Marianne liked to think of herself as a good girl. A nice girl. A smart girl. A Christian girl. So why was she having so very un-Christian thoughts? God didn't want her to feel this way… did He?

It was always the girl with the red hair that made her feel this way. Nine classes together since kindergarten. Marianne knew very little about her— just that her name was Olympe or Olivia or something, she was adopted along with two other boys, and that she was very, very sarcastic. Unlike Marianne, who was always giving out advice and cheerful to the point of being annoying, the girl with the red hair was always prepared to offer a snarky comment with a roll of the eyes. Marianne was always surrounded by Nina, Micah, and her friends. The girl with the red hair always seemed to be alone, except for maybe Rhiannon. Marianne cared about what God wanted her to do and whether she'd go to Heaven or Hell. The girl with the red hair… didn't care at all. She even went to that "Religions of Other Cultures" class!

Indeed, the girl with the red hair was the kind that Daddy always warned Marianne to stay away from. Marianne's exact opposite. The kind that Marianne would never dream of associating with.

And yet… that was what made her so fascinating.

From the moment she and the girl with the red hair sat next to each other during seventh grade history, Marianne wanted to know more about her. She glanced at the top her paper, and saw that she had written "Olive Penderghast" in the space for her name.

Olive Penderghast.

Lovely name, Marianne thought. But Olive was always the girl with the red hair to her.

Throughout the years since then, Marianne began growing more and more interested in the girl with the red hair. Yet it seemed like the more she knew about her, the less Marianne understood her.

Still, that was what made her so fascinating. Nina had always been easy to understand, an open book. This girl, however, didn't reveal anything to anyone. Not even Rhiannon knew Olive's secrets.

What confused— and even scared— Marianne the most was the fact that she was beginning to feel something resembling attraction her. This wasn't how she was meant to be. She was meant to be with Micah. Or with another boy. But not a girl, and not a girl like this.

Perhaps, Marianne reasoned later on, this was why she was so obsessed with "saving" the girl with the red hair. Maybe if she saved the girl, she could also save herself.

This is a bit of a "Wild Mass Guessing" fic. I have a theory that Marianne is gay or bi with a crush on Olive, and that her boyfriend, Micah, is just a cover. I mean, come on. She sniffs Olive's hair. Marianne setting off my gaydar like crazy aside, I also apologize for using the phrase "the girl with the red hair" a lot, but I, like Olive, found it odd that Marianne had to ask Olive what her name was after if they'd been in the same class for such a long time.

I hope you enjoyed, and I hope you review.

~ Cookie VanDeKamp ~