Lady March - (L.L.)

Chapter 08

━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━

Awareness of Reality

━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━

There was a visibly tense air in-between Jo and Amy the next morning during breakfast. The two girls came down to the kitchen as-per the usual, but there was something off about the atmosphere. In the few weeks that Annie had been staying at the household, she came to learn a selective pattern in the morning hours for the other girls.

Meg, for example, was the quiet one who was just quick to eat her breakfast and help prepare it when necessary. Similarly to her, Beth was the reserved one who didn't speak much, except perhaps a small smile to the others. Jo was sitting unusually calmly at the kitchen table, and Amy (the usual chatterbox) was.

Annie knew that the feud between the two girls hadn't yet resolved. It would take some time, surely, but she just couldn't stand the sudden change in behaviour.

"So, Jo..." Annie begun with a direct plan in her mind. She was helping Marmee in the kitchen while the others sat as common. "Did you sleep well?"

Jo didn't meet the girl's eyes. In fact, she didn't even attempt to mumble out a reply, mostly because she didn't sleep well the night before.

Annie shifted her gaze to the youngest March sister, realizing that she wasn't going to get a response anytime soon from Jo. "-Alright, how about you, Ame's?"

Amy mustered out a grin, she couldn't deny the little mischievous plan that Annie had in mind. She too wanted to reconcile with Jo, and she was willing to follow whatever way possible to get her sister treating her like she wasn't some alien again.

"I'm feeling pretty upset, actually." Bingo, she thought. Amy internally smirked when she saw Jo's gaze fixed on her. She quickly gave up her smile from earlier and instead replaced it for a very noticeable frown.

Before Annie could reply, however, Jo quickly butt-in, "I should be the one who's upset." She slumped back into her chair once again, leaving no room for interjection.

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

Then both girls continued to give each other the silent treatment. By then, Annie had grown a bit irritated at both the girls. Surely, it didn't seem like it was appropriate for her to have a say in their little dispute, but she was growing uncomfortable between the two.

Without warning, she grabbed both of the girls by their wrists and practically dragged them to another room. The living room to be exact. The other family members just stared as two of them were pulled from their seats, they were a bit intimated by the foul look that was replaced with Annie's usual composed one.

"What was the meaning of that?" Jo spat as soon as her arm was let go of. She grimaced at the slight red mark that was left on her wrist because of the rather childish act.

"Don't yell at her!" Amy barged into the conversation, earning a look of disapproval from her sister. She had grown very attached to Annie in the short time the girl had been visiting, and she wasn't going to let just anyone go against the girl.

"As if you have a say in this at all, you little brat!" Their faces had both grown to look a fiery red shade, only a little bit more annoyance and they would explode. The anger the two felt at that moment was a lot to handle for Annie, so she quickly separated them, realizing that they would go at each other any second now.

"Stop it, both of you!" She shouted, standing in-between the two rage-filled girls. She felt like such a parent in that moment, it was almost scary.

Jo sneered at the older girl before dropping her gaze to the floor. "What would you know? You don't even have any sisters!" She continued, not really realizing the intensity of her words until they slid off her tongue, "Let alone a family!"

Amy's eyes welled up with tears and soon after a few drops did manage to crease her pale cheeks. She wasn't one for allowing her most vulnerable emotions to get the best of her, but this was a delicate time that she too didn't really understand.

Jo cringed, becoming ashamed at her choice of words from earlier. She glanced in Annie's direction but was relieved to see the girl didn't flinch at all. Either way. though, she knew that she shouldn't have let the comment pass so easily.

"Err...I'm so-"

"I guess you're right, Jo," Annie paused. "I know I don't have siblings. I also know I come from a broken family..."

"I didn't mean to-"

"All I'm saying is that I need you guys to realize just how much it means to truly have a family. Think about it this way, if something-God forbid-were to happen to either of you, what would you do?"

Her question was more rhetorical, but she softened when she heard a response, "we would be upset." Annie smiled at the youngest one and nodded her head.

It didn't take long for the conversation to end, even if it did start on a sour note. The two girls didn't really speak with each other, nor did they make any advances to apologizing, but Annie was just content to know that they did ponder about her words.

Amy had left the room to eat begin her breakfast, but Jo had stayed behind. She looked at Annie wearily for a moment before saying, "I'm sorry for what I said earlier." And then she walked out the room as well.

***

"I really like theatre," Meg started, sliding the fruit salad into her mouth. She almost groaned in delight, but kept her emotions in-tact because it would seem very un-lady like.

Annie studied the girl with an amused glint in her eyes. Meg was only about a year older than she was, but the two got along as if they were twins who were separated at birth. "I think you should try it out," she encouraged the girl.

Meg glanced at the girl as if she was crazy or something. The look read, you're kidding, right? However, little did she know, Annie was seriously supporting her irrational dream.

"Mother wouldn't like it," and with a gloomy expression she continued to bite down the fruits in the bowl. Truthfully, she wasn't actually sure if Marmee would object the idea or not, it was just that the woman tended to get one-sided whenever word got to Aunt March.

And personally, she didn't really think it was something she wished to pursue. Instead, Meg wanted to start a family with a man she would meet and hopefully fall in love with. That would be a discussion for another day, though.

Annie took the girl's hand and squeezed it reassuringly. She gave the girl a soft smile which indicated that to some extent, she knew what was roaming through her mind.