"That is 50 dollars from me and 50 from Raj." Howard said as he handed Leonard the money. The three had met outside of Penny's house so Leonard could get them into the party. Leonard was able to hear that the party had already begun as loud music could be heard coming from inside the house.
"You two better hope this is worth it." Leonard told them as they walked up to the door and rung the doorbell. "If you two get thrown out immediately I'm keeping the money."
A man in his twenties opened the door and he was wearing a pair of sunglasses.
"Wrong house." The guy said whilst taking a look at the three of them. "Your science club must be at one of the neighbours."
"No… umm…" Leonard tried to explain himself.
"We're here for Penny's party." Howard interrupted with a gleeful look.
The man raised his glasses and looked at them once again. "Are you sure?"
"Umm…" Leonard said again. "We are very sure." He tried to sound very blunt.
"Hmm." He said with obvious disbelief. "What is your name?" he got out a phone. "Penny put me out here to make sure no one who wasn't invited got in."
"My name is Leonard."
Leonard saw the guy's eyes read down the phone until he nodded. "There is one Leonard on this list. Says your name is Leonard Hefty."
"That is probably me"
"And it says you are bringing two guests." He looked at Howard and Raj. "Are you sure you aren't doing some sort of unpopularity charity project?"
Leonard was getting annoyed and gave him a glare. "Yes. I'm here to help Penny with her unpopularity." He said sarcastically.
The guy shook his head. "My sister has some weird friends." He stated. "I guess I see nothing odd here. You may go in."
The three walked into the party and left Penny's brother looking startled by them being on the invitation list.
Leonard got a good look at the interior of the house. It was a fairly standard suburban house for Pasadena and had two stories, although the downstairs looked bigger than the upstairs.
"Thank you for this, Leonard." Howard said. "Now we are going to go and mingle with the pretty ladies."
"What?"
"See ya." Raj said goodbye and the two quickly walked into the living room.
"Don't leave me by myself…" Leonard began to argue but they two had already left. For the first time Leonard had time to feel the atmosphere of the party. In the living room was loud club music and people dancing. There was also people on the outskirts of this standing around with red cups and talking. He walked away from that and went into the kitchen in hope that it would be quieter but it seemed that was where most of the food and drinks were being served from. There was several bowls of chips and popcorn on the table and crates of drinks. There was cans of coke but what was actually being drunken most was cans and bottles of beer. He saw some people grabbing one and then drinking as much as possible in one gulp so they could get back to talking or making out.
When Leonard processed this his mind began to freak out internally. He felt bad memories come back from his one party in New Jersey and had to shake his head physically to get his mind out of it. He pretended to look at his watch. "I guess I've spent enough time here." And turned to leave.
And then he saw Michael holding a bottle of beer and clinking it with a guy in a football jersey. He was sitting in a group of footballers and pretty girls, including Christy, who Leonard assumed were cheerleaders. He smiled and took his phone out. He quickly took a snap of his brother drinking and then decided it was time to mess with his brother. He walked over to them.
"Hello Michael." Leonard greeted his brother. The whole group looked over to Leonard and he saw Michael gulp. Leonard couldn't help but smile.
"What are you doing here?" Michael asked with anger. He turned and saw all of his friends were staring at him. "I mean… who are you?"
Christy spoke up. "This is Penny's math tutor. I believe he got a pity invite."
"Is that all this group knows about me?" Leonard question. "They don't know anything else….l who I am related to…"
"I don't understand anything this guy is saying." One of the footballers said.
"Zack, he is obviously delusional!" Michael answered in protest.
"Well actually I am Michael's…"
"Distant cousin!" Michael interrupted "Very distant cousin!" Michael answered with a loud tone.
"What is going on here?" someone came over after hearing Michaels' loud anger. Leonard saw it was Kurt and reactively gulped. All the confidence he'd just mustered from teasing Michael had disappeared. Then Leonard noticed Penny standing next to him and felt a little less scared.
"We are just meeting Michael's distant cousin who is illusional about math, maybe?" Zach told him.
"Oh, him." Kurt looked Leonard straight in the eye. Penny cleared her throat as if to tell Kurt something. "This is Leonard. He is helping Penny stay on the cheerleading time by teaching her math, so no one mess with him. What did you say about him, Penny?"
"Oh." Penny said when she realised she was being asked something. "That he wants the spirit of school sport to be maintained, hence why he is helping me pass."
"Really?" Michael asked in disbelief. "I never knew you cared so much about school spirit, Leonard. I mean… distant cousin."
"I think Leonard has spent enough time with the footballers." Penny interfered. "Why don't I take you to people who are more… your type."
Leonard raised his eyebrow in confusion but then saw all the footballers staring at him and made him feel very socialing uncomfortable. "Ok. Goodbye, everyone. Especially Michael." Leonard waved at Michael and then followed Penny away from the group.
"So you're Michael's cousin?" Penny asked.
"Brother actually." Leonard corrected. "But he thinks I'll ruin his popularity."
"Oh, that makes sense." Penny said without a hint of sarcasm. "Anyways here we are."
Penny was standing in front of two females who were standing near the dancing and music. One had blonde curly hair, was short and wearing glasses and a floral dress. The other female also had glasses but had brown hair and had an outfit that reminded Leonard of something his grandmother back in New Jersey would wear to a tea party. He vaguely recognised them from his advanced classes.
"Leonard, this is Bernadette." Penny gestured to the blonde one. "I work at the Cheesecake Factory with her." Leonard nodded, remembering Christy mentioning a girl named Bernadette. She took a good look at the other girl before speaking. "And this… this… is her plus one."
"Hello, Leonard." Bernadette greeted with a particularly squeaky tone.
"Hello." The other girl said. "My name is Amy Farrah Fowler. I'm new at Pasadena High School. I've only been here for a week."
Leonard had heard that the one of the other junior home rooms had also gained a new student but he hadn't cared enough to seek them out.
"Penny, did you invite me to your party so your one smart friend had someone else to talk to…"
"Penny." Christy, who had just pushed her way through from the crowd of dancers, interrupted Leonard's sentence. "There is this really creepy dude with a strange haircut in the bathrooms…"
"Damn it!" Penny said. "I bet Howard Wolowitz snuck in!" Leonard gulped. "Oh, Leonard, where are those two people you were bringing?"
"Oh…" Leonard began to make up a lie. "They got each other ill."
"That is disappointing." Penny looked down sadly. "But I should go sort this Howard thing out. See ya." She and Christy turned and walked away.
Leonard, Bernadette and Amy stood against the wall awkwardly listening to the sound of music play.
"Are you uncomfortable, Leonard?" Amy asked after five minutes of this.
Leonard shook his head. "No."
"Because you look incredibly awkward. Is this silence bothering you?" Amy continued to query.
"Are we not good enough for you?" Bernadette asked sternly.
"Umm… does anyone want a drink?" Leonard offered. He was desperate to leave, with something to actually do.
"No, thank you." Bernadette rejected. "My dad, a cop, warned me of boys trying to put something in my drunk."
"My mother said boys would try and get me drunk to coitus with me." Amy said. "So that'd be a no."
Leonard sighed. "I'm going to get a drink for myself. I'll be back."
#
Leonard went to the kitchen to get a can of coke. However, as he opened the can and looked around at all the movement he shuddered. Internally he had decided this party was not worth it. He'd successfully gotten Howard and Raj into the party so everything he needed to do was completed so he decided to head home. He walked to the front door and was about to open it when he heard Penny's voice behind him.
"Where are you going?" she asked. Leonard turned.
"I'm going home." Leonard said.
"What? Why?" she asked and had a sad expression on her face.
"I… um…"
"Are you not having fun?" Penny said. "You aren't are you?"
Leonard didn't want to hurt Penny's feelings so he tried to make something. "I just remembered I have something to do… very important…"
Penny looked down at ground. "Ok. That is sad. Everyone hates me!"
Leonard saw Penny's sad expression and then a red cup in Penny's hand. "Are you drinking alcohol?"
"Kurt got me some beer earlier." Penny told him. "I think this is the wrong type. It tastes funny."
Leonard felt a twinge of concern for her. "Give me the drink." Leonard said. "I think you shouldn't…"
"I can handle my own drinking Leonard." She said and then suddenly burped really loudly. This disgusted Leonard but Penny seemed to find it funny and gave a laugh.
"I insist, Penny." Leonard said. "I think I should make sure." He tried to grab the cup.
"Leonard please!" Penny pulled away. Leonard managed to hold the cup but Penny pulled too hard and the cup, which was made of cheap plastic, broke and some beer flew out and landed all over Leonard's face and clothing.
"Not again!" Leonard exclaimed.
"Not again?" Penny questioned.
"It's a long story." Leonard explained.
"Which will probably be boring based of your math talks." Penny said and gave a laugh. Leonard glared.
"I help you in maths for free. I don't like suffering through your over-the-top stupidity just as much as you don't like the math. 'Quadratic formula is sides in a square equal to 360'. Seriously?" Leonard argued back.
The two stared at each other for a few seconds. Leonard began to regret what he said, knowing his attack on her intelligence would be something his mother would do. But the party and alcohol spilt on his clothes seemed to bring out bad memories and he reacted rashly.
"I'm sorry, Penny…"
"Are you leaving?" she suddenly asked. Leonard gave a confused look.
"Yeah.".
"Are you not having fun?" Penny looked sadly towards the ground again. "That is sad. Everyone hates me!"
Leonard understood what was happening based off his previous experiences. "You're going through memory impairment due to alcohol." Leonard said aloud.
"Huh?" Penny asked. "Anyways, if you're not having fun I'll make you. We should go and dance."
"No." he shook his head "If Kurt or even worse my brother sees…"
Suddenly Penny grabbed Leonard's hand and pulled him towards where the dancing was happening. There was a lot of other drunk high schoolers jumping up and down randomly and not to whatever beat was playing.
"Your arms are tiny." Penny said with a laugh.
"Umm… your hands are big. For a female." Leonard noted.
Penny finally let go and began swinging her hips around like she was doing the hula. Leonard didn't know what to do so he stood in the spot.
"Come on, Leonard!" Penny protested. "Dance!"
Some of the other party goers had started observing Penny's odd antics with Leonard. Leonard didn't start dancing and felt really uncomfortable with the attention. The eyes that were on him was trigging some of his social anxiety and his breathing increased. He grabbed his inhaler, which he kept at all times in his pocket, and began to puff.
"What is going on here?" Leonard heard Kurt charging through the crowd of dancers and over to the two of them. He firstly saw Leonard using his inhaler. "Where did Leonard get the drugs from?" he asked.
Leonard stopped using the inhaler but his breathing was still heavy. "You have to be…. kidding…. right…?"
Kurt then saw Penny dancing. "Why are you dancing like that Penny?" he exclaimed "Do you think it is digified to swing your hips in that matter."
"Kurt?" Penny questioned. "I don't understand what you're saying."
"Penny do you really think the girlfriend of the captain of the football them should act in such a debraiding manner. With a lame geek." Kurt shook his head and gestured to Leonard. "No offence though." He said to Leonard.
"I took it as a compliment." Leonard added sarcastically.
"Do you even realise how many girls would want to date me?" he asked Penny. "It is true you are the prettiest but still…"
"Kurt." Penny began crying and then suddenly ran through the crowd of dancers towards the stairs. Everyone heard the slamming of a door from upstairs.
Kurt suddenly put a hand on Leonard's shoulder which made him almost jump in shock. He raised his eyebrow.
"Now that Penny is gone." He said. "I respect that you are helping her stay on the squad BUT if I see you two doing anything 'special' together, just remember what I did to those glasses." And then he walked off after her.
"What just happened?" he heard a familiar squeaky voice say with an angry tone. He looked and saw Bernadette and Amy with Howard and Raj standing.
"Umm… why are you with them?" Leonard asked the group.
"I heard Penny found my hiding place so I went to the dance floor. Then I saw these two lovely ladies and thought I'd treat them to some Howard." He said suggestively. Raj nodded but looked like he physically couldn't say anything.
"Stop avoiding the question!" Bernadette squeaked even louder. "What just happened with Penny?"
"Penny!" they heard Kurt shouting and knocking loudly on door upstairs. "Come on!"
"Penny was drinking something. I think it was alcohol." Leonard explained. "Kurt and Penny were arguing… I think… and then she stormed off upstairs. Kurt followed."
"Damn! Seriously?!" Bernadette exclaimed.
"Why are you so concerned Bernadette?" Amy asked. "Based on my observations with you and Penny, you are drifting apart as friends due to her social status and your perceived intellectual superiority."
"I'm her only friend that actually cares enough about her wellbeing." Bernadette explained. "Or at least, I don't get drunk or high like her other cheerleader friends. It's the only reason I come to these things."
The two saw Kurt walking down the stairs in complete failure at getting Penny to come out of a room. He went back to the party like nothing had just happened.
"If it helps I care immensely about your well-being." Howard hinted at Bernadette. Bernadette rolled her eyes and then looked straight at Leonard.
"The two of us are going up there and trying to cheer her up." Bernadette demanded.
"I'm not very good at cheering people up…"
"I don't care!" she answered. She grabbed Leonard lightly on the arm and dragged him away.
"I am never leaving this party." Leonard said sarcastically.
#
Bernadette knocked on the door once again.
"Come on, Penny!" she insisted. "Open this damn door! I can break it down! My dad is a police officer!"
"I don't want to talk right now, Bernadette!" Penny insisted. "Kurt, hurt my feelings!" Bernadette and Leonard both heard crying.
"I don't think we can do anything." Leonard said.
"We? I'm the only one doing anything!" Bernadette argued.
"Is that Leonard?" they heard Penny say through the door.
"Yeah." Bernadette.
"Can I talk to him?" Penny asked. "Privately."
Leonard and Bernadette looked at each other with confusion. "Sure." Bernadette said. Penny opened the door and Bernadette basically shoved Leonard in the room.
"Bye, Bernadette." Leonard said with an annoyed tone and Penny closed the door. He looked around the room with curiosity. There were posters of pop stars and a bed with bright pink sheets. He assumed that this was her bedroom. "What did you want?" Leonard asked.
"I did some maths earlier today." Penny said. "Do you mind looking at it?"
"You pulled yourself and me away from a raging party to do math?" Leonard questioned. "Probably the best thing to happen to me ever at a party."
"It is probably bad." She handed a math book to him. "Just like my relationship with Kurt." She began to cry once again and Leonard sighed. He did not sign up for this. He put the book down and tried to think of a way to comfort her.
"I'm not an expert at this relationship thing. My only examples are my brother who goes through woman like candy and my parents who argue and hate each other." Leonard explained. "But it'll be okay… Things happen for a reason... and it is not you but him… I think…."
"You didn't want to come here tonight, did you?" Penny asked him. "You've been trying to leave all night."
"I don't like parties. I was only paid to come by… doesn't matter who." He said. "All this socialising and partying gives me anxiety."
"But you're perfectly nice for a nerd. I invited you because of that. Not so you could talk to Bernadette like you joked earlier." Penny said. "Why would socialising be bad for you?"
"Firstly you could've stopped at 'perfectly nice'." He said. "And second, as I said before it is a long story."
"Does it look like I'm doing anything else?" Penny asked.
"Umm… okay." He said. "I guess since you're drunk and memory impaired this will be forgotten. Well… my mother she… writes embarrassing books about my life."
"Huh?"
"She does it under the guise of 'science' but that doesn't make it any less humiliating for me." He explained. "She uses my siblings and I as experimental subjects for her child raising theories. Whilst Michael and my sister, who is currently at college, thrived under it, I didn't. Everything I did from birth to my first year of high school seemed to fail under it. I guess someone found out about the books and used them to humiliate me. I wasn't just a nerd outcast but someone with every embarrassing mistake at the bully's hands. I hated my life."
"Oh." Penny said with concern. "That is unfortunate."
"One girl started being nice to me and I thought we were being friends. I was beginning to like my life again when she invited me to a party." Leonard continued but before anything Penny suddenly began to cough and then vomit flew out of her mouth and all over Leonard's shoes.
"Ew!" Leonard exclaimed. Then he opened his eyes in realisation. "Oh my gosh. You're a girl and this is a party!"
"So?"
"When I came to this school I swore to keep to myself to avoid any emotional pain. But here I am revealing all to a popular girl at a party!" He said. "I can't let this happen again! I need to leave now!"
Suddenly there was a loud knock on the door.
"Penny?" it was Kurt. "Are you still in there?"
"If he catches you in here he'll freak out!" Penny exclaimed. "You have to climb out the window!"
"What?" Leonard asked in shock.
"It is easy." Penny said. "I've done it many times."
Leonard walked towards the window and saw that if he was able to reach the window sill below Penny's window sill he'd easily be able to do it.
Leonard opened the window and began to crawl out. This was not how he pictured leaving the party but he was just satisfied that he was finally leaving.
#
As Leonard walked back to his car he looked down at his hand which now had a cut on it. He'd almost successfully gotten down from Penny's window but fallen and hurt himself.
"Leonard Hofstadter?"
Leonard looked up and saw someone familiar. "Sheldon Cooper?" Leonard saw him wearing Batman pyjamas.
"Are you bleeding?" Sheldon asked.
"Yeah." Leonard said.
"Here." Sheldon reached into his pants pocket. "I keep this in my pyjamas in case I get hurt whilst in bed." Leonard saw a mini first aid kit.
"Wow, thanks." Leonard said in surprise that Sheldon was being nice to him. He grabbed a plaster from it and put it on.
"You got blood on my kit!" Sheldon said. "I'll probably have to get a new one now. Filthy mudblood! Keep it!"
Leonard shrugged at this and put the kit in his pocket. "Why are you walking around in the middle of the night in superhero pyjamas?" Leonard asked curiously "Did someone flash the bat-signal?"
"No, I'm not Batman." Sheldon didn't get Leonard's sarcasm. "This party is too loud. I can't get my proper eight hours of REM sleep with all this noise."
"Are you one of Penny's neighbours?" Leonard queried.
"I am THE neighbour." He told him. "I live right next door."
"Oh." Leonard noted. "Well I wouldn't bother trying. Penny is kinda upset right now and I doubt she'll listen to you about any complaints."
"I see what is happening." Sheldon nodded. "You're drooling over the pretty girl. You'd prefer to side with her than with me."
"I hardly know you…"
"I expected this from you Leonard Hofstadter." He shook his head. "But now that I actually see it…"
Leonard accidentally let out a yawn. "Sorry. I really want to stand here in the street in the middle of the night but I should go." Leonard said and then left Sheldon glaring at Leonard.
#
"Oh my gosh." Michael noted whilst sitting at the dining room table with a cup of coffee. "What time is it? 7am? 8 am?"
Leonard took a sip from his own cup of coffee and then answered his brother. "It is 1pm." Michael let out a groan in tiredness.
"So you children are finally awake?" Alfred asked. "How was the party last night?" The two looked up and saw both their mother and father.
"Never again…" Leonard shuddered.
"Leonard tried to humiliate me in front of my friends!" Michael complained. "But after that it was fun. Got some freak on with a girl."
Beverly had her phone and was taking some form of notes "Just what I'd expected." Beverly said. "So Leonard…What did you do other than humiliate your brother?" Leonard saw she seemed eager to type something in her notes about him failing.
Leonard thought for a second and then gave a sly smile. "It was weird. I was alone in a room with a girl." He said. "What went on in there. I can't even begin to explain using appropriate language."
"You're lying." Beverly accused.
"I did hear from someone that you were dancing with Penny." Michael recalled.
Beverly shook her head. "No. This is not in line with my research. This must be an outlier."
"I've been to two parties in my entire life, mother." Leonard argued. "Anyone and their pet chimpanzees know that is not enough information to justify an outlier." Leonard grabbed his coffee, stood up and walked towards his bedroom to work on the science assignment. He only hoped Sheldon was doing his part of the assignment, and only his part.
This is a lot longer than my usual chapters but I wanted all the party in one chapter. I did have to cut one or two things out to make this happen, but I think it flows the same way with a tiny bit less character development then I hoped.
Anyways thanks for reading this chapter and for favouritng, following and reviewing the previous chapters. This story is getting a more positive response than I expected. If you wish to leave feedback please review and if you wish to continue getting story updates please favourite and follow. With Christmas coming up I don't know how long it'll be to the next chapter but I've got it roughly planned out.
Thank you all once again.
Clint Cooper
