As always, thanks so much for the amazing reviews! They mean so much to me, and I appreciate that you guys have stuck with me for all this time. You guys have really helped me through the past few weeks, just by being there. It feels so wrong with a new season of Glee approaching, knowing Cory won't be there. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and review if you want me to continue.
Chapter 52: The Gift Card
It was a quiet evening in the Hudsons' apartment. Rachel had a show tonight, Caylie had gone to bed and Allie was at a birthday party. Finn was watching the Olympics with Blaine in the Hudsons' living room. Watching the Olympics reminded Finn of the days when he wanted to be a professional football player, but now he was ready and willing to admit that he was much happier teaching and living with Rachel, Allie and Caylie.
As the medal ceremony for the 400 meter dash in track and field ended, the TV went to commercial break and Finn heard a knock at the door. He went to the door and saw Allie. "Hey, honey," he said, letting his daughter in. "Did you have fun at the party?"
"Of course," Allie said. "We got gift cards to American Girl in the goody bags."
"I'm sure your mom will love taking you there," Finn said.
"She has a key to the house now?" Blaine said as Finn led Allie in.
"No," Finn said. "The girl who had the party lives in our building, so her parents offered to walk her back to the apartment."
Allie sat down on the couch with Finn and Blaine. "At least you can get your daughter to watch the Olympics," Blaine said. "I can't get Kurt to watch sports with me for more than about a minute."
"I like sports!" Allie said.
The commercial break ended, and the announcer announced that women's wrestling was up next. When the two wrestlers lined up to start their match, Finn immediately recognized one of them. It was Lauren Zizes, who'd briefly been in the Glee club his junior year.
"I remember her!" Allie said. "She was at some of the weddings!"
"Yeah, she was in the Glee club with us for a little while," Finn said.
"Kurt told me about her," Blaine said. "She was the first girl in the history of McKinley to join the wrestling team."
"Now she's in the Olympics," Allie said. "Dad, isn't Corey going to play hockey in the winter Olympics?"
"Yeah, he's hoping to make the Canadian hockey team for the next Olympics," Finn told his daughter.
"I hope he gets on!" Allie said.
"I'm sure he will," Finn said as he, Blaine and Allie watched the wrestling match. Lauren won the match and got a chance to move on to the next round, and Finn saw Matt in the stands. After a few more rounds of wrestling, it was time for swimming, which was Allie's favorite sport to watch in the Olympics. As the relay for the gold medal in the 400 meter medley relay began, the phone rang. Finn went to answer the phone as Blaine and Allie watched the relay.
"Hello?" Finn said into the phone.
"Finn, it's Mia's dad, Brad," the voice on the other end of the line said.
"Hey, what's up?" Finn asked.
"Finn, we think Allie took Mia's gift card from the goody bag at Abby's birthday party," Brad said.
Finn had to stop himself from cringing. Why would one of Allie's friends accuse her of doing something like that? "What makes her think that?"
"Well, apparently she asked Allie to hold her goody bag while she went to the bathroom at one point," Brad continued. "And she knows how much Allie likes American Girl..."
"I know my daughter," Finn said. "She would never do that." He was even more annoyed that Allie was being accused of doing that.
"Well, who else could have done it?" Brad asked. "Mia was holding her bag for most of the time, except when all the girls went to change out of her bathing suits."
Finn had to stop himself from snapping. "I'll talk to Allie, but she isn't that type of girl."
"Look to see if she has an extra card," Brad said before he hung up the phone. Finn groaned as he hung up the phone. It was already past Allie's bedtime, he couldn't talk about this with her right now. He knew Allie wouldn't do that. He went back to Allie and Blaine in the living room.
"Dad, the United States won the gold medal in the relay!" Allie announced proudly.
Finn forced a smile. "That's great. It's getting late, Allie."
"But I want to watch more of the Olympics!" Allie pouted.
"You can watch more tomorrow, I promise," Finn said. "Right now, you'd better get to bed."
Allie pouted. "Good night, Dad. Good night, Uncle Blaine."
"Good night," Finn and Blaine both said as Allie went to her room.
When Allie was gone, Blaine turned to Finn. "What was that about?"
"Mia's dad accused Allie of taking Mia's gift card from the birthday party!" Finn snapped.
"What?" Blaine asked.
"Yeah," Finn said. "Because Allie's definitely the type." He shook his head.
"Allie wouldn't do that!" Blaine said.
"Of course she wouldn't," Finn sighed as he turned back to the Olympics. They watched for about another hour before Blaine left for the evening and Rachel got home.
"Did Allie have fun at Abby's party?" Rachel asked when she got home.
"She did," Finn said. "It was what happened after the party that wasn't good."
Rachel got a concerned look. "What happened?"
"Abby's parents gave out American Girl gift cards in the goody bags," Finn said. "Mia's gift card went missing, and since Allie held Mia's bag for her at one point, Brad called and accused Allie of taking it!"
"Allie wouldn't do that!" Rachel said.
"Of course she wouldn't," Finn said.
"He knows Allie isn't that type of girl," Rachel said.
"I thought he did," Finn said. "While you were gone, I even went into Allie's room and checked her gift bag. There was only one gift card in there."
"Did you call Brad and tell him?" Rachel asked.
"I considered that," Finn said. "Hopefully this will be forgotten by morning, but I'll call if it isn't."
"Yeah, Allie is going to see Mia at swimming lessons," Rachel pointed out.
Finn sighed, hoping that Mia's card would somehow be found.
x
The next morning, Rachel had arranged a playdate for Caylie with another girl in the apartment complex named Hannah. Allie had swim lessons at the local pool. Mia, Gracie and Abby were in the swim lessons with her, and today, since Rachel would be home with Hannah and Caylie, Mia's mom would be taking the girls to swim lessons.
When Allie was packing her bag, Rachel came into the room. "Allie, before you go to swim lessons, there's something you should know," Rachel said.
Allie got confused. "Am I in trouble?"
"Of course you aren't," Rachel said softly. "But yesterday at the party, Mia's gift card from her gift bag went missing and Mia's dad thinks you took it."
"I wouldn't do that!" Allie said. Did her friend's dad really think she did that?
"All we know is her dad thinks you did it, we don't know if she does," Rachel said. "Your dad called her dad this morning to say that we checked and that you didn't take it, but I just wanted you to know."
"I wouldn't do that!" Allie said.
"I know," Rachel said. "I'll talk to Mia's mom when she comes to get you."
Allie continued packing her bag, hoping that Mia didn't think she'd taken the card. About half an hour later, the doorbell rang, and Allie went to join her friends in the hall. "Bye Mom, bye Dad, bye Caylie!" she called. She went into the hallway and saw Mia, Abby, Gracie and Mia's mom. "Hi guys!"
"Hi Allie!" said Gracie. Mia elbowed Gracie.
"What was that for?" Allie asked.
"You know," Mia said. "You took my gift card!"
"What?" Allie said. "No I didn't!" She felt awful, thinking that her friend maybe didn't trust her.
"Mia, I told you last night when your dad said that, Allie would never do anything like that," Mia's mom said. "You guys have been friends since you were three."
"I THOUGHT we were friends," Mia said, giving Allie an angry look.
"We are friends!" Allie said.
"Then why did you take my gift card?" Mia said. "You have the most stuff out of all of us anyway." Abby and Gracie just stood there, looking confused.
"Mia, stop it," said Abby.
Mia ignored Abby. "Why are we taking this crook to swim lessons?"
Allie didn't know what to say. She wasn't a crook.
"Mia, it's like Abby said, stop it," Mia's mom said. "We're going to swim lessons."
Mia didn't talk to Allie on the way there. Neither Gracie nor Abby seemed to know what to do. No one liked taking sides when friends were fighting. Allie kept trying to tell Mia that she didn't take the gift card, but it was apparently no use.
Luckily, Mia didn't say anything during the swim lessons. The girls pretty much stayed focused on their lessons, but after the lessons, tensions rose again when Mia's mom offered to take the four girls out for ice cream.
"Don't get ice cream for the traitor!" Mia said.
"I'm not a traitor," Allie said. "Look, I'm sorry about your gift card. I'll give you mine. Just stop it!"
"I don't want yours, I want mine!" Mia protested.
"Mia, this is enough," Mia's mom said as they arrived at the ice cream store and she bought ice cream for the four girls. When the girls were handed their ice cream, Mia shoved Allie's on to her shirt. Before Allie had a chance to say anything, Abby took Mia's and shoved it into her face. Mia did the same with Abby's before Mia's mom dragged the girls out of the ice cream shop.
x
"You move four spaces!" Caylie said. She and Hannah were playing Candy Land in the Hudsons' living room. Rachel sat back and smiled as she watched Caylie play with the other girl. In another year, Caylie would be old enough to go to preschool. In about a month, Allie would be starting fourth grade. Rachel couldn't believe how fast her girls were growing up.
Hannah moved her piece a few spots. "That candy looks good!"
"Can we have candy, Mommy?" Caylie asked.
Rachel laughed. "You girls focus on the candy in the game now." Then she heard the doorbell ring. This had to be Allie home. She hoped things had gone well. She opened the door and saw Allie wearing a wet shirt - a shirt much too wet to have been just leaking from her swimsuit. "What happened?"
"Mia thinks I took the gift card!" Allie said. "After swim lessons Mia's mom took us out for ice cream and Mia shoved her ice cream cone in my shirt!"
"What?" Rachel asked. "That wasn't right!"
"Yeah, she thinks I took the card," Allie said. "I don't know if I like her anymore... she shoved ice cream on my shirt and she called me some mean names."
Before Allie could say anything else, the phone rang. "I'll be right back," Rachel said as she went to answer it.
"Hello?" Rachel said into the phone.
"Rachel, this is Karen, Mia's mom," the voice on the other end said. "Abby's mom, Isabel, called me, and they found Mia's gift card at the pool. After the party, the pool called to see if anyone lost an American Girl gift card, and Abby told her about Mia. I wanted to apologize for what happened with Allie. I'm going to have Mia call to apologize as well."
"Okay, thank you," Rachel said. But still, she wasn't so sure if Allie was ready to forgive Mia. She went back to join her daughter and told her about the phone call.
"But what if this means she doesn't trust me?" Allie asked. "I thought she was my friend."
Rachel realized that was what was hurting Allie the most. And she knew it hurt when someone you liked didn't trust you.
"Can I be alone right now?" Allie asked.
"Of course," Rachel said. She didn't want to leave her daughter alone, but that's what she needed to respect. She went to join Caylie and Hannah, hoping things would get better soon for Allie.
Chapter 53 preview: A few weeks later, it's Allie's ninth birthday and she has a party of her own. Will things get better with her and Mia? And will her party have its own problems?