"Well, Mrs. C, we were wondering if you could bake us some muffins for the bake sale on Friday afternoon," Potsie said.
"Bake sale?" Marion laughed.
"Yeah, it's to help the cheerleaders raise money. It will be at Arnold's," Ralph said.
Marion continued to laugh.
"What's so funny?" they both asked her simultaneously.
"You guys doing a bake sale?" She still couldn't believe her ears.
"Yeah, we bring in food to the fundraiser and there are other people who bring in their food to sell," Ralph said.
"What's wrong with that?" Potsie asked.
"I never would have thought you guys would raise money in the fundraiser."
"We just wanted to do something different," Ralph said.
"You can come by tomorrow." She smiled at them.
The boys left for the day; Marion later went to the store to get the supplies.
Thursday mid-afternoon-
Howard was at work, Joanie was at school even though she had stayed up quite late the last few nights, and Richie was at the college. Marion was making the muffins then an hour after they were finished Ralph and Potsie came over to pick them up.
"Thanks, Mrs. C," Ralph said as Potsie nodded.
"You're welcome, boys."
The door opened and Richie came home.
"Hey Mom, hi guys."
"Hi Richie," Ralph and Potsie said as Marion gave her greetings.
"You guys have the muffins for the bake sale?"
Ralph looked at Potsie, "You told him, didn't you?"
"No, I didn't."
"No, Lori Beth told me about the fundraisers a few days ago."
"Well, we gotta get going." Ralph and Potsie took the muffins and left the house.
Friday night at Arnold's 8pm-
Joanie sat at the booth closest to the kitchen waiting for Jason to arrive; he had been an hour late. She noticed Ralph and Potsie sitting with their dates. Ralph and Brittany Michaels sat across from Potsie and Rachel Van Grove. They got the dates from the fundraiser the previous weekend and they were cheerleaders. Unbeknownst to Joanie, two of Jason's friends and their girlfriends sat at the booth near the wall; another friend walked in and was pointed to Joanie's direction. He gave her a note. Then he left.
Joanie opened it and read it.
Ralph and Potsie noticed Joanie started to get upset.
"I wonder what that note says," Ralph said as they looked Joanie's way.
"I don't know but I hope she doesn't cry. I don't know what I will do if she cries," Potsie said worried.
"Uh oh, looks like we will find out," Ralph said.
Joanie started to stifle her tears, got up, then ran into the girls' bathroom. Ralph and Potsie got up and looked towards the bathroom while their dates looked at them confused.
"What do we do what do we do what do we do?" Potsie rambled worried as they looked around as Jason's friends quietly acted like they didn't notice anything, but they did.
"Would one of you girls please check on Joanie and find out if someone threatened her?" Ralph asked.
"Why? Do you know her?" Brittany asked.
"Yes. She is our best friend's sister and we've never seen her cry before," Ralph said worried then continued, "She was given a note that made her upset."
"Don't take this personally but we won't stay and look after her," Rachel said then continued. "So are we going to Inspiration Point after we check in on her?"
"Yes," Ralph and Potsie said with a smile.
"I'm going to use the bathroom," Potsie said as he left for the men's room while Brittany went to check in on Joanie.
After a few minutes, Potsie rejoined Rachel and Ralph then Brittany came out and approached.
"What did she say?" Ralph asked worried as they could hear Joanie crying.
"She didn't want to talk about it but it wasn't threatening or anything."
"Can we go now?" Rachel asked.
"We can go now," Potsie said as they walked towards the front door.
"I hope Richie isn't going to be mad at us for running out on Joanie when she's upset," Ralph said.
"It'll be fine," Potsie said.
Ralph, Brittany, Rachel, and Potsie left on their date.
A few minutes later Howard and Marion arrived and saw Joanie at the booth; Marion sat next to her and Howard sat across form her.
"Joanie, what's wrong?" Marion put her arm around her as Howard looked at her.
Joanie didn't say anything but Howard noticed a piece of paper on the table and picked it up. Marion noticed what Howard had done.
"Dear Joanie, I've done a lot of thinking about us lately and that I want to move on," Howard read quietly to where only Marion could hear then continued. "You will find the right one someday, I'm just not worthy of your time. I'm sorry."
"Oh, Howard," Marion said sadly.
"I'm sorry, Joanie. I'm sorry that he is such a creep that he can't even face you," Howard said.
"Howard, please." Marion got up as did Howard and Joanie.
"Dad, I don't want to talk about it."
Howard gave Joanie a hug. "I'd like to punch the guy in the nose," Howard said annoyed.
"Can we just go home?" Joanie asked.
"Sure, sweetheart." They went home.
After they got home, she went upstairs and sat at the window in her room as she looked out the window, wondering what she did wrong. Howard and Marion were downstairs on the couch talking as they watched T.V.
"What do we do now, Howard?" Marion worried.
"We'll just give her a few days and I'm sure she will get over it."
"What's the longest time you moped over a girl dumping you?"
"A few days. How about you when you've been dumped?"
"A few weeks."
"A few weeks?"
"Yes and that was a year before I met you." They both smiled and kissed.
A week later at Arnold's-
Joanie sat at the booth near the kitchen while Richie did his homework at his booth, then Brittany, Potsie, Ralph, and Rachel walked in.
"We'll be with you girls in a minute, we want to talk to Richie," Ralph said as the girls sat at the booth behind Richie.
"Hey guys, where did you find your dates?" Richie asked as Ralph and Potsie sat across from him.
"At the fundraisers," Potsie said.
"How's Joanie?" Ralph asked.
"Her boyfriend wrote her a note dumping her last week and I'm still mad at him."
"Yeah, we know," Potsie said.
"What?" Richie asked annoyed.
"We were here when-," Potsie said.
"Shhhh!" Ralph said.
Joanie noticed Richie getting up from his seat as Jason walked in with his friends but sat in the booth behind the wall.
"Are you serious? You guys see my sister in tears run to the bathroom, you don't say anything to me and you went on your dates?" Richie yelled angrily.
"Rich, I went to the bathroom then called your parents, I knew our dates didn't want to hang around here."
"You didn't even check on her?"
"Rich, we can't go in the girl's bathroom but Brittany checked in on her and Joanie wasn't in a talking mood, but the letter she got wasn't threatening or anything," Potsie said.
After Richie calmed down he sat back down.
"Thanks," Richie said.
"Anytime, Rich," Potsie said as he and Ralph rejoined their dates.
At Arnold's two weeks later-
Joanie and her cheerleading mates had to be at a pep rally at Arnold's for the next semi-final wrestling match, even though Joanie wasn't in the mood; Jason wasn't either but they both pretended. Richie, Ralph, Potsie, Fonzie, Marion, and Howard were not at the rally. Brandon walked over to Jason and sat next to him.
"Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Andrews."
"Hello, Brandon." They both smiled.
"Are you going to be there to cheer us on?" Brandon asked.
"Of course, I'll be there," Jason said.
"I take it you haven't talked to her yet," Brandon said.
"No. I don't know what to tell her now. I'm hearing I got her parents really mad and her brother wants to punch me in the nose."
"Since you two broke up, you have been on a losing streak and Joanie's been depressed. I told you, writing that note was a bad idea," Brandon said.
"Such a shame you are not in the finals," Monica said.
"Yes, it is. You shouldn't have been dating Joanie when you are going to school."
Joanie started to feel angry at what she heard.