Chapter 5
THEN: MAGGIE
“God this is so stupid, just gag me with a spoon,” Maggie muttered as she sat across from Diana Blake, her baby project partner. They hadn’t really talked since health, outside of making plans to meet up at the library during free period the following day to get their work done.
“Let’s just get on with it,” Diana said, seeming equally underwhelmed.
Maggie wasn’t sure if it was at the project itself or the prospect of working with her.
She wasn’t sure what to think. Everyone around her seemed to be floored by the fact that she got to work with the mysterious, moody, rich girl.
Diana Blake, who was everything her mother wanted her to be: blonde, beautiful, from a respected family, and rich.
Diana kept to herself; she wasn’t a cheerleader like most of the popular girls at school, the girls that Maggie had clawed her spot amongst—though she knew her spot was tenuous at best. But this only added to Diana’s mystique.
It was almost as though she was above it all, looking down at the rest of her classmates from her orchard property and beyond.
Everyone knew the Blake’s were not just rich, they were wealthy.
They came from generations of generations of money and owned the town’s orchard but also lots of real estate, a golf course, and more.
It was said their reach covered everywhere from Maplewood all the way to northern Vermont.
Diana’s mother had inherited her money and married her father, who had really worked to expand their financial imprint in the state.
She and Diana were worlds apart, having never even exchanged words before.
And yet, here they were, on a sunny afternoon during study hall in the damn school library.
A place Maggie admittedly knew like the back of her hand, having had to use most of the books in the place as she couldn’t always afford or get to a bookstore to buy her own.
“Books are for nerds. No woman has ever been rewarded for being smart, it is a waste of time,” her mother would say when she had foolishly asked her to take her to the bookstore when she had been younger.
That’s when she discovered the power of libraries.
“Earth to Margaret,” Diana’s voice brought Maggie from her meandering thoughts. She knew this was a huge social opportunity for her, and she needed to figure out her angles.
“Maggie,” Maggie said, smiling, “the only person who calls me that is my mother.”
“And Coach Matthews apparently,” Diana said with a cocked eyebrow.
“Yeah well, my mom insists that the teachers call me by my full name.” She left it at that. She didn’t want to share that her mother thought Margaret sounded cultured and classy.
Diana nodded as if understanding something anyway, “Well okay Maggie, it is nice to meet you, I am—”
“Diana Blake, I know,” Maggie said and then internally grimaced at her lack of tact. But of course she knew who Diana Blake was, everyone in town did.
“So my name proceeds me huh?”Diana said, and she cocked an eyebrow again over her navy blue eyes.
Both women were blondes with blue eyes, but Maggie noticed how different they looked.
For one thing, her hair was more of a dirty blonde, to her mother’s dismay, and her eyes were paler than Diana’s dark ones.
Diana was a true blonde, and her hair was wavy and wild, yet, there was something also very distinguished about her.
Diana looked like the kind of blonde everyone thought of when they thought of “beautiful” and the kind of person who came from money.
Maggie decided to throw out a test. “You know it does,” she said, letting out a breath.
At that Diana nodded appreciatively. “Yeah? What have you heard? What do you and your little cheer squad get up to saying about Diana Blake?” She emphasized her own name dramatically.
Maggie felt her mouth go dry as she hadn’t expected for Diana to ask more. Was she actually curious, or did she already know.
When Maggie didn’t say anything Diana continued, “Let me guess, snobby rich girl who would make a really good friend to have. Any of your little cheer friends want to see if they could swap spots with you? Mary Wright has been trying to convert me for years, in more ways than one.”
Maggie rolled her tongue in her mouth trying to get some moisture back.
So Diana was aware of what everyone said about her, and the weird obsession her fellow cheerleaders had with her.
Mary Wright most of all. Maggie liked Mary, she was a practical, sweet friend and she was probably the nicest and most welcoming to Maggie when she first started cheering.
Though Maggie thought this had a lot to do with Mary also wanting to get Maggie to join her youth group at the local church.
Mary was from a fanatical Christian family, and while Mary seemed more relaxed in her views, it was only by comparison.
Still, Mary had been the most welcoming amongst the squad.
Trying out was one thing, but everyone knew the cheerleaders were a clique, and you had to meet other qualifications to be included.
It was everything stereotyped by every teen television show.
Maggie’s mother had suggested lying in the sun or running some hydrogen peroxide through her hair in order to lighten it and up her “hot factor”.
Instead, Maggie had decided to join Mary’s church.
The first week there she joked that her name started with an M, same as Mary, same as Mary’s best friend Emmy, and that she’d totally make them an “M trifecta”. The joke, and the trifecta, had stuck.
“I think Mary’s nice,” was all she was able to stammer out.
“She’s been really kind to me,” she added as her thoughts began to slow.
Diana wasn’t exactly what she expected, she thought she’d be a lofty rich girl who thought she was better than the rest of them.
She needed to feel her out a bit more before pressing on—before she could get in “good” with Diana Blake like the other Ms wanted her to.
“Of course Mary is nice, that girl wouldn’t know a bad day if it fell on her head,” Diana said, rolling her eyes and shrugging down deeper into her seat. “Oh so holy and innocent Mary, what would we do without her direction?”
“You don’t have to be cruel, and she isn’t innocent or naive. She knows how things work, but I mean most of us don’t have your luxury of infamy, we have to keep up appearances,” Maggie said, and now she felt defensive. “What did she ever do to you?”
“Oh I don’t know, basically tell me I am not living up to whatever ‘potential’ she and my mother have in their heads and that they just accept as reality.”
That answer caught Maggie off guard. The curtness with which she’d delivered the words and rawness of the feelings behind it.
“Well she was really kind to me when I joined the squad,” Maggie said again.
“Yeah I am sure she was. More importantly,” Diana gave her a wicked grin, “You think I’m infamous?”
Maggie rolled her eyes. “You seem really interested in what people are saying about you for someone who doesn’t speak to the rest of us.
Maybe if you did, people wouldn’t be so quick to fill in the gaps with assumptions,” Maggie said this without thinking and then furrowed her brow as she tried to think of how to fix things.
“Well shit, McDonald,” Diana said approvingly, “how are you ever going to get me to join your cult if you speak to me like that?”
Maggie scoffed, "We aren’t a cult, we are just young women who want the best—”
“For ourselves,” Diana finished, “God, that line. They really had you drink their Kool-Aid. Careful, it’s poisoned.”
Maggie rolled her eyes and was about to say something when she heard her name.
“Maggie! There you are, oh my god, I’m like, so happy I was able to find you.” Speaking of the Ms, Emmy appeared with Mary in tow. Her blonde hair was in a high ponytail and her brown eyes were alight with excitement.
Mary, ever rocking the perfect low ponytail, her brown hair away from her shoulders, looked smug. “Listen, David Hamilton, as in the David Hamilton, just asked me if I want to go for a drive.”
Maggie smiled back, knowing that Emmy had been laying the groundwork with the captain of the football team for almost the whole summer after their unfortunate break up the year before.
“That’s so great,” Maggie said back to Emmy and Mary, making sure to inject the most enthusiasm she could into her voice.
While she understood logistically why this would be a big deal to Emmy, she didn’t emotionally connect to it.
She never had really, not with any of the romantic tales with guys the girls had talked to her about.
Not when they always looked at her and said condescending, “Don’t worry, you’ll get your guy one day too. “
“Hello Diana,” Mary said smoothly, acknowledging her presence. Diana made a shrugging motion and a little wave with her hand.
“Oh hey, that’s right, you both are working on your baby project together, cute,” Emmy almost squealed.
Maggie couldn’t tell if it was leftover excitement from the idea of getting time with David, or if it was at the idea that Maggie was apparently going to be besties with her dream bestie. Maybe it was both.
“Might want to calm down there Em, you have the energy of a puppy that might wet themselves.”
Diana’s comment seemed to suck the air out of the room, certainly it knocked the wind out of both Emmy, who looked confused, and then Mary, who looked like a disappointed mother. But Maggie found herself, to her horror, holding back laughter.
As if realizing this, Diana looked at her and her face brightened.
“Oh well um,” Maggie said, getting a hold on her laughter, “that’s amazing, well—” and then it dawned on her why they’d come looking for her. “You need someone to do the equipment inventory today and fold flyers?”