chapter 40 - a terrible thing to waste [2/4]

“I dunno, Franzie. It kinda looks like she’s been sneaking sweets under Aunt Mia’s nose.” Erika snickered, grabbing two more cream puffs for herself. Chewing happily, a childish giggle brightened her face as she gave Sophie’s chubby curves a closer look. “Look at her. Isn’t she a little...big for a servant?”

“Beefier than papa’s staff, for sure.” Thin fingers still clutching her uneaten cream puff, Franziska circled Sophie like a hungry shark. “Way beefier.”

“Look at her butt! It’s gigantic!”

“That’s what that is? I thought it was the moon.” An impish grin finally cracked Franzie’s hitherto indifferent display. “What gives, tubby? Sneaking extra cakes behind Aunt Mia’s back?”

“N-No!” Sophie’s face flushed. “I—”

“She’s blushing!”

Sophie blushed even harder. “No I’m not!”

“Are too!” Hopping in place, Erika pointed a lightly-frosted finger in the face of the accused. “That means you’re lying!”

Sophie took a deep breath. As Erika continued her chiding, it took every fibre of her being to not slap the spoiled child’s finger away, and that was really saying something considering every fibre of her being was already being used to not gobble up every last crumb on her serving tray.

Franziska, meanwhile, finally started on her cream puff — or rather, she started on the icing, front teeth nibbling the sweet, fluffy substance as if she were trying a brand new food. Eyes locked with Sophie’s longing gaze, her fiendish look did all of the talking…

...but nevertheless, as her barely-touched dessert lowered away from her face a moment later, the straight-haired tween would end up speaking for herself. “Hungry?”

“What? N-No! Not at all…!” Sophie turned away quickly, sealing her lips shut. She tried not to think about how long she had been staring. Ten seconds? Thirty? An hour?

Exhaling through a smirk, Franziska leaned closer, shaking her cream puff inches away from Sophie’s face. “You’re a bad liar.”

“I don’t want it. Please eat it!”

Head lowered as she observed her older sister teasing, little Erika didn’t hesitate to copy. “Oh, come on! You know you want some!” She giggled, swiping a puff off the tray. A moment later, it was being waved seductively under Sophie’s nose. “You weigh more than the two of us put together.”

“Just eat it. You know you want to.”

“Just a bite? Come on! I want Frida’s piggie to grow up big and strong!”

Sophie shook her head. “I can’t! I...I’m not allowed to—”

“We won’t tell!” Erika quickly replied.

Fransiaka agreed even more swiftly. “Yeah. We’re good at keeping secrets.”

The hairs on the back of Sophie’s neck stood upright. Light-headed, she licked her lips, staring longingly at the delicious treats held in front of her face.

She couldn’t break. She just couldn’t — She was strong. She was in control. Determined to keep her promise, no matter —

Sophie plucked the cream puff from between Franziska’s fingers. “You promise you won’t tell?”

“Promise.” Said both sisters, synchronized smiles spreading across their faces.

“Just, uh…” Sophie glanced across the party. Mia, thankfully, had her back turned, completely preoccupied with schmoozing some wealthy-looking aristocrat. “Make sure your aunt Mia isn’t looking —”

“SOPHIE SEIDEL!”

Sophie blinked at the sound of her own name, then shuddered at the rumble of approaching footsteps. Before she could even manage to turn around to look, a pale hand had already entered her periphery to smack her would-be snack onto the floor.

“Frida! What the heck?” The giddy smile on Erika’s face was suddenly gone, replaced by a well-rehearsed pout. “It’s a sin to waste food, you know!”

“It’s also a sin to be a snot-nosed little hell-spawn!” Frida said, stepping between Sophie and her two cousins. “Why don’t you two go outside and kick rocks —” Frida paused, "— o-or whatever it is kids do for fun these days!”

“Wow. A stick-in-the-mud, as usual...” Franzie crossed her arms with a huff. “Why do you always have to stick your nose in and ruin everything? We were just helping your servant by making her boring job more fun.”

“For the last time — Sophie’s not a servant!”
Frida said, wrapping her arm around Sophie’s plush waist. “She’s my friend! She lives here with us! You’d’ve known that if you’d taken the time to read the poem I wrote for our Christmas card!”

Franzie rolled her eyes. “You do realize nobody actually reads those things, right?”

“Whatever, twerp!” Frida’s face was flushed, though exactly why was unclear — The noisy confrontation between herself and her younger cousins was one explanation. Her clear intoxication was another, but the most decisive argument called attention to the fact that, as she jerked Sophie closer, she could feel her lithe fingers sink into the soft padding around the overindulgent girl’s waist. “Just leave her alone!”

“Who? Your pudgy girlfriend?” Erika’s pout faded into another smirk.

At that line, both Frida’s and Franziska’s eyebrows shot up, but Frida was the only one to speak — or in this case, shriek: “Excuse me!?”

“It’s true!” Erika elbowed her sister, “I walked in on them changing together! They probably just got done kissing!”

“Y-You did not!” Frida’s eye twitched.

“Did too!”

Franzie wiggled her eyebrows to the tune of a nasal chuckle. “Gee, Frida! You should tell our papa that you’re into smooching pigs. We’ve got plenty back home in the hog pen — come home with us and maybe you can live there!”

“Oh, she doesn’t have to go that far! I have five little piggies she can kiss right here!” Erika giggled, eagerly unbuckling her expensive-looking shoe. She raised a socked foot into the air, grinning with glee as she wiggled her toes close to her older cousin’s face. “Oink, oink! Pucker up, Frida!”

“Ugh! S-Stop it! Put your vile foot back in your shoe before you clear out the whole room!” Frida retched, shifting away. “Both of you, I mean it! Stop being jerks, or else—”

“Or else what?” The two sisters leaned forward, weight on the balls of their feet as they awaited Frida’s response. “You’ll yell on us?”

Frida’s scrunched her face. “Yes!”

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you…” Erika drew out her words as she slipped her shoe back on. “I’ve been practising my fake crying.”

Franzie nodded. “We’ll make up a story. And who do you think people are going to side with? The adult, or the crying little girl?”

Frida let out a throaty groan, grabbing Sophie’s hand to lead her away. “Little brats…”

“Aw, what’s wrong, Frida? Don’t be a spoilsport!” Erika’s snotty jeers faded further into the noise of the crowd with each of Frida’s thumping steps. “We’re just playing!”

* * *

Frida’s wine glass — or, more accurately, her third — clinked against the kitchen counter. Its owner, sporting two clenched fists, stamped her way over to the bashful maid across the room. “You’ve got a lot of explaining to do!”

Sophie slid down the wall. “Wh-What?”

“What do you mean ‘what’?” Frida’s eyes narrowed as she whispered, making her noticeably slurred voice as forceful as possible without drawing attention. “What was that? Are you kidding me?”

“I’m sorry! I just —” Sophie’s stomach growled. Back pressed against the kitchen wall, she glanced at the elaborate supply of yet-to-be-served food piled high on the counter. “Frida, I don’t know if I can do this…”

“You have to! For me! For us!” Frida immediately blushed. “Uh, our friendship, I mean!”

“I know, but...!” Fighting temptation, Sophie made her case with both eyes clenched shut. Even without her sight, however, the savory smell of smoked meats and candied fruits was all that was needed to excite her salivary glands. “I’ve been on my feet for so long! Don’t I deserve a snack...? Just a little one…?”

“No!”

“Mia’s not watching!”

“How do you know?”

Sophie’s nose twitched at the strong scent of alcohol on Frida’s breath. “Fine. I don’t, but you could distract her! It would only have to be for a second. I’ll eat a little bit, just to hold me over!” Sophie nodded with a hopeful look, gaze wandering toward the obnoxiously tall cake standing proudly on the kitchen table. “See that? Mia let me have some last night. It’s so moist, so buttery and rich —” her lips glistened with drool as she spoke, arm inching closer by the second, "— Like eating a cloud. And it’s right there, waiting —”

Sophie’s desperate rambling ended with a squeak as Frida snatched her face.

“Get. It. Together!” Frida’s fingers pressed hard into her shorter friend’s plush cheeks. “I don’t care if Mia falls asleep! She’s probably got spies around every corner! Did you forget that she set this whole thing up so you would fail? Think, you idiot!”

Sophie’s nostrils flared like a bull staring down a matador. “Don’t call me an idiot!” She shouted, fighting out of Frida’s grip. “And you smell like booze! Stop shouting in my face!”

Frida’s stance softened in an instant. “Sophie! I—” She stammered, wobbling slightly as she stepped away. She hesitated before speaking again, and when she did, her voice was choked with emotion. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to yell…”

“What’s your problem?”

“I get…passionate when I drink.” Frida pouted, turning away. “I just...really don’t want you to fail, and—” Again, she hesitated — for longer this time — likely wise to the fact that speaking another word would force her budding tears to break. “...I should go.”

Frida bit her lip. Gaze locked onto the floorboards, she hurried out of the kitchen, leaving her half-full glass of glühwien orphaned on the kitchen counter.

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