Back-Up Plan - Book 3 - S.E.

Feud

And there they were again, fighting and arguing and yelling at each other. Once again, Winnie was happy that none of her sisters was home to hear their father yelling such hateful things to their mother while their mother just cried and tried to play the victim again and again as if she had never done anything wrong in her life. And it's not like Winnie thought her father was right - he wasn't, yelling and cursing the way he was, there was no way he was right -, but the fact of the matter was that, this time, Pamela Archer had really messed up. After all, if she really did want to cheat on her husband, the very least she could do was cover her tracks right?

Apparently, after paying for some fancy dinner or another with her mystery man on Winnie's dad credit card, Peter had figured out what had been happening behind his back and was now demanding that Pamela set the record straight. Of course, Pamela didn't and now, they were in a screaming match back and forth offending one another and pointing fingers and Winnie couldn't take it anymore.

Reaching for a coat inside of her closet, Winnie bravely pulled open the door to her bedroom and stepped outside, ignoring the voices from her parents bouncing around the house and cutting through her like knives as she threw her coat over her shoulders and walked out of the door without a second thought, walking around the neighborhood without much of a destination in hopes that, at least, when it was finally time for her to pick up the girls from school, Pamela and Peter would have calmed down enough so that the young children wouldn't be having to hear their screaming again. Or maybe they would've left the house already. Whichever the case it was fine by Winnie.

Looking down at her watch in her wrist, Winnie sighed once she noticed she had just forty minutes before having to head to the girls' school to pick them up and that, most likely, that time wouldn't be enough time for the two adults of the house to have been done with their screaming match.

"Maybe I'll just take them out for some ice cream." Winnie wondered out loud, pushing her own hurt aside in favor of keeping herself together for the sake of her little sisters again. "Or maybe the movies... Yeah, maybe I should take them to the movies tonight."

***

After the long night Winnie had just had in her godawful household, she started to feel like maybe everyone's happiness was getting on her nerves but when no one other than Marley Rose skipped over to her while she read her book quietly on the stands, she knew there was no way she could ever push that girl away from her, no matter how much she actually wished she could.

"Well, someone looks happy today." Winnie commented, as Marley sighed almost dreamly and sat down beside her friend at the stands.

"I am." Marley said. "I talked to Jake today."

"Oh, yeah?" Winnie asked. "And?"

"We're good now."

"Really?"

"Yeah." Marley nodded. "I explained to him again what happened and apologized and he apologized and we agreed that it was all a big misunderstanding and decided to put it behind us."

"Oh, so this is what a healthy relationship looks like..." Winnie mumbled under her breath, causing Marley to frown a little as she turned to look at her.

"What did you say?" She asked, clearly having been unable to identify any of Winnie's words.

"Nothing." She shook her head then. "Nothing, I just... I'm glad. I'm happy it worked out in the end for you."

"Me too." Marley smiled. "If for nothing, then at least because now I don't have to find two feuding artists and perform a mash-up with Jake for glee club."

"Oh, don't even tell me about it." Winnie rolled her eyes as Marley giggled.

"Are you singing this week?" She asked, as Winnie frowned.