After the haircut, they went to the outlet mall. Penny was a bit nervous, afraid to be seen by her friends if they saw her shopping when she said she wasn't up for going with them.
"What's wrong now baby?"
"I told my friends I wasn't up for shopping. What am I going to say if they see me shopping with you guys?!" She said freaking out.
"Well baby, remember what I told you about standing your ground? If they start to talk down, then you stand up for yourself and tell them what you think they need to hear."
Penny sighed as she was reminded once again why she needed her mama. She was right. She needed to learn to stand up for herself, especially when it came to her friends. She slumped in the seat and took a deep breath.
"Your right mama, I guess I'm just more nervous than I thought."
"Things will fall into place on their own as well Penny. You just need to give it some time."
Oscar parked the car, and everyone got out. Penny felt like hiding herself in her cardigan, but she swallowed her nervousness and walked with her family. She quickly scanned the area and didn't see any sign of Zoey, Dijonay, or Lacienega. She let out a sigh of relief. The Proud Family waltzed into a department store and the first thing was Trudy nudged Penny to the teens department. Now was the time to find out what the 'New Penny' was going to wear. To make her transformation complete.
By next day, the school had been reopened. Penny was both nervous and excited at the same time. Today she would be back in school where she wouldn't be able to avoid her friends. She sighed and got out of bed and went to put on her new clothes. While shopping yesterday, Penny had selected a range of skirts, shifts, shoes and pants mostly in red and other colors like purple, sky blue, lime green, and hot pink. She had to admit she liked the colors she chose. She wasn't going to show herself off, she was not that kind of girl anymore. She was Penny 2.0 now. A girl who had respect for herself and was not going to pressured into something that would get her into trouble. Penny brushed her hair and shaped it up with a red headband. Afterwards she put on a plain white t-shirt and a deep red semi-short sleeve cardigan over her, complete with a red skirt. After putting on her new black mary janes she grabbed her backpack and headed downstairs, following with her nose to the smell of pancakes in the kitchen.
"Morning Penny." Oscar said as he flipped a pancake.
"Morning Daddy."
"You ready for school today?"
"I think so." Penny said hesitantly.
Oscar turned to Penny, "Things will be okay baby girl."
"I hope so." Penny said.
Oscar flipped the last pancake and placed a plate in front of Penny. She stabbed into them and ate with gusto. She was hungry and had a feeling she would need her energy today for whatever lied ahead.
Penny grew nervous as her Dad drove her to school. As they got closer, she knew she was going to be taking a big step. But she was determined to overcome it and be strong with it. Penny got out of the car and stared straight ahead at the doors to the school. Taking a deep breath, she started walking and held her head up high, unaware of some of the looks she was getting from passing students. Penny opened the door and walked inside and saw it was a frenzy like it was every morning. She looked around for her friends, but was surprised to not see them. Feeling her nerves die down she strutted to her locker. After taking her textbooks out she heard,
"Hey Penny!"
Penny felt her breath hitch, but she relaxed herself and turned around to see Dijonay.
"Hey Dijonay. How you doing?"
"Good girl. You missed a fun shoppin' trip but you look like you went shoppin' too." She said skeptically.
"A little. Mom and Dad went out and they asked me to come with them. It was a last-minute thing."
"I see. C'mon, let's show ya to Zoey and Lacienega."
Penny grimaced a bit, but she allowed herself to be pulled by Dijonay to where she saw Zoey and Lacienaga.
"Hey girls, look at our Penny here!"
Zoey and Lacienaga looked up and both had surprised expressions as they saw Penny.
"Wow Proud. You cleaned up nicely." Lacienega said.
"You look great Penny, I especially love your new hairstyle." Zoey said all excited.
"Thanks guys." Penny said shyly.
"What's with the new look?" Lacienega asked.
Penny shrugged her shoulders, "I thought it was time for a change."
"Well either way it looks great on you Penny." Zoey said.
"Thanks Zoey."
The class bell rang, and everyone filed into the room. Penny was confused, this was not the reaction she expected from her friends. She was also feeling a bit uncomfortable as she heard people whisper about her nearby. She frowned, didn't they have anything better to do than gossip? She was pulled from her thoughts as Mr. Webb came in and started the lecture. Penny got out her notebook and a red pen. Ready to put Penny 2.0 into action.
By the time lunch came, Penny found herself walking outside for the tables. She had brought her own lunch today, not in the mood to be dealing with the Gross Sisters and their antics of constant taking of her lunch money. She looked out for Dijonay, Zoey and Lacienega. So far, no sign of them. She though felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand out as she heard,
"Well dang, look at you Proud. All spiffed up."
Nubia Gross.
Penny turned and saw the Gross Sisters looking at her with their usual scowls. Penny schooled her expression and dipped her head,
"Nubia. How are you today?"
Nubia twitched, a bit confused at Penny's tone.
"Fine Proud. You know the drill, hands up, cash in."
"I don't have any money with me today Nubia. So, I'm sorry."
"Oh really? You have no money on ya, and yet you look like ya been shoppin' as of late."
"Look Nubia, I'm not asking for a fight okay. I really don't have any money with me right now."
All three Gross Sisters were taken back. Proud had never stood up like this and the fact she just denied them lunch money was shocking enough. Penny stood her ground, determined to not show her fear towards the blue-skinned girls. Nubia looked at her for a moment, as if judging her soul and stepped away.
"I'll alright Proud. We'll let you off the hook for today, but tomorrow, you better have something with you. Or otherwise, you'll be messing with us soon enough."
Penny stayed silent as the Gross Sisters walked away. Penny knew she put herself in hot water, but she wasn't going to let herself be walked on upon any longer.
"Penny!"
She turned to see Zoey running towards her, "Are you alright? They didn't hurt you, did they?"
"No, I just told them I didn't have any lunch money."
"Well, you were lucky. They've been extra sour lately." Zoey said, "You coming to eat with us?"
"Yeah."
Penny let herself be brought over to the lunch table where she friends were and saw them all looking hungry.
"The Gross Sisters got you guys?" She guessed.
"Yeah. And we didn't bring a backup lunch for ourselves today. Mannnnn I'm soooo hungry." Dijonay said.
Penny thought this over and took out her lunch,
"I don't have much, but I'd be willing to share with you guys." She offered.
The girls perked up as Penny distributed equal part of her sandwich to them.
"Sorry, peanut butter and jelly."
"Any food is better than no food." Dijonay said scarfing her share down.
"Thanks Proud." Lacienega said as she calmly ate her share.
"So Penny, what's been going on with you? We haven't heard from you in the past few days." Dijonay asked.
Penny sighed, knowing this question was going to be asked. She picked up her head and stared at her friends.
"There have been some things going on that I needed to figure out for myself. That's all I'm gonna say on the matter." She said sternly.
Her three friends could only stare at her in shock. Since when did Penny talk in such a manner. Dijonay was having none of it though.
"Penny come on, enough with beatin' around the bush. What's been going on?"
"Dijonay, I'm not saying anything else. It's private." Penny said sternly, determined to not be brow-beaten.
Dijonay was shocked. Did her BFF just tell her 'no?' She frowned and got up, scarfing the last of the sandwich.
"You been drinkin' some haterade girl, so ya know what? Let me know when ya ready to come clean."
With that Dijonay walked away from the lunch table. Penny felt bad for acting like that, but she remembered why she did it to begin with. She turned to Zoey and Lacienega. Both girls looked at her in shock.
"Whoa Proud, what was that about?" Lacienega asked.
"Like I said, it's private." Penny said.
"And why can't you tell us? We're your friends." Zoey asked.
Penny found her knees buckling and her face heating up. This was it. She sighed and said,
"I'm kinda doing some soul-searching right now guys and it's…something I'm not ready to tell you right now."
Lacienega and Zoey were shocked. Just like Dijonay, she stood her ground and told them 'no.'
"Whatever Proud, you know what Dijonay was right, you do have some haterade going on. And by the way, the sandwich was dry."
Lacienega got up from the table and left, leaving just Penny and Zoey. Zoey could only look at Penny before she slowly stood up, but she pulled out a note and slid it over to Penny before she fully got up and left, leaving Penny by herself. Penny felt heartbroken, but she looked at the note Zoey gave her, it said, 'Call me later.' It gave her a sense of optimism. Maybe…she didn't lose all of her friends all in one go.