Sally walked excitedly to school with her brother following behind. High school was exciting for Sally, something new. She really needed a fresh start, and this would be it. She wanted a new beginning too. And she hoped something would reunite the neighborhood. Ever since the incident occurred, it's like everyone has turned against each other. Sally felt like she was the only one who hadn't changed.
Her big brother was surely not as excited as her, if he was even excited at all, that is. He loathes Lucy, which is reasonable, but still harsh. Lucy has her own ghosts anyway, Charlie Brown is most definitely not the only one upset at her. Lucy's brothers can't even come to look at her. Sally forgave Lucy, she knew it was the right thing to do. And Lucy needed someone right now, someone who bothered to think about her feelings.
Sally looked at her older brother, whose head was down, caught up in a thunder of thoughts. Till Sally interrupted him. "Big brother, aren't you excited for school?" He shook his head. "It's my second year here, Sally. It's not as thrilling." She knew the biggest factor of why he wasn't enthused was because of the passing of his dog, which she thought was better not to bring up. Snoopy was her dog too, but it was different. The bond between that dog and boy is yet to be matched.
She put her arm around her big brother. "Look up, look ahead." She didn't know exactly what she meant, but she knew her words got through to her brother.
The two looked at the big brick building. When Sally walked by the school as a kid, she always thought of the brick wall. And as the years went by, they aged similarly. The moss crept into the crevices, and the bricks themselves darkened.
Charlie Brown pushed open the large, old, heavy door, allowing Sally to walk through. Once she did, she got a clear view of the school and its inhabitants. She saw her old friends. Everything still had its dark undertones, as the neighborhood had not yet returned to its happy-go-lucky nature because of the incident.
She looked at Patty and Violet in the left corner; they were laughing. She looked down the middle hallway; people leaned against the lockers. She specifically noticed Pig-Pen. He went by Matt now, and she'd never call him Pig-Pen to his face, but that was always the name she thought of him as.
A/N: I'm pretty sure Pig-Pen was never given a real name, but "Dog Sees God" used the name "Matt" so that's what I'm going with.
Pig-Pen fascinated her, not in the way Schroeder fascinated Lucy. Something about him. She interacted with him a little during the summer. And they noticed each other more now, just the idea of each other intrigued them.
Nothing that could last, probably nothing that could happen. Just intrigue, that's all.
And finally she looked the right, and boy she wished she hadn't. There stood a boy, awfully familiar, awfully lovable. Look up she thought to herself. Just look up. Continuing to not fully understand what she was telling herself.
The boy with black slicked-back hair. With a smile on his face, happier than he'd ever been. But that boy was only half of her worries. It was the girl at the end of his fingertips. It was the girl at the end of his glance. The girl who was making him smile.
At first glance you'd think she looked similar to Sally, she was blonde, even had a pink dress. The bright blue eyes could be easy to mix up. But squint once and you'd see what Sally saw. That girl was far prettier than her. Pretty enough to be noticed in a crowd during a football game.
And Sally knew Mary Jo, for at least a year or two. And she was nice and emphatic and everything Linus could want. She was sweeter than candy. She could just imagine them in 30 years thriving. And the fact that they looked so much like soulmates made it all the more painful. Sally waited, maybe not so patiently, but she waited. And now she knew that time would never come. Because why would it? She didn't deserve Linus, Mary Jo's good karma piled up higher than hers either way.
Boy, she felt like she could vomit on the spot. The way he looked at her. She couldn't stand it, she just couldn't.
Her head jerked over to her big brother, desperate to take her eyes off of the couple. She thought if she looked at them any longer she might stab her eyes out. I guess she hadn't realized how her eyes pleaded. Before she knew it, her brother did. He glanced over at Linus and the girl with him.
She was weirdly familiar. "Good grief" he muttered. That was Mary Jo.
A/N: For those who don't know, Mary Jo is the girl in "Someday You'll Find Her Charlie Brown" where Charlie Brown spots her in the crowd of a football game. He tries to find her, and since he can't find the guts to talk to her he asks Linus to do it for him. Linus notices she has a blanket and they hit it off (in a 8 year old way lol)
He shook his head at the distant memory of her pretty face. He thought of Mary Jo; he's been over Mary Jo. Guess it was just surprising to see that Linus wasn't. "Gee, Sally I'm sorry. If it makes you feel any better, I didn't know about this." He said, trying to comfort his sister.
She looked at him. He thought she would yell, complain, cry, or do something, but the fact that she was doing nothing was worse. "Sally, I can talk to him-"
"No. I don't need you to do that anymore, just- just leave them be. There's no reason to break them apart." Sally could admit herself that she was a little self absorbed from time to time, but never selfish enough to tear them apart because she wanted him. She turned to look at Linus and Mary Jo one more time. She kissed him, good lord she really kissed him.
There's not much left to the imagination anymore. And there's surely nothing to say. She rushed down the hallway. She could somehow tell that Linus was looking at her, but she didn't care to look back. Maybe he was excited to tell her he got a girlfriend. Maybe he wanted to apologize. She wasn't sure. And she wasn't sure she wanted to be sure.
Look up, she thought once more. Look. Up. She saw Lucy, she ran up to her in habit. And as soon as she saw her Lucy let out of wave of words, mostly anger towards her baby brother.
"I really hate him. I don't want to talk to him ever again! He's awful- and what he did to me? I'd ought to blame all of this on him!" Lucy buried her face into her palms, letting out silent screams. "He's your baby brother Lucy. You can't shut him out like that, and you can't hate him forever either."
"Easy for you to say." Lucy grumbled frustratedly. As her anger waned, Sally saw Eudora and Peggy Jean from the corner of her eye. Peggy Jean waved, Eudora shyly smiled, Eudora was known to keep to herself. Especially compared to Peggy Jean, who could fit in anywhere. She was compatible with everyone.
Sally smiled at the sight of them. She had bonded with Peggy Jean just last summer when Charlie Brown finally let her come to summer camp with him. She gave Eudora a tight hug; Sally couldn't even recall the last she saw her.
Eudoras face flushed to a deep pink as she smiled at Sally.
A/N: Sorry to be so inconsistent, I don't think I'm going to write in third person anymore. For this chapter I'm going to try writing in Sally's point of view. If I change my mind I'll say so. But if not, the rest of the chapters will be written in Sally's point of view.
Peggy Jean had to practically drag me out of my chair. It's been 5 minutes since the bell had rung. I didn't want to leave. The first day was bad. Look up I told myself. But it did no good. I was tired, tired of everything. I really should've treasured the summer.
"Sally fix your posture." Peggy Jean said as she tugged at my wrist as we walked down the hallway. I groaned, but still complied.
She used her shoulder to lean against the large wooden door, eventually making it open. A group of boys stayed late for football playing around at the front of the school. As they played around someone pushed a guy who brushed my shoulder. I was too tired for this. I just wanted to go home.
The boy was thrown straight into the brick wall. Once he found his balance he looked at me wide eyed. "I'm sorry- uh, Sally? Is that you?" Pig-Pen. "Matt?" I said it as a question but I knew it was him. He had a dumbfounded smile onto his face.
He waved before following the boys who were running to the football field. "Good lord." Peggy Jean sighed as she walked away. I yawned, I was exhausted. I rubbed the water in my eyes. And after blinking a few times I saw a blurry figure in front of me. As my eyes focused I saw the figure look back at me.
It took a second at first, but when his ebony black hair came into focus I knew exactly who that was. But I didn't know if I could face him. "Oh Sally there you are. I was looking for you." The way he said it. Just like nothing ever happened between us. As if we were just two friends. I hated that about him. He avoids these things. He doesn't express himself.
I thought something changed. The day of graduation, when he was open with his feelings. When he knew exactly what to say to me. When he cared. I thought things could stay that way.
"Can I walk you home?" What.
I'd say no, but who am I to do that? I'm Sally. The stupid, gullible, attention seeking, little girl who never grows up. Never learning, never changing. And I probably wouldn't think any of those things if it wasn't for Linus. Anyone else could scream these things to me and I'd brush it off. But if Linus so much implies it, you better bet it'll fucking stick.
People think he let me down easy as a kid, but people are dumb. When I followed him around, when I cared about the stupid "Great Pumpkin" shit that I should've ridiculed him for, he didn't give a damn if he hurt me. But as soon as I leave him alone, and I keep to myself, I'm all that matters.
I don't think it was the rejection that hurt me. I think it was how two faced he was to me.
And now. Now we are friends. Sure. But the thing is, I'll play along with it. Because it's Linus. The intellectual, logical, reasonable, and somehow still awfully handsome boy. Who I could never say no to. Because I'd do anything to keep that boy close.
But I'll push all these thoughts far back into my head every time I think them, because I'm Sally Brown. Too lovelorn to say anything to him. And far too frightened to lose him. Because I know, once he's tired of me, he'll be gone in minutes anyway.
But alas, I'll convince myself that he's worth it. And I'll pretend everything between us just doesn't matter all of a sudden. I'll do it. Whatever he wants.
And thats how my story goes
"Do you need something?" I said I wide eyed, like a dumb little puppy. "Walk home with me, I'll tell you." Why do you want this Linus? Why do you want to walk me home all of a sudden? When will you state your goddamn intentions? "What about your girlfriend?" I asked, trying to get out of this. But god knows Linus' persistence would never allow that. "What about her?" He's playing dumb. A goddamn master manipulator.
I saw it. I watched him smile, and laugh while he was with her. And now it's as if she doesn't matter. Good to know he doesn't do it to just me. "Nothing, I'll walk home with you." You got your way Linus, like you always do.
He smiled. That beautiful smile, I'd give anything to see. I've memorized it by now. I managed to get myself to walk beside him. I was drowsy, and all I wanted was to be home. He knew that, I could tell. But he still went the long way to my house. And I still followed him with ease.
"So, what do you need?" I asked blankly as my head looked down at the leaves on the floor. "When do you want to come by for tutoring, I recall promising those sessions to you." That was all this was about? I should've seen that coming. "Oh, I'm free tomorrow."
"Tuesdays then, that works with me." He could've just asked me on the spot without walking me home. And I bet he knows that. This is what I hate. The way he goes all this way, getting me to allow him to walk me home. And I don't know why he does it. He's a reasonable guy, but is there a reason for this?
Is there a reason I do this? Is there a reason I do everything he wants? I took a glance at him, luckily he didn't notice. And suddenly I remember why. As the sun hits him perfectly, he looks ahead. It perfectly displays the guy I've always known. He's smart, ambitious, and so lovable. And I if I started talking about how handsome he was I'm not sure I'd ever be able to stop.
And just like that I become less tense. I relax into the moment, maybe he's not that bad. I notice the forest by my house. Only a block or two to go. "Do you remember when we walked through that forest?" He asked me. How could I forget? "We went to find Lucy and my big brother."
"Before.."
"Yeah." I hesitated before continuing, I looked at him again. He didn't have much of an expression. I lowered my head. "I'm sorry that my brother did that to her, if I knew he would've done that I would've stopped him." I said weakly.
"No. It's not either of your faults, what she did was- it was unforgivable. I'm really sorry about your dog, I can't even imagine how hard that must've been." And there's the part I liked about him, maybe he didn't care too much for me. But he was still sympathetic, it was half of what made him so lovable.
"Thanks. I'm past the mourning stage, but..sometimes I see that little yellow bird and, it all comes back." I choked on my words, I miss that dog so much. Sure we weren't as close as him and Charlie Brown. But I loved him.
Linus put his hand on my back, "He was a good dog." I could tell he didn't really know what to say, but I'm still grateful he was trying. "And.." he said with softly as he dropped his arm from my back. "I'm normally not much of a positive person but I'll say this. Look up." He lifted my head with his fingers. He directed my head to look at him. With that captivating smile still pasted on his face, so passionate that I couldn't help but smile myself.
And there was that look, the same one he had when he looked at Mary Jo. But this time I did that, me. The area was so silent you could hear the tiniest pin drop. I couldn't do anything besides look at him.
"I've missed that." He said it so quietly that it was almost a whisper. "I've missed seeing that look on your face. I've missed being the reason you had that look on your face." That meant a lot, and probably more than he thought.
I caressed his soft cheek as he pulled me closer by my waist. With hardly any thoughts in my head, we got closer and closer till the only gap was between our faces. He leaned in to kiss me. And for a second I almost reciprocated. "No." I said quietly, I backed up from him. "Sally.." he said, he tried to come closer to him, but I wouldn't let him.
"No. You've got a girlfriend-"
"Sally-"
"Linus, this can't happen." He stopped trying to come closer, acknowledging what he'd done. I turned around to my house right in front of me, I dashed in as soon as I could.
What was that? Why did he?- why did I?- good grief!
Why did he look sincere when he said those things? Maybe he meant them. Maybe I mattered to him.
For once it had occurred to me that maybe Linus isn't what I thought him to be. He was a kid back then too, he wasn't trying to hurt me. And he might be just as unsure as I am.
I couldn't tell if I had finally seen the boy I've fallen in love with for who he was, or I had just fallen for his game. A goddamn master manipulator, or maybe just a lover.
And that's how my story goes, The Story of Sally Brown. Who just can't help but wrap herself around Linus' finger. And I think he's finally figured out how far I'll go for him.
In The Story of Sally Brown, Linus was the title of this chapter, because both him and I knew that I was his. Even though he'll never be mine
That's how the story goes.