Charlotte suggested Eugene pretend to confess his love to Martha. 

“The premise is the following,” she told his sworn brother on Saturday after dinner. “You had a crush on Martha all along, but you feared that Aunt Alice would force you to marry me because she sees in me a better housewife, with all my kitchen skills. Or better still, is there any ongoing quarrel between Aunt Alice and Martha’s mom that would make me the fiancé Aunt Alice would prefer?” she added, remembering the plot of Romeo and Juliet. 

“Not that I know of,” Eugene shrugged, “but I like this housewife idea. Plus, Aunt Alice did think we would end up marrying each other when we were younger, so there is some truth in this story.”

“Excellent! Then yesterday, we were in a hurry to warn Aunt Alice about the phone call, but you still agreed to help Margaret fix the hole on her shirt mainly because Martha also was there, and you wanted to use this chance to spend a little time with her.”

“That works,” Eugene nodded.

“And here comes the crux of our story.” Supported by the lack of Eugene’s resistance to her plan (while she did expect him to resist – after all, the plan consisted of him, a thirteen-year-old guy, confessing his love), Charlotte was so impatient to share the details that she stood up and started pacing, accompanying her words by gestures. “When Aunt Joanne announced that her husband’s last name was Rollings, everyone including Aunt Alice learned that I was actually related to you by blood, which meant that Aunt Alice wouldn’t be able to make you marry me! And then, exhausted after days of your struggle against our enemies and overcome by the joy of your realization that you’re now free to date and marry your beloved Martha, who at the moment was literally within the reach of your hand, you swooned.” Charlotte made a pause, after which her tone stopped being theatrical. “So, is this fine with you? I know that you probably don’t want to do all that, so if you have another idea, we can, by all means –”

“No, I actually like it,” Eugene answered. “Only how about I say that I have a crush on Margaret instead of Martha?”

“Margaret? Why would you choose her over Martha? Margaret is so bold, so wouldn’t it be harder to deal with her? Plus, it was Margaret’s idea to spread rumors, while Martha was actually nervous tagging along!”

“Uh… well, if Margaret is so confident – I mean, bold – then if she finds out that someone has a crush on Martha, she might start teasing Martha as well.”

“Even though Martha is her friend?”

“Especially because Martha is her friend. I know the real value of your girls’ friendship,” Eugene smirked.

“Well, if you say so,” Charlotte shrugged.

They then descended the stairs, snuck out of the townhouse, climbed over the fence and embarked on their search for Margaret and Martha. All they had to do was circumvent five or six blocks before they saw who they were after in the middle of the street, walking away. Charlotte wanted to call the girls, but Eugene stopped her with a gesture and then started to approach them quickly but silently, with Charlotte following him at his heels. They had long since developed a way to walk without making a noise: the secret was to first put their toe on the ground and only then transfer weight on that leg. After a lot of training, the duo was able to even run that way. 

It turned out that Eugene’s precaution was not futile. The moment that Charlotte, only a few feet behind the girls, greeted them, Margaret and Martha turned around, screamed simultaneously, and started to run away. Luckily, Charlotte, who was a lot faster, was able to get in front of the girls, and with Eugene standing behind, they now considered themselves trapped. 

“We’re not angry at you,” Charlotte stated with a wide smile, only to notice that Margaret and Martha, holding both each other’s hands with terror on their faces, Margaret’s eyes widely open and Martha’s tightly shut, weren’t really persuaded. She realized that she needed to expound. “We’re here not because we want to beat you up for spreading the video or anything.” Once she clearly stated that there won’t be a fight, the girls relaxed a little. “It’s just that your interpretation of what happened was a little wrong, and as the correct interpretation concerns you directly…” Margaret was now staring at Charlotte with pure interest, although still with fear. “Why don’t we go to Margaret’s backyard? Those things are not to be discussed in the middle of the street where anyone can hear us,” Charlotte suggested. In fact, all she wanted was to give her sworn brother more time to prepare for his part.

Charlotte knew from the school plays and his lies to Aunt Alice that Eugene was a decent actor, but that time, he surpassed all her expectations. His voice was trembling as never before, his face went from cherry red to lily white and back as he repeated the story that Charlotte made up for him, and when he reached the actual love confession at the end, he stood on one knee in front of Margaret, as if proposing to her, and dropped his head, as if leaving his neck and his fate to Margaret’s further judgment.

Margaret was stunned. She stared at Eugene for a couple of seconds without blinking. And then, a wide smile full of happiness spread across her face. Her braids jumping up and down, she started to nod to Eugene so quickly that if her head was a metronome, the poor musician would have no chance at keeping up with the tempo. When she noticed a lack of any reaction from Eugene, she realized that he couldn’t see her nodding because his head was still lowered, so after a few seconds of hesitation, she threw herself down on her own knees to embrace her newly acquired boyfriend with a very girlish “Weee!”. As they stood up, she still held Eugene’s shoulders, but this time as if she was supporting him, afraid that he would fall again. 

After the emotions settled down a little, Eugene explained, as planned, that he would’ve loved to go on a date with Margaret right away, but unfortunately, he had to help prepare Mrs. Rollings’s apartment for lease. And then, absolutely not according to the plan, he invited Margaret and Martha to come along, to which they, completely not according to Charlotte’s expectations, excitedly agreed. Next, as Charlotte did hope, on their way to her grandma’s place, Margaret waved over all kids whom they passed along the way and earnestly told them how she was mistaken about Eugene and Charlotte and that Eugene was actually in love with her all along. And on the way back in the evening, Eugene didn’t say goodbye to Margaret where their ways parted but instead walked with her until the very steps of her house.

“You don’t have to overdo it,” Charlotte reminded her sworn brother, patting him on the shoulder, as they got back on their path home. “Margaret was so thrilled when you pretended to confess your feelings that, come to think of it, you don’t have to do anything else to show your love.”

“Oh,” Eugene said, nearly stopping. 

“I can see you really got into character. Even now, your voice sounded so disappointed that I’d think you were actually head over heels in love with Margaret if I didn’t help you plan the confession. Relax, you don’t have to pretend anymore.”

“Uh-huh,” Eugene replied, sounding lost.

“Stop it,” Charlotte laughed, “because I’m already having a hard time believing that you’re only acting.”

Eugene didn’t say anything. He only bit his lip and turned his face away from his sworn sister. And only then she suddenly realized –

“D-do you mean,” she said with bated breath, “that Margaret… was your crush… for real?” It also would’ve made sense then why Eugene insisted to confess his love to Margaret instead of an easier-to-deal-with Martha!

After a pause that seemed to last hours, Eugene nodded.

“So after an epic battle with foes far stronger, which brought you many wounds, you, a brave knight, were awarded with a union with your heart’s desire,” Charlotte wanted to summarize all that happened, upon noticing how similar it was to a romance novel, in the corresponding style, but understood in time that it would embarrass Eugene even further, and fighting her volition, she simply said, “I’m glad it all worked out, then.”

And then she started talking about an SAT problem they discussed back on Thursday, and Eugene, relieved that she didn’t decide to further pursue the topic of Margaret, enthusiastically joined her in choosing the best approach to find the point of intersection of a line and something called a parabola.

“I was a little concerned that now that Eugene had a girlfriend, he would spend less time working on all the other things with me,” Charlotte confessed to Lorraine as they sat down at the kitchen table in front of a plate with three batches of pancakes. “However, it turned out all right for me, too. Not only does Margaret have nothing against me being in our new friend group, now that she’s confident that Eugene does see me only as his sister, but I get to stick by Martha a lot, and she’s very nice to be around.”

Lorraine didn’t reply. Elbows on the table and head resting on her hands, she stared dreamily into the distance. 

However, Charlotte’s enjoyment of her own ability to enthrall Lorraine was soon interrupted by her sister’s sigh.

“Well, that’s unfair. I’ve never had such fun adventures in my life,” Lorraine complained.

“Well, it’s not like I go through something as fun every day,” Charlotte noted and noticed an opportunity to get back to her point, “but the best way to get inspiration for adventures is to read about them. Besides,” she added, “reading itself often feels like an adventure. There are a few places in my favorite books that… no matter how many times I read them, my heart literally jumps each time!”

“Oh well, but all the other places in books are boring,” Lorraine noted. 

“In some books, yes,” Charlotte had to agree. “But in that case reading is like a treasure hunt. You’re looking for those few exciting places!”

“You don’t have to trick me into reading. I already know that you’re only doing it because my mom asked you to make me read.”

“Not at all,” Charlotte disagreed. “I honestly believe that once you learn to enjoy reading, all the books become this another magical world for you which you can always visit for a few hours - to get inspiration, or simply to take a break from reality.” 

Lorraine didn’t look one bit persuaded.

“Did you actually never have any adventures, even on your vacations?” Charlotte asked with sincere sorrow in her voice, and Lorraine shook her head. “Did you really never fight anyone? Fall into a pond? Get lost?”

“Well, I did get lost in Paris last summer,” Lorraine admitted, “but nothing happened to me. I just stayed where I was on the street, and my parents soon found me. And this summer, I didn’t even get to go anywhere! I’m stuck here at home!” Lorraine concluded, hitting the table with her fist.

This was around the first time that Charlotte could emphasize with Lorraine. Her sister’s temper, the luxury that she was used to, her lack of skill when it came to chores – all that now dimmed in presence of the eclipsing fact that the poor girl in front of Charlotte had never experienced a real adventure.

“Let’s leave the books for later, then,” Charlotte decided. “And after eating these delicious pancakes we made – and I have to say, you did wonderfully when helping me cook them – we will go on a trip around this area and be pioneer explorers. This adventure wouldn’t be as profound as what Eugene and I went through in the last couple of days, but it’ll still be an adventure.”

Lorraine, still wincing, took a pause before replying. Charlotte understood it was a good sign that her sister needed time to come up with an objection.

“We won’t be pioneer explorers here,” Lorraine said at last. “People discovered everything around here ages ago, way before all the houses were built.”

“Well, here’s another little secret,” Charlotte winked conspiratorially. “You can be a pioneer explorer in any area… if you don’t take a map with you.”