Love Burned, She Rose Unscathed

"That's more like it, you could've just said so from the start..."

With that, Mamie looped an arm through Scales', practically skipping with glee towards the school gates. Scales' face stiffened as he tried to slip his arm away. But Mamie held on tighter, chuckling, "Oh, come on, don't be shy, we're all good pals here!" And with that, she

picked up the pace.

Scales was flabbergasted. "How is she so strong?!"

Just as they reached the school gates, they nearly bumped into Murray stepping out of his sports car, a cake box in hand.

Oh, boy!

Mamie frowned, "Why does he always park right at the entrance? Doesn't he realize it causes such a traffic jam?"

Scales pondered for a moment, "Maybe he thinks it looks cool."

"Cool? Because he can swing open the doors of a Porsche, drawing a crowd every time?"

"Perhaps?"

Mamie was incredulous, "You think that's cool?"

Scales shook his head, "In my family, driving a classic Mustang is considered the pinnacle of cool."

Mamie laughed, "Well, me, my Duke, and practically everyone in our neighborhood think a Lexus is the epitome of style."

So-

does he always drive a

puzzled glances, still not

"That cake he's holding

hard,

of showing up at the school gates, had started recognizing Roseanne often in the company of Mamie and Scales. After several encounters, he had their faces memorized. Murray approached directly, "Excuse me, where's Roseanne? Haven't

honest,

"Where is she?"

took the

"What for?"

we don't

frowned, wanting to probe further. But Mamie was already dragging Scales away, "We've

was left hanging,

fancy suit,

е

outside

complete clown! en

this was Roseanne's way of getting back

towards a trash

"Hey-"

Murray turned around.

a playful smile, "Ditching something

came, "None of your

was flowers, now a

they weren't close enough for this

then, Grace went on, "The flowers you tossed last time were pretty. picked them up, put them in a water