represented by a green triangle below her head.
Lindsay had drawn a similar characature of herself as well. In lieu of red, Lindsay had fashioned her hair using a yellow crayon. In addition, she had added her signature blue bow using the appropriately colored crayon; the result was a rather over exaggerated and crudely drawn version of the real thing. She fashioned her dress using a triangle as well, but colored it purple.
In the picture, both girls drew themselves with "stick" legs and arms. Lee's left arm and Lindsay's right arm were positioned to point towards each other, and their pinky fingers were drawn interlocked in the form of a typical "pinky promise". Above the two girls, written in black crayon were the words:
LeeLee and Lizzy
Best Friends Forever
The two girls glanced over the drawing for a few seconds, after which Lee turned towards Lindsay.
"Best friends forever?" asked Lee as she held out her right pinkie finger.
"Forever and ever." replied Lindsay with a smile as she returned the gesture.
Although it would be a long time before L&L Supplies would be a legit possibility, that didn't stop the girls from getting a head start on their entrepreneurship endeavors. They would often make believe they had a small business. Lee would build small crafts from pine cones, old pieces of wood, and tin cans, and bring them in to school to present for show and tell. If you don't know by now, Lee is one of those people that can do anything they set their mind to, and these makeshift toys were actually quite impressive. At recess, they would set up a small counter out of building blocks, and Lindsay would use a toy microphone system to market her product to the entire school yard.
While Lee was an excellent craftswoman and a born scientist, Lindsay was a great orator and financial analyst. People just loved her, she had an almost hypnotic charisma about her that could convince anyone to buy anything. She would sell the crafts to the other kids in the class in exchange for fake "play" money, and divide it up evenly between her and Lee.
Eventually, the girls decided to try their hand at actual business. Lindsay would come over our Dads house on the days we were there after school, cause it was within walking distance of her house. They started their own lemonade stand on the corner, and with me and Mays help, as well as our neighbor Ms. McKinstry, they were quite successful. Lindsay's calculator was her constant companion, and she kept a checkbook of sorts in a notepad she got from her father. Looking back, she was quite talented with finance for being so young, it's a shame all of that went to waste.
When the sun went down, the two would spend the evenings up in our third story playroom.
Lindsay stood in the center of the blue carpeted 11'x11' room. The white wallpaper was accented by graphics of golden flowers of various sizes. On a small children's play table sat a pink toy cassette tape player, themed in the likeness of a common blonde haired doll. Lee placed a tape in the deck, closed the door, and pressed the play button.
Lee had taking a liking to classic rock music, due to being exposed to it by Rod (who himself loved classic rock) from a young age. As the classic rock track played, the girls danced erratically to the beat during the verse, but had developed their own small routine for the chorus. These motions included placing their fingers in the form of a "peace sign" over both of their eyes as they shook their head to the rhythm, waving their index finger back and forth with their arm outstretched, and holding hands as they jumped up and down. They were currently dancing to their favorite song, "Pour Some Sugar on Me" by Def Leppard, performing their routine while singing the chorus:
Pour Some Sugar On Me!
(Ooh in the name of Love)
Pour Some Sugar On Me!
(C'mon on fire me up)
Pour Some Sugar On Me!
(Can't Get Enough!)
Pour Some Sugar On Me!
(Sugar Me!)
The girls both collapsed on the floor as the song ended, giggling happily as they stared at the white ceiling. The glanced toward each other with a smile, after they which they once again shared their "friendship ritual" by interlocking pinky fingers.
"My word," said Double Dee as he placed his hand over his mouth, "I honestly don't believe what I am hearing."
"It's hard to believe, right?" said Marie with a smile, "With all the bitterness and conflict between them, it's almost impossible to tell they once loved each other like sisters."
"I would have never had a clue had you not shared this information with me," said Double Dee, "But I must ask, what went wrong? What could have possibly drove Lindsay to become such a problem for Lee in the present day?"
Marie glanced out the window toward the street with a somber expression.
"Lindsay is not the underlying problem," said Marie, "As much as it seems like the Lindsay you know is in control of her own destiny, she is in fact only a puppet herself."
Double Dee adopted an expression of confusion, as Marie continued her story:
It was a few days before Thanksgiving, and school had just let out. We were all standing in the school yard, saying our good byes before we headed home.
The school yard was filled with young children all wearing winter coats of various colors and carrying backpacks. The crowd was slowly dispersing as many of the students began making their way home, some alongside their parents who had come to escort them.
Lee and Lindsay were currently exiting the schoolyard through the gate leading out into the street, walking side by side as Marie and May followed them closely. The two girls were in the midst of a fun-filled conversation.
"So Lizzy," said Lee with a smile, "The long weekend is coming up!"
"Yep," said Lindsay, "I can't wait"
"Hey, you know what would make it even more fun?" asked Lee
"What's that?" asked Lindsay.
"How about a sleepover on Friday night at my house!" said Lee, "I asked my dad if it's okay, and he said yeah. We can play games, tell scary stories, work on some of our L&L designs. What d'ya say?"
Lee stopped walking and glanced toward her best friend with a smile. Lindsay remained still for a few seconds, after which she turned towards Lee with a somewhat melancholy expression.
"LeeLee, I would love to sleep over your house," said Lindsay, "But I'd have to ask, and I don't think..."
Those were the last words ever spoken between those two on good terms. What happened next, I could never forget.
"Lindsay Elizabeth!" yelled a shrill, pompous sounding voice, speaking with a heavy Polish accent, "What do you think you are doing get away from those girls!"
Lindsay turned around, her face filled with nervousness, as she stared up into the eyes of a slim somewhat attractive woman.
"B..But...," said Lindsay, "Annalee is my best friend!"
"Is this what you have been doing after school?" yelled Ms. Statorowski, "Hanging out with this trash? You're probably going to get yourself head lice!"
Ms. Statorowski placed her hand under Lindsay's chin, repositioned her face up, down, left and right for examination. To her shock and horror, she found a small dirt spot near the left side of her chin, a result of playing in the sandbox earlier in the day.
"How many times have I told you!" yelled Ms. Statorowski as she kneeled down to eye level with Lindsay, placing both of her hands on her shoulders as she shook her, "You are a dignified lady. You do not play rough, you do not take that beautiful coat off, and most importantly you do not associate with anyone lesser than you!"
Ms. Statorowski pointed towards the three Kanker sisters.
"See those three?" said Ms. Statorowski, "You don't ever play with those three girls. They come from trash, and that makes them trash themselves. Do you really want them bringing you down?"
"But...," said Lindsay with tears beginning to stream from her eyes, "I like playing with them, it makes me happy..."
At that point, Ms. Statorowski grabbed Lindsay's arm in a tight grip and began pulling her down the street.
"Come on, we're going home!" yelled Ms. Statorowski, "We're going to straighten this mess out right now, no associated with me is going to be seen hanging out with those...Kanker sores if I have anything to do with it."
We were all shocked beyond belief. Even though I was really young, I realized that we didn't have as much as other kids at the school, but it never really affected me until I heard an adult refer to us as trash. I could tell that Lee and May felt the same way, but for whatever reason, we decided to ignore it. We said nothing about the incident for the remainder of the night.
We arrived at school the next morning a few minutes before the morning bell rang, and we hung out by the swings as we usually did. Me and May were swinging back and forth, while Lee sat on the ground working on an addition to the art project she and Lindsay had completed a few weeks ago. I decided to finally bring up the events that happened the previous day.
"Do you think Lindsay is okay?" asked Marie, "Her mom was really mad that she was hanging out with us. She even called us trash, that wasn't nice at all."
"Yeah," said May, "I hope she still wants to play with us."
"I'm not worried," said Lee, "Me and Lindsay promised each other that we'd be best friends forever, and there is no way she would ever go back on that."
Lee placed her black crayon down, and held the picture she and Lindsay had created up with both of her hands to show her sisters.
"She's probably going to be sad," said Lee, "So I've added something to our poster that's going to cheer her up."
Marie and May glanced over Lee's drawing and discovered that the red headed girl had added a crude "logo" for L&L Designs at the bottom of the page. Lee was beaming with happiness as she proudly displayed her work.
"I can't wait to show her and see what she thinks!" said Lee.
"Hey, there she is!" yelled May as she pointed her finger toward the center of the schoolyard.
Lee turned her head and, sure enough, spotted her blonde friend walking through the yard towards the school building. Lee wasted no time and began making her way towards her acquaintance, intent on sharing her additions to their picture.
"Hey Lizzy!" said Lee as she approached the blonde girl.
To Lee's surprise, Lindsay did not stop to happily converse as usual; rather, she completely ignored the red headed Kanker sister and continued walking.
"Hey," said Lee as she jumped in front of Lindsay, stopping her in her tracks "Don't you want to see the additions I made to our picture?"
Lindsay stared into Lee's eyes with a nasty scowl, in complete contrast to her usual chipper personality. She slowly reached her hands towards the picture, and took hold of it with both of her hands.
"Do you like it?" asked Lee as she watched Lindsay scan over the page.
Lee slowly trained her eyes back towards Lee's.
"We're not friends anymore," said Lindsay in a rather quiet, emotionless tone.
Lee giggled.
"C'mon," said Lee, "Stop kiddin around."
"I'm serious," said Lindsay, "We come from different places, I finally understand. If I ever want to get anywhere in life, I can't be seen with a four-eyed wierdo like you."
Lee's face turned to an expression of sadness.
"Lizzy?" asked Lee as her bottom lip began to tremble.
Lindsay paused for a few seconds, after which she made one final statement.
"And just to show you I'm serious..."
At that point, Lindsay placed both of her hands on the drawing, and proceeded to tear it in half. The resulting tear divided the drawing in two and was highly irregular; however, by some profound coincidence, the central portion of the tear passed directly through the portion of the drawing depicting the girls "pinky swear". Almost all of the words wound up on the side of the drawing depicting Lee, except for the three last three letters "V E R", which wound up on the half depicting Lindsay.
Lindsay dropped the two pieces of paper on the ground, turned her back towards Lee, and began walking away, all the while laughing in a cynical manner. Lee said absolutely nothing; the bespectacled girl stood as still as a statue for a few seconds, after which she collapsed to her knees, placed her hands over her eyes, and began sobbing uncontrollably. At that point Marie and May had made their way over to their sister, placing their arms around her for comfort.
"That was it," said Marie, "No explanation, no emotions, no nothing. Just a sudden break off of a beautiful friendship. That was one of only two times in my life I have ever seen Lee cry out in the open. The loss of that friendship devastated her. Lindsay was the first person outside of our family that Lee put her full trust in, and the sudden shatter of that trust caused Lee to put up a virtual barrier to any other potential friendships in life to prevent her from being hurt again. Seeing the person she once thought the world of turn on her and become her bully really hurt Lee's feeling beyond repair."
Marie paused.
"As much as I know that it was Lindsay's mother who put all of that nonsense in her head, I blame Lindsay herself for not standing up for what she truly believed in," said Marie, "After that day, Lindsay began using her amazing persuasive skills, as well as the money she was blessed with, to begin buying friends from the wealthier neighborhood. She wound up building her own clique of girls, and transformed herself into the catty bully she is today, with us of course being her prime targets."
Marie took a sip of her soda
"Of course, none of those girls really cared about Lindsay," said Marie, "They were just pawns, reigned in by the promise of expensive nail polish and new dolls. As much as Lindsay will never admit it, Lee was really the only true friend she ever had. This whole pissing contest you see is, at least for Lee, a form of "therapy" to help her cope with the loss of her friendship and serves as a way to keep Lindsay in her life. That's why me or May never get involved."
Marie turned to Double Dee.
"So now you know the truth." said Marie.
"My word," said Double Dee, "I had no idea that there was such an extensive history between the two."
"Yep," said Marie, "I know it sounds farfetched, but it's one hundred percent the truth."
"It's a shame," said Double Dee, "All of that positive energy gone to waste. After all of that time spent together, and all of those moments shared, there must still be some love hidden deep with their hearts and a desire to rekindle their friendship."
Marie's eyes widened.
"Double Dee," said Marie, "Remember the promise you made to me? I know you, you always try to do the right thing, and you strive to make others happy. Please, do not attempt to try to rekindle anything, or get involved in this fight. Lindsay is too far gone, she has become an emotionless shell of her formal self. I don't believe she has any care for anyone or anything but herself. Trust me, do not interfere, it will lead to complete disaster."
Marie paused.
"As for Eddy," said Marie, "We have to let this play out. Lee will choose to reveal these facts to Eddy when she wants to. Until then, we can do nothing but observe."
Double Dee hesitated for a few seconds, after which he nodded his head up and down agreement. At that point, the waitress returned to the table with the Double Dee and Marie's dinner orders, and the two adolescents began to enjoy their meal as they conversed happily about another subject.
