ROMAN HOLIDAY ; amy & laurie

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"How come I've never seen Laurie at school when he lives right next door?" Meg asked Jo. The four March sisters were spending their Sunday afternoon in the living room. Jo had asked them to help her make edits to her new play.

"He's rich. Probably has a private tutor or something," Jo suggested

"Private tutor?" Amy asked

"Yes, use your brain." Jo lightly flicked Amy on her way to the sofa.

"Ow!" Amy squinted, "European and rich?"

"Remember when he had his grandfather give us a literal feast on Christmas? A normal person couldn't pay for all that, let alone give it to someone else." Jo got up from the sofa and led her sisters to the window. "Just look at his house."

The four girls gazed at the massive palace-like building on the other side of the hill. They had always wondered what it was like to live in a house that didn't look like a home.

"That's his house?" Beth asked

"We should be his friends," said Jo

"Boys scare me," Beth replied, "And that house scares me."

"Claire Snow says Mr. Laurence disowned his son after he had an affair with some Italian woman, and now his grandson is an orphan who spends every day locked up in his house, probably with that tutor," Amy told her sisters

"Oh, that's so sad," Meg sympathized in a motherly fashion

"Doesn't Laurie just seem so romantic? He's half Italian." Amy gushed, recalling his pale face and dark features.

"Oh, give it up, heart eyes," Jo chided, "he's like three years older than you."

"I just said he was Italian! Why do you want him all to yourself, Jo, I thought you didn't want to get married?"

"Of course I don't. I'm in no rush to give up my freedom. He's all yours, Meg."

"I'm good. That's like a third-grader dating a first grader." Meg declined.

"So?"

"So, no thank you."

"You'll regret saying that one day when he finds some gorgeous, snobby wife who only wants him for his money!" Jo protested as she opened the half-broken family laptop to continue editing her script.

"How would you know that's going to happen?" Beth asked

"Jo, I think I'll know true love when I see it," said Meg

"Ugh, you're such a romantic." Jo rolled her eyes. "Dammit, now the "M" key is gone too!"

─

Amy couldn't focus in class. And she couldn't tell you why because there were simply too many reasons. But mostly because math was very boring.

She was mentally distanced from the rest of her class. Not a single word Mr. Davis said was bearable to listen to. She didn't like Mr. Davis anyway, so she decided to doodle a funny drawing of him on the corner of her worksheet. That wouldn't hurt anyone.

Amy received after-school detention.

She finally left school at 4:30. She started the walk home and she began to cry. Mr. Davis or the secretary had most likely already called Marmee and there was no way Amy could possibly go home. Not without being resented, probably by Jo.