"Oh, thank goodness it will be dark in the theater! This brushing braid is hanging off the hem. " Meg said as she held the torn fabric in her hand.

We were in our petty coats getting ready for the theater tonight, I was very excited because I'd never been to the theater before! I was rubbing some lotion onto my arms as Meg helped Jo with her corset, Jo had already helped me with mine.

"I must have put my foot through it. " Jo joked and we laughed as Amy barged into the room and closed the door behind her. 

"You're going out. I can smell the eau de cologne right along the landing and Hannah's been polishing the opera glasses. " Amy said loudly.

 "Yes, she had. Because we're going to the theater. " Meg said while tightening Jo's corset. 

"To see The Seven Princesses of the Diamond Lake? " Amy asked with a shocked look.

"Yes, Laurie asked the three of us to go with him and Mr. Brooke. " Jo said as I stood up to fix my hair. 

"Then I'm coming, too! " Amy said with a slight laugh.

 I sighed as Jo shut her down. "No, you aren't, because you haven't been asked. " Amy's assuming look quickly turned into jealousy.

Meg asked, "Oh, Jo, couldn't we buy her a ticket? It was my turn to have the rag money this month, and I haven't spent it yet. " 

Amy jumped up and down and said, "Thank you, thank you, thank you! ", until Jo interrupted her. 

"No, Meg- even if we can get her a ticket, she can't sit alone. And neither you, Eliza nor I can sit alone, so that means Laurie or Mr. Brooke would have to. You're supposed to be the one with the ladylike manners, Meg. " 

Meg clicked her tongue in disappointment for Amy while I added, "Amy, I love you but If you were to manage to get a ticket, you would have to sit in a dark room, alone... There are men who you don't know that could sit next to you and make you uncomfortable, it's not safe... I'm sorry. " I looked away from the mirror once I finished my hair to see a furious and tearful Amy, I hate to exclude her but it's dangerous for a young and pretty girl like her to sit alone at a place like the Theater... 

"I hate you, Josephine and Eliza March. " Amy said as she stepped towards us, Meg stopped buttoning her corset, Jo stared at Amy, and I quietly gasped as she continued, "I can take care of myself, I'm not a child.." Amy locked eyes with me and she said to both of us. "And you two will pay for this. Just you wait. " With those words, she stormed out of the room and slammed the door. Meg, Jo, and I stood in there dumbfounded. 

I must have had a concerned look on my face because Jo faced me and said, "Eliza, I doubt that Amy is going to do anything... We'll make it up to her. " I nodded as I collected myself and began to put on my dress. 

We laughed as we walked out of the house to meet Laurie and Mr. Brooke at their carriage, Jo began to run to the carriage so Meg and I had to catch up with her. "Come on! " Laurie said as he stood from the bench and Mr. Brooke opened the carriage door.  

Jo entered the carriage, "I'm sorry, Meg was fussing with her hair. She won't let me near her with the tongs anymore. " 

I laughed, "Well of course she wouldn't! You seared a whole strand of hair off of her head! " Laurie softly laughed and Meg giggled while Jo gasped. We all piled into the carriage next to Mr. Brooke and rode off to the theater with smiles on our faces.

All of us walked to our seats while the orchestra practiced and tuned their instruments, I sat next to Mr. Brooke, Meg sat next to Laurie, and Jo was in the middle of us. Mr. Brooke was handing out the pamphlet and said to the group, "We're promised a chorus of comical crimson imps, among other delights. "  

I began to read the pamphlet as Laurie asked, "Eliza, why not change places with Meg? You're slightly shorter than her and the view may be better for you to enjoy. " Meg looked at me with her eyebrows raised, I stood up and we switched places. Once I sat down next to him we exchanged smiles and I looked over at Jo to see her giving me a look. 

"What? " I whispered, she looked away.

I sighed and turned my head towards Laurie, "Thank you for taking us, I'm very excited! " 

He smiled. "Of course! I knew that the way I had described it definitely did not do it justice. " We chuckled and soon after the show began. I looked away from him to finish reading the pamphlet but I could see that he was staring at me from the corner of my eye. I turned my head to face him as he continued to stare at me with a warm smile. Oh, I must have had something smudged on me. My eyes widened and I quickly wiped my hand on my cheek. 

Laurie laughed, gently moved my hand, and said, "There's nothing on your face, I was just admiring... " 

My eyebrow raised, "Admiring what? " 

He snickered, "You. " My cheeks turned red at the realization and he looked away, my cheeks flushed even more at the thought, he was admiring me of all the people in this theater!

Only a few minutes later I was laughing so hard that tears were coming out of my eyes. Jo was practically yelling with laughter while sitting forward in her seat.

"The show was hilarious! " I said with a giggle as we stood up to walk to the foyer.

"I'm happy you enjoyed it, I guess I'll have to take you to another one soon, and maybe we could convince Mr. Brooke and Marmee to let us go alone. " Laurie said with a wink.

I grinned and said, "That sounds great but I just know that Marmee would make Jo chaperone. It would still be fun though. " 

He nodded as a thought popped into my mind. "Oh, Jo! We should get a gift for Amy! " I said tugging on her sleeve, 

Jo nodded. "Yeah, let's stop at the concession stand. " 

We walked over to the counter, Jo bought chocolate-covered caramels and I bought a replica ribbon that the main character wore. Meg gave us a proud smile as we paid for our items and we left the theater.

Laurie and Mr. Brooke dropped us off at our home, we thanked them and walked inside the warm house. I sighed and Jo closed the door once we all walked into the house. I smiled as Jo and Meg laughed, we went into the living room and set down our things.  

"Girls. Did you enjoy the play? " Marmee asked as she stood near the sofa, Amy sat in one of the chairs with a blank expression on her face. 

"If you're lucky, after dinner, Meg, Eliza, and I will reprise the entire Ballet of the Swans. " Jo said with a smile as I giggled. Meg pulled out the items that we bought from her bag. 

"Jo and Eliza bought these for you in the foyer. Chocolate-coated caramels and a replica of the ribbon the girl wore in the show. " Meg said as she handed them to Amy. 

"Why? " Amy asked as she held them in her hands. 

"Because I was a crosspatch and I'm sorry. " Jo said and I chimed in. 

"And I was being overprotective, I'm sorry and I love you. " I said as I kissed her forehead. 

"Thank you. " Amy said plainly, something was wrong, I could tell...

"Why not unwrap them, Amy? It's kind of a treat that tastes much better when it's shared. " Marmee said. 

"I imagine all treats taste better when shared. " Amy remarked.

Meg sighed.  "I'll take you to the play next week, Amy. There are tickets- I asked at the office. " 

I nodded and said, "Yeah! Laurie wanted to go again too, so we could go as a group. It would be fun! " 

Hannah walked into a room with something charred and a tray with pieces of wood in her hands. "So which of youse young ladies has been meddling with my cooking range and using the wood ax? I leave the house for one hour in pursuit of additional onions, and I come back to snapped rods of wood in the snow and to find the stove cold, smoking, and chocked with a load of scrawly papers! " 

My eyes widened as I ran to Hannah and picked up the tray and placed it on the side table. I looked at the pieces with fear as I scrambled to find burned initials I knew all too well and to my terror, I found them. My hand rested over my mouth as tears silently streamed down my face.  Jo ran over to the papers and looked at them with her breath trembling, "This is mine. This is my writing! What's happened to the rest of it? " She asked in awe as Amy stood up and walked over to us.  

"In a nutshell, it's all turned to soot and black ash. " Hannah said with remorse. 

Amy had a hard look on her face as tears continued to run down my face. "Amy, did you burn my book? " Jo asked while holding up the remaining pages. 

"I said I'd make you two pay for being hateful. And I have. " Amy spat, Meg, Beth, Hannah, and Marmee wore shocked expressions on their faces.  

I choked out a sob and Jo's face immediately softened as she walked over to me. "Eliza, what is it? " I showed her the piece of snapped wood with my mother's initials, FJ... 

"These were my mother's knitting needles that I've been using ever since she died... Amy, how could you! " I sobbed loudly. Beth had tears brimming in her eyes, Meg gasped, and Jo had a livid expression on her face. Amy had a somewhat guilty look in her eyes until Jo ran over to her and pushed her over as they began to wrestle. 

"Girls! Jo! " Marmee said as Jo pulled Amy's hair to stand her back up. 

"You wicked, wicked, girl. I will never write again! I will never forgive you as long as I live and Eliza shouldn't either. Those were her mothers, do you realize what you've done?" Jo yelled as she continued to pull her hair. 

"Jo! Stop it! " Marmee called out as she tried to pull them apart. 

"Why should I? It's too late to stop her! " Jo yelled. I grabbed the tray of broken pieces and ran upstairs to the attic as Jo slapped Amy. 

Jo ran after me while I heard Amy yell, "Did you see what she did? " 

"Yes! And don't come to me for comfort, because I don't blame her. That was Jo's hard work and Eliza's mother's needles. You should be ashamed of yourself... " Meg harshly said. 

I ran to the attic and sat down on the sofa with the tray on my lap. I tried to piece them together with foolish hope that they would magically stick together, but they fell apart. Jo slammed the door to the attic behind her and paced.

I tried to hold in my sobs but to no avail, this was one of the few things that my mother was able to teach me before she died... Now, one of the last things she gave to me was broken out of revenge, and to think that it was by my own sister's hands. She didn't know who they belonged to before me but it still broke my heart. As silly as it may seem, the broken knitting needles that rested in my hands were one of the few ways I felt closer to my mother. I used what she taught me and knit almost every day, It felt like she was with me...

Jo saw me sobbing, sat on the empty spot on the tattered sofa, and held me as I internally ached. She stroked my hair as I cried, "This was one of the few ways I felt closer to her, and now it's gone... " 

Jo shushed me, "Amy is absolutely wicked for what she's done to us, she'll learn her lesson with all the guilt she must be feeling..." I nodded with the hope that she learned her lesson, although I don't think Jo should have slapped her.

After a few moments, I wiped my eyes and said, "Jo, I know how hard you've been working on your book, I'm so sorry... " Jo nodded and continued to hug me as Beth walked into the attic, she sat down with her legs crossed in front of the tattered sofa. 

We sat in silence before Beth said, "Eliza, Meg offered to use her rag money to buy some glue to put your needles back together. She said that you could go with her while she runs errands in town. " 

I nodded as Beth looked over to Jo, "If it was in your head once, some of it must still be in there.  " 

"Writing isn't like that. You can't keep it anywhere. It passes through you, and you have to catch it and get it on the page. And do you know the worst thing? I don't even know if it was any good. All I ever wanted was to take it somewhere, to show it to someone, to see if it might be fit to publish. " Jo responded with her voice breaking.

Beth placed her hand on Jo's knee and said, "I don't mind if you cry, Jo.".

Jo interrupted, "Tears are an unmanly weakness. " 

Beth raised her hands and calmly said, "You're not a man! " 

I nodded in agreement and said, "Jo, feelings need to be felt, not pushed away. Boys can be sad just as much as girls can. "

We heard footsteps coming up the stairs and Amy and Marmee's heads popped up from the staircase. Amy walked towards us and looked around aimlessly before saying, "I'm truly, truly, sorry, Jo and Eliza. Please forgive me. " 

Followed by Jo saying, "I can't. " 

Amy huffed and said to Marmee, "Did you hear that? I apologized and she won't accept it. " 

"Wait for what Eliza has to say, Amy. " Marmee said while standing in the way before Amy could walk down the stairs. She slowly turned to me as I spoke, "Amy, I know that you wouldn't have broken my mother's knitting needles if you knew that they were once hers, but that's not an excuse... You're my sister and love you anyhow" Amy stood there in complete silence.

I looked to Marmee for some kind of a response to what I had just said, I felt as though I was too harsh. Marmee nodded in approval and I softly sighed. After a few moments, Amy nodded in understanding and continued to walk down the stairs...

Marmee walked up the stairs and walked toward Beth, Jo, and I. 

"Jo. Don't let the sun go down on your anger. You're sisters. Forgive each other. You can start again in the morning. " Marmee began to stay before Jo interrupted.

"Start what again? My book? Amy did an abominable thing to Eliza and I and she doesn't deserve to be forgiven! " Jo buried her head in my neck to look away from Marmee, Beth and I looked at each other while Marmee sighed in frustration. 

Once Marmee and Beth walked out of the room, Jo looked at me with her hand still in mine and softly asked, "Eliza... How could you forgive her, even after what she did to your knitting needles? " 

I sighed as I looked back at her. "I didn't say I forgave her, though I will in due time... Amy is still immature and doesn't know how to properly handle herself. And like I said, I know that if she knew that they were my mother's needles, she wouldn't have done it. But that doesn't make her any less guilty. " 

Jo laughed and I smirked in confusion, "What is it? " 

"Oh my darling Eliza, you are truly an old soul. I hope to have a glimpse of the maturity that you have. " Jo said with a chuckle. and I giggled.

We sat there for a while just talking about the theater and how utterly silly it was... These little moments are what make everything worth it, all the chaos, all the arguments, all the damage was done... 

We learn and grow from it all...