Lady March - (L.L.)

Chapter 07

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Embarrassed Retaliation

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Laurie stood by the front door with his winter coat in hand. He invited Jo and Meg to dinner with him and his tutor, John. It was a last-minute preparation anyway, so he completely forgot about inviting the rest of the girls with him.

Annie was at the door too, waving him goodbye. From the corner of her eye, she noticed the youngest March sister, Amy, staring at the whole occurrence shyly. Laurie glided his hand through his hair as if to fix it up a bit.

"--And you're a hundred percent certain you don't want to tag along?" Laurie slipped his arms through the jacket, not taking his gaze off the girl.

Annie snickered. "I really wouldn't like to just 'tag along,' Theo," she teased light-heartedly.

Laurie frowned and didn't bother to button-up his coat. Winter was far from over in their little town, but he was acting as if he'd seen worse when it came to the weather. "You know I didn't mean it like that," he reassured her.

What took him off guard was when he heard a small chuckle coming from behind Annie. Turning to that direction, a smile crept upon his lips when he noticed none other than little Amy March. She was laughing at Laurie's obliviousness.

"What has you all giggled about?" Laurie asked the younger one with a smirk on his face. He always found Amy to be very adorable, ever since meeting her the night of the Christmas Eve party, it always brought a smile whenever she was around. Suddenly feeling self-conscious, he frowned at his choice of outfit for the night. "I'm not dressed funny, right?" He eventually added.

That comment, however, only made Amy giggle even more. "No, of course not!" She said in-between laughs. "I'm laughing because you didn't get the fact that Annie's just teasing you."

Laurie's cheeks turned profusely pink with embarrassment. He rubbed the back of his neck with his gaze set on the ground. "Er, well--"

His poor explanation was interrupted by Annie quietly scolding Amy. He looked up to admire the girl for a second, before Jo rushed into the house, catching everyone's attention. She noticed the way that Amy was practically drooling over Laurie and took the action to her advantage.

"Laurie, we have to go," Jo said, rather calmly, as she observed her youngest sister. She tugged on the boy's arm, ushering for him to leave with her. "Come on, the carriage is waiting."

Annie seemed to notice what Jo was secretly plotting and she wasn't really liking the idea. Glancing at Amy she noticed how the girl's face had suddenly become red with emotion. "I don't get it Jo, why didn't you tell us about it?" Amy was referring to the fact that Jo knew about the dinner plans days prior to the night they were to happen.

"Come on Amy, let's-"

"I don't want your little crush on Laurie interfering with our perfectly good dinner plans." That was when Amy's face had turned completely pale from -- what Annie recognized it

-- humiliation. She shot Jo a disapproving look and didn't even bother to acknowledge the awkward tension that was happening with the Laurence boy.

"I'm going to get going," Laurie pointed outside with his thumb briefly before leaving as well. Jo smirked at the younger girl who looked like she was going to probably explode from anger. Quickly walking out as well, she shut the door behind her, causing an array of cold air to dash into the room.

Annie paced towards Amy and placed a comforting hand on the girl's shoulders, accompanying her towards the main hall.

***

"Open up!" Jo knocked furiously on Amy's bedroom door. Ever since finding out that she had lost her notebook earlier today, she couldn't help but put all the blame on the youngest girl because of the commotion from earlier. "I know you're in here!" There were tears pricking her eyes.

That notebook meant more to her than anyone could imagine. As an aspiring writer, she put all of her best ideas into that book. If something were to happen to it, or fallen into the wrong hands, she would be better off dead.

Annie was inside the room trying to calm down an otherwise panicked Amy. The young girl was hyperventilating out of fear and wasn't sure how to calm down. Good thing they were quick to lock the door or Jo would've barged into the room.

"You have nothing to worry for, dear," she attempted to hush the younger girl by rubbing her back calmly. "You didn't take the book now did you?"

"But I did," Amy spoke between sobs. She was hugging Annie like no tomorrow, hoping to find some sort of security from her. Knowing that she was going to asked what happened with it, she continued, "I-I burnt it..."

Annie shook her head and pinched the tip of her nose. Carefully removing the girl from the embraced position, she went over to the door. Amy quickly retaliated, "Wait, what are you doing-"

"It's alright," she assured the panic-stricken girl. "I won't let her hurt you." Unlocking the door, she held it tightly and opened it. Jo's face was bright with rage and almost got in if it wasn't for Annie blocking the door.

"You little twit!" Jo screamed and Annie cringed at the volume. "How dare you burn my book? You're so-"

Before any more could be said, Annie went out the door, shutting it behind her. She frowned at how it looked like Jo had been clearly crying earlier.

"I'm sorry about your book," she said quietly.

Jo chuckled in irritation. "I don't need your sympathy."