Day 1:

Penelope Park has no chill.

Oh, she used to. There was once a time when she was the queen of all that was chill in the world. Complete universes used to crash down with a wave of her hand. Millions of people absolutely obliterated by the force of her indifference. She used to walk the corridors and the students would just fall down at her feet, begging for one glance from her. Ah, the days of having chill.

And look at her now.

"What are you doing here?" Josie asked her, looking completely unprepared at 8 in the morning.

(Oh, she better be prepared. Penelope Park does not lose her chill often but once she does, she makes sure she steals a few hearts in the process)

(And Josie's definitely going to lose hers)

"Um, escorting my prom date to class, obviously?" she replied, as though it should've been completely obvious "My date, who I got because I was the fastest and the brightest and the tallest, and I won the competition."

"Okay, first of all, you're like two breakfast subs balanced precariously on top of each other…"

"Five feet two inches," she butted in, through gritted teeth.

"Also, yes, I know you won the thing or whatever, you don't have to keep repeating it all the time," Josie finished.

And Penelope's smile was back "But what if you forget, my dear date? We wouldn't want that to happen, would we?"

"Wouldn't want what to happen? What's going on?" M.G walked up to them, coffee in hand.

"She's talking about me forgetting that she's my prom date," Josie quickly told him, before Penelope could even open her mouth "You know, because of that stupid thing you did, Milton."

The boy winced.

"Either way," Josie continued, turning around to open her locker "There's absolutely no way you're escorting me or whatever…."

And then Penelope cut in front of her, blocking her view to her locker, and started pulling books out, one by one. Once she was done, she turned to Josie and Milton again, who were staring at her with completely gobsmacked expressions.

"Taking random books out won't really help her, you know?" Milton told her, hesitantly.

Penelope rolled her eyes at him "Please. Chemistry, English Lit, and Art before lunch. And then she has Physics, Gym, and Electronical Devices at the very end. Oh, and a free period in the middle."

She turned to Josie with the intention of smirking, but then was struck dumb by the expression on her face. It was the Josie she liked to remember when she wasn't able to fall asleep, the Josie who used to smile at her like she had been the reason the Earth was thrown into existence aeons ago. Josie had the softest expression on her face, vulnerable, tender, and Penelope felt her chest suddenly go tight.

"You remember my class schedule?" she asked, finally, the wonder evident in her sweet voice.

Penelope smiled back at her, and shrugged.

"Come on, JoJo. Don't wanna be late to class."

As she was walking, Josie and Milton following her, she hears him mutter to Josie "You look like you're already in love with her".

And when Josie replies "Your face looks like it's already in love with her", sounding completely flustered, she just smiles, and keeps walking.

Day 2:

Okay, so this isn't going to be as easy as she'd thought when she'd planned it. You plan a grand gesture, you don't really think about the ramifications of it. You also don't think about how awkward you would feel, about the utter embarrassment that would befall you as you stand, just out of sight, waiting for the right moment so you can step into the spotlight. The metaphorical spotlight. The very bright, in focus spotlight.

Now of course, all of this hadn't just happened. She'd had to jump through a lot of hoops to get here, had had to talk and cajole people to set things into motion. The biggest one of them had been the boy

He looked wary when she approached him.

"You really gotta get away from me," he said, his eyes wandering around, presumably in search of Josie, or Hope or Lizzie, the three girls who were most likely to stab him to death in case they saw her with him.

"Can you chill for like, a minute, dude?" she asked him, wanting to laugh at how terrified he looked "I just need a tiny favor."

"Stop doing things to take a shot at Josie! When anyone other than Lizzie takes a shot at Josie, they tend to wake up with scabies. You ever had them? They don't feel nice."

She did laugh then, unable to help it. She liked this boy. He was funny.

"Look, Milton."

"M.G."

"Yes, okay, M.G," she conceded "I know you have no reason to help me out, but."

M.G raised his eyebrows.

"Okay fine, I have no reason. I just…have you ever done something stupid and wanted to take it back, and realized that you can't?"

"I take it this is about you breaking up with Josie out of the fucking blue and breaking her heart?"

She looked him right in the eye "Yes."

"So this is what? Another attempt to ruin her? She's already in a terrible place. You can't walk around messing with her head. I won't let you do that to her again," he said, suddenly not the easy-going, scrappy guy she had thought of him as. It makes her feel good, that there are people who are ready to step in and protect Josie from everything in the world that could hurt her. Even if one of those things is her.

"This is me making things right," she replies, steadily "This is me, wanting to make sure she never has to cry again, that she is happy all the time. This is me, telling you that I was madly in love with her, when I asked her out, when I was dating her, when I broke up with her. That I still am madly in love with her, and will do absolutely anything to have a chance with her again."

She took a deep breath, and then continued "I'm not saying I'm perfect. Hell, I know I'm not. But Josie, she, she is. And if it turns out that there is someone else who can make her happier, I will step aside and let her live her life. But until then, I won't stop trying. Because you know as well as I do that she loves me too."

He considered that for about thirty seconds "I'm only doing this for Josie."

She smiled "Okay."

"And if you hurt her again."

"I promise I won't," she said, and had never meant anything more seriously in her life.

Right. Enough musing. Time to get to work.

She took a deep breath, then walked out into the cafeteria, boombox in hand. Made her way to the central table, a few tables away from Josie, who was facing the other way, and slowly climbed up on top. Then she opened her mouth.

"Attention, students of Salvatore High," she started, her voice carrying through the crowd. She saw Josie stiffen, then slowly turn and look at her "My name, as most of you already know is Penelope Park, and I kind of have an announcement to make. So, a few days ago, I had won the honor of taking the very beautiful Josie Saltzman to prom as her date. Josie Saltzman, people, by the way, is on the table right over there. Can't miss her. Either way, I have planned to honor the very old tradition of doing terrible, cheesy things in the name of prom and love, and am now going to sing a terrible song in a terrible voice. Please excuse me while I try to woo a lady."

Half of the students standing there cheered loudly. Sometimes it paid to be popular.

The music started.

"Fake young when we first met, everything seemed alright," she sang "Like children sing on the sidewalk, cut straight through the moonlight."

She could see Josie hide her face in her hands, and slowly started walking up to her, still singing. Finally she reached her, and bent down on her knees, trying to look her ex-girlfriend in the eye.

"Why are you doing this?" Josie whispered at her, and she just shrugged.

"So sang that I really need you so bad, oh yeah, no not so typical love song," she continued singing, and saw Josie's mouth trying desperately not to turn up into a smile. It was her favorite song, after all "Coz it hurt us again and again."

She finally finished, to a round of applause, and turned around to face her audience "Thank you, guys. You've been a lovely audience, Couldn't have asked for better people, honestly. Cheers."

As soon as they were gone, she got onto her knees again, beside Josie's chair "So, what do you think?"

"I think you're an idiot," Josie whispered, her cheeks furiously red. Penelope thought it was adorable.

"No, you think I'm cute. You think I'm pretty. You want to kiss me," she told Josie, her voice lilting.

"No, seriously, what are you doing?"

"I," she starts, then falters, because there is no reasonable way to say that she has come back to her senses, realized that she was an idiot to ever have let Josie go without fighting for her, and wanting to hold her and kiss her all the time. Besides, it's a little too early for that "I was, simply, singing you a not so typical love song."

And if Josie's smile widens just a fraction of a bit before she controls it, Penelope is willing to let it be their little secret