I wrote a story the other night about how two of the main characters met. So I give to you Charlie and Dennis becoming friends in the second grade.
Sorry for it being so long.
Let’s Be Friends!
Had she really been there the entire time? This was the thought that crossed Dennis’ mind as he
left the boy’s bathroom. She definitely could’ve been. It seemed more likely than the alternative. Appearing out of thin air just to mess with head was a very silly explanation indeed. So she must’ve been there the entire time. Something he didn’t give too much thought to as he rushed to relieve his bladder.
She looked so dorky, especially with those stupid thick glasses she was wearing. He figured that if she parted her lips into a smile they would probably reveal a mouthful of metal. She was the very essence of a nerd. She was most likely in the hall because she was ahead of the other students or something like that. One of those brainy kids who were sort of annoying and everything.
“Wow, you must be really smart, huh?” he asked the girl.
She seemed very busy. She was furiously scribbling away on a sheet of paper. She didn’t even look up when he spoke to her. She just mumbled something and continued what she was doing. He approached her so he’d have a better chance of hearing what she said.
“What?”
“No, not really,” she replied sounding quite aggravated.
“What are you doing out here for?”
She let out a frustrated sigh and looked directly at him as she slammed down her pencil. For a second she bared her clenched teeth. No metal.
“Why are you bothering me?” Frustration may have been an understatement.
“I just want to know why you’re out here. Are you smarter than the rest of the class or something?”
“If I was I wouldn’t be out her in the first place…” There was a tinge of sadness in her voice.
He was able to catch a glimpse of what she had been scribbling. He couldn’t quite help himself and he felt compelled to snatch it up to give it a closer look.
“Hey!” the girl objected.
“This isn’t math!”
“Why would it be math?!” she inquired.
“I dunno. I thought you were some sort of math or science geek or something,” he responded. “This is just a bunch of cartoons.”
“Give it back!” she exclaimed angrily.
“Charlie B?” he scoffed. “Charlie’s a boy’s name!”
“Charlie can be a girl’s name too,” she said. “Besides it’s just a nickname.”
“Oh yeah? Then what’s your real name then, huh?”
“Caroline!”
“And the B stands for?”
“BARKLOW!” she yelled.
She was fuming. He seemed to really get on her nerves.
“Wait a minute, you’re Charlie Barklow?” he asked.
“Yes. Why?”
He had heard that name before. He had actually heard that name a lot. All the time even. The terror of the 2nd grade. He had been hearing stories about Charlie Barklow for quite some time. They were always about some really crazy kid who’d blow up on the drop of a dime. It was funny because he had figured that Charlie…
“…Were a boy! I always thought the psycho was a boy! That he would keep throwing tantrums because everyone kept calling him a girl!’
“Well, I’m not. And I’m not crazy. Now give me back my math problems!” she demanded.
“These are cartoons…”
“GIVE THEM BACK!”
He studied the paper a bit more before handing it back to her. The drawings weren’t bad. They were kind of confusing though. One of them depicted a girl with glasses tearing apart what looked to be a bunch of tiny people. But it had been hastily scratched out as if she hated it or something. There was another cartoon and it showed what seemed to be the same girl with a huge smile on her face surrounded by other grinning people. He noticed that this picture was in the process of being crossed out as well. Were they supposed to be drawings of her? He handed it back before he was able to study them much longer.
“Thanks,” she said softly as she focused her attention on scribbling once more.
“I thought they looked pretty cool,” he replied. “Your drawings I mean.”
She glanced back up at him. There was a ghost of a smile on her face.
“Really?”
“Yeah! They’re neat! All I can draw is stick figures,” he laughed. “What are you doing out here anyway?”
She looked back down at her paper again. Apparently that was one question too far.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she grumbled.
“I’m sure it isn’t that bad. It can’t be any worse than anything else I’ve heard about you anyway.”
“Look, can you just leave me alone?” she pleaded. “I don’t want to get into trouble. Just leave me alone.”
Before Dennis was able to leave he heard the unmistakable sound of an opening classroom door. Charlie sat up at attention at that very moment.
“Charlie! What did I say?!” said a voice behind him.
“Bu–!”
“I thought I was giving you a break! But it seems you’ve wasted it. I swear…” the voice replied with much exapseration.
He knew that voice. It was that of Ms. Garant. She must’ve been Charlie’s teacher.
“You know what to do, Miss Barklow. Here’s your referral.”
“Bu-bu-bu. I didn’t do anything! I was just talking to this guy!” Charlie argued.
“You’re not supposed to be talking! You’re definitely not supposed to be yelling and causing a ruckus! I’ve given you one chance after another, Miss Barklow. And you keep proving to me that you don’t deserve them. So now you can go to the office and take your punishment.”
“Bu-!” There were tears welling up in Charlie’s eyes.
“No buts! Go on down there, Charlie. Now!” demanded Ms. Garant.
Dennis didn’t know what he was looking at. Charlie seemed to transform into the personification of tears, frustration and hyperventilation. And then suddenly it hit him. This was how they began. The tantrums. Every one of her emotional meltdowns must have begun exactly like this. He wasn’t sure what to do. Should he calm her down or just get out of the way? The decision was taken of out of his hands and it turned out to be neither option.
Charlie let out an angry piercing shriek that echoed through the corridor as she leapt from her desk. She then used all of her might and tried to fling the desk down the hallway. The distance that it traveled was impressive for such a small frame. She then looked down at the floor and began to sob and proceeded to storm off down the hallway.
“You’re forgetting something!”
Dennis heard her footsteps return followed by the fluttering of paper. The referral. The footsteps then stomped off into the distance.
“And who are you, young man? Turn around!”
Dennis reluctantly turned to face Ms. Garant. He was certainly in for it now.
“Oh. It’s you, Mr. Kemp. You seem to think you have the run of this school. That simply isn’t true. You can go with her down to the office.”
“You’re not the boss of me! You’re not even my teacher!” he disputed.
“I may not be, but I know who is! Go. Down. To. The. Office.”
Dennis groaned angrily and began to take the same path Charlie took to the principal’s office. He spotted the drawing that Charlie had made and picked it up. He could at least give it back to her after the trouble that he had caused.
The principal’s office was the very last place he wanted to be. He had probably been there as often as Charlie. Possibly even more often. Joyce, the secretary gave him the usual greeting. It had been burned into his brain by now.
“Hi, Dennis. She’ll be with you in a–”
“In a second,” he interrupted. “I know. I know.”
“What did you do this time?”
“Nothing!”
“That’s not going to fly, Dennis. She’s going to have to do something or she’ll look soft,” Joyce replied.
“Yeah. I know,” Dennis said sadly.
He could hear the voices behind the closed door. The door with the words “Mrs. Leontyne Kemp, Principal” stenciled on the opaque glass. His mother was trying to figure out what to do with Charlie.
Everything was muffled but he could make out some of the conversation. He could hear Charlie trying to explain herself while Mrs. Kemp sincerely apologized for what she was obligated to do. He then heard what sounded like Charlie on the phone. She was probably talking to one of her parents. Dennis was able to hear one word crystal clear: suspension. This was followed by Charlie sobbing once more.
Just then the door opened. Charlie stepped out of the office. She was trying very hard not to look like she had cried. She was clutching the goldenrod copy of the referral in her right hand. The referrals were always done in triplicate. The goldenrod copy was the one a kid had to take home for their parents to sign. He couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. This really was all his fault. He tried to pass her the drawing when she looked straight at him and shouted, “Thanks a lot, jerk!”
Mrs. Kemp stepped out of her office and called after Charlie, “Charlie, go to the room next door and wait until school’s over. No one can pick you up until a bit after class, and I can’t send you back to class. So you’ll just have to wait there. And then you can walk home. And go directly home!”
Mrs. Kemp then directed her gaze at Dennis and sighed, “Come on in, Dennis.”
Dennis took a seat in his mother’s office. He hated being in there. No matter what the occasion he felt awful every time he stepped foot inside.
“So, I see you’ve met Charlie.”
“I can’t believe that’s Charlie Barklow.”
“She’s a really good kid. Really sweet in her own little way. I just wish she didn’t let other people get to her.”
“Yeah,” he agreed.
“Once she learns to control her anger I think she’ll be much better off,” she said. “She’ll still have a long way to go, but she won’t have that on her shoulders anymore at least.”
Dennis cared about Charlie to a point but no longer wished to continue talking about her. He was worried what his punishment would be.
“You probably wondering what I’m going to do to you, yeah?” she asked.
“Correct.”
“Everyone thinks I go too easy on you. I’m afraid I’m going to have to suspend you too.”
“WHAT?!” he exclaimed. “But I didn’t do anything!”
“I know that, Dennis. But you’re a bit of a troublemaker and I need to seem like I’m not guilty of nepotism,” she explained.
“This doesn’t help. AT ALL!”
“This sends the message that I don’t play favorites. Consider it a long time coming.”
“Bu–”
Now Dennis was the one short for words.
“Tell you what, you won’t be grounded at home. Just don’t act like you’re on vacation, okay?”
Dennis grumbled and took the punishment.
“This isn’t fair. You’ve never gone easy one me. You shouldn’t worry what other people here think.”
“I wish it could be like that, buddy. But you know how things are,” she said. “Now get back to class. The bell’s going to ring soon.”
But what of Charlie? Now that he knew his punishment his thoughts returned to her. He wanted to give her back her artwork. Maybe art was too strong a word. But he liked it.
The rest of the day passed quickly. He kept staring out the window of the classroom waiting for the bell to ring. Luckily his anticipation didn’t result in prolonging the moment. As soon as the familiar clanging rang throughout the school he made sure he was the first kid out the door. He felt that if he were going to be punished, he better follow the rules and leave the school as soon as possible.
He dashed outside and looked frantically in all directions. Which way did she live? He had no idea. Maybe he should’ve went to the room next door instead of dawdling around, but he wanted to give her something special because of what he had done. It was something that required just a little extra time.
That’s when he spotted her. That messy blue-black hair was unmistakable. She was headed southbound on foot. He ran to catch up with her. This was much more taxing than he thought it would be. He kept having to stop every few seconds to catch his breath. He tried to shout to her but he never quite had the air to say anything. And waiting for it to return to him would mean she’d get further and further away.He wouldn’t let this deter him though. Eventually his efforts paid off and he caught up to the girl.
“Wa-wai-wait!” he panted. “Char-lie.”
The girl spun around to face him. She didn’t look too pleased.
“Oh, look it’s the kid who ruined my day! Maybe my life! How are you mama’s boy?”
“That’s not fair! I got suspended too!”
“GOOD!” she yelled.
“I just wanted to give you this,” he said as he reached into his backpack and pulled out her cartoons.
“You came to bother me just to give me these?! I don’t care about these!”
“Just take a look, will ya?”
Charlie let out an overly dramatic exasperated sigh and snatched the paper away from him. She was taken aback by what she saw. There were a pair of crudely drawn stick figures. One looked like it was supposed to be a girl with glasses and the other seemed to be a boy with curly hair. They both had massive grins on their faces. Above the figures were the words “Let’s be friends???”
“Who’s this supposed to be?” she said inquisitively.
“Us.”
“You didn’t even take the time to shade yourself in. This could totally be someone not black.”
“I thought the curly hair was enough,” he replied defensively.
“For all I know that could be Ben Savage.”
“Why would it be Ben Savage?” he responded in a puzzled tone.
“Everybody loves Ben Savage!” she answered.
It was true. It was 1995 and everyone did in fact love Ben Savage.
“That’s true. But it’s not him. It’s me!”
Charlie couldn’t help but smile She also couldn’t help but to say, “Sure! Why not?!”
“What? Really?”
“What’s wrong?”
“I just didn’t think it would be that easy. I mean after everythin–”
“Oh. Well, I mean yeah I’m angry at you. Extremely angry at you. I kinda want to bash your face in. But I’m just not going to do it right now,” she clarified. “But I’ve been told to treat people the way I’d like to be treated. I’ve made tons of mistakes. Big mistakes. I’ll probably make like hundreds more. And I wouldn’t want them held against me forever. So I won’t hold them against you now.”
“Huh”
“So yes. I wanna be your friend. But for right now, just go away. Please. I’m still very upset with you. And I don’t want to do something I won’t like,” she continued. “Please? Just for now?”
“I guess I’ll see you at school in a week then?” he asked.
“Yep. A week!” she replied.
“Then I’ll see you around. Don’t stay upset for too long now, ya hear?”
“I never do,” she laughed. It sounded kind of forced.
That was definitely his cue to leave. He turned around and started heading in the other direction. But every few steps he’d turn his head and glance back at her. He hoped she’d be okay. He also hoped this whole friendship thing would work out in the long run. Who knew what would happen? Certainly not him.
Finally here’s some art by my good friend Sabrina Cotugno. She’s got all the makings of a future animator at Pixar.
Alright, that’s it for now. Hope you guys enjoyed everything.
