I've revised and reposted this chapter. I'm not sure if I made it better or worse but it definitely needed some changing. Please Review!
"Lucy! I've missed you!" Marjorie said.
They were standing in the middle of the dining room, right before the start of dinner and the girls were chattering and moving around them.
"I've missed you!" Lucy said, putting her arms around Marjorie and realizing with shock that she was trying to sound sincere. This wasn't like her. She usually had no trouble sounding sincere because she usually was sincere. And hadn't she missed Marjorie? Of course, she had. But at the moment, she didn't want to exchange pleasantries.
"Did you get my last letter?" Lucy asked.
Marjorie nodded, swallowing.
"Why didn't you write back?"
"I was busy."
Lucy must have looked fierce because Marjorie took a quick step back. Lucy forced herself to be gentler. "Why are you lying to me?" she asked, softly. "What are you afraid of?"
"I'm not afraid!" Marjorie said.
"Then why didn't you write back?"
"I…I was afraid."
Lucy took a deep breath. "Of what?"
"You knew about what happened," Marjorie said, lowering her voice. "How did you know?"
"Haven't I been explaining that all along in my letters? I went to Narnia."
"But Narnia isn't…" Marjorie trailed off. She had never really given much thought to whether Narnia was real or not. It had never really mattered to her. All that had really mattered was that Lucy enjoyed talking about it and Marjorie enjoyed listening. When she had gotten that final letter, she was suddenly faced with the fact that Lucy knew what she couldn't possibly know and her explanation for knowing it was that she had gone to Narnia. Which made Narnia real. Only Narnia couldn't be real because it was a magic world and everyone knew that magic wasn't real. It was too hard to figure out so Marjorie simply gave up trying.
Lucy wanted to ask Marjorie how she could reject Narnia with the evidence right in front of her, to reason with Marjorie until she had convinced her. But she knew that this wasn't what she had really meant to talk about.
"Whether you believe in Narnia or not, you have to admit that I heard you. You were saying that I was a little kid and that you were tired of me," Lucy said, quietly.
"I'm sorry for what I said," Marjorie said. Tears began to pour down her cheeks. "I am dreadfully sorry!" she choked out. "I didn't mean it! I was angry at you that day and…Anne wanted me to say these things…so I said them!"
"Angry at me? For what?" Lucy asked.
"I…I don't remember now!" Marjorie said, laughing through her tears.
Lucy laughed too. "I'm sorry," she said. "I'll try to remember what I did so that I don't do it again!"
There was a pause.
"But why didn't you write back?" Lucy asked.
"Oh, I didn't know what to write or how to write it! Besides father read all my letters. I couldn't let father find out about this! He'd hate me! I promise you I'll never do it again, never, never!"
"Oh, Marjorie, I've missed you!" Lucy said, smiling through her tears. "And I forgive you."
And she did forgive Marjorie. She really did. All her doubts about whether Marjorie really wanted to be her friend disappeared. All her anger dissolved when she thought about how shocked Marjorie must have felt when she read her letter. But even as they put their arms around each other and walked to a dinner table together, Lucy couldn't help but wonder about Marjorie's last words. I promise you I'll never do it again, she had said. Somehow Lucy couldn't quite believe that. She realized now that Marjorie had always lied when it was convenient and acted differently in front of different people. There was no reason to believe that she would change. Lucy realized that she would always wonder what Marjorie was saying about her behind her back. They might be friends again but she just didn't trust Marjorie as she used to.
I'm sorry that I had to end the chapter at such a depressing point. But I really don't think that exchanging apologies is enough to completely restore a friendship. That's why there's another chapter coming!