Later that evening, Charlie Brown was out in the living room, enjoying an evening snack and watching television. His good mood from earlier had not worn off yet as the thought of what Heather had told him lingered in his mind. He was her friend, and he could always go to her when he needed someone to talk to.
Charlie Brown's good mood was in contrast to his little sister, Sally. She looked rather displeased as she stormed into the living room.
"I'm mad!" she shouted, startling Charlie Brown out of his thoughts.
He turned to her, already suspecting what this may be about. "What's the matter, Sally?"
"My teacher, that's what's the matter!" she said. "She gave me homework on the first day of school. I've NEVER had to do homework after just the first day of school! It makes no sense!"
Charlie Brown's guess was spot on. He knew that Sally's current beef was going to be school-related.
"Welcome to the days of being an older kid," he responded to her. "As you go up in grade, teachers tend to give students more and more homework. I too got homework on my first day and some of it still needs to be done."
Sally angry expression changed to one of hope. "Well... you seem to be in a pretty good mood tonight... so, will you please help me with my homework?" she asked.
"You're in fifth grade now, Sally. You are fully capable of doing your own homework. You should only be asking for help when you're having trouble," Charlie Brown said. "Besides, I'm sure you don't have that much homework."
Sally pouted. But seconds later, an idea came into her head and she gave her big brother an evil grin.
"I know what happened to you after school today," she told him.
This did indeed get Charlie Brown's attention. He appeared surprised at first, but he quickly tried to put on a straight face. "I don't know what you're talking about, Sally."
Sally simply continued to grin. Judging by her big brother's initial reaction, this was going exactly the way she wanted it to. "Oh, yes you do. Lucy told me everything."
"Huh?!" Charlie Brown exclaimed.
"Yep. She told me that you told Linus during lunch that you planned on meeting up with that bully kid after school," she said as Charlie Brown looked nervous. "It would be awful if Mom and Dad knew about what you did. You'd get in big trouble for being so stupid and reckless."
"Alright, alright!" Charlie Brown said in defeat. "I will help you with your homework. But just this once."
Sally smiled. Even at his age, she could still have him wrapped around her precious little finger when she wanted to.
The next few days went by with different degrees of quality for our beloved Peanuts characters.
Linus had surprisingly decided to make a resolution that starting next week, he would seek to get through at least the school part of the day without carrying his blanket with him. And while in school, he showed that he really did have the intellect to keep up with his older seventh-grade counterparts, thoroughly impressing his teachers.
Sally was still the unintentionally humorous young blonde sister of Charlie Brown everyone knew her as, though even she was beginning to mature a little bit. She didn't ask her brother to help her with her homework quite as much as usual (though when she did ask him, she always seemed to know a way of how to get him to comply should he try to refuse).
Schroeder, to everyone's interest, was seeming like he was actually really getting into his studies. When someone would ask him about his newfound study habits, Schroeder had told them that it was because he needed the highest grades he could get to increase the likelihood of him getting into Juilliard. He had become so busy in fact, that he hadn't been able to reserve nearly as much time for practicing the piano as he'd like. It bummed him out a bit too because he had finally overcome his fear of real pianos and his parents had recently bought him a baby grand that he loved to play on. And of course, during the times when he could play, you could expect that Lucy would eventually come to visit him and he'd have to shoo her away once she became too much for him. But even he though wasn't unaware that lately Lucy had been more quickly prone to becoming angry, crabby, or even just downright upset, and he had to admit that he was ever so slightly curious as to why.
In contrast to Schroeder and Linus, Peppermint Patty was showing that getting her to perform better in school was going to be a major uphill battle. She wasn't ever very much in compliance when her time came to study or do homework. Marcie had been making her best effort to try and help her out, but based on how she'd look coming into homeroom the next day, her other friends could tell that the effort was having its effect on her.
Finally, there was Charlie Brown. Although he still sometimes underwent the kinds of circumstances he was used to, by his standards, he had had the best first week of school of his life. Heather was true to her word and had been treating him as a friend. If he was honest with himself, he would say that he felt that Heather was treating him as a friend moreso than anyone else would ever do, save maybe for Linus. He was steadily becoming more and more comfortable around her, and the two of them had even begun to spend time together. Sometimes they were also with Linus, or occasionally Schroeder. And there was also of course, Heather's bestie, Mary. But also sometimes it would just be Charlie Brown and Heather. Charlie Brown would never admit it publicly, but he was particularly enjoying the times he spent with just Heather.
"Denied?! What do you mean, 'denied'?" Schroeder demanded as he slammed his returned club application onto the desk of the club manager.
It was now the final day of the school week and Schroeder had just gotten the results of his club application. Unfortunately for him, his club idea wasn't approved.
"There's no need to yell, Schroeder," the club manager said calmly. "I'd be happy to explain why your club wasn't approved."
Schroeder said nothing, but continued to appear angry and he crossed his arms.
"I'll take that as a yes," the club manager said. "Now, I like that you are so dedicated to your favorite classical artist. And we could use more appreciation of people like Beethoven. It's just that..."
But the club manager was interrupted by Schroeder. "But what? You say right now that we could use more appreciation of people like Beethoven, but you won't approve of my club?"
"If you allow me to finish what I'm trying to say, I can explain my reasons and offer suggestions for increasing the likelihood that a future application will be approved," the club manager said, remaining calm and polite.
"I don't need to hear the reasons," Schroeder retorted as he turned around. "I'm not going to stand here and hear Beethoven be disrespected like this."
Schroeder then began to walk away with his declined club application as the club manager called out to him.
"Once you've calmed down, I'll be here if you decide to hear what I have to say. You still have until the end of the day on Monday to submit a new application."
Schroeder was already not in the best of moods as he approached his locker. But insult was added to injury when he found himself forgetting his combination. It took about a dozen tries before he finally remembered the correct combination. He opened his locker and threw his rejected club application inside before slamming his locker shut.
Just before he began making his way to class though, he saw the face of the last person he'd want to see right now: Lucy. He quickly slung his backpack over his head and proceeded to rush past her without looking at her, hoping against hope that she wouldn't bother him. He'd have just taken a longer route, but he knew that by now he was already late for homeroom.
He became briefly surprised though upon having been able to successfully make it past her without being forced into conversation with her. So surprised in fact that he stopped short to glance back at her. She had actually just walked right past him. She was stomping off somewhere (probably her own homeroom), and her posture clearly indicated that she was furious, perhaps moreso than she usually was. Seemed like Schroeder wasn't the only one PO'ed now. If he himself wasn't in such a foul mood, he might've been somewhat curious as to what was wrong with her.
A couple minutes later, Schroeder had finally made it to homeroom. The homeroom teacher was just now putting a clipboard away in her top-left drawer. It appeared that the teacher had just finished taking roll call. Once she saw Schroeder, she crossed her arms.
"Should we start the class five minutes later so you can get here in time?" she asked rhetorically.
Schroeder mumbled something incoherent under his breath.
"What was that, Mr. Klein?" the teacher asked warningly.
"Nothing ma'am. I'm sorry I'm late for class. I was just getting back my returned club application," Schroeder said in a low voice as he approached his desk.
"That's better. I'll let this one off with a warning. Now, please take your seat," the homeroom teacher instructed.
Schroeder gave a curt nod before tossing his bag under his desk and slumping into his seat.
Once Charlie Brown found an opportunity where the teacher wouldn't notice him, he leaned over towards Schroeder.
"Is everything okay, Schroeder?" he whispered to him.
"What do you think?" he hissed back. "The application for my Beethoven Appreciation Club got rejected."
"Easy, Schroeder, I was just asking," Charlie Brown defended. "Did they tell you why your application was rejected?"
Schroeder didn't answer right away. He remembered that the lady at the desk had tried to explain the rejection, but he had blown her off. He had too much pride right now though to admit that.
"No," he lied. "And I don't want to talk about it anymore right now."
Charlie Brown wanted to respond, but the teacher now eyeing him and Schroeder being stubbornly silent on the matter clearly indicated that doing so right now would end poorly.
Lucy had recently made it to her homeroom as well. Like with Schroeder, she had missed the roll call and the homeroom teacher had asked her about it. Unfortunately, she had fully backtalked him in response and as a result, she had earned herself a two-page report on the importance of etiquette to be turned in on Monday. She could have just handed her homeroom teacher the note that had been given to her by the principal and avoided the punishment, but this was Lucy we were talking about.
The reason why she was late to homeroom was actually because she had been called to the principal's office. And in fact, she was required to see him again after school today to finish off the business that they had started.
Lucy was in a very bad mood not so much because she was ordered to see the principal, but because of who else was with him. It was the new school psychologist that her homeroom teacher had introduced on the first day of the school year. She had a feeling she knew what was about to happen and why Dr. Bliss was there, and that's why she was so angry right now. She suspected that they were going to try to force Lucy to start seeing her, and she did not take kindly to this one bit.
It was now lunchtime, and at one table, Heather and her friend Mary had invited Charlie Brown to come and sit with them. Linus and Schroeder were also welcome. Schroeder wasn't quite as upset-looking right now as he had been this morning, but he still didn't seem up for much socializing right now.
The rest of the group was starting to get a little concerned and Heather decided that she would intervene.
"Are you feeling any better after this morning, Schroeder?" she asked him.
Schroeder shook his head. "It's kinda hard to be when the club application you worked so hard on got rejected."
"If it's okay with you, may I take a look at it?" Heather requested.
Schroeder shrugged. "Eh, I guess." He then reached into his backpack, but remembered that he had thrown the application into his locker. "Good grief, I forgot. It's in my locker. I'll be right back."
So Schroeder made a quick dash to his locker to go and retrieve the rejected application. He returned about two minutes later and handed it to Heather.
Heather was silent as she read over the application, her friend also craning her head to look. After she was finished, Heather and Mary glanced at each other before turning back to Schroeder.
"Your club idea sounds very interesting and had it been approved, I'd probably join," Heather said. "However, if you're willing to hear me out, I think I may have an idea as to why it was declined."
Schroeder raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And why is that?"
"My guess is going to be that the scope of the club is too narrow," Heather told him.
"What do you mean by that?" Schroeder asked.
Heather took a moment to collect her thoughts. She looked over at her friend, who nodded at her. It seemed that she had come to the same conclusion as Heather did.
"I think what Heather's trying to say is that... the subject matter you have is not quite enough in order to build a whole club off of," Mary said.
Heather nodded. "Yes. I feel like maybe your club would get approved if, well... there was more to it. Perhaps maybe you could start a club where members share their love of a bunch of different composers instead of restricting it to just one."
Schroeder said nothing, but appeared to be processing the girls' words. Although Beethoven was, and would always be Schroeder's clear favorite, Schroeder was capable of appreciating certain other composers, so maybe this would be fine?
After a few seconds, he nodded. "Perhaps I will take your advice. Thank you."
Heather smiled appreciatively and nodded back. "You're welcome. And if you do create this club, Mary and I will surely join."
With Schroeder having been reasoned with, the bit of tension that was in the air dispersed and normal conversation began to flow amongst the group.
Now came the end of the day, and Lucy was expected to meet again with the school principal to finish the business that they had started. Lucy was tempted to just dump him, but even she seemed to be paying attention to the fact that the situation wasn't great for her right now and she gave into his orders.
And as Lucy expected, much to her annoyance, Dr. Bliss was also present. But the principal was currently the one speaking.
"Now, Ms. Van Pelt, you remember that as I told you that attacking another student is not only a clear violation of school policy, but you could be arrested and charged for that," he said to Lucy.
Yes, the reason why Lucy had been called into the principal's office was because she had held a student up against their locker and punched another student in the face out of anger and frustration. And she was caught in the act of doing so by Dr. Bliss. Dr. Bliss had actually been aware of most of Lucy's antics since she had arrived on the first school day, from her general crabbiness to things like pulling the football away from Charlie Brown during gym. All of this was why she was currently present at this meeting.
"This is why we called you here," Dr. Bliss said, but was interrupted by the principal.
"To punish you severely for your blatant disregard of Student Codes of Conduct!" he shouted.
"Principal McKinsey, please, may I handle this, as you had hired me to?" Dr. Bliss requested, sounding as though she had already technically been tasked with handling this discussion.
"Sure, sure, go right ahead. Have at it, doctor," he responded, leaning back in his chair.
"Thank you," Dr. Bliss said as she approached Lucy. "Lucy, the point of this meeting is not actually to punish you. Look, as you know, my job up to this point has been to do some general observation of the students here, and see if there was anyone whom it might be appropriate if they came to see me about anything.
Lucy tensed. Yep, it seemed that this was going to go exactly the way she had expected it to.
"Lucy, I think you and I should start meeting on a weekly basis at my office after school hours. I feel that your behavior may be covering up more serious issues. Issues that should be discussed," Dr. Bliss told her. "As a psychologist, I care about how those hidden emotions deep down can affect people, and I seek to help them deal with them."
She then wrote on a sheet of paper the location of her office, as well as a day and time each week for Lucy to go and meet with her (4:00PM on Wednesdays) and handed it to Lucy. Afterwards, Lucy was given the okay to head home for the day.
Author's note: Oooh, things are spicing up a bit for Lucy. How are things going to change for her now that she has been asked to see the school psychologist. Will she even comply with the request?
Side note: As of this chapter, I'm going to be putting this story on pause for a little while while I continue working on the finer details. I'm also heavily into two stories in a different fandom right now that I want to focus my attention on. Don't worry, this story will never be abandoned and I hope to complete it by year's end. So stay tuned!
Please let me know what you think of the story so far. My story has about 700 views as of now, but only two unique individuals have left reviews.