Editing Character Vignettes (section)

=='''Erin's Quarrel'''==

"Look, I'm concerned for you, OK? I've asked around, and Kenny always dumps his girlfriends as soon as he gets bored with them" said Erin.

Chloe, annoyed, dismissed her. "You're just jealous."

"Not even remotely. It's just that Kenny is the biggest asshole in school. It's like coming up with new ways to humiliate everybody is his hobby or something."

"Don't take it so seriously. So he loves pranks. Big freaking deal. Nobody's dead."

"That's hardly a significant standard for..."

"Oh, ZIP IT already!"

As Chloe angrily stormed off, Erin sighed. Why was it that people just ignored what they didn't want to see?

Oh well. Fights with Chloe happened from time to time.


A few days later, though, as Erin walked through the school grounds, she noticed a lot of snickers that seemed aimed at her - and even a rather puzzling "nice costume, girl!".

The explanation came in the form of printed pictures that she quickly discovered were being circulated all over school - more precisely, a picture from the costumed party that had been thrown for Chloe's birthday four years earlier. A picture showing Erin (poorly) disguised as R2-D2.

It was a rather furious Erin who marched toward Chloe, finding her with her boyfriend and glaring as she handed her one of the pictures.

"Should. I. Assume. You did this."

"Geez, Erin, go easy on the words."

"Unless you say anything to the contrary, I'm going to take that as a YES."

"You weren't kidding!" Kenny chuckled, "She really DOES sound like a talking dictionary!" Chloe gave what Erin thought was a really dumb-sounding giggle.

"The term you're looking for is 'thesaurus'. And WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?! This is going to TRIPLE how much people tease me!"

"You weren't kidding either when you said she can't take a joke," said Kenny. "It's just a funny picture, kiddo. Live with it."

"I take it that YOU put her up to this."

"Hey, YOU badmouthed ME. Fair's fair."

"Go to hell," she replied before turning away and storming off.


The teasing at school got pretty bad for a while, but Erin could handle it. At times, not depending on people was a blessing. Really, she felt more upset about Chloe's actions than anything else. They'd gotten along reasonably well for all those years. Chloe wasn't, generally, a bad person. But with puberty kicking in, she'd suddenly gotten boy-crazy. Erin herself had started noticing boys a bit more, but Chloe seemed to be taking it to another order of magnitude - not to mention stupidity. It was as if she was willing to go to any length to get boys she liked to pay attention to her.

And then, predictably enough, Kenny broke up with her. Being somewhat disconnected from the rumor mill, Erin only learned it by overhearing a conversation between their respective parents, when Chloe's mother mentioned how she had been spending the days sulking in her room, depressed.


Chloe sat still on her bed. She wasn't crying anymore...The break-up, ugly and humiliating as it was, had been several days ago. She was still unable to do anything but mope around, though.

Being alone with her thoughts wasn't too pleasant. Now that she wasn't drowning all other thoughts with her inner "I've got a cute and cool boyfriend!" song, it as dawning on her that she had been an utter bitch these past few weeks. So many bridges burned...Several good friends who would never want to talk to her again. How could she be so stupid?!

There was a sudden knock on her window. Looking up, she saw a rather unusual sight: A two-feet-wide balloon, attached to a mechanism comprising two small propellers and a stick. The latter part was what was knocking.

Then she remembered the remote-controlled dirigible Erin had been talking about for months - one of her latest mechanical projects.

Bemused, she opened the window. The propellers activated, and the clunky contraption slowly entered her room before stopping.

As it did, she noticed a large envelope was taped to it. Curious, she opened it, finding inside three smaller envelopes, as well as a letter.

''Dear Chloe,
''I've heard about your depression. Now, I'm aware that in theory, I should be basking in schadenfreude or something, since you hurt me and all...but, screw that noise. I've given it a lot of thoughts over the last two days, and rationally, holding grudges makes no sense. So, I decided to forgive you, and I hope we can be friends again. And since I wasn't sure if it would be enough to pull you out of your funk, I've talked to some of your friends who were also upset, and convinced them to forgive you too - check the attached letters.
''Love, Erin.''


Of course, Erin had needed to be in the backyard to remote-control the dirigible. Minutes later, she was in Chloe's room, having a heartfelt talk with her.

"You...You're really not upset anymore?"

"I never said that. I'm just...letting go. It happened, and it hurt, but staying angry over it...It just wouldn't make any sense."

"You're forgiving me because you think it makes more SENSE?"

"Hey, I gotta be me."

"OK...but, seriously: A DIRIGIBLE?!" Chloe let out a relieved laugh.

"Well I needed to get your attention now, didn't I?"

They had a good laugh out of that, and of a few other things. For Chloe, it was an immense relief.

"God, I'm so...I'm sorry I acted so stupid."

"Everybody's stupid in some way, I think."

"So...I'm boy-stupid?"

"Something like that."

"Sigh...I don't suppose there's a cure."

"Sure there is. Just think about math class whenever you're around a boy you like."

"And thus, Erin Watson proves once again that the cure is worse than the disease."

"Don't make me poke you with my dirigible."