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impyIn celebration of me not managing to join in on the festivities of the Summer Mini Challenge (let's be honest, I can't see myself being able to start and finish five fics in four days.), I thought I'd bring out the dead stuff I started but never finished, be it this year or otherwise.
First up, a little spotlight on the Three Musketeers, High School Edition.
I've been best friends with Karen Brewer for as long as I can remember. Almost every picture from my childhood has Karen in it, usually smack dab in the middle. A couple of years ago, my mother was hosting a book club or something , and one of the ladies commented on how unusual it was for a mother to let her child start dying her hair so young.
My mother was initially confused until the woman pointed to the cluster of pictures in one corner, all featuring Karen and I with occasional appearances by our other best friend, Hannie. If you didn't know us and just knew that the household had one daughter, looking at those pictures you probably would think Karen was the daughter in question. She was front and center in almost every single one.
Karen, of course, was beyond pleased when I told her about it later. At the time I found the story hilarious but I didn't mind too much when Mom slowly began changing the pictures around a week or so later.
"I can't stand it," Hannie groaned. "I just can't stand it anymore."
I looked up from the pile of books in front of me. "Can't stand what?" I asked, although I suspected I already knew the answer.
"That," she said, gesturing to the middle table in the library. Karen was busy holding court with the surrounding four tables all crammed full of people as they listened to yet another Amazing But True story by Karen Brewer. "She's told this story six times already and still they can't get enough!"
It was true. Karen had told this story to everyone who would listen, and quite a few who had no choice, and by now you would have thought people would be tired of hearing about Karen stopping some guy from stealing her brand new car. Apparently though, it was just as thrilling the second or third time through. Sadly, neither Hannie nor I felt the same way.
Still, Karen was our friend and it was a good story that people seemed to enjoy hearing. Why was Hannie so bothered about this? She'd actually been friends with Karen longer than I had, so she should be used to her by now.
"And by the time Sergeant Johnson arrived..."
SLAM! Hannie closed the book in front of her and quickly began shoving her stuff into her backpack. "That's it. I'm done."
"Hannie?"
"Look, Nancy, if you want to stick around and listen to Karen tell this story again, fine. But I'm tired of it. I'm tired of all of it, actually," she hissed.
I glanced back at Karen who was now boldly embellishing her story with things one might consider to be less than factually accurate and then I looked at Hannie. I wasn't sure what was going on with her but I was positive Karen wouldn't miss me, so I gathered my stuff as quickly as I could and followed Hannie to her car.
We were about halfway to Hannie's house when I finally worked up the nerve to ask, "What was that all about?"
Hannie's jaw clenched and I noticed her grip on the steering wheel got suspiciously tight, but she said nothing.
"Hannie?" I tried again when we were turning onto her street.
Still nothing as we came to a stop and she parked the car and we both got out. But instead of stopping in the kitchen to chat with her mom, we headed straight for her room.
"Hi, Mrs. Papadakis, bye, Mrs. Papadakis!" I called out as we ran up the stairs.
By the time we'd reached Hannie's room (her house is huge), I was panting. I collapsed on her bed and waited for her to start talking or my heart to just give up and explode. It was just a matter of which would happen first.
Once Hannie started talking though, I wasn't so sure I wouldn't have preferred the heart attack.
"I don't think I can be friends with Karen anymore."
I was so surprised I actually fell off Hannie's bed. "Wait, what?"
Normally that would have elicited at least two full minutes of laughter, but Hannie just smiled sadly once she was sure I was physically all right. "I can't do it anymore, Nancy."
"Do what? What do you mean you can't do it anymore, Hannie? We're friends! She's our best friend, what's there to do? It's already done!"
She shook her head. "No, she's not. She's not my best friend and she hasn't been for years. You are. You probably have been since second grade," she said slowly, cautiously, as if she were afraid of my reaction to what she was finally saying.
"What? No. All three of us have been best friends. The Three Muskateers, remember?" I was having trouble following her, nothing she was saying made any sense.
"I remember, yeah. I remember that it was always Karen this and Karen that. Don't you remember the way she and I fought about everything?"
It was true, as kids Hannie and Karen did fight about a lot of things. I'd lost count of the number of times Karen wanted to do one thing and Hannie wanted to do something else. I was usually stuck in the middle, praying they wouldn't force me to choose sides and yet they always did, one way or another.
"You guys still fight," I pointed out, even though I knew it wouldn't help my cause any.
"We do," she confirmed. "But it's not as bad as it used to be."
"Because you're friends!"
"No, because I don't care anymore. I only hang around her when you do, Nancy. Haven't you noticed?"
I hadn't, actually. I knew Hannie had cooled off towards Karen a lot lately, but I just chalked that up to the car story and the school prank thing before that, and the vacation war before that...
I frowned. It had been ages since Hannie and Karen had been actually happy with one another at the same time. How come I hadn't noticed?
"I'll take that as a no then," she sighed.
"No, well... I don't understand, Hannie. Is it because she calls you Hannah?" Karen had decided once we hit high school that Hannie should start calling herself Hannah since Hannie was "so unbelievably childish." She'd actually managed to get most of the school to switch over, but I and a few other holdouts still called her Hannie. Originally, Hannie had thought it was funny how attatched to the idea Karen was and then she'd gotten annoyed because, now that I think of it, Karen hadn't once asked Hannie if she wanted to change her name.
Hannie snickered. "Yes and no. That's just the kind of thing Karen does and has been doing our whole lives. Sometimes it's fun, I'll admit it, but a lot of time it's exhausting. I'm tired of trying to be friends with someone who doesn't care about my opinion on my own name. It's pretty messed up, you know?"
I nodded. It made sense but still it hurt. I'd never admit it to anyone, but I still thought of us as the Three Musketeers. Sure, we'd grown apart (Karen had actually started hanging out a lot with Pamela once we hit high school) but everyone knew friendships had to change in order to survive. Who you were when you were six wasn't who you'd be when you were sixteen.
But that was the problem. Karen was still very much the same kind of person she'd been then, complete with all the same things that had annoyed both Hannie and I back then. Because if I were completely honest, I'd sided with Hannie a lot over the years for a reason.
"Nancy?" Hannie whispered.
"Huh?"
"You're crying," she said and then wrapped her arms around me. I tried for a minute to stop the tears because it felt weird to get a hug from Hannie. Karen gave hugs freely but Hannie wasn't big on them. And then it hit me. If Hannie went through with this, and I had no doubt she would, we'd never be the Three Musketeers again. Ever. Even if we made up in a few months, we'd still have officially gone our separate ways and it wouldn't be something Karen would ever forget. Or forgive. And I'm not sure I could either.
"I can't help it," I managed to choke out. "You're both my friends and I want things to stay the way they were!"
Hannie pulled back and locked her brown eyes on mine. "Don't you get it, Nancy? This is exactly how things were. When was the last time Karen hung out with you without Pamela breaking plans with her, or some guy flaking out on her? When did she last call you just to talk or see how you were doing, or hell, just to bitch about me? When did you last go over to her house? Either house? For crying out loud, she lives next door to you and you never see her!"
I wiped my eyes furiously. "That's not true!" How had this turned into Karen not being my friend? I could understand Hannie and Karen breaking up but Karen and I were still friends!
Hannie's arched one eyebrow perfectly. "Really?"
"No! She called me two days ago!"
"Yeah. To tell you about the car thing."
"So? She's my friend, of course she'd want to tell me about it."
Hannie started to laugh.
"What's so funny?" I demanded.
"Nancy, you were there. You were the one who called 911! You didn't need to hear the story again because it's your story, too. But how many people know that?"
None. After the first round of storytelling, I got dropped from the story. It bugged me at first but this way at least I wouldn't have to field any questions about it, seeing as Karen had the story on an endless loop.
"None, right?" she confirmed when she could finally stop laughing.
"Right," I admitted.
"Doesn't that seem a little bit crazy to you? I mean, you were both there for an attempted car jacking and yet not a single person at school even knows you were there, too. But I bet they could all tell you what happened, even the freshmen!"
I couldn't deny that and yet I desperately wanted to because it felt like I was being disloyal to Karen, somehow.
Hannie bit her lip before continuing. "I'm sorry, Nancy. It's just hard standing back and watching her treat you like crap. Look, I'm not saying you have to stop being friends with her. I'm just saying I can't be her friend anymore. I'm not going to declare war on her or anything, but I'm tired of having to bite my tongue to keep the peace. I'm done with that and I thought you should know, that's all."
"Oh." I couldn't really think of anything to say to that either.
"It'll be okay. You know that, right? And if it's not, well... at least it'll give Karen something to talk about."
I never figured out how to finish this or even where it was going. I was just tickled by the thought of some ass trying to carjack Karen only to realize what a mistake he'd made, and even MORE tickled by Karen telling this story to everyone who would listen.
I've got a small handful of Little Sister books and I seriously don't see Hannie and Karen keeping their friendship alive as they get older if a certain someone doesn't undergo a serious personality transplant. That said, I can totally see Nancy finding herself in the middle... because she frequently was in the LS books, too.
First up, a little spotlight on the Three Musketeers, High School Edition.
---------
I've been best friends with Karen Brewer for as long as I can remember. Almost every picture from my childhood has Karen in it, usually smack dab in the middle. A couple of years ago, my mother was hosting a book club or something , and one of the ladies commented on how unusual it was for a mother to let her child start dying her hair so young.
My mother was initially confused until the woman pointed to the cluster of pictures in one corner, all featuring Karen and I with occasional appearances by our other best friend, Hannie. If you didn't know us and just knew that the household had one daughter, looking at those pictures you probably would think Karen was the daughter in question. She was front and center in almost every single one.
Karen, of course, was beyond pleased when I told her about it later. At the time I found the story hilarious but I didn't mind too much when Mom slowly began changing the pictures around a week or so later.
"I can't stand it," Hannie groaned. "I just can't stand it anymore."
I looked up from the pile of books in front of me. "Can't stand what?" I asked, although I suspected I already knew the answer.
"That," she said, gesturing to the middle table in the library. Karen was busy holding court with the surrounding four tables all crammed full of people as they listened to yet another Amazing But True story by Karen Brewer. "She's told this story six times already and still they can't get enough!"
It was true. Karen had told this story to everyone who would listen, and quite a few who had no choice, and by now you would have thought people would be tired of hearing about Karen stopping some guy from stealing her brand new car. Apparently though, it was just as thrilling the second or third time through. Sadly, neither Hannie nor I felt the same way.
Still, Karen was our friend and it was a good story that people seemed to enjoy hearing. Why was Hannie so bothered about this? She'd actually been friends with Karen longer than I had, so she should be used to her by now.
"And by the time Sergeant Johnson arrived..."
SLAM! Hannie closed the book in front of her and quickly began shoving her stuff into her backpack. "That's it. I'm done."
"Hannie?"
"Look, Nancy, if you want to stick around and listen to Karen tell this story again, fine. But I'm tired of it. I'm tired of all of it, actually," she hissed.
I glanced back at Karen who was now boldly embellishing her story with things one might consider to be less than factually accurate and then I looked at Hannie. I wasn't sure what was going on with her but I was positive Karen wouldn't miss me, so I gathered my stuff as quickly as I could and followed Hannie to her car.
We were about halfway to Hannie's house when I finally worked up the nerve to ask, "What was that all about?"
Hannie's jaw clenched and I noticed her grip on the steering wheel got suspiciously tight, but she said nothing.
"Hannie?" I tried again when we were turning onto her street.
Still nothing as we came to a stop and she parked the car and we both got out. But instead of stopping in the kitchen to chat with her mom, we headed straight for her room.
"Hi, Mrs. Papadakis, bye, Mrs. Papadakis!" I called out as we ran up the stairs.
By the time we'd reached Hannie's room (her house is huge), I was panting. I collapsed on her bed and waited for her to start talking or my heart to just give up and explode. It was just a matter of which would happen first.
Once Hannie started talking though, I wasn't so sure I wouldn't have preferred the heart attack.
"I don't think I can be friends with Karen anymore."
I was so surprised I actually fell off Hannie's bed. "Wait, what?"
Normally that would have elicited at least two full minutes of laughter, but Hannie just smiled sadly once she was sure I was physically all right. "I can't do it anymore, Nancy."
"Do what? What do you mean you can't do it anymore, Hannie? We're friends! She's our best friend, what's there to do? It's already done!"
She shook her head. "No, she's not. She's not my best friend and she hasn't been for years. You are. You probably have been since second grade," she said slowly, cautiously, as if she were afraid of my reaction to what she was finally saying.
"What? No. All three of us have been best friends. The Three Muskateers, remember?" I was having trouble following her, nothing she was saying made any sense.
"I remember, yeah. I remember that it was always Karen this and Karen that. Don't you remember the way she and I fought about everything?"
It was true, as kids Hannie and Karen did fight about a lot of things. I'd lost count of the number of times Karen wanted to do one thing and Hannie wanted to do something else. I was usually stuck in the middle, praying they wouldn't force me to choose sides and yet they always did, one way or another.
"You guys still fight," I pointed out, even though I knew it wouldn't help my cause any.
"We do," she confirmed. "But it's not as bad as it used to be."
"Because you're friends!"
"No, because I don't care anymore. I only hang around her when you do, Nancy. Haven't you noticed?"
I hadn't, actually. I knew Hannie had cooled off towards Karen a lot lately, but I just chalked that up to the car story and the school prank thing before that, and the vacation war before that...
I frowned. It had been ages since Hannie and Karen had been actually happy with one another at the same time. How come I hadn't noticed?
"I'll take that as a no then," she sighed.
"No, well... I don't understand, Hannie. Is it because she calls you Hannah?" Karen had decided once we hit high school that Hannie should start calling herself Hannah since Hannie was "so unbelievably childish." She'd actually managed to get most of the school to switch over, but I and a few other holdouts still called her Hannie. Originally, Hannie had thought it was funny how attatched to the idea Karen was and then she'd gotten annoyed because, now that I think of it, Karen hadn't once asked Hannie if she wanted to change her name.
Hannie snickered. "Yes and no. That's just the kind of thing Karen does and has been doing our whole lives. Sometimes it's fun, I'll admit it, but a lot of time it's exhausting. I'm tired of trying to be friends with someone who doesn't care about my opinion on my own name. It's pretty messed up, you know?"
I nodded. It made sense but still it hurt. I'd never admit it to anyone, but I still thought of us as the Three Musketeers. Sure, we'd grown apart (Karen had actually started hanging out a lot with Pamela once we hit high school) but everyone knew friendships had to change in order to survive. Who you were when you were six wasn't who you'd be when you were sixteen.
But that was the problem. Karen was still very much the same kind of person she'd been then, complete with all the same things that had annoyed both Hannie and I back then. Because if I were completely honest, I'd sided with Hannie a lot over the years for a reason.
"Nancy?" Hannie whispered.
"Huh?"
"You're crying," she said and then wrapped her arms around me. I tried for a minute to stop the tears because it felt weird to get a hug from Hannie. Karen gave hugs freely but Hannie wasn't big on them. And then it hit me. If Hannie went through with this, and I had no doubt she would, we'd never be the Three Musketeers again. Ever. Even if we made up in a few months, we'd still have officially gone our separate ways and it wouldn't be something Karen would ever forget. Or forgive. And I'm not sure I could either.
"I can't help it," I managed to choke out. "You're both my friends and I want things to stay the way they were!"
Hannie pulled back and locked her brown eyes on mine. "Don't you get it, Nancy? This is exactly how things were. When was the last time Karen hung out with you without Pamela breaking plans with her, or some guy flaking out on her? When did she last call you just to talk or see how you were doing, or hell, just to bitch about me? When did you last go over to her house? Either house? For crying out loud, she lives next door to you and you never see her!"
I wiped my eyes furiously. "That's not true!" How had this turned into Karen not being my friend? I could understand Hannie and Karen breaking up but Karen and I were still friends!
Hannie's arched one eyebrow perfectly. "Really?"
"No! She called me two days ago!"
"Yeah. To tell you about the car thing."
"So? She's my friend, of course she'd want to tell me about it."
Hannie started to laugh.
"What's so funny?" I demanded.
"Nancy, you were there. You were the one who called 911! You didn't need to hear the story again because it's your story, too. But how many people know that?"
None. After the first round of storytelling, I got dropped from the story. It bugged me at first but this way at least I wouldn't have to field any questions about it, seeing as Karen had the story on an endless loop.
"None, right?" she confirmed when she could finally stop laughing.
"Right," I admitted.
"Doesn't that seem a little bit crazy to you? I mean, you were both there for an attempted car jacking and yet not a single person at school even knows you were there, too. But I bet they could all tell you what happened, even the freshmen!"
I couldn't deny that and yet I desperately wanted to because it felt like I was being disloyal to Karen, somehow.
Hannie bit her lip before continuing. "I'm sorry, Nancy. It's just hard standing back and watching her treat you like crap. Look, I'm not saying you have to stop being friends with her. I'm just saying I can't be her friend anymore. I'm not going to declare war on her or anything, but I'm tired of having to bite my tongue to keep the peace. I'm done with that and I thought you should know, that's all."
"Oh." I couldn't really think of anything to say to that either.
"It'll be okay. You know that, right? And if it's not, well... at least it'll give Karen something to talk about."
------
I never figured out how to finish this or even where it was going. I was just tickled by the thought of some ass trying to carjack Karen only to realize what a mistake he'd made, and even MORE tickled by Karen telling this story to everyone who would listen.
I've got a small handful of Little Sister books and I seriously don't see Hannie and Karen keeping their friendship alive as they get older if a certain someone doesn't undergo a serious personality transplant. That said, I can totally see Nancy finding herself in the middle... because she frequently was in the LS books, too.