"Come on, dad." Peaches pleads, "I'll be with all my friends the whole time."
"The whole time?" Manny repeats skeptically.
"Yes. I won't leave their sight." She says, "And it's not like you won't be interrogating Louis and me after we get back."
"Can I at least send Diego with you?" Manny suggests, more willing to compromise than I'd expected. It's been a few days since that little deadline I'd had and there's been no sign of the sabers, but I'd still expect him to be more protective.
"Wait," Diego interrupts, yawning after having been woken up from his nap by the mentioning of his name. "Why are you guys dragging me into this? Just let them go out with their friends. They'll be fine." I'm almost concerned that Diego is just trying to get rid of the noise so he can attain optimal napping conditions, but I need to get Peaches away from her father before I can even hope to tell her. And I better tell her soon because, and this is not at all funny, I'm having withdrawals from the lack of kisses I've gotten from her recently.
Manny jabs at Diego, "You're just too lazy to get off your butt and hang out with your niece for one afternoon."
"True," Diego states, "but my point still stands. They'll be fine."
"So can I go?" Peaches appeals, "My friends are gunna forget about me if I don't hang out with them again soon."
"But… just…" Manny consents, "Okay, but you better not go off alone for even a second."
"Thanks dad!" Peaches shouts rapidly, grabbing me with her trunk and bolting out of the cave toward the pond.
"Be safe!" Manny shouts.
"Okay!"
"I love you!" He says.
"Yeah, I love you too!" She returns graciously, though somewhat embarrassed. "We'll be back by sunset!"
Peaches, in an excited frenzy to get to the pond as quickly as possible, throws me on her back and starts swinging through the trees. This would have been more fun had I been warned in advance that I was about to be holding on for dear life to Peaches' neck fur. I mean, I'm definitely about to puke, but she's so excited and happy, and it makes me happy to see her this way. I might actually be enjoying this if we weren't headed to see Ethan and Steffie and the like…
I tighten my grip as Peaches does a flip and lands, hard, on the ground at the end of the forest preceding the forever-teen-flooded pond. Peaches lets out a cheerful "woohoo", and I try to keep my heart from pumping out of my chest.
Finally having slowed down, she walks fluidly through the crowd toward the pond, where I can see Steffie, but surprising not Ethan, tossing her trunk back and forth in a brattish manner over some gossip she's just shared with her friends. Peaches calls to them eagerly, impatient for attention and their mutual exchange of greetings. I, expectedly so from my track record involving situations of social interaction, shy myself away on Peaches' back in the vain hopes that they'll ignore my existence. They begin chatting about the, apparently, limitless ways in which a female mammoth might style her hair, but also about how very, very, so extremely, unimaginably, important it is that the style chosen is of the utmost, and I do quote directly, "fabuliciousness". Throughout this… enlightening (if it can be assumed the definition of "enlightening" actually means to "make less heavy", especially by means of removing brain cells…), discussion, it's obvious Peaches is more concerned as to the whereabouts of a certain mammoth who may or may not have been referred to formerly (and debatably!) as "hot". I've just about dozed off when Peaches finally tries to change the subject.
"So, where's Ethan?" Peaches asks, somewhat awkwardly, her head oscillating from one side to the other in the vain attempt to confirm his presence.
"Why do you need to know?" Steffie returns belligerently.
"Well… I just thought that, seeing as how you two are dating," Peaches clarifies, "that you'd be together."
"We broke up," Steffie says snobbishly, as if everyone already knew that.
I sit up at once, both happy to feel Peaches' sudden ecstasy and terrified to know its root can mean only that I've taken too long to tell her.
"Well aren't you out of the loop," Katie, though I'm not honestly sure I remember that to be her name, says, only to be followed up by Meghan, jeez if I remembered their names I'll be surprised, saying, "It's all anyone's talked about for days."
Peaches attempts to fain knowledge of Steffie and Ethan's alleged break-up and pass off her question as merely a joke. Steffie and her posse laugh off the remark with little hint as to believing her, but also with little hint as to really caring either way. Despite their immediate resumption of the matters of hair and its styles, I can't be bothered to pay a cent of attention. I'm too busy calculating a way by which to somehow tell Peaches before she manages to get away from Steffie and find Ethan.
"I still can't believe you two broke up." Peaches comments, mostly thinking out loud, after several more agonizingly boring minutes of blather.
"How do you not know about their deal already?" Meghan says.
"What? Their deal? I know about their deal." Peaches says, "But, just so we're all sure that each of us knows the deal, what exactly is the deal?"
"Ethan and I…" Steffie starts, "We break up every couple of weeks. After a few days though, Ethan always comes crawling back to me."
Katie lets out a chirping laugh and says to Steffie, "He can't stay away from you, girl. You're so hot, I'd bet he's on his way over here right now to beg you to take him back."
I cringe as I feel Peaches' heart rate increasing. She's obviously planning on asking Ethan out again the second she gets away from these brats. I hide again, as I can feel a contemptuous smirk forming on my face. Louis, why do you hate these girls so much? They're not really that bad, are they? Well, they are definitely annoying and not at all interesting to listen to, but I'll concede. They're harmless so long as they're not making fun of anybody.
On the note of Peaches, I have to tell her, and I have to tell her now. That gracious second chance she gave me is slipping through my fingers, and, thus far, I've stood by idly and watched it do so. But, how on Earth can I tell her now!? I can't in front of her friends, they'll think her a laughing stock no matter her response. But I have to do something.
"P-P…Peaches." I say, my meek voice barely audible.
"Huh?" Peaches turns her head around slightly to look at me. "What is it, Louis?"
"Oh, so he can talk. I was beginning to think your rodent-pal there had forgotten how to, Peach." Steffie remarks mockingly. Well, I guess my point about them being harmless is dead now… Be that as it may, I still have to tell her.
After a few, and by a few I mean several, tries, I manage to spout reservedly, "Peaches. I need to talk with you… alone."
This chapter's song is "Always" by Panic! at the Disco.