"Hey." Penny dumped her bag onto the table. "Sorry I'm late. I forgot to text you."
"Hey. That's fine. Are you okay?" Leonard raised his eyebrows slightly with concern as he took in Penny's angered face.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Penny pulled her textbook out of her bag in a manner that suggested otherwise, slamming it onto the table, followed by her exercise book and pencil case.
"You sure?" Leonard asked warily.
"Yeah, I said I'm fine!" Penny snapped, before running a hand through her hair. "Ugh, I'm so sorry, I'm not mad at you. I'm not even mad. Actually, I am kind of mad. No, yes, I am mad."
"What happened? Uh, that is, if you don't mind me asking. You don't have to tell me if you don't want me to know about stuff."
"It's really stupid. Just because I said I can't hang out at stupid Valerie's stupid house tonight, suddenly everyone's all like, 'oh, Penny, what's wrong with you, don't be like that, all the guys are going to be there, remember that guy you made out with?' I mean that wasn't even making out and he's disgusting. And then just because they're all happy to go dropping their panties, they start to tease me just because-" Clenching her fists, Penny closed her eyes, letting out a deep breath.
Leonard patted her back awkwardly. "It's okay." He had no idea what he was supposed to do in this situation. "Do you want a juice box?"
"What?" Penny opened her eyes and peered at him curiously.
"A juice box. Umm, my friend told me that apparently you're supposed to offer people who are upset a cup of tea but... I only have a juice box."
"Oh. Alright." Penny shrugged, letting herself cool off a little as Leonard pulled out an orange juice box from his backpack.
"Here." He held it out to her.
"Thank you." She pierced the straw in and took a sip. "Mm. This is good. Strangely it does help, thank you, Leonard." She gave him a small smile before taking another sip. "Oh my God, were you saving this juice box for later? I don't want to drink this all if you were going to have it later."
"No, that's fine, I have my water bottle with me. I just didn't have my juice box during lunch, you can have it."
"Oh, okay. That's really sweet of you to give it to me." Penny grinned, before frowning at him apologetically. "I'm sorry I dumped all that crap at you. We've only known each other like two days. Day three and I'm yelling at you, I'm so sorry."
"That's okay." Leonard shrugged sheepishly.
"You can tell me to shut up if I'm going on about my stupid problems too much, I don't mind. Anyway, I went over the stuff we did over the last couple of days. I think I finally got it, hold on, I'll show you." Penny held up a finger as she took her exercise book and flipped it open to the back, where she'd been working with Leonard. "I did those questions from the text book. Did I get them right? Like, I checked the answers in the back but is the working out right?"
Leonard was impressed. He hadn't expected her to go over the work they had done, let alone do questions from the textbook in her spare time. He was slightly speechless for a moment, before he pulled her book towards him to go over her work. To his surprise, it was all mostly correct, save for a few mistakes that she had fixed after multiple attempts he could see furiously crossed out. "Yeah, that all looks fine."
"Oh, yay!" Penny grinned, taking another sip from the juice box. "I told my dad I'd get them right. I was doing these in the kitchen. You know when I told him a guy was helping me study, he didn't believe it was help with actually studying? Ha, proved him wrong!"
"What did he think I was helping you do?" Leonard asked naively.
"Oh please, have you not seen all the girls in our school? You mention to your parents you're hanging out with a guy and they assume the worst. I mean, I don't blame Daddy, look at how my sister was when she was my age! But she's real protective of me, like, until she moved out, if a guy drove me home she would meet me at the bottom of the road to make sure nothing happened. Bridget's alright now though, I think, now she's not at school and she got a job. So, I guess he just thinks I'll end up the same-" Suddenly, Penny stopped, and sighed. "See, I'm doing it again. I just talk. Sorry."
"I don't mind."
"Seriously, you can just tell me to shut up when I do that. Anyway, I looked at the objectives for this part of the book, so... fire away, Leonard."
"Are you doing anything tonight?" Penny asked, checking the time on her phone. She tried to ignore how hard and fast her heart was beating against her chest, and the fact that her palms were sweating - just that one invitation to go hang out together and not talk about studying, and just spend some time with each other was both exciting and insanely nerve wracking.
"Uh, no." Leonard shook his head slightly, hitching his backpack up.
"I'm going to get a frozen yoghurt up the road, you wanna come with?"
Leonard stuttered for a moment. "You, umm, want me to go with you to get a frozen yoghurt?"
Penny raised a brow, keeping up her pretense of this being casual. "Yeah."
"Like, people would see us in public?"
"Yeah..."
"Umm, alright."
"I don't know if I want Chocolate Surprise or Green Blend." Penny contemplated as they began walking up the road, the opposite way to which they'd usually go home. "I mean, I really should have Green because it's healthier and I've really got to watch what I'm eating now I'm a cheerleader. But Chocolate... mm, it's really tasty. You get chocolate sprinkles and chocolate chips on top as well with white chocolate sauce. What're you gonna get?"
"Oh, I don't know. I've never been. I'm, umm, I'm lactose intolerant." Leonard told her, embarrassed.
"They have a dairy free option!" Penny said enthusiastically.
"Really?"
"Yeah! Ooh, this is so exciting."
He wasn't sure what part of purchasing dairy free frozen yoghurt classified as 'exciting', but he smiled at her anyway. "It sure is."
"You know what, I think I'll get chocolate, to celebrate studying and the fact that this is your first time here." Penny decided, as they approached the store in question. She opened to door for him and followed him inside. Instantly, she pointed to the board behind the counter. "See, told you, dairy free."
"Oh yeah." Leonard smiled, as he followed her over to the counter.
"Hey. I would like a... oh, what the hell. I'll have a large Chocolate Surprise frozen yoghurt, please. And Leonard will have a dairy free... oh," she turned to Leonard. "What do you want?"
"Uh..." Leonard peered at the board quickly. "I'll have the dairy free chocolate granola. Small, please."
"Granola?" Penny raised a brow at him. "Healthy choice. Well, I'll let you off, it's your first one. Still really tasty though." As the server put in their order and gave them the total sum, Penny began to search through her purse.
"Oh, no, it's okay, I'll get it." Leonard said hastily, pulling out a bill from his pocket and handing it over.
"You sure?" Penny asked. "Here, I'll pay you back for my one, at least."
"No, it's okay." Leonard shrugged.
Penny was kind of relieved; she only had a little of her allowance left, and whether or not she continued to receive it depended on how she did on her math test next week. Though she would have happily paid for both had he not offered; she hadn't been expecting him to at all. Sure, guys had paid for her drinks before, but never... normal stuff, like frozen yoghurt.
Accepting their now prepared tubs of frozen yoghurt, they thanked the server and sat down in one of the small booths.
"So, you ready for your first try of this awesome frozen yoghurt?" Penny grinned.
"I guess so." What if he didn't like it? He was sure he would. It seemed to be a popular choice of dessert-style food amongst the people he knew. He took a small scoop of it onto his blue plastic spoon and put it into his mouth. It was cold, but tasty. "Huh. It's actually really nice."
"See! I told you." Penny began to dig into hers. "Ooh, does dairy free taste different to the normal ones?"
"Uh, I dunno." Leonard shrugged.
"Oh, duh, of course, you haven't tried to ones with dairy. Silly me!" Penny giggled nervously, wishing she'd thought of this logical answer before asking such a stupid question. It wasn't as though he hadn't told her he hadn't had it before. Putting her spoon down, she looked over at him. "Can I try some of yours? Then I can judge if it tastes any different."
He blinked at her for a moment. Nobody had ever wanted to share his food. Especially not a girl. Definitely not a pretty girl like Penny. "O-okay."
Grabbing his spoon, Penny took a generous serving of his frozen yoghurt. He watched as she placed the spoon in her mouth, slowly taking the food into her mouth, before removing the spoon and placing it back in his tub. She tilted her head in thought for a moment, and he tried not to think about how this was the first time he'd shared cutlery - even if it was plastic - with somebody else.
"Tastes the same, the dairy and the non-dairy. I always expected non-dairy to be... kinda gross." Penny admitted. "Like, you know how things taste different when they don't have something and it's never as good? Ugh, I bet it has less fat as well." Penny scoffed, stabbing her spoon into her frozen yoghurt. "Maybe I should switch to dairy-free."
"I'm sure it's the same. You don't need to have it just because it has less fat, you look great." His eyes widened as his face turned red. "I mean, you know... you just don't need to switch over to dairy-free just because it has less fat or whatever."
Penny felt herself blush at the compliment he tried to hide nervously. "Aw. Thank you."
"It's okay." Leonard shifted his feet awkwardly beneath the table. "Besides, I'm sure with all the cheerleading practice, you'd burn off more calories than you're consuming right now."
"Ooh, that's a good point." Penny grinned. "But still, I think I'll switch to dairy free from now on anyway. Then we can be dairy free frozen yoghurt buddies!"
He found it adorable how excited she would get over the smallest things. "Yeah, okay."
They continued with their frozen yoghurts for a while, before Penny looked up at him to make sure that he was still enjoying himself - and it seemed he was, because he had almost finished. "So, did you like it? The frozen yoghurt?"
"Uh-huh," he looked up at her and nodded with a smile on his face, before looking over at her practically empty tub and letting out a small chuckle, "and I'm guessing you enjoyed yours?"
"I did." She bit her lip as she put her spoon down in the tub and pushed it to the side. "I don't come here that often, but I felt it was a deserved frozen yoghurt, right?"
"Yeah, it was." Leonard agreed, copying her movements once he'd finished his frozen yoghurt. He was still in total disbelief that he was actually hanging out in public with Penny - a girl, a cheerleader, not a nerd, and very pretty. Attributes most of the people he was seen with in public did not have. It was a pleasant change. "You've worked really hard these past few days, you deserved that frozen yoghurt."
"Thank you!" Penny breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought I was just making excuses to myself for treating myself. And hey, you deserved it too, trying to teach me math has got to be really tough."
"It's not as difficult as you think it is. You actually pick things up pretty quickly."
"Ugh, see, my brother always laughed at me saying I was 'slow' - but, then again, anything he ever says is most likely total crap." Penny rolled her eyes. "Anyway, shall we start heading back?"
"Yeah, sure."
They got up, taking their empty tubs to the bin before stepping outside and heading back towards the school to go home. For a while she watched her feet as they walked, unable to help the slight smile on her face that was brought on by simply being around Leonard. She looked up at him quickly and caught him with a similar, barely there but visible smile on his face too.
"So, what're your plans for tonight?"
"I'm going to read my new comic book when I get home."
"Oh yeah, you said yesterday you were going to the comic book store." Penny felt proud of herself for remembering this detail.
"Yeah. And then I've got some studying to do for tomorrows Physics quiz and finish off my project." Leonard frowned - none of that sounded like fun at all; he could just imagine how lame it must all sound to her. "What about you?"
"I've got to do this homework for tomorrow. It's for English, so that's not too bad - I like English. Ooh, and then I'll watch TV... I should probably stretch too for cheerleading. I'll have a look at the next couple of chapters for tomorrow before I go to bed."
She actually studied and worked more than he had expected, Leonard thought to himself as she told him about her favorite TV show and how funny it was, and her favorite lines from it. He knew some of her friends, most of them also cheerleaders, would make up excuses as to why they hadn't done their homework and then sit through classes talking and giggling at the back. Perhaps Penny wasn't the most attentive person in her classes but she knew enough to get her work done, and he thought if she really put her mind to it she would do really well. He knew not all cheerleaders fit into the 'stereotype' he had in his mind - sure, many of them had rolled their eyes and scoffed at him rudely when he'd offered to help them in class or asked them kindly to be quiet so he could concentrate on the lesson, but Penny was probably the first one to actually properly talk to him, and form a friendship with him (possibly - he wasn't really sure if this counted as being friends or not yet). There had been one or two other cheerleaders who he'd spoken to, who'd asked him for help with the work or ended up next to him in a lab and had normal conversations with him, so he knew they weren't all the same. He'd just categorised them as 'pretty, but wouldn't be my friend' - though now he'd probably need a new category for Penny.
"I'm sorry," Penny briefly placing her hand on his arm brought him out of his thoughts, "you probably didn't want to know all about the show, but... like I said, feel free to just tell me to shut up."
"It's okay." Leonard chuckled. At least she was just as passionate about her favorite show as he was with his.
"Oh, by the way, I have cheer practice tomorrow. So... I'm gonna be an hour later than usual. Is that okay? If you can't wait around or whatever that's fine."
"No, no, that's fine with me. I'll do my homework in the library, then I won't have to do it later at home. It works out pretty well."
"Okay." Penny grinned with relief. "Good. Thank you. I just forgot about practice, I guess I'm in a really... studious mindset, or whatever."
"A studious mindset." He laughed. "Well, that's a good mindset to be in, I suppose, considering you're studying math with me all week."
"It is." Penny nodded. "Though my parents would seriously laugh if I told them that."
"How come?" Leonard raised a brow at her. She'd often drop mentions of her family, and it always made him curious to know more.
"Well, you know, I'm not the best student in the world, unless it's something like English, or Drama, or sometimes History because it's interesting, I don't really do much work." Penny shrugged half-heartedly. "It's just studious isn't a word you'd associate with me. Or any of my family, really."
"You can be the first one in your family who counts as 'studious' then - even if it's only for a week." Leonard offered.
"Yeah, I suppose that's true. Hopefully more than a week though." Penny smiled a little, hoping that he'd catch her little hint. "Hey, check me out, I'm studious! You're probably the only one who'll ever say that though."
He smiled kindly at her. "I'm sure once they see how well you're doing, and when you pass your math test on Monday with an good grade, they'll use that word."
"Maybe. I hope so. I bet your parents always say you're studious. You do a lot of studying."
"Not really." Leonard's mouth twisted into an uncomfortable frown.
Noticing this, Penny bit her lip. "Am I allowed to ask why?" She asked timidly.
"It's nothing, really. My parents are incredibly... career-orientated, so 'studious' is not a word that is used lightly in my house." Leonard tried to phrase it in the easiest, kindest way possible.
"Oh."
"They have doctorates and are very focused on their work, it's very important to them. My mother has high expectations of us, so... yeah." He trailed off.
"Us... you have siblings, then?"
"Yeah. They're both older than me. My brothers in grad school and my sister just started college this year."
"So they're older, and don't live at home, like mine? There, we have something in common. It's quiet when it's just you and your parents, isn't it?"
"It is, yeah." Leonard nodded. Considering he hardly spoke to his parents, it was more than quiet nowadays in his home.
"Oh well. I haven't seen my sister in so long. She always used to tease me, and make fun of me, but then never let me do anything anyway. Older siblings are weird, right?" Penny giggled.
"Yeah." This, Leonard could agree with and contribute to. "That's like my brother. He was cooler than me but still really smart. He had loads of girlfriends. Not that mom or dad know. But anyway. He'd always make fun of me but then if he ever saw me with a girl he'd start questioning everything."
"I get that." Penny sighed. "Don't have a boyfriend, I'm a loser. A boy drives me home from a party, I'm hoping she doesn't tear my hair out or shoot the guy or something ridiculous."
"Exactly! One day he's making fun of me for not having a girlfriend or going to boy-girl parties, the next day he's acting as though I have fifty of them. And I'm like, have you seen me? Obviously everyone wants some of this nerd action - all day, every day." He blushed slightly at his confession, though most of him was busy wondering how it had just become so easy to talk to Penny.
Penny giggled. "That's a funny way to put it. But I totally get what you mean. It's so annoying!" She frowned suddenly when she realized they had reached the top of the road where they would turn their separate ways. "Oh." She slowly stopped.
"Well, this was a really cool afternoon." Leonard said after a while, wondering if she felt the same disappointment as he did at reaching this spot.
"It was." Penny nodded with a smile. "Thank you for the frozen yoghurt."
"Oh, that's okay. Thanks for taking me there. It was really nice."
"I'm glad you think so." She shifted her feet slightly. "I'll see you tomorrow, yeah? And I'll text you once I'm done with cheer practice so you know I'm on my way."
"Yeah. Okay. I'll see you tomorrow."
Like they had done for the past two days, Penny tiptoed up a little to hug him, and he put an arm around her to reciprocate the hug. He still couldn't work out what these hugs meant, and she still couldn't quite place the butterflies in her stomach or the slight blush that would form across her cheeks. They smiled at each other when they pulled away and said goodbye, slowly beginning the rest of their walk home.
Penny sped up after a while; she knew if she wanted to fit all her studying in and still have time to watch TV she'd need to be home as soon as she could - though she absolutely didn't regret taking the extra time to get frozen yoghurt with Leonard. She smiled to herself, spending the rest of her walk home going over the work they had done that afternoon in her mind.
Arriving home, she headed straight for the kitchen as usual to get a glass of water, dropping her bag onto the counter and placing her phone down next to it before heading to the cupboards to get a glass.
"Oh, sweetheart, you're home." Meryl smiled, stepping into the kitchen and leaning against the island counter.
"Sorry mom, we went for a frozen yoghurt after studying." Penny threw over her shoulder as she filled her glass up and took a sip.
"We?"
"Yeah, me and Leonard." Penny said simply, before feeling that blush on her cheeks again.
"Ah, you and Leonard, huh?" Meryl smirked, raising her brows and Penny as she folder her arms over her stomach.
Rolling her eyes, Penny moved to snatch up her bag and phone as she left the kitchen. "Shut up, mom."
"I didn't say anything!" Meryl called out to the hallway.
"Yeah but you thought it!" Penny called back, continuing walking to her bedroom without turning her head so her mom wouldn't see the increased blush on her face.