The Secret Promise

Chapter Two

The following morning, Allie dawdled during chores. She made sure to milk the cow especially well, which took a bit longer than usual, and she checked for eggs in places she usually overlooked. So when she came inside for breakfast ten minutes late, her food was already cold and her father told her she'd best hurry up. If she didn't make it to school on time, she would have to explain to Mr. Anderson, if front of all the other students, why she was late.

She quickly gulped down the lukewarm porridge, grabbed her books and slate, along with her lunch pail and made it to the front door, just as Seth was leaving.

"I thought for sure you weren't going to make it," he muttered.

"Pa said I'd have to explain in front of everyone if I was late," she said, kicking at a rock near the bottom of the steps. "Guess I'd rather not be late."

"I don't know why you have such a problem with school anyway. It's not like it's hard for you." Seth said.

"It's not because I think it's hard," she said. "It's because I miss Ma."

"Yeah, well so do I, and so does Pa. But we're making do with how things are, and you should too. Stop making things harder on Pa. It's not like he's sending you to school to punish you."

She supposed he was right. With a long sigh, she decided to make the best of things as he suggested, and she broke into a run to catch up to him. With his long stride, he had left her quite a ways behind and the last thing she wanted was to run into Lucas when she was by herself again.

Seth found a couple of his friends standing around outside and Allie headed around to the front porch. As she cut through the yard and came around the corner of the building, she suddenly skidded to a stop. Lucas was standing there with one hand on the building, leaning over Beverly who was smiling up at him. They appeared to be having a very private, whispered conversation and he didn't appear to be happy when she interrupted them. He growled down at Allie, who quickly skirted around them and hurried inside.

"She's just a kid, Lucas," Beverly giggled coyly.

"Yeah, and she irritates me," he scowled.

"Why? Because she knew how to spell a couple of big words?" she giggled. "Trust me, she'll either be pretty, or she'll be smart and so far, she's not looking all that pretty. Did you see those hideous freckles on her nose?"

"Yeah," he muttered. He'd noticed.

"Oh, I think I would just die if I had freckles," she said. "Makes her look like a poor leper!"

Allie made sure to keep an eye on her lunch pail that day, but Lucas didn't even attempt to go near it. Instead, he and Charlie waited until she and Susan had finished eating their lunch before sneaking up behind them as they looked out over the water by the nearby creek. Lucas gave Allie a push and she ended up face first in the water. She finally managed to pull herself out, with a bit of help from Susan, but by then she was soaked from the waist up. The boys ran off laughing and Susan hollered at them.

Drying off as best as she could, Allie and Susan walked back to the school house where Lucas and Charlie were waiting, sitting on the porch steps. Lucas sneered at Allie. "Your hair looks like seaweed!" he wrinkled his nose and Charlie pretended to gag.

"Leave her alone!" Susan snapped as they went up the stairs and went inside. The boys just laughed, continuing to tease her about her hair until they shut the door behind them.

Mr. Anderson looked up at them from his desk and sighed. "What's happened to you today, Miss Warner?" he asked. 

Susan opened her mouth to tell on Lucas and Charlie, but Allie just laughed softly. "I tripped into the creek, Mr. Anderson."