Penny felt sweat trickle down the back of her neck as they got on the school bus.
"You want me to sit beside you?" Tracy asked and Penny shook her head.
"No, you sit with Link. I'll be alright." She smiled and looked out the window, watching the women stroll along in their summer dresses and the men sporting their short sleeves.
Seaweed waited with Inez at the bus stop.
"You nervous?" She asked him. She had heard him speaking with their Mother the night before.
"Why would I be nervous?" He asked, wearing false confidence.
"I would be." She told him and he sighed. He had worn his favourite green short sleeved sweater with his brown slacks in a feeble attempt of self assurance. The bus pulled up and he saw Penny sat alone.
"Here goes nothing." He said under his breath.
Penny watched as Seaweed got on the bus. She expected him to sit with his friends, but he stood at her seat and looked down at her.
"Is this seat free?" He asked. She looked up at him for a moment, still angry.
"As a bird." She told him and he smiled, shaking his head. He sat and watched her look out at the streets.
"How was your shift?" He asked her and she shrugged her shoulders.
"The usual." She told him and he got it, she didn't want to talk. So, he sat in silence and looked out the window with her.
It took everything in Penny to be angry at Seaweed. He smelt good and he looked great. But then she remembered the other night and felt a new rage wash over her. When they got to school, she stood and picked up her books.
"Let me take them, baby." He told her and she gave them over, enjoying the attention she was receiving.
Tracy and Link both noticed and walked a little behind Seaweed and Penny.
"I think it is good that she is giving him another chance. He does make her happy." Tracy said to Link.
"Yeah, I just hope he has learnt his lesson." Link stated and Trace nodded, not sure how Penny would deal with something like that again.
Seaweed left Penny at her geography class and sighed as he walked away. It was nerve racking, being out of favour. But he would win her back, he knew it.
Penny turned her mind off of Seaweed for her lessons. Her teachers were helping her get her grades as high as they could be, so that she herself could become a teacher.
"I think I would like to teach history." She had said to her history teacher.
"You have a knack for it Penny. Your grades are as good as anyone's in the class." She had signed up for a teaching course at the college, which would make her an elementary teacher, but she could go on and become a high school teacher if she wanted. She wasn't sure yet, but she had big plans, plans that didn't revolve around Seaweed.
Penny sat out in the sun to eat her lunch. She watched the girl from the other night. She wore tight jeans and a scarf in her hair. She was beautiful, with skin glistening in the sun. Trace pulled her away by asking her how her history class went.
Seaweed saw her looking over, but it wasn't him she was looking at. Inez had noticed the tension and decided that she had had enough of it. Before Seaweed could say anything, she ran over to Penny and asked if she could sit.
Penny loved talking to Inez, she was so full of life.
"I wish you had stayed the other night, I made you a cake." She smiled and Penny smiled apologetically.
"I am sorry Inez, I just didn't feel well. All this working and heat." She laughed. "But I'll come over and we'll bake a cake together, okay?" She asked and Inez loved the sound of that.
"Momma has a special on the show this week. You should come to the Studio and watch!"
"I'm going to be on for that one, Penny. It would be great if you were there." Trace told her and Penny felt a little pressured from all sides.
"I'm going to have to think about it. Excuse me." She left her lunch and headed for the lavatory.
Link sighed.
"She needs her time." He told Trace and she nodded.
"It is hard, with Inez being her friend. Obviously she wants her there." Tracy sighed, wondering how to make Penny feel more comfortable.
Penny was glad that Seaweed wasn't waiting for her after her last class. She liked the attention but she just wanted time to think things over on her own. So, she slipped away to the library and decided to walk home later that evening.
Seaweed got on the bus and sighed when Penny wasn't there.
"I think she stayed in the library today." Tracy told him and he nodded.
"I don't know what to do." He opened up to her as he sat beside Tracy, Link having gone to a baseball game with a friend.
"You gotta give her some time. After all those years of her Mom telling her that every man was going to leave her, this has got to hit hard." She told him and he sighed, letting his head fall into his hands.
"But she will come back. She cares about you. If she didn't, she wouldn't be this upset." Tracy reassured him and he smiled.
"She might come to the filming this wednesday, maybe ask her to come to the party after." Tracy suggested and he thought that a good idea.
No one mentioned Seaweed in the Turnblad house. Tracy had asked them not to and they respected her wishes.
"Are you looking forward to being back on the box, Trace?" Wilbur asked and Tracy said that she couldn't wait.
"I can't wait for the party that night. Miss Maybelle makes the most wonderful spread." Edna closed her eyes and licked her lips just thinking about it.
"Are you coming with us, Penny dear?" Edna asked and Penny sighed.
"I might stay here and catch up on the shows with Mr Turnblad." She told Enda.
"I'm afraid not buttercup. I'm off bowling with some old friends." Wilbur told Penny and she sighed.
"I'll have to think about it."
Seaweed sat with Penny on the school bus again the next morning. She had her lollipop and that made him smile. But still, she looked out the window and watched the world go by. She let him take her books again and he noticed that she walked a little closer to him than she had the day before.
When they stopped outside of her English class, he turned to Penny.
"Momma is having a party this wednesday. I really would like you to come." He told her and Penny smiled a little, not much, but enough for him to notice.
"I'll think about it." She told him.
"Can I sit with you at lunch today?" He asked and she nodded, before turning and leaving Seaweed beaming. It wasn't much, but it was something.
Penny found it hard to concentrate on anything but Seaweed in her classes. She loved the attention that he was giving her. But she would have to wait to see how long it would last.
Tracy smiled when Seaweed sat beside Penny on their bench. This process was slow, but it was underway. They ate together and Seaweed said hello to his friends as they passed, letting them know that he was sitting with Penny.
Penny liked having Seaweed back at the table. She ate her egg sandwich quietly and listened to them talk about the show.
"It's going to be so fun with Miss Maybelle this wednesday!" Tracy beamed and Penny wished she could dance, just so she could be part of the conversation.
"I know Momma is really looking forward to it." He smiled, but Seaweed noticed the Penny was being left out.
"Momma is excited to see you too. She told me she wants to hear all about your studies." Seaweed told Penny and watched as she smiled.
If Seaweed wasn't sure that Penny was on her way to forgiving him before, he knew when she offered him a square of her chocolate.
"Thank you, baby." He thanked her and she smiled a little, blushing.
Tracy noticed that Seaweed's friends were perfecting a new dance.
"Yeah, it's a funky one. I think we're going to do it this wednesday." He told her and Penny could see that they both wanted to go and dance.
"Why don't you go over and practice, you two. I'm sure Link and I can manage on our own." She smiled over at Link who sent her a wink.
"You sure?" Seaweed asked her and she nodded.
"Of course, we'll be watching." She told him and smiled as they ran over to the pack.
Link sent a smile across to Penny when she slid in beside him to watch them dance.
"I'm sorry if you wanted to dance with them. I just didn't want to be alone." She told him and he chuckled.
"It's not quite my style and I would much prefer watching Trace." He told her and Penny blushed.
"Are you alright Penny? You know you can tell me if you're not." He told her and she smiled.
"Thank you. I am okay. The hardest part is the self control. I want to forgive him straight away. But I know I shouldn't." She told him and Link chuckled, hearing her mother's words.
"No one is going to judge you if you forgive him Penny." He told her.
"I don't agree with it, but it is part of their group, the dancers. Just look at them." He told her and she watched as they grinded on each other, Seaweed ensuring that he stayed away from the grinding.
"Do you think he cares?" She asked and he nodded.
"I do. He just forgot how different your two worlds were." He told her and she nodded, sure that he was right.
At the end of the day, Penny did something she hadn't done in weeks. She waited outside of Seaweed's class. She smiled as she heard him laugh with his friends and watched as he stopped in his tracks at the sight of her waiting for him.
"I'll catch you guys later!" He told his friends and turned all his attention to Penny.
"Well this has brightened up my day; a foxy lady like you waiting for me." He told her and watched as she blushed a deep shade of pink.
"I thought we might ride the bus together." She told him and he took her books without a word.
"Of course, baby."
It took all that Seaweed had in him not to jump for joy. He had gotten one foot out of the doghouse. They sat on the bus and Penny thought of what Link had said about no one judging her for forgiving Seaweed. But it wasn't him and Trace that she worried about. It was Seaweed's friends. She didn't want to be perceived as weak by them. They already laughed at her. She didn't want to give them any more ammunition. But there were some things that she needed to say.
"I'm not sorry for everything I said the other day. But you didn't ruin me." She told him and he looked down at her guilty face.
"I should have never hurt you like that, baby. I just missed you so much and I dance when I'm sad." He told her and she nodded.
"I don't want you to think I think I'm better than you." She told him and he shook his head.
"Never, baby. I did you wrong and I am so sorry, I really am. I shouldn't have tried to explain, I should have just apologised." He told her and she nodded.
"Thank you."
When the bus got to Seaweed's stop, he looked over at Penny.
"I will come tomorrow, to the party." He smiled wider than he had all day.
"You don't know how happy that makes me."
"But I can't come to the filming. I'll watch it at home while I study." She told him. Seaweed nodded and kissed her on the cheek.
"You work so hard baby." He told her, before leaving the bus.
Tracy smiled as she watched Seaweed kiss Penny on the cheek.
"I need to get a dress." Penny turned and said to Tracy.
"Next stop." She winked and Penny smiled, glad that things were returning to some kind of normalcy.
