Vala spun to face him, folding her arms over her chest. She opened her mouth, then paused, and snapped it shut with a clack. His smile widened.
"I know. Peppermint Patty," he taunted.
"What?!" Vala gasped. "Daniel, her fashion sense is horrid. Those open-toed sandals? Not to mention the fact that she's so stupid she doesn't even realize that Snoopy is a beagle! How about the Little Red-haired girl? I wouldn't blame Charlie Brown for being infatuated with me."
"Nope, doesn't work. Your hair's not red. Besides, nobody ever sees the Little Red-haired Girl," Daniel pointed out.
"So?" Vala raised an eyebrow.
"You wanna be a character who never even gets a line in the strip?" he asked.
"All right, you have a point," she admitted. "But I'm still not going along with this Lucy business."
"Violet?" Daniel asked.
"Violet's an imbecile!" Vala scoffed. "She's goes to school on Saturdays and can't figure out why no one else is there. I may be a lot of things, Daniel, but I'm far from stupid."
"Sally?"
"Charlie Brown's sickeningly cute, blonde little sister?" Vala rolled her eyes.
"Okay, then who's left? What's her name--Marcie?" he asked.
"The geek with glasses!" Vala exclaimed, her mouth dropping open in shock.
Daniel narrowed his eyes, giving her a hard look. After a moment's pause, she bit her lip, turning a bright smile on him. "Um. Not, of course, that there's anything wrong with geeks. Or glasses. But you have to admit--Sam is much more suited to being Marcie than I am."
"Uh-huh," Daniel folded his arms, eyeing her with a distinctly unimpressed expression. "So that brings us back to Lucy."
Vala sighed and let her arms drop, walking over to place a hand on his arm. "Okay. But if I have to be Lucy, will you at least be my Schroeder?"
He smiled a little and slid his arms around her waist. "Y'know, I've always kinda thought that if Charlie Brown ever stopped chasing after the Little Red-haired girl, he'd see that Lucy's been waiting the whole time."
"Charlie Brown and Lucy?" Vala's eyes widened as her arms slid around his neck. "But what about Schroeder?"
"Schroeder's a challenge," Daniel shrugged.
Vala bit her lip thoughtfully. "Oh, I see. So, if she ever got his attention, she wouldn't want it anymore."
"Same thing with Charlie Brown and the Little Red-haired Girl," Daniel nodded.
"I don't know, darling. If Lucy likes Charlie Brown, why doesn't she let him kick the football?" Vala pointed out.
"Well, she can't let him know that she likes him," Daniel replied.
"Ohhh," Vala nodded in understanding. "Sort of like pulling on pigtails?"
"Sort of," Daniel agreed with a chuckle. She leaned forward to kiss him, but he suddenly frowned and pulled back. "Wait a minute. Where'd you pick up the word geek anyway?"
"Uh--Mitchell," Vala replied, her gaze flicking uncomfortably away.
"Do I want to know who you were talking about?" Daniel inquired.
"Not really…"