Corona Bomb 2

Day Two

The Moderately Annoyed Poet's Society

"Your eyes are mysterious,

Skin softer than the lips of an angel,

Hair redder than the inferno of the love that burns within me,

The love that is more intense than-"

The sounds of Boone and Sashi's stifled laughter interrupted Corona, as she had attempted to recite a poem she had written about Penn. She frowned and glared at the two of them. Penn, on the other hand, was a blushing flustered mess about what she had written. And, as you would figure, immediately came to her defense.

"H-hey it wasn't that bad!" Penn stood up and walked over to Corona and gently wrapping his arms around her, and placing his lips on hers.

"Well of course it isn't bad to you. She's your girlfriend. You love everything she does." Boone pointed out.

That made Penn break from the kiss. "Well, I'm sorry that my girlfriend is super talented." He pulled Corona closer to him when saying that. "I think you're just mad cause you're single!" Penn added in.

"Pffffffffffft" Boone laughed. "I'm single by choice!"

"Whatever." Penn rolled his eyes. "I'm just saying, I think Corona's poem was beautiful. And….prosey. Yeah. It was." Penn said defensively.

Corona, this whole time had been standing there with a blank expression, staring at the ground.

They headed to the Odyssey for the day's mission.

"Today is poetry slam world."

Corona smirked. The team got zapped in.

Corona was wearing something absolutely beatnik-it was black and white, had stripes, hugged her curves in ways that just looked…really good, and she had a beret. Her hair was black, which was, actually her natural hair color (however, back home the purple dye hadn't yet faded.) She was wearing a shade of red lipstick that was somehow brighter than the usual shade of red she wore-which I should mention is the brightest shade of red lipstick she could find at any of the cosmetics stores in Middleburg.

Penn, who was wearing something equally beatnik-a black vest, long white button up shirt, purple pants, and tinted glasses, along with the slight suggestion of facial hair, seemed to be looking at Corona with a slight smirk. He was no doubt admiring Corona's appearance in this world.

Corona noticed his staring her down. "Penn." She crossed her arms.

Penn snapped out of it. "O-oh sorry…I just…you look…wow…" his cheeks flushed red.

Corona rolled her eyes playfully, and giggled slightly.

Sashi walked over, and she was holding a pair of bongos. She too, was wearing the standard beatnik clothes.

"Where's Boone?" asked Penn

"He's the bongos." said Sashi, turning them around. Boone had a mellow look on his face, like it was his cosmic destiny to be a pair of drums you play with your hands.

"Check the specs, Sash."

"There's a poetry contest. Corona is Norma Celeste, the future writer of a novel that will bring the world together in eternal peace, however she can only do such if she wins this poetry contest. However, if the villains succeed, Norma's rival, Angela Harper, will write a novel that will cause a full-blown world war." Sashi read the information off her specs.

"Is poetry seriously that moving?" Penn seemed alarmed.

"Never underestimate how moving poetry can be." Corona slightly laughed. "But this should be easy."

Boone laughed.

"What?"

"Are you gonna submit that ridiculous poem you read us earlier?" Boone laughed "I don't know if the world wants to hear you talk about Penn like that."

Corona frowned, and slightly blushed. "Well, I was planning on writing a new one-"

"Oh good. Don't want to bore the audience to tears with your mushy Penn love fest." Boone laughed more.

"Okay, what the heck is your problem today Boone?"

"I don't! Have…I don't have a problem! It's just your poems about Penn are…boring…and ridiculous…"

Corona slightly growled, and crossed her arms.

"Boone, could you give Corona a break. She doesn't deserve your uncharacteristic rant." Penn sighed loudly. Of all days for Boone to be out of character, it was the day they needed Corona to be confident in her writing.

"Sorry." Boone reluctantly apologized.

"Anyways, now that we got Boone's OOC moment out of the way, let's worry about Corona's poem-wait….Where did Corona go?" Penn freaked out.

Then, the only thing that could possibly made things worse happened.

"Next up is Angela Harper to read her poem."

Jane took the stage. Her hair was much long, and she, too, was wearing a beatnik ensemble. Her make-up was mostly purples, and she took a seat on stage.

She took a breath, and was about to begin speaking, when Penn yelled, and ran out of the room.

He frantically searched for Corona. Of course, it was barely a thorough search, as his mind was distracted by how anxious he was to find her in time.

Then, he went through the right door. Corona was sitting on the curb and she groaned. Her head was in her hands for support.

"Penn, are my poems ridiculous?"

"No! Of course not!" he sat next to her, and put his hand on her shoulder.

"You're just saying that because you love me." She frowned.

"No! I really love them…They're a little mushy, but they have real emotion, Corona." He put his hand under her chin and turned her head towards him, and looked her in the eyes. "I think they're amazing cause I know you really feel what you're writing."

"But what if other people hate them?"

"Corona, not everyone is going to like what you do, but that doesn't make it any less special. You write what you write because you want those who do like it to hear it."

Corona slightly smiled, however it faded into a frown. "But the competition…what if we lose?"

"As long as Jane doesn't win, what do we have to lose?"

"Everything." A third voice interrupted.

As you could guess it was Rippen. He was dressed as the security guard for the poetry club.

"Uh-oh…"

"You two are coming with me." Rippen grabbed the both of them by the collars of their shirts, and dragged the two of them inside, to a hallway near the stage.

"Let go of me! I need to get on stage!" Corona tried to get loose.

"Not on my watch." Rippen laughed.

Jane walked in. "You two thought you were going to win this? Hah! I say haha!" Jane laughed. She was amused.

Corona growled. "Well, I was kinda expecting to, until you two-!"

"Oh, hush, don't kid yourself. Even if you were on stage, like you could win. Do you know anything about good writing?"

"More than you would!"

Jane laughed again.

"Jane, I've won writing awards at school." She crossed her arms.

"I don't want to hear about your fancy writing awards Corona. I want to hear your tears because you're LOSING!" Jane rolled her eyes.

"And next up, is Norma Celeste."

Corona groaned. She couldn't get loose.

"Norma Celeste?"

Corona winced.

"Last call for Norma Celeste."

Penn got annoyed and kicked Rippen in the shin. He let go of both Penn and Corona, and Corona quickly ran on stage. She panted.

"S-sorry!" she coughed.

The club was dimly lit, so Corona could only see the candles on each of the tables. The audience was almost invisible.

Corona bit her lip. She didn't have anything prepared. Time to pull something out of her butt. But what? Then she remembered…

The future writer of a novel that will bring the world together in eternal peace

She got an idea. She took a deep breath.

"Peace is our freedom,

Of which runs in our blood,

Brotherhood and friendship should be our goal,

Togetherness and sharing should make us feel whole,

Together we should stand arm in arm,

To no other should we bring any harm,

Peace is what we should strive for most." She stumbled over her words, but managed to say something she hoped would be moving, and would make sense.

Dead silence. Corona sighed and looked down, she began to leave the stage, when she heard the faint snapping of someone's fingers. Then, it was several people, until soon the whole room roared with the snapping of the audience's fingers.

The host walked on stage. "It looks like we have a winner."

Corona smiled. Penn ran on stage.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her up. "See? I told you." He kissed her deeply.

She blushed and giggled. "I pulled that out of my butt." She whispered.