On January the Third, the day before school started again, Mary was hanging out in her house's living room as she waited for her mother to return. Although she was physically active as she was sprucing the area up a bit, her mind was definitely elsewhere at the moment.
But what was Mary so preoccupied with right now? Well, her mother, Martha, had just gone to the doctor to get a pregnancy test, and Mary was anxiously awaiting her return so she could find out if she was finally on the eve of becoming an older sibling. Mary had been wanting a little brother or sister for years now, but as of recently, that desire had manifested itself quite strongly. Mary had lately been starting to feel really lonely being the only child at her house, and since she led a pretty busy life, she didn't too often take much time out of her days to go out and socialize.
Just as Mary was finishing up, she heard the sound of the front door being unlocked and she gulped. This was it. Her mother had been experiencing some of the symptoms, so was she going to be lucky?
Seconds later, the sound was followed by the door opening. A woman who sort of resembled a much older version of Mary (and even wore her hair the same way) came inside.
"Hi, Mom!" Mary said hopefully, not taking her eyes off of her as she took off her coat and placed it, as well as her purse, on the nearby coatrack. Mary was practically bouncing in place as her mother turned to face her. "Sooooo?"
But upon seeing the look on her mother's face, Mary's heart sank and her hopeful smile faltered instantly. Finally, Mary's mother slowly shook her head.
"I'm sorry, dear," Martha said sadly. "No baby sibling is on the way at this time."
Mary looked down at her feet and gave off a sigh. And so the wait continued. Martha put on a sympathetic smile and placed a gentle hand on her daughter's shoulder.
"Mary, I think it's time for you to open up some more room in your schedule for your friends," she suggested. "I know that you tend to be more of the type who likes to keep busy and doing her own thing, but I know that you've been feeling pretty lonely lately. And common sense dictates that the best way to remedy that issue is to commit more to spending time with others."
Mary said nothing, but the look now on her face suggested that she was pondering her mother's words. Perhaps she was right. And given that it was winter, a lot of the things she liked to do to keep busy, such as gardening, were currently not available options, so boredom was also something she was experiencing a lot of as of late.
"If you need a suggestion on where to start, how about that boy you had told me about who likes classical music? Schroeder, you said was his name?" Martha asked. "I couldn't help but notice that you yourself seem to be taking up more of an interest in music lately. And given that you like to learn new things, perhaps maybe he'd be interested in teaching you a thing or two about classical music? Heck, maybe he'd even be willing to let you try out playing his piano?" She then shrugged. "I dunno. Just an idea."
Mary thought that Schroeder offering her piano lessons might be a little unrealistic right now since Schroeder himself had been so busy lately, but there was merit in what her mother was suggesting regarding Mary's current lifestyle. Martha mother then walked away, leaving her daughter with these thoughts now in mind. Upon thinking about it a little more, Mary decided that it was indeed time for her to open up her social calendar more and vowed that starting tomorrow, she was going to begin working on exactly that.
The next day, school was back in session once again. For the most part, the day had seemed to go by pretty normally. Charlie Brown was feeling slightly overwhelmed though over the amount of homework he was receiving, and was hoping to just be able to go home and relax for a bit before starting everything. However, he was quickly going to learn that that wasn't going to be happening today. As he closed his locker door and secured the lock, he heard a voice call out to him.
"Hey, Chuck!" it called out.
Charlie Brown turned in the direction of the voice and was slightly surprised to see who was approaching him. It was Peppermint Patty, flanked by Franklin, as well as a couple of the kids who were on Peppermint Patty's old baseball team.
"Oh... hi!" Charlie Brown greeted. "What's up?"
"Glad you asked, Chuck," Peppermint Patty said. "See, these guys here and I are about to hear to the gym for a little conditioning."
"Conditioning?" Charlie Brown asked. "Conditioning for what?"
"Conditioning for getting ready for baseball season, Chuck, what else?" Peppermint Patty said. "Tryouts are in mid March, you know, with the season starting right as we get into April. Since it's so cold outside today, we're going to start things off by getting in some strength training at the gym."
"Yes," Franklin added. "And we were wondering if you'd like to come and join us? We... just recently heard the news, and we're glad you've decided to get back into it."
"You want me to join you guys in getting ready for the season?" Charlie Brown asked, surprised. "And how did you find out, Franklin, that I was getting back into baseball?"
"I told him, Chuck!" Peppermint Patty answered.
Franklin nodded. "You should've seen how excited she was when she told me the news. She's very happy that you have decided to give baseball another chance. In fact, we all are."
The others in the group muttered out words of agreement.
Charlie Brown began to feel quite warm inside by the support he was receiving right now and he smiled.
"So whaddya say, Chuck?" Peppermint Patty said encouragingly, placing her arm around his shoulder. "Come spend some quality time with me and the guys here while packing in a little more muscle in that body of yours."
Charlie Brown was silent for a few seconds, but the smile had not left his face. Finally, he nodded.
"Sure!" he answered. "How could I say no after all that?"
"Great!" Peppermint Patty said, satisfied with his answer. "Let's get going then, troops!"
And so the group, now including Charlie Brown, began making their way to the school gym. As he began walking, Charlie Brown caught a glimpse of Heather, who was looking back at him. He smiled at her and she smiled back, giving him a wave, as if to say "have a good time". Evidently, she must have seen the exchange that had occurred just now.
As soon as Charlie Brown and his group were out of sight, Heather turned and began making her way in the opposite direction. Time to go and see what her bestie was up to!
Carefully navigating her way through the masses of students who were eager to get out of the building, Heather soon found Mary, who was with Schroeder at his locker. It appeared the two of them were talking about something. It took a few seconds for either of them to notice that Heather was there.
"Hi, you two," Heather greeted after Schroeder shut his locker.
"Oh! Hello, Heather," Schroeder and Mary said at about the same time.
Heather turned to Mary. "So, Mary, what are you up to this afternoon?
Mary smiled delightedly. "As a matter of fact, I'm heading over to Schroeder's place."
"Oh! I see," Heather said. "Are you two working on another major assignment together?"
Mary shook her head. "Nope. I'm actually going over simply to hang out."
"Really?" Heather asked, not expecting to hear this.
"Mm-hmm," Mary replied with a gentle nod.
This surprised Heather a bit. Although Mary did at least occasionally hang out with her friends, Heather couldn't recall any instances where Mary went to hang out at someone's house other than Heather's... or her own. She had to admit that she found Mary wanting to hang out at Schroeder's place a bit intriguing. At the same time though, she felt it was rather nice that Mary was seemingly trying to expand her social horizons a bit.
That same day during lunch, over at the elementary school, Janice had just gotten her lunch and had begun making her way to where she wanted to sit today. A lot of people liked her, and she could sit at nearly any table she wanted, but today, she had a certain other blonde-haired girl in mind. Janice looked around the area until she spotted the flower-shaped hairstyle belonging to none other than Sally Brown. She was sitting at a corner table, accompanied by just one other kid who Janice assumed was her friend, Eudora.
Ever since returning to Sparkyville, Janice had made her fair share of attempts to try to socialize with Sally. But unfortunately, she was never able to get much of a response from her, as though Sally simply didn't really want anything to do with her. This technically had always been the case even since they had first met, but as of late the situation had only gotten worse. And Janice just couldn't figure out why. As far as she knew, she had never done anything that would warrant such a cool attitude from Sally. The whole thing was now starting to both frustrate and upset Janice.
Regardless, Janice began to approach Sally's table with the tiniest ray of hope that Sally would act a little more friendly towards her.
"Hi, Sally," she greeted.
Sally looked up from her food and craned her head towards who had just said her name. Upon seeing who it was, a dull look appeared on her face. "Janice... what are you doing here?"
From Sally's demeanor, Janice knew right then that this probably wasn't going to go well, but decided to attempt it anyway. "I... was just wondering if I could sit with you guys?"
Sally and Eudora looked at each other for a few seconds before Sally looked back up at Janice. The look on Eudora's face suggested that she was willing to allow Janice to accompany them, but Sally had a different view on the matter.
"Well, Janice, you know the old saying, I'm sure? That two is company, but three is a crowd?"
Janice shifted uncomfortably. "Um... yeah, I know that saying. But... is that an issue here? I mean..."
"No. You are not allowed to sit here. Now go away," Sally told Janice harshly before turning away from her.
Janice blinked, taken aback. Now that was just plain cold. And Eudora was clearly surprised as well by Sally's behavior just now.
"Fine then," Janice said in barely above a whisper before turning away.
Janice was now feeling a bit hurt as she went to find another place to sit. This was just ridiculous at this point. There was no reason for Sally to be acting this way towards her. Janice had never done anything but try to be nice to her.
"You know what?" Janice inadvertently said to herself before placing her tray down. She then made her way back to Sally's table. "Hey."
Knowing this time who the voice belonged to, Sally sighed, annoyed as she looked back up at Janice. "What do you want now?"
"I want you to come with me for a moment," Janice said plainly, ignoring Sally's attitude. "You and I need to talk for a moment... in private."
Sally said nothing at first.
"It will only be for a minute. Then I will get out of your hair, okay?" Janice asserted firmly.
After a few seconds, Sally stood up. Janice gave Eudora a nod, as if to say 'We'll be right back', before beginning to lead Sally out into the hall. Once they were there, and there was no one to interrupt the two of them, Janice turned to Sally.
"Sally?" Janice began. "I'm well aware that you have been trying nonstop to avoid having anything to do with me."
"Okay..." Sally said. "And?"
"You have actually always seemed like you didn't want anything to do with me, even when I lived in Sparkyville the first time. But lately, it's been getting out of control," Janice continued. "It hurts my feelings to know that, for whatever unknown reason, you feel this way about me, and I want to know why. Why are you acting this way towards me? Especially when I have done nothing but try to be friendly towards you?"
Janice waited for Sally's response. After a few seconds, she was met with a glare from her.
"You want to know why? It's because I'm mad that you spend so much time with MY sweet babboo!" Sally answered angrily.
Janice stuttered as she tried to speak her next words. "Y-you're what? Your sweet baboon?"
Sally rolled her eyes. "No. My sweet babboo!"
"What on earth are you talking about? What's a sweet babboo?" Janice asked, confused.
"Ugh!" Sally yelled. "I'm talking about Linus! I hate that you and Linus spend so much time together. Linus is my sweet babboo, in other words, he is my boyfriend."
Janice was silent for a few seconds as she processed everything. Then, understanding finally dawned on her. Sally was jealous of her, and was extremely possessive of her supposed "boyfriend" (though Janice knew that Sally was lying that they were together). Clearly though, Sally had something for Linus, and she didn't like it at all when Linus spent time with other girls. It was no wonder now to Janice why Sally didn't like her. Janice and Linus were indeed very close, and the two of them loved spending a lot of time together. Sally saw Janice as a serious threat to her and Linus' chances of having a relationship.
"Here, Janice, I'll tell you what. I'll make you a deal," Sally then said after a short time, not sounding quite as angry. "This is a one-time exclusive offer."
Janice raised a curious eyebrow.
"We can start over and put all of this behind us... but on oneimportant condition," Sally told her. "You must from hereforth cease any and all contact with Linus whatsoever, and never speak to him again."
Janice inadvertently gasped after Sally had made this proposal. This was the direction Sally was going to go in regards to a potential peace offering?
"So, what do you say?" Sally said, trying to sound as casual about the whole thing as possible.
Janice said nothing at first. Knowing that this was the only way Sally was willing to make peace with her saddened her. Janice was always the kind to want to keep things peaceful and conflict-free, but in actuality, this was both cruel and unfair on Sally's part. That said, this would not fly.
Janice looked down at the floor and shook her head. "No, Sally. I cannot do that. I cannot agree to this."
Janice just couldn't do it this time. It was not worth it to sabotage her bond with Linus just to please the wishes of a jealous girl, who as far as Janice knew, Linus didn't even care much for. Fulfilling Sally's wishes would only hurt more people than it would help, especially Linus.
Seconds later, Sally slowly narrowed her eyes, until all that was on her face was a look of fury that even made Janice feel a bit startled. Without another word, Sally turned on her heel and retreated back into the cafeteria. Halfway though, Sally stopped and looked back at Janice, the glare still on her face.
"You're gonna be sorry, Janice," she growled at her before continuing on her way.
Author's note: Oh dear. It looks like Sally is gearing up to cause some real conflict in the name of keeping Linus to herself. What's she gonna do? Hopefully it isn't anything too crazy, though Sally had always been so insistent that Linus was her sweet babboo. Find out next chapter, which on that note, I reckon those of you who are Sally fans may in fact have some issues with the chapter. Please note that in the end of this little arc, I actually think you'll like how things will turn out. Without spoiling anything, Sally is going to receive some significant and much needed character growth from the whole thing.
See you guys hopefully soon with the next chapter, titled "Sweet Babbooette Gone Wild"