Small Town Girl (Farkle Minkus)

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Girl Meets Sense and Sensibility

Jane Austen

Does Love Make sense?

"No, No, No, No, No, No, No!" Maya said, pointing at the phrase that was written on the chalkboard in English class.

"Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility focused on the multiple loves of two young women. "

"Well, would you look at that?" Riley asked.

"Well...this is happening." I said, looking between Maya, Riley, and Lucas.

"Miss Austen felt there were two approaches to love. 'Sense' meaning what?"

"Good Intelligent judgment." Farkle answered.

"and Sensibility?"

"When feelings get in the way of that." I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Go Lucas!"

"I know things, too." He replied. I laughed.

"So, what you think you should feel, vs  what you feel."

"You-you know what's a good book? Hop on Pop."

"Come on, Maya. What's not to love about figuring out love?"

"Help me." She told Riley.

"M-mm. No. I'm out of this. I'm just gonna sit back and enjoy whatever happens for once."

"Charlie Gardner."

"Unbelievable."

"You were saying?" I whispered. Charlie stood up.

"I saw the movie of this."

"Why?" Everyone asked.

" 'Cause I'm sensitive."

"I call bull crap." I told him.

" 'Cause I've got a bunch of sisters and a mother who hogged the TV and sat on me like a bean bag chair."

"That's better."

"Did you learn anything from the movie, Mr. Gardener?"

"No..."

"I call-"

"Ok, ok, Skipper." He stopped me, and I closed my mouth. He sat down.

"Permission to say what Charlie would notice upon watching the movie?"

"Granted." She told me.

"The whole gist of the book is that for a relationship to function properly, you need sense and sensibility."

"Have you read this work, Skipper?" She asked.

"Maybe once...or twice...or maybe six times." I felt my face go red.

"Why?" Came their voices again. I shook my head, sinking low in my chair.

"Miss Austen teaches us that romance comes with conflict. Two young women with different ideas about what love is. One hid her true feelings to protect others.  She felt this made 'sense'. The other had more feelings than she knew what to do with. She was overwhelmed by 'sensibility'." Farkle stood up.

"What about the character who knows all the secrets of the character who's hiding her true feelings?" I furrowed my eyebrows at him. He shot me a look and my eyes widened with realization.

"He's driven to madness and dies alone and terrified." I told him.

"Thank you."

"Good." Riley muttered.

"Sneh."

"Fneh."

"What happens to the two girls, Harper."

"OH, yeah, the two girls." She repeated.

"Everything's always ok between the two girls, right?"

"Skipper, why don't you take this one?" Harper asked. They turned to me hopefully. I shook my head.

"No. The strongest, closest relationships are the most tragically separated." I replied, averting my eyes to my desk.

"You know what's a book where no one gets tragically separated? Hop on Pop."

~~~

I was at my locker when Farkle came up, leaning against the locker beside mine.

"So...Six times." I shot him a look, slamming my locker shut and walking away. "Hey, Skipper." He grabbed my elbow, stopping me. "Are you mad at me."

"How could you not tell me?" I asked. "You knew what Riley was doing, why didn't you tell me?"

"Because, I knew you would instantly try to fix it. I wanted to give Riley a chance to fix it on her own." He replied.

"That's not the point, Farkle. The point is, I'm not only your girlfriend, they're my friends too. I had a right to know."

"No, you didn't."

"What?"

"You didn't have a right to know. It's none of your business. It's no one's business."

"But yours, evidently."  I started walking away. He grabbed my elbow again, pulling my back. "Stop doing that!"

"Skipper, I'm trying to do the right thing. Why are you mad at me?"

"Because I don't want you to drive yourself mad and die alone and scared." I told him.

"That won't happen." I nodded.

"It's none of my business, fine. But if it's not my business, then it's not yours either. Let Riley sort it out on her own."

"I will. Until Midnight on New Years Eve."

"Farkle-"

"I made a deal with Riley. If she doesn't come clean to Maya and Lucas by midnight on New Years Eve, I expose her secret."

"You can't!"

"I have to! There's nothing you can do to stop me." I sighed.

"You're right. There's not. But I certainly won't be there to watch you do it." I did manage to walk away this time, and as much as I wanted to, I didn't look back. Who knows, maybe it won't tear Riley and Maya apart...

But it's definitely doing a number on Farkle and I.