Chapter 50

The morning had passed by rather quickly for the students at Peach Creek High School. It was now 11:35, and the bell signifying the start of lunch period had sounded. Naturally, all of the hungry students had flooded the halls, eager to make their way to the cafeteria to enjoy their meals, and share a mid-day chat with all of their friends.

The three Kanker sisters were no exception; however, the three girls had decided to make a pit stop at their lockers to exchange their morning books for their afternoon ones. Due to the locker numbers being assigned by last name, the girls lockers were conveniently located directly next to one another.

May had been the first to reach her locker. The blonde brace-faced girl happily entered the combination, unlocked the padlock, and opened the door with an audible squeak. Peering into May's locker, Marie's rational for her annoyance with regard to sharing a bedroom with May was obvious; the locker was packed as if we're a sardine can. In the bottom portion of the locker, a stack of comic books sat on the floor, next to which were two aluminum bats leaning on the left bulkhead. On top of the comic books were several items of softball paraphernalia, including a catchers mask, gloves, and old worn down balls. Several balled up versions of her old softball uniform sat within the pile, the exposed portion displaying the name "Kanker-Lonergan" being the only attribute indicative that it was an article of clothing and not a cleaning rag.

May removed a few books from her pink backpack, and shoved them into the only remaining space available in the top compartment of her locker. Once she finished placing the books, she turned towards the locker door, the interior of which was adorned with three photographs.

The first depicted a large group of small girls, all around nine years old, dressed in softball uniforms. The uniforms were colored blue and white, accented with golden numbers. Behind the girls stood the coach of the team, a woman who appeared to be in her twenties, her blonde hair tied in a ponytail protruding from a hole in the back of her ball cap. A young May stood center stage, smiling as she cradled a glove in her left hand, and a softball in her right. Above the girls, the words "Harrowgate YWCA Honeybees", along with a graphic of a cracked bell, were superimposed on top of the image.

The second picture, mounted a few inches above the first, depicted a teenage May being lifted into the air by all of her teammates from Peach Creek Junior High; the picture was taken directly after the strikeout that sealed the schools state championship victory. In the photograph, May, along with the rest of the team, donned the orange and white uniforms of the "Lady Cobblers. The blonde girl appeared quite surprised by the chaos, but nevertheless was beaming with joy as a result of her victory.

Finally, May's eyes reached the third photograph, her most loved photograph of all. The picture was taken the same day as the previous; however, the subjects of this photograph were May and her oafish, yet loving boyfriend Ed. Due to Ed's fun loving nature, in addition to the fantastic job he did as the "Petey the Peach Cobbler" for the football team, he was offered to reprise his role for the softball team. Accordingly, Ed had donned the costume, but had removed the triangular mask, exposing his face. May, dressed in her uniform and her hair tied back into a single tight ponytail, had jumped into Ed's arms out of excitement, appearing to cause him to lose his balance. May wrapped her legs around the costume, constricting the bulky, triangular outfit as she held herself aloft by placing her arms around Ed's neck. Ed accordingly had placed his arms around May, and was smiling happily as May delivered him a kiss on the cheek.

May clasped her hands and smiled dreamily as she stared at the picture, after which she let out a long, drawn out sigh. As her two sisters approached their lockers to exchange their books, May decided to engage them in conversation.

"Oh I'm so excited, I can hardly wait!" said May as she pirouetted towards the middle of the hallway out of happiness, "Tonight's our last night of work, and I'll finally have the money to buy my Big Ed's comic book set. He's gonna be sooooooo happy!"

"You're not the only one." said Marie with a smile as she opened her locker, "I can't wait to see my dreamboat's reaction to his present."

Marie turned towards the door of her locker, on which she had mounted a portrait of Double Dee in his cap and gown. She smiled dreamily as she touched her hands to her cheeks.

"My hero deserves to be happy more than anyone," said Marie softly.

Marie remained in her love struck trance for a few more seconds, after which she turned her attention to the adjacent locker. There, she spotted the tall, slender frame of her red-headed sister, making preparations to open her locker.

"So Lee?" asked Marie, "How's your ball gown coming along?"

Lee finished entering her combination and, with a quick tug, removed the cylindrical lock from her locker handle.

"It's going alright," said Lee as she turned towards Marie, "How are youse guys doing on the sales floor?"

"It's goin' aight!" said Marie, deepening her voice and emphasizing her city accent as if to make fun of her sister. Lee responded by playfully punching Marie in the arm, as Marie giggled in a cackling manner.

"As if I couldn't tell it's goin' good," said Lee, "You're staring at that picture of Double Dee like you're about to make out with it."

Lee turned her head in the opposite direction of Marie, eventually laying eyes on her youngest sister. May, in a fit of excitement, continued to pirouette around the hallway, lost in her own little world of love.

"And Bucky's pirouetting faster than usual," said Lee, "Jeez, if she spins any faster, she's gonna reverse the flow of time!"

"Hey, don't get pissy at us," yelled Marie, "You're just mad that we found perfects gifts for our men while you still haven't even figured out what to get Eddy!"

"Look Deadeye," said Lee as she removed her books from her locker, "I told ya before, I have the situation under control. Eddy will get his gift, and it's gonna be a good one, but first I have to finish my dress."

"Hey, I'm just trying to look out for ya!" said Marie, "You've been getting pretty carried away with this whole pissing contest between you and "her", ever since she moved to Peach Creek. I just don't want to see you and Eddy at odds. You guys have done so well for yourselves as a couple, considering you're both the same short fused blowhards."

"Mind your business Marie," said Lee as she adjusted her eyeliner using a small mirror mounted on the door of her locker.

"Whatever," said Marie as she tossed a book into her locker, after which she kicked the door shut. She's turned around, and while leaning on her locker doors with her arms folded, gazed down the hallway with a slight scowl. Taking note that May was still preoccupied in her love struck trance a few paces down the hallway, Marie decided to pose a question.

"So I take it you didn't tell him about it yet?" asked Marie.

"No," said Lee in a snappy manner as she continued to fumble with the contents of her locker.

"So are ya planning to?" asked Marie.

"Jeez, what is this twenty fucking questions!" yelled Lee as she suddenly turned to face Marie, "I told you to mind your business Little Sister, so mind it!"

Lee turned back towards her locker, and continued to organize her school supplies. While the girls routinely shared jokes, playfully made fun of each other, and had sisterly quarrels, there was no doubt that Marie and May held Lee with a higher respect; this was due to her acting as a substitute mother figure, and raising them while Tabby wasn't around during their younger years. Obviously, a large part of making sure her sisters stayed out of trouble was discipline, delivered with a stern serious voice; the point when Marie and May knew to stop. Accordingly, Marie remained still with her arms folded, stunned by Lee's sudden outburst of anger.

A few moments passed, after which Lee sighed and rolled her eyes while simultaneously closing her locker. She picked up her leather handbag, placed it on her shoulder, and turned towards Marie.

"Look, I'm sorry for yelling like that." said Lee, "But if it will shut you up, I'll show you what I've been working on as part of Eddy's Christmas present. It was supposed to be a secret, and personal between me and Eddy, but you're family so what the hell."

At that point, Lee reached her hand down, and began unzipping her handbag. Unfortunately, Lee's action was suddenly ceased, as she and her little sister's attention was drawn towards the area of the cross hall by the sound of May's obnoxious, adenoidal voice.

"Hey guys!" yelled May as she leaned her head around the corner of the hallway junction, "Come here, I got something ya'll may want to see!"

"Now what," said Lee as she re-zipped the bag, and began making her way towards May's position, with Marie not far behind.

While prancing around the halls in her own little world, May had taken notice of the schools central bulletin board. Under ordinary circumstances, the board displayed various flyers regarding sports teams tryouts, school clubs, or other miscellaneous news. However, on this particular day, the bulletin board was completely dedicated to the Holiday talent show held the previous night.

Lee's eyes scanned the board as she approached. The background was covered with shiny red paper; at the top of the board the words "Peach Creek High School Annual Talent Show" were spelled out in gold letters. Peppered around the perimeter of the board were photographs (taken by the school newspaper) of all of performances in action, as well as various graphics of Santa Claus and other symbols related to Christmas.

Most notably, sitting directly in the center of the board, was a large photograph of the winning performance in action. The photograph depicted Lee and Eddy in the final moments of their dance for two; it was taken from a position close to the stage, and slightly off center as if the individual were looking up towards the couple. Eddy was dressed in his nutcracker prince outfit, leaning slightly to the right as he cradled Lee in his arms. Lee (dressed in her sugarplum fairy outfit) leaned backwards with her arms held in the air. Her right toe acted as anchor as she bent her left knee in the air behind her. Both teenagers were smiling radiantly, Lee's eyes in particular appeared to sparkle under the spotlights due to being accentuated by her flawless makeup application. The newspaper representative was obviously quite skilled at their craft, as the photograph appeared to be of almost professional quality.

Above the photograph, the words "First Place" were written in large gold letters. Underneath, the same gold letters read "Annalee Kanker and Eddy McGee: Dance of the the Sugarplum Fairy."

In addition to the central photograph of Eddy and Lee, there was a slightly smaller photograph located below depicting the awards ceremony at the end of the night. Lee and Lindsay were the subjects of this photograph; Lee stood on stage, glancing forward with a smile as she assumed leg "fourth position". Lindsay donned her cheer outfit while standing with upright posture, keeping both of her hands on her hips as she displayed a radiant smile towards the crowd. Below this photograph, the word "Finalists" was spelled out in gold letters.

The two oldest Kanker sisters approached the board, stopping around six feet away to admire the display. While Marie's face displayed a sly grin, Lee elected to remain neutral, scoffing at the fact that her picture was on display in a positive light.

"Wow," said Marie, "They got your good side Lee!"

Marie giggled as Lee groaned under her breath.

"Shut up Marie," said Lee, "I'd like to know who authorized them to use my picture without my permission so I can kick their ass."

"Lighten up Lee!" said May, "It's an awesome shot. You and Eddy look so cute, and look they got you smiling!"

Lee said nothing, but merely groaned as she rolled her eyes. May and Marie shared a giggle with each other, at which point Marie began walking back towards the corner.

"Alright, let's go finish up and get to lunch, I'm starving," said Marie, "God forbid we overload Lee with positive self esteem, she'll die where she stands."

"Keep talkin' like that, and I'll show ya some positive reassurance," said Lee, "You guys go ahead, I'll meet ya's in the lunchroom, I gotta take a wicked piss."

"Okay!" yelled May as she rounded the corner, "We'll save ya a seat, 'Sugarplum'!"

"Don't test me May," said Lee as she watched her little sister disappear into the adjacent hall, but not before sticking her tongue out towards Lee in a teasing manner.

Lee remained focused on the bulletin board for a few moments, after which she quickly glanced down the hallway in both directions, as if to ensure nobody was coming. In an instant, she reached towards the bulletin board, and carefully removed both the photograph of she and Eddy, as well as the one of her and Lindsay. She quickly placed them into her handbag, after which she briskly made her way down the hallway towards the library, intent on making copies of the photographs for her own safe keeping, and returning the originals to the board at a later time.

Back at their lockers, Marie once again leaned against her closed locker, her legs crossed and her arms folded as she waited for May to finish digging through her locker in search of an unknown item.

"It's so fun to tease her," said Marie as she giggled, "I know she likes the attention, she's a diva at heart."

Marie turned her attention towards May, who was currently buried up to her head in the junk pile that was the interior of her locker, as if she were an ostrich burying it's head in the sand.

"What the hell are ya looking for anyway?" asked Marie.

"My extra credit for science class," said May.

"Extra credit?" asked Marie, "When did you become such an over achiever?"

"It's not funny, Marie I need this!" said May, "Mr. Gillenwaters said that I'm in danger of failing this semester. If that happens and Mommy and Daddy find out, I'm not going to be allowed to practice for spring until my grades go up. So I asked Mr. Gillenwaters if there was anything I can do for extra credit, and he said if I brought in an example of an American plant species and wrote a makeup report, he'll pass me."

Marie searched for a few more seconds, after which she seemed to find what she was looking for.

"Ah Ha," said May as she pulled a large jug out of her locker and placed it on the floor, "Here it is."

May continued explaining herself as she began the process of securing the padlock on her locker.

"I needed to find a species of American plant to present, so I asked Double Dee if I could borrow one from his collection," said May, "He gave me the keys to his shed, and told me to pick whatever I wanted off of the shelf, so that's what I did."

"I hope you made sure you got the right thing," said Marie, "Double Dee keeps a lot of different things out in that shed. Everything from plants, to bugs, to spiders."

"Don't worry Marie," said May, "The box is labeled."

May lifted the jug in the air, holding the lid out towards Marie.

"See?"said May as she placed her finger on the box, using it to trace a line under the words as she read them, "Perplanta America"

The words were written using "binomial nomenclature", a common method of describing animal and plant species using Latin names. Unfortunately, May was not the best at reading, and thus not only mispronounced the words (spelled Periplaneta Americana), but by proxy, also misinterpreted their meaning.

Marie stared at the jug for a few moments, after which she decided to continue the conversation.

"Whatever," said Marie as she turned and began making her way down the hallway, "Bring it to the cafeteria and we'll check it out there. I gotta get some lunch before I die of starvation."

"Whatever ya say Marie!" said May as she picked up her backpack and proceeded to follow her sister, cradling the white jug in her arms.