CHAPTER 3: "A DATE FOR THE FORMAL" or "SHE SAID 'YES'!"
Once I got back home, Sally was on the phone with Eudora talking about how much homework she had to do. I knew she would pawn it off on me somehow, but that wasn't my concern at the moment. I needed to make an important call right then and now before I would lose my nerve. I went over to my sister.
"Sally, how much longer are you going to be on the phone?" I asked her.
"I'm almost done, big brother," Sally replied. "Are you expecting a call?"
"More like needing to make a call," I countered.
"I shouldn't be much longer." And Sally continued to talk with Eudora for a bit, then she hung up. She walked over to me and said, "It's all yours, big brother."
"Thanks," I said. And as soon as I got to the phone, it rang. I picked it up and answered it, hoping it was Heather, but nope.
"Hello?" I answered.
"Heya, Chuck!" It was Peppermint Patty. "You know the Fall Formal is coming up!"
"Yeah, I know," I replied. "I was about to…"
"Making plans for it, eh?" Tact has never been Patty's strongest suit. "Well, I won't hold you up too long. Just wanted to let you know that there are girls who are willing to go with you, some who may not have supermodel looks but is great at sports. Some that have freckles on their face. Just wanted to give you some suggestions. Talk to you later, pal!" And she hung up. Thank goodness! Any other time she would talk my ear off, but at least now I can call Heather and ask her. I dialed her number, making sure I didn't call Patty or Marcie by mistake. That happened once and ended up with a date with Patty. I like her but she can be a bit overbearing at times.
The phone rang for what seemed forever. Maybe she knew I was calling, and didn't want to answer, knowing I was going to ask her to be my date. She was my pen pal over the summer, maybe out of pity. Maybe she realized how wishy-washy I truly was and didn't want to bother with…
"Hello?"
My stomach did somersaults when she answered the phone.
"Heather, it's Charlie Brown," I said, voice cracking. She giggled a little.
"Hi, Charlie Brown. How are you doing?"
"Great! How are you?" Keep it together, you blockhead.
"I'm good. So, what's on your mind?"
"Well, I was wondering, you know the Fall Formal is coming up, and I was wondering, if you didn't have a date, or have anything going on that night, if you would want to, uh, I don't know, maybe if you weren't busy or anything…"
"You want to go to the Formal with me?"
"YES!" I cracked my voice on that one.
"I would love to go to the Formal with you, Charlie Brown."
"I knew it! You'd never go to a dance with a wish- WAITAMINUTE! You said 'yes' right?"
Heather giggled again. "Of course, silly. I'd love to go with a nice boy like you."
I was on "Cloud 9" at that point. "That's great!" I managed to say.
"It's a date, Charlie Brown," said Heather. "Well, I need to get back to my homework. I look forward to the Formal. See you at school tomorrow. Bye."
I actually managed to do what seemed to be the impossible. I got a date to the Fall Formal with Heather, the little red-haired girl! Now my only worry was, what would I wear to the Formal?
Linus had gotten home. Lucy was watching TV, but didn't seem invested in the program. She was in a state of depression. She had a look he had only seen on Charlie Brown multiple times. Rerun, their youngest brother, walked in. He looked worried about Lucy himself.
"Linus, is Lucy going to be okay?" he asked.
"I don't know, Rerun," sighed Linus. "Hopefully she will get some help to talk about what had happened with Schroeder."
At that moment, the program on the TV started playing the music from Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata", which was one of Schroeder's favorite songs to play. Lucy's lips started to quiver, tears started forming in her eyes. Soon she was inconsolable.
"WHY?!" she wailed. "WHY DID HE HAVE TO SAVE ME?! WHY DID HE HAVE TO DIE?!" And she ran to her room and slammed the door. Linus decided, no matter what mood she was in, she needed someone to tell her to get some counselling. He knocked on her door.
"GO AWAY!" he heard from the other side of the door, but he wasn't going to comply. Not this time.
"Lucy, you can't go on like this," Linus began. "You need to get some help. We all miss Schroeder, but this can't keep going on! We're all worried about you!"
"If I hadn't destroyed your blanket, we wouldn't be here!" Lucy countered from behind the door. "It's all my fault! I had to destroy your blanket because I felt the need to break you of the habit! And now look where we are! My own paranoia thinking you would kill Schroeder because you wanted to get revenge for burning your blanket got us here! Schroeder's dead anyways, and it's ALL MY FAULT!" And Lucy continued to cry from behind the door. Linus shook his head and walked away.
Inside her room, Lucy was on her bed sobbing uncontrollably. She was at the end of her rope. She then made a decision. Wiping her face, she stood up.
"I don't want to be in a world without Schroeder."
NEXT CHAPTER: THE DANCE IS UNDERWAY