Marriane wakes up 6 a.m sharp every day, as she always had been. When the birds are just starting their chirp recitals and when the sun is considering whether or not to come out of hiding, Marriane is awake. In her dainty pink nightgown and Mr. Sqwaddles that had his own place near her on her pillow, she sat up, wide awake.
She climbs out of her pink covered and metal framed bed to go over to her desk, where she decides to draw a bunny. The young Pinwick has always had an interest in drawing as she drew something every morning, more so what happens in her mind at three when she has splendid dreams.
"Marriane, time to get ready." At seven, she hears her mother's call and hides her drawing in her secret spot under her bed which in reality was very noticeable as all her crayon scribbled drawings showed at an angle. She runs to the door and reaches up to turn the door knob, letting her mother in who was in a nice, yellow house dress.
"Mother, can I ask you a question?" Marriane asks as her mother fixes her hair as she sat at her vanity while her mother put ribbons in her hair.
"What is it?" Mrs. Pinwick asks as she picks up the brush. Marriane pouts and crosses her arms over her chest.
"Why must I go to school? The world would be a much better place without it." She huffs as her mother brushes through her auburn tresses.
"Well, so you can be a smart girl." Her mother answers simply as she contemplates whether or not she likes the hair style she gave the girl.
"I don't want to be a smart girl!" She swings her legs up and down as her mother finishes putting her braids in a neat bun with a nice red ribbon. Her mother flicks the side of her head with her index and thumb, making Marriane flinch and recoil.
"Don't say that, girl. Now, come down for breakfast." Her mother instructs as Marriane rubs her head with inflated cheeks.
"Oh, Ethan! Mother is so cruel to me, why never you?" Marriane complains, tugging on the edge of Ethan's school blazer as he sits at the table eating his breakfast their mother prepared for them.
"Most likely because you're a little girl who never listens." He says as he swallows the eggs that were fed to him by Mrs. Pinwick since he can't do much with his broken arms.
"You're no different! It's only a six year age difference." She responds, crossing her arms over her chest with a huff. "Eight years," he corrects before he's fed another bite of pancakes and eggs.
"So what?" She frowns and runs around the table to her father, who sat reading the newspaper silently. She sighs and stretches her body over his lap, laying her stomach on his thighs as she looks down at the beige carpet that laid under the spruce table and chairs.
"Daddy, aren't I a splendid girl? So why does mother continue her cruelty with me?" She asks softly as she hangs limply across her father's thighs.
Her father sat down his newspaper and began to pet her head. "Nobody is cruel to you, Marriane. Your mother and I only show you loving discipline." He explains in a soft tone as she looks longingly at the carpet.
"Loving discipline? More like you never let me have fun!" She huffs, kicking her legs in frustration until her mother tells her to quit.
"I'm going out now." Ethan says as he slides on his shoes and gets help from his mother to slide the blue bag over his neck and allow it to hang on his side.
"Right, have a great day at school and don't stress your arms." Mrs. Pinwick says softly as Ethan exits the building before she goes back to cleaning off the table.
"Ready to go, Marriane?" Her father asks as she gets off of him and heads to her chair to eat her eggs and pancakes.
"No, no, five more minutes!" She starts to scarf everything down and her mother sets a glass of water beside her plate.
"Slow down before you get sick." Her mother giggles, collecting Ethan's and her husband's plate and setting it in the sink. Marriane takes a big gulp of water behind her food before jumping off the chair and getting her scarf from the mini coat rack near the door they got for her.
"Let's go now, father! We have to hurry so I can see Arlo!" She pulls on her father's jacket sleeve in hopes that he would hurry and come with.
"Just a minute ago, you were begging not to go to school." He murmurs as he slides on his shoes and coat, placing a nice burgundy gatsby on his head.
"Oh, Oliver, don't forget to see Ranker. Here, Marriane." Mrs. Pinwick says as she kneels down to Marriane's height and gives her lunchbox to her. Marriane grins and pecks her mother's cheek in affection and thanks as her mother pats her head before standing straight.
"Have a good day at school, see you when you get home." Her mother says with a soft smile before giving her husband a nice farewell kiss before Marriane and him embark on a short walk to school.
The sun decided not to show today as it was cloudy, leaving the sun visionless on where to point its rays at down below.
"Daddy, I can't stand another lecture from Mr. Tinsel! He's always, Marriane, why did you do this? And, Marriane, how come your work isn't done? Sorry if I'm not as smart as Arlo! Just because I hang around him doesn't mean I know all of this writing." She rants with inflated cheeks, holding her father's hand as they walk down the dirt road together.
"Arlo is a bright boy." Mr. Pinwick comments simply as he stares straight ahead.
"Uh huh, he is! He even knows how to do big addition and what even is division?" She tilts her head questionably before shaking it as they reach the school.
"I have to go now, daddy! Oh, make sure to take care of Mr. Sqwaddles!" She grins and waves her father goodbye before running into the school gates.
"Arlo!" She spots the blonde haired boy sitting under a tree near the school and close to the splashing river that was decorated nicely along the river bank with rocks.
She runs up to him at about full force and hugs him, making him wobble for a moment before he comes to a still. The boy doesn't react as she decorates his cheeks with childish kisses, already a daring move at their age.
"Oh, Arlo! May you not believe how cruel my mother is!" She sighs dramatically as she tilts her head back and places a hand over her forehead. The boy doesn't respond and flips a page in his book. The book was nicely decorated and it seemed to be one about mathematics.
How strange he was to Marriane. It was a big book and she admired how gifted he was. "Anywho, she flicked my head because I said I don't want to be smart. How rude! How come they never let me have any fun?" She softly sighs again, leaning against the tree behind them as she clicks her mary janes together.
"Hey, are you listening?" She inflates her cheeks and grabs his shoulders, shaking him until he looks up at her with his grey eyes.
"Yes, I am." Spoke the blonde boy softly before he looked back down at his book that was in his lap.
Marriane smiles brightly and goes back to her place next to him. The boy spoke ever softly and that was ever cute to Marriane!
Before she can speak again, the school bell rings and the rest of the kids outside start to make their way inside.
Marriane stands and brushes off the dirt and dust off her dress before turning to face Arlo.
"Come now, school is in session! Oh, I am very happy it is Friday. Say, let's have a playdate tomorrow?" She offers as Arlo closes his book and begins to stand. He doesn't answer and just blinks as she grabs her wrist and starts to drag him into the building.
Once they make it down the hallway, they have their seats at their desk in Mr. Tinsel's classroom.
"Marriane, did you know we had a spelling test today?" Darling Daisy leans over her desk and whispers it to her. Daisy was a kind girl as she was called Darling Daisy, also one of Marriane's close friends. She had always worn her black hair out and it would nicely flow down her back.
"Oh no…" Marriane trails off in despair as Mr. Tinsel walks into the classroom in a stiff, army walk.
"Today we will review place value with addition and subtraction. Also, please be mindful you all have a spelling test today." He says, shouting each word fully as if the children were partially deaf before.
Marriane is completely lost as she gets her spelling test. Mr. Tinsel calls out the words and she tries the best she could.
She took a peak at Arlo who seemed to focus solely on his own paper.
"Spell, Dolphin." Mr. Tinsel calls out the last word and Marriane thinks long and hard before scribbling on her paper;
"Dolfin."
The girl, thinking she did amazing, turns in her test at his desk as the class is dismissed for recess.
"Oh, Arlo, why must Mr. Tinsel allow us children to suffer? Who gives children math worksheets for fun?" She complains as she sits beside Arlo at the same spot they were during the morning, under the shade of the same oak.
Arlo, of course, was reading a book as she observed he always did no matter what he was doing.
"How do you spell dolphin?" She asks, curious on if she got it right on her spelling test and she looks over to him.
With the same soft voice, he speaks up. "D. O. L. P. H. I. N."
Marriane's face pales and she kicks her legs against the dirt and grass they sat on frustratingly. "That doesn't even make sense! I sounded it out and everything, humph!" She crosses her arms and stares down at the river that was not so far away.
The children were forbidden to go near it, but Marriane was not so much a fan of rules. She wanted to have fun and such things were restricting.
"Let's go play at the river! We can play princesses and pirates, me the princess of course." She suggests and Arlo does not respond, only flipping the page in his mathematics book.
"Whatever, I don't need you to have fun!" She huffs and stands up, looking around for any adults before briskly making her way to the river, going around to the back of the school.
She gets to the riverbank where the rocks decorated it nicely along the sides and grabs a stick nearby and crouches down, sticking it in the water.
She watches as the water flows around the stick before she spots a fish, a small fish it was but Marriane was more than intrigued.
She tried to poke the fish but it kept squirming and moving out the way.
"Hey, stop—" She tries to poke it, more stubborn and determined than she should be for a near impossible task with just a stick. Once frustrated, she throws the stick into the river and watches it flow downstream.
Instead however, she rolls up her sleeves and pounces at the fish. It might have seemed not the smartest decision, but as a girl who was six, she focuses on what she wants rather than reason.
Oh, the poor girl didn't catch the fish and now probably started to realize she didn't know how to swim.
"Marriane!" She hears a familiar voice as she splashes in a panic in the water. She spots glimpses of a frantic Arlo as he runs to get a teacher. Oh, she was in so much trouble!
"Help! Help me!" She screeches as the river takes her away and her arms splashing around to try and keep her body afloat.
Of course, the worst teacher imaginable comes to her rescue. Mr. Tinsel rushes over and in the most military fashion, he dives into the water.
Marriane was starting to lose her consciousness, too much water inhaled and she felt like she couldn't breathe.
She gasps awake and gags, retching out water onto the grassy field next to her. She looked around in slight panic, not knowing what was going on or who was there due to her blurry vision.
"Stay calm, the doctor's are coming with transport." She hears a gruff voice say to her and she recognizes it as her least favorite teacher's voice.
She gasps for air, clawing at anything near her which was only getting dirt under her fingernails.
"Listen to Mr. Tinsel, stay calm, Marriane." She looks up to see Arlo looking down at her with a concerned expression with his bottom lip quivering.
Oh, she felt like she couldn't breathe but it was slowly becoming less pressure on her lungs as she breathed in more oxygen.
Soon, the medics arrive and she's transported to the hospital. She felt so tired and was sure her father was going to give her a nice scolding.