The sun is brightly shining, and there's a soft breeze gently blowing the leaves. The weather has been beautiful for the past few days, which has Y/n in a good mood. She wears a large smile as she enters the Harpers' house.
Her good mood doesn't dwindle when the opens the door, but a look of confusion crosses her face. Instead of the clean house that she was expecting to see, there are puppets strewn across the living room. The puppets themselves suspiciously resemble the Harper quads.
"Hey, guys. What's going on?" Y/n greets her friends with a small wave.
"Oh, hey, Y/n," Dawn smiles. "Glad you could make it. As for what's going on, don't you remember how we always come in second place at the school talent show? I, for one, am sick of it! We're practicing our puppet show, so we'll win first place this year."
"I hate losing to Pete Tibbals," Dicky angrily mutters.
"Me too," Nicky agrees, causing Y/n's eyes to be drawn to the black haired boy in front of her.
"Just because Pete Tibbals can fit his whole fist in his mouth. How's that a talent? I mean, anyone can," Dicky criticizes. Dicky then proceeds to try to stuff his entire hand into his mouth. He quickly realizes the best he can do is a few fingers and retracts them with an impressed look. "Wow. Tibbals got skills."
Ricky, never being one to keep quiet, addresses the group with a sweep of his hands. "I think we all agree, we hate losing to Pete Tibbals."
"Tibbals." The menacing growl is shared between all the quads.
"But I've got some good news. His hands grew over the summer, and he got braces!"
"So his hand doesn't fit?" Dicky blurts out the question.
"Like stuffing a bowling ball in a tube sock," Ricky clarifies with a nod of his head.
"Yes!" Nicky shouts in that adorable voice of his. "That means we're gonna win!"
"Not so fast," Dawn hastily stops the celebration before it has a chance to truly begin. "Guys, it doesn't matter who we're up against. The Pigs is a second-place show. That's why, this year, we should finally do..." A drum roll echoes throughout the room as Dawn hits her palms against the wood. "Goldilocks and the Three Bears!"
Nicky clearly doesn't like the idea because he's the first to object. "But we've been perfecting The Pigs for years. Why would we change now? This is our year."
"I agree," Dawn calmly states, "but I think we should do something fresh that'll push us over the top." When no one makes a move to agree or disagree, Dawn confidently continues. "Guys, I just want us to win."
Dicky stands up as he turns toward his sister. "So do we. We just have to agree to agree."
"But I disagree."
"Well, there's your problem."
Y/n glances around the room at her friends, who, whether they realize it or not, are becoming defensive, and decides that now is the right time to butt in. "I'm sure you'll win first place no matter what fairytale you decide on. I would like to help you guys, so if there's something I can do, just let me know." She keeps an upbeat attitude, hoping that her friends will do the same.
"Thank you for the offer, Y/n, but there's only four characters in The Pigs," Ricky immediately declines. His tone isn't quite venomous but it does hold a certain warning.
"What he means to say," Dawn speaks up, "is of course you can help. It would be great if you could help with the props for Goldilocks and the Three Bears."
"Look, there's an easy way to settle this,"
Ricky declares, his brain working like always. "All in favor of doing The Three Little Pigs again?" Three hands simultaneously go up in the air.
"It's quad-nanimous," Dicky smiles.
Dawn's face is drawn into such a tight frown that many creases are noticeable on her forehead. "Uh, it's only quad-nanimous if all four of us agree."
"What does it matter?" Ricky inquires. He clearly doesn't see the problem that Dawn does with performing the same story over and over again.
"It matters 'cause you're not listening to me. Every year, I say we should do something different, and every year, you vote against me, and every year, we come in second. What's the point of even voting?" The exasperation is starting to seep into Dawn's voice.
"She's right," Ricky agrees, surprising Dawn. Her shoulders become less tense, and she allows a small smile to flit across her face. "Voting's a waste of time."
"Thank you," Dawn sighs in relief. Her happiness is short lived, however.
"All in favor of voting of getting rid of the vote and always doing The Three Little Pigs?" Just like the previous time, three hands lift into the air. "It's settled. Boy-jority rules."
The loud sigh and pursed lips all point to annoyance as Y/n lifts her head to scowl at the boys. "Can't you guys just give Dawn's idea a chance? Who knows? It may just win you guys first place," she tries to reason with the stubborn boys.
"Sorry, Y/n. No can do," Ricky sighs. "Our idea is already a winner, so there's no point in changing it."
Dawn's patience snaps as she stands up straight. "Oh, wait. What's that I hear? Is that the second-place train? Second-second, second-second, second-second, second-second, second-second!" She pauses next to the kitchen door and glares pointedly at her brothers before mimicking a train whistle. "Lose! Lose!"
Y/n, always the loyal friend, follows her into the kitchen. "Dawn, maybe you should just do what your brothers want. Does it really matter that you've done it before? Maybe you'll win first place anyway."
The narrowing of Dawn's eyes shows Y/n that Dawn isn't buying into her sweet words. She sighs in surrender before leaning her head against the table. "Okay, you're right. There's no way the lame puppet show the boys want to do will win," she admits.
"Exactly. What can we do, though?" Dawn thoughtfully asks. An idea must have crossed her mind because she bolts upright a second later. "You and Nicky are close, right?" she asks in a sugary sweet tone.
"Yeah, why?" Y/n's eyes narrow in suspicion.
"Can you ask him to please change the puppet show?" Dawn practically begs.
"What?! No!" Y/n immediately shouts, standing up to show the power behind her answer.
"Why not?!" Dawn throws her hands up in exasperation.
"Because this isn't my puppet show." Almost as an afterthought, she adds, "Nicky wouldn't listen to me anyway."
"Fine. I guess I'm stuck performing the same old show this year too!" With that angry declaration, she storms back into the living room, Y/n right on her heels.
"Dawn, Y/n, you guys don't want to get rid of old Alice, right?" Tom asks them as soon as they've stepped into the living room.
"It doesn't matter what puppet theater we use if we put the same lame second-place show in it." Not giving anyone a chance to respond, Dawn angrily spins around on her heels and stomps upstairs.
Y/n, deciding that it's best for her to have space at the moment, stays standing at the bottom of the stairs. She glances over to where the boys and Anne are looking at the tablet screen. "This is so amazing!" Dicky gushes at whatever's on the screen.
"So much better than Alice," Ricky enthusiastically agrees.
"What are we gonna name her?"
Tom, who looks way more depressed than he should, sticks his head through the puppet theater. "This is one heck of a start to puppet season!"
~~~
Dawn enters the hallway with a dramatic sigh. "Listen. You guys were right. We should definitely do The Three Little Pigs again, but what if we spiced it up a little and did something crazy, like, I don't know... gave the wolf golden locks?"
"Interesting," Ricky hums, pretending to contemplate her suggestion. "I'm listening."
Dawn smiles and continues. "Then she could, I'm just spit-balling here, go into the pigs' house and sample their food, furnishing, and bedding."
"That could work!" Nicky exclaims, his thinking face on.
"And make the pigs bears," Dawn pushes her luck.
A smile flits across Dicky's face. "Let's vote on it."
"All in favor of telling Dawn she's not fooling us and the only way to win is sticking with The Three Little Pigs?" Ricky questions the group.
To absolutely nobody's surprise, all the boys raise their hands. "I thought you weren't voting anymore," Dawn reminds them, her voice full of sass.
"All in favor of reinstating the vote so we can vote Dawn down?" Three hands lift into the air.
"That isn't very nice, Ricky," a voice calls from across the hallway. The quads glance up to see Y/n standing a few feet away from them, leaning against the lockers. "Are you still voting on what you should do for the puppet show?"
"Oh, hey, Y/n," Ricky greets the girl. "We don't need to vote on the puppet show anymore because we already know what we're doing," he smiles sickeningly sweet at Dawn.
"Don't forget we're rehearsing after school," Nicky reminds his sister.
"And you won't be needing this," Ricky rips the golden wig away from her, causing her to send him a death glare.
"Don't worry, Dawn," Y/n walks up to her once the boys are gone. "I'm sure you'll find some way to make your puppet show a reality."
"Hey, Dawn. Hey, Y/n," Mack pops up behind them.
"Hey, Mack," the girls greet him.
"So, listen, Dawn, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to kick the ball around after school?" Mack asks her.
Y/n, knowing Dawn has a crush on him, fully expects her to immediately agree. That's why her mouth falls open in shock when Dawn declines his offer. "I can't. I actually have practice."
A high-pitched voice cuts through the silence. "Look at me. I'm Dawn."
"Little Goldilocks! Give me the wig! It's my turn to play second place," Ricky shouts, grabbing the wig off of Dicky's head.
"I'm usually not one to tell you to ditch your brothers," Y/n whispers to Dawn, being sure to glare at the boys, "but they're not exactly being the kindest to you right now. If you want to hang out with Mack instead of them, I fully support you."
Dawn thinks carefully, albeit briefly, about her decision. She loves her brothers and hates to hurt them, but they won't listen to her. If skipping one practice gets her brothers to consider her ideas, maybe angering them this once will be worth it. "Nothing," Dawn turns to Mack. "I have nothing to practice after school. I'd love to hang out."
Mack flashes her a sweet smile. "Great. See you then."
Dawn watches as her crush walks away. As soon as he's no longer in hearing range, she holds up the girl puppet and pretends she's talking. "Oh, no, you didn't." Dawn looks wide-eyed at the puppet girl. "Oh, yes, I did!"
"Way to go, Dawn," Y/n congratulates her friend. "You guys will have fun playing soccer together."
~~~
"Hey, Mom," Y/n greets her mother, who is busy making dinner. She's usually at work during the time Y/n would normally eat dinner, so having her at home is a treat. The delicious scent of pasta and cheese sauce wafts across the room.
"Hey, Y/n. How was school?" her mother asks.
"It was great," Y/n happily responds. "That's actually what I want to talk to you about. There's this talent show at school in a few days, and the quads are putting on a puppet show. I really want to be a part of the talent show, but I'm not sure what to do. I was thinking about singing, but I want to be in the puppet show with the quads. What do you think I should do?"
"Well," M/n smiles at her daughter, leaning down to place a hand on her shoulder, "I think both ideas are wonderful. You have a talent for singing, but I also know how much you love the quads. I think that if you want to join their puppet show, you should go over to their house and ask them if it would be okay for you to join. You better hurry, though. Dinner's almost ready."
"Alright, thanks, Mom," the h/c haired girl wraps her mom in a hug before racing out the door. Her mom's right. If she wants to be in the quads' puppet show, she simply needs to ask them.
She marches through the Harpers' front door, holding her head high with confidence. They're her best friends. There's no way they'll say no. Right? Even if they do say no, she's sure they'll have a good reason.
All the confidence that stuck with her on the walk to their house disappears the moment she enters the kitchen. The quads, instead of working together on their puppet show harmoniously, are yelling and fighting with each other. Dawn's face is turned into a frown, and anger shows on the boys' faces. What in the world happened?
"Guys, what's wrong?" the confused girl questions her friends.
"Y/n, I'm so glad you're here!" Ricky cries the moment he spots her. "Dawn missed practice to hang out with Mack, and now she's refusing to practice with us at all until we change the puppet show to what she wants."
"Um, yeah, sorry about that," Y/n sheepishly replies, her fingers nervously picking at the skin on her palm. "I'm the one who told Dawn she should skip rehearsal to hang out with Mack," the flustered girl admits. "I never told her to stop rehearsing with you altogether, though." She keeps her eyes trained on the ground, not able to look into her friend's faces, in fear that she'll only find anger etched into their features.
Nicky's face rearranges itself into a scowl. "Why would you do that? I thought we were your friends!"
"Of course you're my friends! I didn't mean to hurt you guys! It's just that you were being so rude to Dawn earlier, and she really wanted to hang out with Mack," she defends herself.
"Don't blame Y/n," Dawn finally steps in. She had previously been listening to the conversation quietly from the side of the kitchen, but she's not about to let her friend take all the blame. "I'm the one who chose to hang out with him."
"Look, I'm really sorry, guys," Y/n apologizes to all three boys, although her gaze is fixed on Nicky. "I came over here today, though, because I'm wondering if there's any way I can join your puppet show."
"I don't know, Y/n. We already have enough people,"
Ricky doubtfully tells the girl, causing the hope bubbling in her chest to vanish.
"Come on, Ricky," Nicky suddenly butts in, giving Y/n a little bit of hope back. "I'm sure there's something Y/n can do."
When Y/n glances up at Nicky to profess her gratitude, her heart almost melts at the loving look he's giving her. "Thank you, Nicky," she whispers so quietly that it's almost like she never said anything to begin with.
"Oh, no, you don't!" Dawn suddenly shouts, ruining the moment. "You can join our puppet show when the boys admit that my idea is the only way we'll win."
"Yeah, that's not going to happen," Ricky scoffs.
"Fine then," Dawn cries in frustration, waving her arms in the air. "Y/n and I won't come back until you decide to go with my idea. Come on, Y/n!"
Y/n watches in despair as her friend stomps out of the kitchen. "Sorry, guys," she apologizes to the flabbergasted boys before following Dawn. Oh, how did she manage to make things so much worse?
~~~
"I can't believe they told Mack not to hang out with me!" Dawn growls in fury.
"Look, I'm not saying that what they did was right, but you did abandon them. Why can't we just do The Three Pigs?" Y/n questions her friend as they enter the house. The door slams shut as Dawn closes it in anger.
"I'm not wasting all my time practicing a second place puppet show. I want to win first place. That's the only way I'll start practicing again. Since you're my friend, you need to stand by me," Dawn explains her thought process.
"But I'm all four of your friends," Y/n reminds her.
"Yeah, but the boys are being stubborn and rude. I need you on my side," she turns around, gripping Y/n's hands in hers. "Please."
Y/n stares into Dawn's eyes, which are watering with unshed tears. "Alright, fine. You owe me, though."
"Thank you," Dawn sighs in relief. She's so happy that not everyone is against her. "Let's go greet the boys."
"Alright, but be nice," Y/n warns Dawn.
Dawn pushes the kitchen door open with a stronger force than is needed and storms into the room. "So I hear three littles piggies popped in for an impromptu puppet powwow with a pretty pepper pot."
Dawn gets so close to the boys' faces that Y/n fears she might accidentally smack them with her head. "So much for being nice."
The boys' faces scrunch up in disgust as they wipe Dawn's spit off of their skin. "At least our puppets didn't spit," Dicky complains.
"Next time, stay away from Mack." Dawn's eyes are burning with rage, and Y/n herself almost flinches under her gaze.
"We only talked to Mack because we're never gonna win first place if you don't show up to practice," Ricky defends himself and his brothers.
"Well, I'd rather hang out with Mack than practice some dumb old play that's not gonna win first place."
"You know what?" Nicky stares in disappointment at his sister. "Mack's not the problem. You are, Dawn."
"Guys, maybe we should all just calm down," Y/n suggests, realizing that this argument isn't going to resolve itself. Everyone's so heated that they're not even talking anymore; they're full on screaming.
Although Y/n's hoping they'll listen to her, she's not really expecting them to. The boys surprise her by calming down slightly and taking a few deep breaths.
Dawn, however, is so worked up that there's no way she's going to listen to reason. "Oh, I'm the problem? Okay, then fine. Problem solved. I quit."
"What?"
"Have fun coming in last."
"You don't get to tell us what to do!"
"I'm sorry, guys," Y/n apologizes, still appalled over Dawn's behavior. "I tried talking to her. She's not budging. It's up to you guys to decide which is more important. First place in the school talent show or your sister."
~~~
"Hey, honey, how was school?" M/n greets her daughter as she hands her light pink coat on the rack.
"It was good. The quads are still fighting, but Dawn and Mack asked me to be on their puppet show. I'm playing Mama Bear. We've already practices and everything!" the excited girl tells her mom.
"That's wonderful, sweetie. I'm so proud of you," M/n warmly says. "I'm sure the quads will work out their issues soon and go back to being best of friends."
"I sure hope you're right."
"Oh, I almost forgot to tell you!" M/n gasps. "I know how's important tonight odd for you, so I managed to greet tonight of from work. Your father still has to work late, but I'll be with you at upper school tonight."
As soon as M/n shares the news, Y/n's eyes light up with joy. M/n can practically feel the excitement radiating off of her daughter. "Well, I have to start getting ready. The talent show starts on an upper and a half. You should start getting ready soon too."
After getting a brief nod, M/n excuses herself to go do her makeup.
Once Y/n is alone in the living room, she realizes just how hungry she is. Dawn, Mack, and her had practiced their puppet show during lunch, so she hadn't really had time to eat much. She decides that a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is what she wants.
She's halfway through smearing the creamy peanut butter on the bread when the doorbell rings. "Can you get that, Y/n?" M/n calls from upstairs.
"Sure, Mom!" She expects to see Dawn and is more than surprised to see Nicky standing in front of the door, looking very uncomfortable. The boys and her haven't really been on good terms since the whole Mack incident. "Hey, Nicky. Uh, come on in."
She steps aside to let him into the house. The door slams closed behind them. "Hi, Y/n. It's good to see you," Nicky quietly speaks after a few seconds of awkward silence.
"It's good to see you too," the h/c haired girl admits. "I've missed hanging out with you guys. Especially you, Nicky."
"Funny you should mention that," Nicky clears his throat. "I actually came over to ask you to please not participate in Dawn's puppet show."
"What?" Y/n bristles at Nicky's unexpected request. How could he ask this of her? He knows how much this means to her.
"I'm not trying to hurt you, but we really need another person, and we want you to join our puppet show," Nicky explains the reason behind his request.
Y/n's brows furrows in confusion, and she gently bites her lips, rolling it in between her teeth. She never expected this to happen. What should she do? She already promised Dawn and practices with her, but now she has a chance of being in the same puppet show as Nicky. She loudly exhaled and shakes her head, knowing that there's only one right thing to do.
"Look, I appreciate the offer, and if I'm being completely honest, I would love to perform a puppet show with you, but I can't. I already promised Dawn I would perform with her, and I can't break my promise. Please understand," she begs Nicky, her hands clutching the fabric of her shirt.
The two of them hold eye contact for a good amount of time before Nicky gives a faint nod. "I do," he assures her. "I wish we were doing a puppet show all together, though. I hate fighting with one another."
"Believe me, Nicky. I hate it as well."
~~~
"This truly is a lovely school," M/n comments as Y/n leads her through the hallways.
"Yeah, I wish I had time to give you a tour, but our puppet show is supposed to start in seven minutes," the girl regretfully tells her mom.
She's dressed in an all black outfit, which makes her feel like a thief. She never did understand why people putting on puppet shows wear all black. Oh well. Maybe she'll find out one day.
"Oh, it looks like a puppet show has already started," M/n points out upon entering the gym. "Wait, aren't those the quads' voices?"
Y/n pauses to listen to the people who are taking on the stage. After listening to a couple of sentences, she realizes her mom's right. Even though the voices are slightly different than normal, they unmistakably belong to the quads.
"Little Pig! Little Pig! Let me come in," the wolf, who Y/n believes is Ricky, shouts.
"Not by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin," Dicky's pig responds.
"Well, then I'll huff... and I'll puff... and I'll blow your house down!"
Everything seems to be going well until Goldilocks pops ups from behind the puppet stage. "You call that puffing? The previous wolf was way better," she declares.
The puppet show only goes downhill from there. The quads continue to fight, and the puppet show gets to the point where it no longer makes any sense. It continues on like this for a few minutes until the side of the stage breaks, revealing the quads concealed behind it. They run off stage as of they were running a race.
"Oh, no," Y/n whispers, her cheeks burning bright red in embark for them. "I'm going to go check on my friends, Mom. How about you find a seat and enjoy the rest of the show?" Y/n rushes off before her mom has a chance to respond.
"No, your fault!" she hears Ricky scream as she slips through the curtains.
"You totally embarrassed us!"
"I hope you're happy."
Y/n can no longer understand what they're saying because they start yelling over one another. Tom and Anne are obviously concerned as well because they're suddenly walking into the stage. "Hey!"
"Stop it!" Tom shouts, trying to get them to quiet down.
"What is this all about?" Anne questions her kids.
"They started it!"
"She started it!"
"Dawn, we're up," Mack suddenly peaks his head through the curtains.
"Not now!" all four quads shout simultaneously.
"Whoa, what has gotten into you guys?" Tom asks, his brows raised in disbelief at what he's seeing.
"Yeah, I thought you were working together," Anne says.
"I think you guys missed a lot," Y/n tells Tom and Anne. "They haven't been working together for days."
"Yeah, if we were really working together, they wouldn't always vote against me," Dawn reveals, gesturing toward the boys.
"We don't always vote against you," Ricky protests.
"I'm with Ricky," Dicky declares.
"Me too," Nicky agrees. Both of their hands lift into the air.
"Um, you guys just proved her point," Y/n mentions in a bored tone.
"See?" Dawn scoffs. "You don't even realize you're doing it."
"But we voted. It's fair," Ricky argues his point.
"It may be fair, but it's not right," Dawn states her feelings.
"You know what's not right?" Nicky asks, bitterness in every word. "Not getting your way and bailing on us."
"And then replacing us with Mack and Y/n," Ricky adds. "No offense, Y/n."
"None taken," the girl assures him.
"At least they listen to me," Dawn fires back.
"And he's scary good at puppets," Dicky reminds everyone.
"Yes, we know he's good," Ricky tells his brother, his tone boarder lining on dangerous. "But it's not about Mack. You just made us mad. We were upset because we knew without you, we had no chance of winning," Ricky finally admits, looking his sister in the eyes.
"And I knew I couldn't win without you either," Dawn reveals.
"Hey, do you doubt my puppet skills that much?" Y/n teases, breaking the awkward silence.
A grin spreads across Dawn's face. "Of course not," she chuckles, smiling softly at Y/n. "I just wanted to be heard," she turns back to her siblings.
"Well, then maybe we should try and be better listeners," Ricky finally concludes. "All in favor of being better listeners?" All four quads' hands go into the air.
Dawn sighs in relief and joy. "It's quad-nanimous."
"I'm so glad you guys finally made up," Y/n smiles, running up too the quads and pulling them into a group hug. "I hate when you fight."
"Oh, we're so proud of you," Anne lovingly tells her kids.
"Truth is, you never had a shot anyway. I mean, look at that kid," Tom mentions.
All of the kids glances out from behind the curtains to see Mack lying on his back behind the stage. He has puppets on his hands and feet. At the same time, he's singing and making the puppets look like they're the ones singing. There are at least four different voices in the mix, and the kids stare in awe at the talented boy in front of them.
"Man, that must be one heck of a camp," Ricky sighs.
"Okay, guys," Y/n suddenly straightens up, clapping her hands together. "We might not have a chance of winning, but let's get back out there."
All of the quads stare at their friends in complete shock. "Now?" Ricky asks completely baffled.
"Of course," Y/n just smiles. "After all, I promised my mom a puppet show."