"Bye, Miss Penny!" Vincent waved back at her while he bounded off toward home, Jas close behind him.
Penny smiled a sweet yet tired smile and waved back gently. She loved teaching, but it was exhausting, and the stack of dishes and load of laundry she knew was likely waiting for her at home didn't help energize her much. She sighed quietly as she turned back from the corner of Willow Lane and began walking home. It would be so nice to get off of work and then be able to relax at home, she thought; but that's life. If all went right, she would have enough money saved to move out next year—that thought always made her feel a little more hopeful.
As she walked past the Stardrop Saloon, she heard a voice mumbling. Pelican Town was a lovely place to live, but it was very humdrum, and almost monotonous at times. This mumbling wasn't something she'd grown accustomed to hearing in her two decades of residency in town, and definitely wasn't one of the usual voices she would hear from the saloon at this hour.
"Hor… horse… do-" The mumbling got a little more pronounced, now above a whisper.
Penny looked past the garbage-strewn yard and to the fenced off area that kept the rather large dog 'Dusty' corralled away from the public. As she looked closer, she could see an immaculately clean, white sports shoe sticking out from behind the corner of the fence. Curiosity got the better of her, and she snuck towards the fence to investigate. She stepped as quietly as possible along the pickets until she reached the corner.
"Horse… dove… do… over? Horse do-over? No!" Alex frowned in annoyance, shaking his head a little. "No that can't be right."
He traced his finger under the word again, trying to sound it out as he went. Penny was pleasantly surprised to see him with a book in his hands. Alex had lived in Pelican Town for a decade or so if she could remember right, and she had never seen him do anything but play sports and exercise. Though that might be because for most of that time he had been charted to the same school Haley and the other well-off kids went to outside of town, so she didn't see much of him until this past year anyway. She peeked around the corner more, crouching down to see what he was reading.
"Hours… do…." His voice was slow and concentrated. As Penny looked closer, she could make out the text on the page, and was sure she recognized what it was from.
"Hors d'oeuvres!" Penny chimed in confidently. Alex jumped a little and turned to see his redheaded neighbor watching him with a gentle smile.
"What the—" He didn't get a chance to finish.
"The word. The one you're trying to pronounce—it's 'hors d'oeuvres'. It's French." She smiled a little more nervously. Interacting with people her own age still wasn't one of her strong points. Interacting with people at all still wasn't one of her strong points.
"Oh... oh! Yeah, I've heard that before." Alex looked back to his book, studying the spelling again. "What a dumb way to spell it."
Penny laughed a little at that.
"Well its French, which is probably why you were struggling so much. All of their vowels are pronounced differently and um—" She paused a moment to study his face. Alex frowned down at the text, but not in an angry way. The expression reminded her of one Vincent might give her if he thought he was failing a lesson; maybe even sad. She started to feel anxious—maybe she had upset him.
"O-oh I, um…" She tried to collect herself more. "I didn't mean struggling like—well anyone assuming a word is English would—"
"Augh." Alex gave a groaning sigh and closed the book in annoyance. He propped his arms up on his knees and let the book hang from his index and middle knuckle between his legs. "I'm just not cut out for this brainy junk!"
He knocked his head back on the wooden fence. Dusty gave him a snort in reply before going back to snoring. Penny felt her face getting hot and her chest start to tighten, just like it always did when she tried to socialize. She knelt down onto her knees beside him, looking at the ground sadly.
"No, no! I'm sorry Alex. It was a poor choice of words. Sorry…"
"It's not that, Red. It's just…" Alex hesitated, looking off at the river while he second-guessed himself. He had confided in that new farmer about his problem with books, and that hadn't come back to haunt him at all. He couldn't imagine that telling a shy, shut-in girl about it could be any more dangerous than that. He pushed his lips out a little in thought before turning his head to look at her.
"This stuff." He took the book and shook it at her a little. "All this reading, literature, whatever, stuff. I'm no good at it. I've been trying to read more, y'know, train the ol' brain instead of these—"
He flexed his arm at her, unable to help himself from showboating at least a little. Penny could barely be surprised before he spoke again.
"—but I just keep struggling with it. It drives me crazy, because I don't struggle. Not with anything." He frowned at the book again. "Except for this."
Penny blinked, still a little red. She thought over what he was saying before shaking herself out of her thoughts.
"Well I think you're doing fine, Alex! That's… that's really good." She gave him her best teacher's smile. "You're reading The Great Gatsby. That's not a very easy book."
"It's not?" Alex looked at her with a confused expression.
"Oh… well, not particularly? Not if you're not a strong reader." Penny inched a little closer and gingerly took the book from him. She looked it over, appreciating that it did look worn and well-read, even if it wasn't by Alex himself.
"Aw! I thought since… well it's like, so small!" He sat up and squared it up with his thumb and index finger a few times in her hands. "It's not even an inch thick!"
Penny laughed at him pinching his fingers at the book's spine.
"A small book doesn't mean an easy book, Alex." She covered her laugh with her hand.
"Shoot. So I was basically jumping into a full body workout without even stretching first. Great." He knocked back against the fence again and blew some hair out of his face.
"Well, no, not necessarily." Penny smiled reassuringly. "I think you were doing very well. You just need to show yourself a little more patience."
Alex stared up at the sky for a few seconds, mulling over her advice. Penny watched him and felt herself deflate a little. She hated seeing someone who wants so desperately to learn beat themself up over not understanding the material.
"Um… if you'd like… I could tutor you." Penny tapped her fingers on the book's cover nervously. "Only if you want…"
"Tutor? You mean like… train me with books and stuff?" He turned to look at her again. Penny laughed awkwardly; it seemed like like the only thing he understands is sports lingo.
"Yes! Something like that." She brushed her bangs behind her ear nervously. "I tutor Vincent and Jas at the library on… Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays until 2:00PM, but I could come over at 3:00PM on those days for private lessons, or earlier on—"
"Private training! Yes, that's great. Awesome!" Alex beamed at her and laughed before giving her a hearty pat on the back that was more like a jarring slap. He stood up, bringing her up with him. Penny could only squeak as she was abruptly straightened up and brushed off roughly.
"That sounds great, uh, um…" Alex paused a moment, realizing only then that he didn't know her name. He was pretty sure it started with a 'P' at least. "…Patsy?"
"…Penny." She smiled uncomfortably. Alex didn't seem to notice, laughing and patting her back again.
"Penny! Yeah, thanks Penny." He smirked at her and took the book back from her. "I'll see you tomorrow then!"
He stuck his hand into his letterman's pocket and trotted towards his grandparent's house. Penny gagged a second and reached her hand out at him.
"W-wait! We didn't talk about…" She dropped her hand. "…payment."
She watched his door close and sighed to herself. Oh well, she thought. She would just have to tell him tomorrow that she does need to be paid. She started the short walk to her house and tried to be a little more optimistic. If he did agree to pay her, then she might make her 'move out' goal even sooner than expected! It would be more work, but that extra paycheck would be great. She opened the door to the trailer and tried not to groan at the stack of dishes waiting for her in the sink.
AN: I assumed drawing the fake cover for this fic that I'd never write it, but the more I get ideas for it the more I wanna write them down... so we'll see how far I get on this inspo train!
I never thought I'd be writing a Stardew fic for Alex OR Penny (I thought I'd do one for Abby/Seb if anyone...) but here we are! Lots of drama in store for these poor kids.
*Had to change some years in this chapter, because I didn't know Alex had been living in Pelican Town for 12 years at the start of the game! 0: My bad
**Going through and rereading the chapters to change minor stuff, so if you notice a change that's it! :)