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Peggy listened to Natasha chatter on and on as her aunt drove them to the church activity center. Nat was always the prettiest and more delicate of them, so she did ballet while Peggy took piano classes. What Peggy really wanted was to be a girl scout, and her mom was working on that, but she worked 8 hours a day - leaving Peggy to be raised by her aunt Mary. And her aunt Mary did not think "rolling around in the woods" was enough of a ladylike activity in the eyes of God. So, today was her first day of piano classes.
She was apprehensive. The students probably all knew each other already, and she barely talked to kids her age at church - mostly just followed Nat around - and she was going to be all alone, no Nat to help her socialize, and gosh she was probably going to be the tallest girl there and the brownest girl there and the chubbiest girl there and she'd bump against stuff and then everyone would make fun of her and she wouldn't fit in again-
"Earth to Peg? Let's go?" her cousin supplied, offering a hand to get her out of the car. She got herself lost in her anxious thoughts again …
"Oh, sorry…" she muttered, straightening out her skirt as she left the car and picking at some loose fibers on her sweater.
"Don't apologize! Look, it's gonna be fine - it's all kids we met in church or, like, their friends and relatives. You're gonna do great! We're already eleven, you are going to make friends without my help."
Peggy just nodded. Easy for you to say, you have been doing ballet with all your friends for years. She pushed that thought out, and quickly apologized to Heavenly Father for such a bitter and impure thought.
"I'll pick you two up at four thirty." Aunt Mary said, authoritatively. "Don't be late."
"Yes, aunt Mary."
"Yes, Mom." the girls answered in unison.
Natasha gave her a thumbs up before skittering off with the other pretty girls in thighs and collants. They were all so different from her, and probably made fun of how big and clumsy she was when she wasn't looking.
The room where piano class was held was easy to find, and she thankfully didn't have to ask anyone about it. She just followed the sound of music playing (and some asynchronous key banging).
She shyly looked in, before entering the room, feeling like everyone was looking at her and judging her.
She sat down on a bench along the wall and scanned the room. She recognized some of the 15 or so odd students from church, all pretty girls and cool guys who had lots of friends.
There was one girl - there was always one, when it wasn't her - that was a bit chubby as well, sitting by herself and reading a book. Peggy couldn't see what the book was, but she felt a bit comforted that she wasn't the only one. She thought she was pretty.
It didn't take long before the teacher - a blonde woman in her mid thirties - started doing roll calls.
"Margareth Hawkstar…"
"Present."
"Margareth Rose…"
"Present."
"Huh, it's not often that you see two 'th' Margareths in the same class. Matthew-"
Peggy looked over to where the other Margareth's voice had come from. It happened to be the other lonely girl in the class, the one with the book - they met eyes and smiled.
The teacher then told them to make pairs, because there weren't enough pianos. Peggy was close to one, so she sat on the bench and waited to see if someone would be forced to sit with her or if she would be alone here, too.
"Hi… do you have a pair yet?"
She looked up. The other Margareth was looking at her, nervous, probably feeling the same as she was at the moment.
"No, do you want to sit here?"
She nodded. "I'm Margareth… well, you know that." she chuckled nervously. "Sorry.”
"No, it's fine." Peggy smiled. "People call me Peggy."
"People call me Marge."
They smiled awkwardly at each other.
Soon enough, the teacher told them how to do scales, and the right way to position their hands on the keys. Each one had one half of the piano for themselves.
"Help each other out! I'll be going by each of the pairs to see how you're doing."
They tried out the scales without talking.
"So…" Peggy broke the silence after a few more minutes. "What made you want to learn to play piano?"
"My mom said I should. Nothing too deep. How about you?"
"My aunt suggested it to me instead of girl scouts. It's… calmer, it seems."
"Oh, you live with your aunt?"
Peggy shifted uncomfortably, as she always did when her family situation was brought up. "My mom and I live with my aunt and uncle, my dad's… not around, so my mom has to work a lot. I'm mostly around my aunt and cousin, though." she smiled. "My cousin is my best friend."
"Oh. I see." Marge was quiet for a bit. "My cousin is nice, but she's not my best friend. My best friend is… a lot…" she smiled. "She's always talking about the boy she likes this week."
Peggy laughed. "My cousin and I aren't allowed to date because of the church, but she still talks to me about boys in secret."
"You can't date?"
Peggy sighed. "No, we're supposed to save ourselves for our husbands. So no dating until I find the one , I guess."
"Don't you want to date, though?"
"Hmm. Not really." she thought for a second. "I like books more than I like boys."
"Me too."
Peggy looked at her, surprised. "I thought you had a boyfriend?"
Marge laughed. "Nope, not at all. Every boy that ever talks to me is dumb. And gross. Why did you think that?"
"I don't know… you're pretty, so I thought you would have a boyfriend.”
Marge blushed. "Aw, thanks. But yeah. Boys are dumb."
"And mean, too." Peggy added. "And smelly."
"Oh, they're so smelly! Especially when they play sports, ew."
They giggled.
"More playing, less chatting, kids!" the teacher scolded upon seeing that most of the preteens got distracted talking. The Margareths went back to their scales.
Marge was finishing one set right as Peggy started another one, and their hands brushed briefly on the keys. They both pulled their hands back as if they touched a hot stove and laughed nervously.
The class itself was just scale practice and getting their fingers used to the keys, and they left right on time, still talking to Marge. Ballet was probably let out earlier, because Natasha was already waiting for Peggy in the hallway.
"Hey Pegs!" she waved to call her attention. "How was class? Who's that?"
"Um, this is Marge, Marge, this is my cousin Natasha." she introduced them to each other.
Marge waved shyly.
‘Hi!! See, I told you you could make friends by yourself. Let’s go, my mom is waiting - bye Marge! Wait, Marge as in-”
“Margareth, yes. We have the same name.”
“That’s so good! And funny!” Natasha laughed, always the social butterfly. “Well, see you!”
The new friends waved goodbye at each other, and each went back to their own odd, unhappy lives.
7 years later
Peggy was very nervous for freshman orientation. She looked back at her family - well, the one she had now, anyway. Her mom, Natasha, and Andrey. And only the three of them. Natasha was pointing at the different booths, chattering, as always, about how interesting the different majors sounded. Her husband looked lovingly at her. All things considered… She got lucky with Andrey. Alexandria looked at them and back at her daughter.
“Am I alone in betting that you won’t be the only one to go to college?” she whispered.
Peggy laughed. “It could probably do her some good, honestly.”
Her mom raised her eyebrows conspiratorially.
“What about Andrey?”
“Probably, right? Where she goes he goes.”
“I’m so glad she found such a nice boy- hey, that one’s yours!”
Peggy looked to where she pointed, and it was indeed the booth with a banner that proclaimed “Public Relations” in box letters. A boy and a girl were sitting behind it, talking to a pink haired girl in front of it.
“Go, we’ll be back here.” her mom encouraged her, before lightly pushing her forward.
The boy was finishing a spiel. “And next week you can get started on picking your classes, the purple pamphlet has lots of details on the classes. Any other doubts, there’s a number you can call or text for information.”
“Thank you!” the pink-haired girl said, as Peggy waved at the girl in the booth with one hand as she fiddled with her badge.
“Hi! Let me see your badge- Margareth Sophia Hawkstar.” she told the boy, and he looked for her name in a list - spiking her anxiety for a second, until he checked her name and gave her a small bag of Rose U-themed goodies. “Funny, she’s a Margareth too!” the girl gestured to the pink-haired girl. When Peggy looked, she was surprised to see the girl already looking shocked at her.
“Hawkstar- Peggy?”
“Oh my gosh, Marge?”
They hugged each other in surprise, Peggy exclaiming “Your hair!”
“Wow, I wasn’t ever expecting to see you again!” Marge said while they untangled from each other.
“Me either! And in the same college major!”
“I thought your church didn’t allow women to go to college, though?”
Peggy sighed. “They don’t. We left - me, my mom, and my cousin and her husband. They’re all here, too.” she gestured behind her.
“Oh. That’s… good?”
“It’s good. Believe me.” she leaned in. “More like a cult than a church, to be honest. We’re getting used to everything.”
“Aw, I can help you with that. Give me your number, we can pick similar classes that way.”
Peggy nodded, and they exchanged numbers. Marge looked back at something.
“Sorry, my mom is calling me. It was good to see you again!”
“You too!”
Peggy listened to the information the two people at the booth had to tell her, and then walked back to her mom.
“Who was that? Did you know her?” she asked.
“Yeah, she’s Marge, from my piano classes, remember?”
“Oh! Are you in the same major and everything?”
“Yeah, isn’t that cool?”
“Very! Oh, Peggy, I’m so happy you’ll have friends already!” Alexandria hugged her daughter protectively, which probably looked funny - she was much shorter than Peggy.
“Mooom, it’s not like kindergarten…”
“I know, I know, I just worry!”
The words arrived before Natasha. “Peggy!! Did you know there’s a gastronomy course? I never knew about that! I love cooking, do you think I should look into it? Also who was that girl with the pink hair you were hugging? Also also, do you think Andrey should go to college as well? You know he was thinking about joining the Army but it’ll probably be better for him if he doesn’t, right? Auntie, what do you think?”
“I think… you should breathe first.” Alexandria teased. “Let’s go sit down somewhere, my old bones are starting to complain.”
Peggy rolled her eyes, but followed her little family anyway.