chapter 2.
four musketeers.

୨୧

CHARLESTON, SC.
2014.

Much like everything else in maxine pierces life, the four musketeers eventually fell apart — the first to go was rocky, the summer they were eight and nine. his grandfather had gotten a management position in tennessee much more promising than his job as a walmart door greeter. as devastated as the rest of the friends were, rocky wasn't too bummed. as soon as he had found out, he had come barreling down to their spot at the creek with just as much excitement as he had two summers prior when he lost his first tooth.

"frankie! maxie!" he shouts, tumbling to the ground over a tree root. "sunny! guess what, guess what, guess what!"

"what?" the girls ask simultaneously, digging for worms on the creek bed.

"i'm moving!"

the girls freeze, hands pausing mid-dig. max is the first to speak. "movin'? to where?"

"tennessee!"

"and why the hell are you happy 'bout it?" frankie spits, "you know that's far away, right? we'll never see you."

rocky shrugs, seemingly unbothered. "i guess. but get this—we're gonna live in a real house!"]

like always, sunny is the only one who ever saw the bright side — of anything. "that's awesome, rocky! are you gonna have your own room?"

"yep!" the boy nods enthusiastically. "and a real swing set in the backyard, instead of having to walk to the park."

while frankie and max scowl in jealousy, sunny embraces their friend in a tight hug. "yay rocky! have nana send lots of pictures to arden or vic, okay?" rocky's grandmother, adoringly referred to as 'nana' by the kids, loved arden and victoria. they had lived in the trailer park long before having kids, thus had known the older women for quite some time. frankie's, arden, sister and max's mother, victoria, had graduated from the same high school class, becoming closer once their girls had been born. since then, the women had become best friends; inseparable.

"when you leavin', rock?" max finally speaks, swallowing the forming lump in her throat..

"before school starts. so we still have the rest of summer."

"sweet!" frankie stomps to her feet, "let's promise to make this the best summer ever."

"spit shake?" max suggests, wiping her dirt stained hands onto her goodwill shorts.

the other three nod, each spitting onto both of their palms before joining hands in a circle, shaking their arms up and down profusely. they didn't know yet this wouldn't be there first last summer.

CHARLESTON, SC.
2015.

"you're what?" frankie is understandably incredulous. "you're movin' to the north side?"

"i have to." max promises, "i don't wanna, but my moms new boyfriend wants us to live with him."

"you're gonna be just like them, maxie. i thought we hated the rich."

"we do! mark is a total tool, trust me."

"yeah, well, we won't be able to hangout anymore. you know my dad hates north side folks, and—"

"frankie, shut up." sunny, always the mediator. "that's awesome, maxie! at least one of us will get outta this shit-hole." she turns to a furious frankie. "we'll still be friends. musketeers forever, right?" she holds out a pinky finger, which is instantly met with two other small fingers.

"right."

"forever."

that same summer not only did maxine become a rich kid, but sunny's dad was laid off and she officially became a poor kid. it was like the two girls had swapped lives — sunny went from living at a fancy motel to a rundown trailer park, and max went from a rundown trailer park to a literal mansion on the north side of the city.

and despite frankie's worries, the two never lost touch. maxine was still quite an independent child, as veronica being in a relationship didn't seem to deter her from doing her 'job.' her new stepfather, mark never cared much for max, either; he was far more interested in daytime drinking at the bar with his friends than in trying to be a father.

this never bothered maxine much, however — every morning, as soon as the house was empty, she'd hop on a bus and meet the girls at their spot by the creek. this continued even after victoria had eleanor when maxine was ten, despite being left home alone with the newborn; max would simply strap the infant onto her chest and take her down to the creek as well. arden didn't mind watching her while the girls got into trouble, said she'd rather not have to bail a six month old out of jail. this routine continued until maxine's eleventh summer, when frankie came sprinting down to the creek-bed in tears.

CHARLESTON, SC.
2016.

fingers in her mouth to block her cries as she sobs, eleven year old frankie comes to an abrupt stop in the woods. "you two are my bestest friends in the whole world, and i might not ever see you again."

"what do you mean?" sunny spoke in that gentle, sunny-tone of hers max had grown to adore. "of course you'll see us again. we play everyday."

"no—i—" she's cut off by the desperate call of her big sister.

"frankie? frankie, are you here?" arden appears through the tree clearing, breathing an immediate sigh of relief. "jesus, frankie, come here." she sets down the carrier containing baby eleanor, opening her arms for own baby sister.

the terrified girl rushes to her sister, continuing to sob profusely. "they came—jackie—they're gonna take me away." frankie repeats the words of the asshole neighbor kid, jackie: 'my mommy says you're goin' to a new family.'

"that's not true, frankie." arden soothes, "i won't ever let that happen."

"h-how? that lady is at the trailer right now, and they tried to grab me but i ran and—"

"do you trust me?" frankie nods. all three of the girls trusted arden with their lives. "okay, good." arden rises to her feet from her knees, gripping her little sisters hand tightly. "girls, i need you to listen and i need you to listen good, all right?"

swearing her sisters friends to secrecy, arden reveals her plan to run off with frankie to stay together. she drills into sunny and maxine the importance of them keeping this secret. of course, the kids would have done anything under the sun for frankie, so they agree without so much as a second thought when arden finishes, "you girls go on home now, okay? and if anyone asks if you saw frankie, what do you say?"

max and sunny answer in unison. "we haven't seen her since yesterday."

"and if they ask if you saw me?"

"saw you yesterday morning at work. you gave us free pancakes for breakfast."

"good girls." arden smilessoftly, dropping her sisters hand briefly to embrace the two kids whom she had grown to see as her own sisters as well. "you two be good, okay? you promise?"

"we promise." max nods tearfully, understanding this was likely the last time she would see either of the sisters.

arden pulls away, softly grabbing maxine's face and leaning their foreheads together. "you take good care of your sister for me. you and i both know your moms a space case nowadays."

"i will. i promise."

satisfied, arden gives the girls one last smile before grabbing a still-shaken frankie's hand and walking off.

and just like that, four musketeers became two. for the following two years, sunny rutherford was constantly at maxine's house. she had finally been enrolled in school after moving in with mark, the pair would ride the bus to and from every day. she slept over as much often as her parents allowed; maxine's didn't even care if she slept at the house, let alone someone else.

they were as close as could be, and told each other everything. max was the first person sunny told when she had her first kiss when she was thirteen, and she was the only one max told about mark. sunny never let her sleep alone after that — when she wasn't allowed to stay over at max's, she'd stay at sunny's. mark never touched his stepdaughter again — until one month after she turned thirteen, and sunnys parents saw victoria buy blow from their neighbors at the trailer park.

sunny wasn't allowed over any longer after that. the last time maxine saw her best friend was the day after the accident, when she visited in the hospital.

CHARLESTON, SC.
2018.

"hey, maxie." sunny rutherfords soft voice breaks through the deafening silence of maxine's lonely hospital room. not even her own mother had been to visit her.

max immediately lights up at the sight of her best friend. "sunny! oh my god, i've missed you so much. where have you—"

the blonde does not seem as excited as she slowly makes her way over to the other girls hospital bed. "maxine...i'm really sorry, but we can't be friends anymore."

max's heart plummets into her stomach. in all their six years of friendship, sunny had only ever referred to her as maxie, never maxine. "what? what do you mean?"

"i'm really sorry." the girl repeats. "my parents just don't want me around you anymore."

maxine had never been so confused in her life. "i was just in a car accident, sunny. what do you mean, they don't want you around me?"

the blonde girl suddenly finds her thumbs quite interesting. "well...it's not you, necessarily. it's your mom."

"my mom?"

"yeah. um...people talk, and...um..."

"spit it out, sunny!"

"sorry. everyone says veronica killed mark. i don't know—i don't believe it—but that's what everyone's sayin'. and my parents, well, they just don't think it's a good idea for me to be seen with you right now."

maxine sits up so abruptly her iv is nearly ripped from her arm. "are you kiddin' me? it wasn't her, it was me! i was the one with the stupid balloons. she wasn't even in the damn car!"

"maxie..." sunny speaks her name so sadly it nearly breaks the redheads heart in two. she spoke it as if she knew it was the last time it'd ever grace her tongue, as though it was some delicate flower that could wither at any moment. just the mere thought of sunny rutherford saying maxine's name melted her, made everything right in the world, made all the bad fade away; mark, the accident, eleanor being gone, veronica being a deadbeat. none of it mattered, none of it even existed when it was just the two of them, when sunny said maxine's name.

but of course, she had to ruin it by following that sickly sweet one word sentence with one as jolting and confronting as, "the break lines in marks car had been cut."

that alone nearly sends maxine back into a coma. "what?"

"i'm sorry. i thought you already knew."

this doesn't seem to faze maxine any further, as the next question to leave her lips is, "did you hear about ellie?"

sunny hangs her head low. "yes. max, i'm so sorry. i know you were close. i loved her so much too, you know. she was like a sister."

although it was the passing of her own baby sister they are discussing, the sadness filling up sunny rutherfords eyes is almost too much for maxine to bare. she wants to rip the iv from her arm and embrace the girl, wants to hold her and tell her everything would be just fine, because it was the two of them against the world, the two of them forever. but she couldn't, because it wasn't; not anymore.

perhaps sunny senses this realization, too, as the very next thing she does is rise to her feet and offer a solemn smile. "take care, max. i should go."

"no—you don't have to, you can stay." maxine can't help herself. she didn't want sunny to leave, as she knew she was unlikely to return. she wanted the blonde to apologize, to take it back and say she wouldn't listen to her parents, didn't care what they thought, because she loved her and they'd be best friends forever. that they'd run away together and never come back, that it'd forever be just the two of them, like it was always meant to be.

but of course, this wouldn't happen, because this was sunny rutherford maxine was talking about. sunny was just like her name—sunshine followed wherever she went, and she'd do anything in her power to keep it that way. she knew this wouldn't happen if she remained friends with maxine pierce—the daughter of whom everyone says killed the cities favorite mayor and his young daughter . 

and sunny knew this, too, as she sadly averts her eyes and continues to the doorway, "i'm sorry. i can't."

and just like that, the four musketeers were no more.