Eugene and Charlotte weren’t exactly popular at school. However, they were definitely respected within their social circle of kids who were always looking for adventures (which the school administration called “trouble”) as long as there was no risk of their parents finding out. In fact, the sworn siblings were experts at making excuses in front of adults.

“We both worked hard to flesh out the ultimate strategy for lying,” Charlotte recounted, “but I could hardly ever match Eugene’s twists on it. When Aunt Alice asked us where we had been, he always replied, ‘Just walking around the neighborhood,’ without a blink. And when I asked him how he could lie with such a straight face, he told me that technically, he wasn’t lying at all, as he never specified around which neighborhood we were walking that day.”

“Hang on,” Lorraine stopped her, “that can’t always work. There’s no way you can always avoid actual lying by just not revealing all the details. Like, what if she asked you directly if you were in the neighborhood where Bob, Bill, and Blake hung out?”

“Good catch,” Charlotte winked. To be honest, she did not expect Lorraine to analyze her words that well. “The general way to lie perfectly is a little different. We always took note of the different ways of telling that someone is lying and once heard an interesting fact that even if you train yourself to make eye contact and not fiddle with your hands while telling a lie, your facial expression always shows your true emotions for a split second. So all you need to do to lie realistically is to make sure that your lie would cause you to have those same emotions that the truth causes. When Eugene told Aunt Alice of our whereabouts, he firmly believed that she had nothing to worry about, just as if he would believe if we actually never left our neighborhood.”

And then Charlotte suddenly realized that she was again teaching Lorraine something bad. She first told her sister how to beat someone up painfully, and now Lorraine would also be able to lie to her parents. 

“That only works if your parents don’t do a fact check on your lie, though,” she added, “so if you want them to have an impression that you’re generally honest, it’s better to not lie if it isn’t necessary.”

That sounded more as a tip than a precaution. Without any other ideas on correcting her error, Charlotte returned to the story.

Mr. Brown seemed agreeable at first. He took Eugene and Charlotte to his place, made them rinse the cuts and handed some band aids, and scolded them only slightly for choosing blackmail as their way of dealing with the gang. So when this understanding gentleman announced that he would call the sworn siblings’ guardians and tell the adults about the fist fight, Eugene paled. Charlotte was still trying to joke their way out of the call home, but he already realized that there was nothing that could persuade Mr. Brown, who was so adamant in his decision to correct the gang. Only their earnest confession to Aunt Alice and Mrs. Rollings before they would hear about the fight from Mr. Brown could ameliorate the situation. 

Thus, Eugene quickly said good-bye to Mr. Brown, not being able to force a smile, and then he and Charlotte ran to his house as fast as they could (they left Mrs. Rollings for later, as she still hasn’t returned home), planning to never stop to catch their breath, when one block away from the fence separating them from the Allens’ townhouse, they crossed paths with Margaret and Martha. 

“I need your guys’ help!” Margaret announced without even saying hello. 

“Okay,” Eugene said, panting. “Why don’t I - doesn’t one of us help you while the other one just does something really quickly?”

“No, I need both of you guys to help me,” Margaret said, “because if I don’t do it right away and my mom finds out…”

The phrase “my mom finds out” had a magical effect on Eugene and Charlotte. Their whole status as school was based on two factors: how well they kept away their misdoings from their guardians and how well they helped their schoolmates do the same thing. So they stopped, ready to listen carefully.

“Ah, you can’t imagine how much you two are going to help me,” Margaret said.

“So what’s up?” Charlotte asked.

“It’s something you’ll have to work on together, so you’ll be happy about it, too,” Margaret proceeded with a mysterious wink.

“And that is – ?”

Margaret shamelessly wasted a bit more of their time before confessing.

“I have this monstrous rip on my shirt sleeve,” she said at last, straightening out the fabric in support of her words. The sworn siblings stared confusedly at the microscopic hole shown to them. “And this is a new shirt, so if my mom sees it, I’m dead. So if you, Eugene, could find a needle at your house, and you, Charlotte, could mend it, you would save me!” Margaret concluded. 

“Okay, we can do it,” Eugene nodded. To Charlotte’s surprise, he didn’t point out that the whole plan could be fulfilled by Charlotte alone. 

“Can we come with you, though?” Margaret asked. “I’m afraid that if we stay in the street, my mom can come by, and if she sees this gigantic hole…”

“Sure,” Eugene agreed unexpectedly. “Only if you wouldn’t mind, can we all please hurry up?” 

“We will walk as fast as we can,” Margaret promised earnestly. “You’re not expecting us to run in this heat, are you?”

Charlotte was fascinated by Eugene’s patience as he didn’t rush the girls and even spent a minute persuading them that climbing over the fence wasn’t at all scary. They only agreed to do it, still without any enthusiasm, after Eugene climbed it first and Charlotte second, quickly and with hardly any help from Eugene, who then held Margaret and Martha by their hands or shoulders at all times as they followed her example.

Having realized that Aunt Alice was busy with guests and that he wouldn’t be able to talk to her right away, Eugene decided to at least help Margaret and find the needle first… when he heard Aunt Alice answering Mr. Brown’s phone call downstairs. Terrified, he now couldn’t come up with a better plan than putting the sewing kit inside his sweatshirt’s pocket, handing it to Margaret, and taking the mending outside, where he would have another few hours before his curfew to decide on the best way to deal with Aunt Alice. Lorraine already knew how and why this didn’t work out, as well as the rumors of a romantic love between Eugene and Charlotte that Margaret and Martha spread thanks to Margaret’s video.

“I hate Margaret and Martha more and more,” Lorraine said. “It turns out it was they who slowed you down! Maybe if they didn’t hold you back, you would’ve found a way to confess to Aunt Alice before Mr. Brown’s phone call!” 

“Well, as I realized later, they were trying to capture some evidence of us having a crush on each other all along,” Charlotte said, making yet another dough circle and putting it on a plate next to the stove. Her pancakes were tiny, smaller than Lorraine’s palm, but she said that they were easier to fry that way. “Although I have to admit, they didn’t exactly use the best strategies. They first highlighted how Eugene and I would be working together to help them, probably thinking that such an opportunity would make us ecstatic… as if we didn’t already work together on around half the stuff we’ve ever done. They then waited for Eugene to help me get over the fence because supporting a girl while she climbs is extremely romantic. But then, I climbed over that fence so many times that I was fine off without Eugene. Had your mom never announced that I was related to Eugene, the girls would have left without any evidence.”

“So they simply got lucky in their evil deeds,” Lorraine concluded. “You know what, Charlotte? Even if you did blackmail them afterwards, it was only fair. It would’ve been like fighting back.”

“Well, we had a slightly more humane approach,” Charlotte said. “An approach that looked more humane, at least. You see, all in all, what Margaret and Martha were trying to do was expose and laugh at the fact that two people were dating each other. So I thought that the best way to make the girls stop was to have one of them also date someone. Why don’t we put oil on a frying pan, and then I can tell you the rest while our pancakes are cooking.”