As she finished up the last notes of Only Hope by Mandy Moore on the piano, Penelope glanced at the clock. Her eyes were wide as she realized that not only was she late, but her father would wake up from his sleep in any minute. She picked up her binder from the stool beside her and quickly ran out of the music store. Penelope looked at her open window on the second floor, and gave up the thought of climbing back up. She had no choice but to go through the front door. She slowly opened the scratched, beat up screen door and tip-toed to her room, careful not to step on the old floor boards. As she got into her room, she jumped under her sheets and acted asleep.

Henry June got out from under his covers, glanced at his night stand, and picked up one of many beer bottles scattered everywhere. He hadn't finished it the night before, so he decided to do so now. He angrily opened his door, aggravated that the door knob wouldn't properly turn. His head ached at the sound of the door slamming the wall, groaning because of his hangover. As he walked into his daughter's room, he was blinded by the light coming from her window. Angrily, he threw the bed sheets off of Penelope, and said slowly, "Why are your curtains open?" Realizing the mistake she made, she muttered quietly, "It's always so dark in my room. I was hoping that the sun could provide some light, and wake me up." She closed her eyes, with her eyebrows together, hoping he would believe her. "You know that if the curtains are open, anyone could see." He tried to keep his voice down. He was sure that if anyone saw the condition of the house they had been living in, which was supposed to be a house set for construction, law suits would definitely be made. "I know." Hesitating, she realized that there wasn't much more that could be said. "I'm sorry." He stomped over to her window and closed her curtains. "I'm hungry." Squinting, he locked eyes with her, and walked out of her bedroom.

Getting up, she knew what to do first. Because of her mother leaving her and her father at such a young age, they had lost their only source of income. She left because she could not take the slowness of the small town they lived in, and because Henry couldn't think about leaving it, he stayed. Henry refused to get any sort of job, explaining to Penelope that he had a job where money was not needed nor gained, but could supply them with anything they desired. What he meant by this, was that stealing was clearly his occupation. Eventually, because of his addiction to alcohol, Penelope was forced to take on the occupation. So, she walked to the nearby grocery store, and looked around. This was only the first time she was at this store, but she knew what to do. She proceeded to the first aisle, looked around. Then went on to the next. Once she had gotten to the aisle that had frozen goods, she took two boxes of the frozen breakfast and put it into her purse. Then went to the next aisle and took some paper, for she had some new inspiration in her head. Although she had already gotten everything she needed, she walked through every aisle, as if looking for her parent. She was at the last aisle, sighed loudly, and walked out.

As she walked inside, she noticed all of the empty beer bottles on the floor, and took notice of what she had to pick up next. She emptied her purse onto the dirty counter, and walked out. She walked even father this time, to a liquor store. The cashier was too pre-occupied with the television to notice that she had even walked in. She looked up, taking notice of any security cameras, and walked to the refrigerators. After many years of experience, she knew how to steal beer, making it look like she was looking at the sodas. She walked over to the beer, quickly opened the fridge door, and held the door open with one arm, while she slyly put two beers into her purse. She closed the door, laughed to herself, so that the cashier would think that she realized her mistake of going to the beer fridge, and walked over to the soda fridge. She looked in, shook her head, and closed the fridge. As she was on her way out, she glanced at the ashier, then back at the television. It had been a long time since she had actually watched television, so she decided to stay a bit to catch up on the news. There were many reports about stolen goods, and it made Penelope nervous. Feeling guilty, she crossed her arms, and kept focus to the screen. There were three reports about missing teenagers, and one about a girl who had been found all the way across the country, starting a "new life." The idea of running away tickled Penelope, and without realizing it, she was smiling. She walked out, and proceeded home.

Walking in, she noticed her father passed out on the couch, with a beer in his hand. She walked into her room, took out the stolen paper, grabbed a pen, and wrote down some lyrics and a few notes to go with them. On another sheet of paper, she wrote down her plans for the next day.

Getting up, she looked out the window, making sure that the sun was not out yet. It was still dark, which meant that it was some time before six a.m. She kept the curtain closed, grabbed her purse and filled it with paper. She grabbed a pen, and some clothes in her drawer. She carefully walked out of the house, and went off to the music store. By the time she got there, it was already open, which meant that it was either 7 a.m. or after 7 a.m. She played some songs on the piano, closing her eyes, feeling the music coming from the beautiful instrument she was playing. She couldn't imagine a day without some sort of music, and looked down at the piano, realizing that this would be the last day she would every touch such a thing. She looked around, and noticed the hundreds of guitars on the walls. She had never played one, because she was always too caught up with the music from the piano, but had a feeling that one might come in handy somewhere along the road. Once the owner had gone upstairs, she picked up her purse, ran to the smallest guitar, grabbed a guitar strap, and ran out. She ran for miles, until she finally stopped, adjusting the guitar strap with the guitar, and settling it on her back.

After walking a few more miles, she had reached a busy city. She had no clue where she was, but she knew which way she was going. South. Because that's where Hollywood was, and Hollywood was where she was going to start over.