Hey all!
Just wanted to thank the people who followed and favorited and especially reviewed!
Dogbiscuit : thank you so much for the constructive criticism and words of encouragement. I really appreciate you. Thanks for reading. =)
Guest: I'm sorry the name isn't doing it for you. It was slim pickings with all my requirements (Greek, start with a 'P' and have a decent story). But I do feel like I addressed the issue with some humor; kind of made her self-aware, and even threw in an easter egg when she was talking about a name she would have rather had. I hope you can continue reading and see what other fun tidbits I have in store when addressing her name. ;)
I will be updating this story every Thursday, just so you all know.
Hope you all enjoy!
2. Penelope
I hate my life.
School became even more unbearable after the Metropolitan Museum trip. I began to have more and more nightmares as the nights went on. All of my nightmares now stared the lovely Mrs. Dodds; or at least her gargoyle, dragon, vampire, snake version.
My teachers began to complain about my focus and attention, because it actually was worse than my usual ADHD issues. The Special Education teacher blamed my medication, the school psychologist blamed my daddy issues, and the nurse blamed my nonexistent allergies due to the wacky weather.
Oh geez… the weather.
It was absolutely unbelievable. One second it would be sunny with a nice breeze flowing by and the next second it was dark and a thunderstorm was threatening to uproot every trees in the courtyard of the school. And let's just say that the weather did not improve my mood any.
I kind of felt like I was drifting through my days as an outside spectator; and it sucked. I went to my classes, didn't pay much attention, got yelled at by all the teachers and then attempted to study and do my homework. Throw in some occasional sleep, showers and meals; then rinse and repeat.
Mr. Brunner was the only teacher to actually pull me aside and try to figure out what was wrong. But how could I tell him anything that was going through my head? He would probably have to report me to some professional place with padded rooms. So instead of telling the truth I said something about feeling sickly and not sleeping well. It wasn't completely a lie. But he shook his head sadly at me; I'm pretty sure Mr. Brunner knew I was leaving a few things out. Then he said something about making sure I pay attention to the stories because they could save my life one day.
Which stories? I have no idea…
I kind of lost all hope of staying at Yancy though and I didn't really absorb anything that was being taught to me anymore. I was somehow still passing most of my classes with my regular C minus average, but who knew if that was going to survive finals week.
Unfortunately I sealed my fate two weeks before finals even happened.
It was pouring so badly outside that you couldn't see more than two feet in front of you. Grover and I were in the library trying to study for the tests when Nancy the troll stopped by our table with here little brainless brigade in tow. I tried to ignore her; I really did try to listen to Grover when he told me to calm down and breath. But it didn't work. The words started to float around the page I was reading and then my anger just made my vision go blank.
I was so tired of listening to her pick on Grover and then have her staged audience giggle as if on cue. I just snapped. My face got hot, and I'm sure I was as red as a tomato. Then the heat spread down my neck and along both of my arms, like some weird power surge through my body.
The huge window behind our table shattered and threw glass shards and water all over Grover, me, Nancy and her peanut gallery.
We all came out of the event with cuts and scrapes, and we were completely soaked through. But Nancy had it the worst. I think she had a cut along every inch of skin that had been facing Grover and me. And her cronies of course fed the headmaster some twisted story about how I had broken the giant window and funneled the glass to hit Nancy… Yea, I don't know either.
Even with Grover at my defense, the headmaster sent my mom the dreaded note stating that I would not be welcomed back next year for seventh grade.
I didn't think it was possible, but I became even more of a zombie as I went about my day to day life at Yancy. I counted down the days until I could go home and hug my mom and forget about all the stupid people at this school.
But I realized that I would miss a few people. I'd miss Grover next year, he was my only friend and the prospect of leaving him made me regret not getting to know him better. And Mr. Brunner; I would miss him so much next year. He was the only teacher that seemed to care about if I was ok or not.
The day before finals, I had studied as much as I possibly could. I was pretty sure nothing else would fit into my head. I paced my room. It wasn't late enough to go to sleep; I could still see light from the sunset. It had actually been a decent day today with no crazy thunderstorms, just a short downpour after lunch. But as I continued to gaze out of the window, the weather changed right before my eyes. Big black clouds rolled in blocking out any remaining light, and the thunder and lightning began to get closer.
And then the storm hit.
The rain battered the window of my tiny room as if boulders were being thrown against it. I turned on some music and covered my ears trying to block out the sound, but it didn't help. I started to get a headache and the pressure felt like it was going to kill me. So I decided to take a walk around the halls to try to get away.
What was I trying to get away from? No idea. Maybe the rain, my study material, the calendar on my wall with only one more 'x' mark needed… Maybe I was trying to get away from myself.
I wandered around the empty hallways aimlessly; I got lost in my head again, my brain going to that familiar fuzzy place. But then my mind was slammed back into focus when I suddenly heard my name.
"…I'm worried about PJ… can't be alone this summer… not safe for her."
I realized that I was a few doors down from Mr. Brunner's office. I sneaked a little closer. I probably shouldn't have. Mom always hates when I eavesdrop, and it usually gets me into more trouble than it's worth… But, I couldn't help it. I felt like something was pulling me toward that room.
"We will only make things worse if we rush her. Penelope is not ready to know the truth about her world yet," I didn't appreciate being talked about like I was still a little kid, but Mr. Brunner's voice sounded completely defeated. I couldn't even muster up any anger for his use of my full name.
"But there was a Kindly One here!" Grover sounded terrified, "She saw it… And with the deadline coming up…"
"Things will just need to be resolved without her. The Mist will protect Penelope from knowing the truth for a little while longer, and hopefully it will safeguard her as well."
"Sir, I… I can't fail again. I won't." Grover sounded even more terrified than before.
I saw Mr. Brunner's shadow wave his hand in a gesture to silence Grover, "You haven't failed. I should have seen the Kindly One for what she was. Right now we need to focus our energy on keeping Penelope alive."
I almost cried out.
I cupped both hands over my mouth as fast as I could and slowly backed away from the office door. I turned around carefully when I got to the end of the hall and sprinted the whole way back to my room. My flip-flops made horrible popping noises as I ran.
My mind swirled around at breakneck speeds; I could barely string a clear thought together. I sat on my bed and stared at a blank spot on my wall. The old habit of picking at my nails came back to me and before I knew what I was doing, the beds of my fingernails were covered in blood.
I peered outside and noticed that the rain was whirling around the courtyard a lot like I had imagined my thoughts had been doing. It was eerie and I decided that I needed to go to bed before the night got any stranger.
The last thought that went through my jumbled head before I finally fell asleep was, "I'm in some kind of danger…"
I don't remember any of my tests.
No, I'm serious. I have absolutely no memory of taking my finals. I can't tell you if it went well, went horribly or if I just sat there and drooled on the pages.
I didn't interact with anyone, didn't say goodbye to anyone, and tried desperately to just speed through the day so I could be finished with Yancy Academy.
Mr. Brunner was the only one who tried to talk to me after I handed in my test. I guess I was the last one to finish because no one else was left in the room.
"PJ… I just wanted to say how sorry I am about you not returning next year."
"Um, thank you, sir." I didn't know what else to say. Like I said before, I wasn't really going to miss much about Yancy. Just him and Grover, but now I could feel myself begin to doubt even that.
"I'm sure you will find a place better suited for you." Mr. Brunner smiled kindly at me and I dropped his gaze, "Please remember that being different isn't necessarily a bad thing, Penelope."
I nodded my head, mentally twitched at my Latin teacher's use of my full name and speed walked out of the classroom. I know that Mr. Brunner was trying to be nice, but it just came across as a more sincere way of saying I was weird and always would be.
I was terrified at the idea of saying goodbye to Grover now, but it turned out that he was headed into Manhattan on the same bus that I was. We sat in somewhat uncomfortable silence until my head felt like it was going to explode. My jaw flexed a few times.
"What are Unkindly Ones?" I blurted out before I could clamp my mouth shut again.
Grover paled and looked around the bus frantically, "What… I don't know… what's that you said?" He was a terrible liar and stuttered when he was nervous. It was one of the things that Nancy had made fun of him for.
I took a deep breath and quietly admitted everything I had heard outside of Mr. Brunner's office.
"PJ… he didn't want you to know all of this stuff yet," Grover shook his head and glanced around the bus again; he looked on edge. "Look, all I can say is that… I'm worried about you. And if you need me, for any reason at all… here." He handed me a card from one of his pockets.
'Grover Underwood
Keeper
Half-Blood Hill
Long Island, New York
(800) 009-0009'
"What's a Keeper?" I looked at Grover, but his eyes were roaming around the bus again.
"It's… I'm…" It was Grover's turn to sigh and come clean, "I'm kind of supposed to protect you, PJ."
I wasn't sure if I wanted to know the answer but, "Protect me… from… what?"
The bus began to shake and wheeze, and thick black smoke billowed up over some of the windows. The driver pulled the bus over and mumbled something about checking the engine before he disappeared outside.
All of the other passengers filed out of the bus, after the driver, and wandered around the shoulder of the road. There didn't seem to be much off the old country highway. Just huge trees and some trash tumbling around in the wind. But as my eyes passed over the other side of the road again, a fruit stand appeared where I would have sworn a vacant turn off had been the first time I looked.
"Did… was that there before?" I asked Grover as I pointed through the darkly tinted windows.
"Was what there before?" Grover looked in the direction I was pointing and his mouth fell open.
There were no customers at the stand, just three really old ladies sitting in high back rocking chairs knitting. Two of them where paying attention to their work and continued to knit the gigantic socks they had going, but the old lady on the left was staring at the bus.
She looked pretty harmless. I mean, she was ancient looking, with withering paper like skin and frizzy white hair. But Grover looked so terrified that I began to feel a little queasy. As I tried to examine the lady further, I noticed that she only had one eye; a huge blue eye, only on her right side. The other eye socket was empty…
Ok, now I was scared too. "Grover… who are those ladies?"
"Um… no one… I mean, they're nobody…" Grover stammered.
"They look like… are they the Fates?" I began to return the intent stare of the old woman on the left. She smiled a toothless grin, as if she could see me through the dark glass as I gawked at her. She slowly extended her arm up over her head and pulled out a length of electric blue yarn. Then she took out a pair of old rusty kitchen sheers and snipped the thread in half.
I swear I could hear the echo of that snip from across the highway, inside the bus.
But as I gaped at the old woman, the bus rumbled back to life and everyone returned to their seats.
The rest of the ride into Manhattan was complete awkward silence for Grover and me.
When we got to the bus station, Grover finally confronted me about what I saw at the fruit stand. When I told him, he began to sweat a lot. He kept mumbling, "Not again… why sixth grade… just like last time… they never make it past sixth grade… "
Before Grover would let me get off of the bus, he made me swear I would let him walk me home. I was nauseous and shaky; I didn't know what to believe anymore.
"Penelope… PJ, promise me… please?"
I promised Grover he could walk me home… but I lied.
SO excited to share this story with you all.
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Always,
Misha
Ps. If you like my writing, please check out my other stories: 'Thrown Back,' 'Begin Again,' and 'Life as Demigods.'
