(no subject)
Date: September 26, 2000
Setting: Pepper's room, then her mum house
Status: Private (Complete)
Summary: Pepper's staying
Pepper had come to a decision. She wasn't going back to uni this year. She couldn't, she had to stay. She had to be there to help. If something happened to any of the Them while she was gone, she wouldn't be able to forgive herself, not anymore. She was home.
She called the school and told them to put her place on hold, that she was taking the year off. Just in case things got magically solved sometime soon, she wanted to make sure she could get back. It wasn't unusual, lots of kids did it, so she didn't feel bad about it. The nice lady on the phone asked her if she was doing something exciting for the year, travelling or somesuch. Pepper lied and said no, that she was just taking a year off to work. The woman hadn't sounded very enthusiastic after that. Pepper ignored it, sent off the check that would keep her place at school and left it alone.
Her mum hadn't been happy to find out. She'd cried a bit and made a fuss about how Pepper was throwing her life away, about how the world was different from when she had been young, about how this wasn't the first time she had worried that her little girl didn't seem to have good direction. It wasn't true, her direction was just fine. She knew what her priorities were. But she bit the comments back and took the screaming. Mum would come around, she always did. She loved Pepper too much to do differently. Besides, she had Pepper's sister to invest all her hopes in (not that said sister had been doing a good job with all that, but still, she could hope).
Last came calling Roger.
Pepper didn't really know why she had gone out with him in the first place. He was quiet, dull and predictable. Sure, he was smart and he cared in his held-back sort of way, but he was all wrong for her. Part of her had known that from day one. It didn't stop him from getting 'quite upset' at her call, asking her why, pleading with her to 'be sensible and come back'. Pepper argued with him calmly over the phone at her mother's house, told him that it wasn't him, but she just couldn't do this anymore. She'd know that for a long time, just hadn't said anything. The conversation was going fine, she thought, dull and predictable like she had expected until he threw the Wild Card at her:
"It's that Adam Young fellow, isn't it? I know it is, Pippin, don't lie to me. You said you weren't talking to him, but you're probably spending every waking minute with him now that your back home. I swear, he's got you wrapping around his pinky finger like he runs the world or something. If he told you to jump, you'd say - "
Pepper hung up the phone. She didn't pick up when he tried to call again. All through the next hour.
Finally, Pepper's mother picked up the phone and told Roger that he was just going to have to deal with it like a big boy, and stop bothering her poor girl. As if life isn't confusing enough for her right now, she said, hanging up the phone. She looked at Pepper sternly, but there was pride in those eyes. They were going to be fine.
Pepper drove back to the manor, ran up to her room and collapsed on her bed. With any luck, she would fall asleep fast.
Setting: Pepper's room, then her mum house
Status: Private (Complete)
Summary: Pepper's staying
Pepper had come to a decision. She wasn't going back to uni this year. She couldn't, she had to stay. She had to be there to help. If something happened to any of the Them while she was gone, she wouldn't be able to forgive herself, not anymore. She was home.
She called the school and told them to put her place on hold, that she was taking the year off. Just in case things got magically solved sometime soon, she wanted to make sure she could get back. It wasn't unusual, lots of kids did it, so she didn't feel bad about it. The nice lady on the phone asked her if she was doing something exciting for the year, travelling or somesuch. Pepper lied and said no, that she was just taking a year off to work. The woman hadn't sounded very enthusiastic after that. Pepper ignored it, sent off the check that would keep her place at school and left it alone.
Her mum hadn't been happy to find out. She'd cried a bit and made a fuss about how Pepper was throwing her life away, about how the world was different from when she had been young, about how this wasn't the first time she had worried that her little girl didn't seem to have good direction. It wasn't true, her direction was just fine. She knew what her priorities were. But she bit the comments back and took the screaming. Mum would come around, she always did. She loved Pepper too much to do differently. Besides, she had Pepper's sister to invest all her hopes in (not that said sister had been doing a good job with all that, but still, she could hope).
Last came calling Roger.
Pepper didn't really know why she had gone out with him in the first place. He was quiet, dull and predictable. Sure, he was smart and he cared in his held-back sort of way, but he was all wrong for her. Part of her had known that from day one. It didn't stop him from getting 'quite upset' at her call, asking her why, pleading with her to 'be sensible and come back'. Pepper argued with him calmly over the phone at her mother's house, told him that it wasn't him, but she just couldn't do this anymore. She'd know that for a long time, just hadn't said anything. The conversation was going fine, she thought, dull and predictable like she had expected until he threw the Wild Card at her:
"It's that Adam Young fellow, isn't it? I know it is, Pippin, don't lie to me. You said you weren't talking to him, but you're probably spending every waking minute with him now that your back home. I swear, he's got you wrapping around his pinky finger like he runs the world or something. If he told you to jump, you'd say - "
Pepper hung up the phone. She didn't pick up when he tried to call again. All through the next hour.
Finally, Pepper's mother picked up the phone and told Roger that he was just going to have to deal with it like a big boy, and stop bothering her poor girl. As if life isn't confusing enough for her right now, she said, hanging up the phone. She looked at Pepper sternly, but there was pride in those eyes. They were going to be fine.
Pepper drove back to the manor, ran up to her room and collapsed on her bed. With any luck, she would fall asleep fast.