viva la vida

[Rumor]

Rumor was sitting at lunch with one of her buddies, Maggie Flint. They were outside, sitting on a stone bench that sat in the courtyard. Fall leaves were blowing all over in the breeze, scattering color in the grassy area.

Rumor was, surprisingly, not eating spaghetti, but a turkey sandwich instead. Yum. Turkey.

[Maggie]

Maggie was sitting at lunch with one of her buddies, Rumor Bradley. They were outside, sitting on a stone bench that sat in the courtyard. Fall leaves were blowing all over in the breeze, scattering color in the grassy area.

Maggie was, unsurprisingly, not eating spaghetti, but cheese and crackers instead. Yum. Cheese. And crackers.

They were talking about typical girl things. "D'you have a date to the school dance, Rumorbutt?" Maggie asked. There was a school dance, kind of like a homecoming, coming up for all the teenage students.

[Rumor]

"Not yet," Rumor said, taking a bite of her sandwich. She wouldn't mind going to the dance solo, but if someone asked her she'd probably say yes.

"What about you, Maggiemo? You gotta date yet?"

[Maggie]

"Not yet, but I have someone in mind," Maggie replied. I'll tell you who she's got in mind as soon as I figure it out for myself. "So you don't have a date, huh? You know who you should totally go with? Soren. He'd say yes if you asked him, I bet." The more Maggie talked about it, the more excited she got. She stood up. "I'll go find him right now!"

[Rumor]

"May!" Rumor said, grabbing Maggie's jacket and pulling her back so she was sitting again. "Don't do that!"

While Soren was a nice guy and all, Rumor had never looked at him as more than her friend's brother. Now that she thought about it though, he was pretty cute. But still, cute didn't always equal date for the dance!

"He's your brother!"

[Maggie]

"I know, that's why it's so perfect!" Maggie replied brightly. "If you two got married, we'd be like sisters!" She laughed. "Seriously though. It would be cute."

[Rumor]

"Married?" Rumor asked. Maggie always got so ahead of herself.

"If he wants to ask me, he can," Rumor said. "But you don't need to go giving him ideas. I don't like him that way, Maggie."

[Maggie]

"But you coooooooooould if you got to know him," Maggie singsonged. A lightbulb appeared above her head as she suddenly got another great idea. (You know her parents invented the lightbulb.) "Hey, then I could go with your brother! Is he single? The cute one, I mean."

She was talking about Knox.

[Rumor]

"Knox?" Rumor asked with a quizzical expression. Unlike Maggie, Rumor thought the idea of her friend dating her brother was weird.

"But then... then we'd be, like, double sisters?"

[Maggie]

Maggie gasped, her eyes widening. "That would be so cool!" she exclaimed in a sort of awed voice.

[Rumor]

"Or so weird," Rumor said, trying to pull her mind around the idea. If they did end up getting married, what would their kids be? Double cousins? It was so confusing.

"I think you're crazy," she said, shaking her head and shoving the remainder of her sandwich into her mouth. (It wasn't that much, just bigger than a normal bite)

[Maggie]

"Well I think you're LAME," Maggie retorted loudly, poking Rumor's cheek, which was all puffy since she had a big bite of sandwich in her mouth. "Lame lame lame!" Poke poke poke.

[Rumor]

Rumor stared at Maggie as she poked her cheek. She finished chewing before speaking. "I just think if he wants to ask me, then he will," Rumor said. "Why does he need you to tell him to do it?"

[Maggie]

"Some clio just need a little push in the right direction," Maggie replied. "Like you and Soren. See? You have something in common already. You both need to be pushed in the right direction."

[Rumor]

Rumor rolled her eyes and took a huge drink of her apple juice to wash down the turkey sammich. "I don't know," she said. "I still think it would be weird..."

[Maggie]

"It would so not be weird," Maggie replied, also rolling her eyes. "Why would it be weird?"

[Rumor]

"I don't know, it just would be," Rumor said. "Like, I'd never be able to sleep at your house anymore, and you wouldn't be able to sleep at mine either..."

[Maggie]

"Sure they would," Maggie replied, waving her hand dismissively. "My parents trust me. They wouldn't mind."

[Rumor]

Rumor shrugged. "Well, what if Soren ends up thinking I like him?" she asked. She didn't want him to think she liked him when she didn't, because then it might end up hurting his feelings.

[Maggie]

"Oh, I'm sure you'll like each other," Maggie insisted. "And even if you don't, hey, it's just one dance. I don't like your brother in that kind of way yet, but I still want to ask him to the dance."

[Rumor]

"I dunno..." Rumor said thoughtfully. It just seemed like a bad idea. "I guess if you're asking Knox I could ask Soren..."

[Maggie]

"Yeah! Right???" Maggie exclaimed excitedly. This was gonna be AWESOMMME. She jumped up again and, just like last time, announced, "I'll go get him!"

[Rumor]

Rumor watched as Maggie bounded away. She didn't exactly want to go with Soren, but to be honest she didn't have anything against him. She just thought it would be weird to go to the dance with Maggie's little brother.

[Soren]

Maggie returned in a few moments, dragging a wary looking Soren by the arm. He looked slightly confused and annoyed, but also resigned, because he was totally used to his sister doing things like this. When they reached the table, Maggie shoved him forward.

"Soren, Rumor has something to ask you," she chirped.

[Rumor]

"Er, hi, Soren..." Rumor said, smiling at him in an awkward apologetic sort of way. "Me 'n Maggie were just talking, and well she thought it would be a good idea, I dunno, if maybe we went together?"

The end sounded more like a question then she had been trying for, but that didn't matter. The whole thing was stupid. "I mean, if you've got someone else to go with, that's okay..."

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