Adomania|Falsettos

Tired

Red was never a color the young girl enjoyed, but maroon was definitely appealing to her.
~~
"You're a liar!"

Oh, god, Whizzer, Peggy thought.

When there was no audible reply, she began walking down the stairs in fear of what happened. What she saw was surprising.

"Shut up!" Whizzer yelled, again. Marvin and Whizzer were sitting across from each other with a chess board in the middle, and Marvin was laughing like a hyena.

"I told you," Marvin said through laughs, "I didn't cheat!"

"My observation still stands," Whizzer hissed.

"What?" Peggy spoke, groggily falling onto the floor next to Whizzer.

"Sorry, kid, we didn't mean to wake you," Marvin said, still laughing a little bit.

"It's fine," she yawned. It wasn't every day you would see Marvin and Whizzer having a moment like this, so she didn't mind.

"Why are you wearing a hoodie? Isn't it hot outside?" Whizzer chuckled. Peggy could tell that Whizzer had grown worried when she didn't say anything and her eyes grew wide.

"Because it's comfy!" She spit out.

"Okay...Marvin, come make breakfast with me,"

"Wait, but—"

"You don't have work, it's Saturday. Trina is not going to make breakfast because she's mad at all of us. Now come on."

"Fine," Marvin grumbled.

Peggy was alone with a chess board until Trina came downstairs.

"Hi, Trina."

"I—hello, Peggy," Trina sighed. She wanted to be rude to the young girl, but after what happened to her with her parents, she couldn't bring herself to be mean.

"Marvin and Whizzer are making breakfast."

"Oh, that's...nice. I'm going out. If anyone asks, tell them I'm with Mendel."
~~
When Whizzer gave Marvin a look of pleading, he knew Marvin got the message. They walked into the kitchen, which was a whole room and wall apart from Peggy. Marvin opened the door and they walked in. Whizzer began to speak softly.

"Did you notice anything weird about Peggy?"

"I thought we were making breakfast."

"Marvin."

"Sorry. Yeah, she did seem a bit off."

"Why do you think she's acting so weird?"

"I dunno. Seems like she's trying to hide something."

"What do you think it is?"

"I—holy shit, Whizzer," Marvin's eyes grew wide in surprise.

"What?"

"You're an idiot. Okay, so she's hiding something, and it involved her wearing a hoodie when it's hot outside."

"Yeah?"

"And she was hiding her arms a lot yesterday when she was talking to Jason back at the house before you took them for a walk."

"Y-yeah...?"

"Whizzer, what do you think it is?"

"No. No. She's not—she can't be—No!"

"Whizzer, calm down."

"Marvin, she's not. She can't. Tell me she's not!"

"Whizzer, hon, calm down. It's fine—"

"It's not fine! It's not! It's not, it's not—"

"Whizzer!" Marvin yelled, and Whizzer was convinced he shook the house. He definitely woke up Jason, and possibly Peggy if she had dozed off.

"Stop panicking, Whizzer. Breathe."

Whizzer whimpered. He was scared. And as much as Marvin found Whizzer annoying, he had to admit that he was cute. He had totally forgotten the task at hand when he pulled Whizzer in for a hug.

"Marvin, what do I do?"

He remembered the situation.

"I think it's best if we confront her at breakfast."

"Okay,"

When breakfast was finally ready, Peggy had sat down, now awake and fully aware. She dragged along a frightened Jason who had awoken to his father's shout.

"Good morning," Marvin said.

"Morning!" Peggy smiled. Whizzer saw that it was fake from the way her eyes dulled.

"Morning," Jason nervously spoke.

"There's something we'd like to ask you, Peggy."

"Um, yeah?" She looked at Jason in question and Jason shrugged, looking back at her. They both turned their heads back to the adults. It was then they realized that Trina was gone, and Whizzer looked like he was about to burst out in panic.

"Where's mom?" Jason asked, changing the subject.

"Oh, um, she went out to go see Mendel."

"Oh."

It was clear Marvin was annoyed by this, but he kept his focus on what he originally wanted to talk about.

"Anyway, Peggy?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are you wearing that hoodie?"

"I—I already told you. It's comfy."

"Is there any other reason?"

"Nope!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yep!"

"Can you roll up your sleeves, then?"

She froze. Her face drained of color. In all the 12 years Whizzer had known her, he never saw this happen to her.

"No," she faked a giggle.

"Peggy, you know very well this isn't a game. Roll up your sleeves."

"I don't want to," she whined.

"Quit messing around."

"I...have to go to the bathroom—"

"Peggy, roll up your sleeves right now!" Whizzer shouted at the top of his lungs. The young girl was terrified. Whizzer had never yelled at her. Never.

Peggy was tired of being at that table.
Marvin and Whizzer were tired of her lies and excuses.
Jason was tired of all the shouting and anxiety that was all too clear at the table.