Penny Rolling gripped her science notebook and stepped back as her lab partner, Jagged, prepared to dump who-knows-what into a glass bowl, just to watch it explode. "Hold on, let me film this," her best friend Nadja said, pulling out her phone. Penny sighed. This whole endeavor was a complete mess; their table was littered with paper, pencils, and unknown substances that Penny would rather not touch.
"Guys, seriously, that crap is going to blow up everywhere and ruin all of our stuff. Can we at least organize a little bit first?" She was ignored, as Nadja and Jagged were now chasing each other around the table with a spray bottle, but she began gathering up all the miscellaneous school supplies strewn across the desk.
"Stop cleaning and have a little fun, Penny Pencil!" Jagged told her, using his hands as a shield against the water Nadja was flicking at them. Penny scowled at the nickname. She hated it, but it made sense. She was always carrying around a mechanical pencil, to write down whatever needed remembering.
That, however, was not the only reason she scowled. She worked hard to hide her crush on Jagged, but it wasn't easy, especially since he and Nadja were always flirting, though Nadja always denied that she liked him. Penny knew better. Still, it was Penny that came up with Jagged's nickname, and they used it so much that they almost forgot his actual name, so maybe that was saying something. Whatever. Maybe she should relax a little.
There were no spray bottles on the table, so she grabbed them from someone else, ignoring their protests. The teacher, who was rather young, and very intimidated by all the reckless high schoolers - but that was why the class was so fun, right? She let them do anything they wanted - sighed and leaned farther into the wall, trying to disappear as the room became a battle zone, filled with laughing, shouting, and, well, spray bottles.
"We should get ice cream," Nadja suggested when the water-fight was finally over and they were released from school. Jagged agreed, of course - who passes up a chance to get ice cream? - and Penny immediately pulled out her phone and looked at her schedule.
"It'll take us six minutes to get there, like it always does. Jagged, you and Alec are working on your music video in half an hour, and we're coming with you, so we'll only have ten minutes to actually eat our ice cream, since we'll have to take the metro, and after the gelato incident we will never take ice cream on a moving vehicle again."
There was a reason Penny was class rep. She had all of her friends' schedules in her phone and her binder, which was probably the only reason why they were never late for anything. She arranged their transportation, since they were only fifteen - though if they were older she would probably be their personal chauffeur - and there was not a day in which she or her friends were left waiting for a ride.
Nadja rolled her eyes. "Jeez, future manager." Which was absolutely right, since that was what Penny wanted to be when she grew up. Manager. Of something. She smirked. Though her friends constantly complained about her managing them all, she knew they appreciated it.
"Come on," she said, grabbing her friends arms and speeding up, though she was already an exceptionally fast walker, "If we don't hurry, it'll take us six minutes and thirty seconds."
"Oh my God, what a tragedy," Nadja said in an overly dramatic voice. She rolled her eyes, then grinned when Penny elbowed her.
"Whatever."
Jagged decided that the two girls should both be in the music video. Nadja, who had a vlog channel and wanted to be a reporter when she grew up, would never pass up the chance to be online, but Penny preferred to stay behind the camera. So, since Alec had similar dreams and wanted to be the host of a lifestyle show, Penny was assigned as film director.
After hours of filming - because they all kept laughing in the middle of the video - they decided to go out for a movie. Penny took out her phone and looked up movie times, and then ushered them all to the metro. On the way there, they all argued as to which movie they should see, but Penny made them watch trailers for the options, and they decided on a seemingly plot-less comedy.
In did, in fact, not have a plot, but the random scenes that they actually understood were funny. Penny attempted to shush her friends, but there were only two other people at the movie, and they were too busy making out to be bothered by Nadja and Alec's loud laughing.
"Those two couldn't be louder even if they had microphones," Jagged whispered into Penny's ear, "Wanna sit somewhere else?" She nodded, glad it was too dark for him to see her blushing. They got up and moved a few rows back.
The movie characters were kissing. Penny flushed even more and looked down. Here she was, sitting in the back row - and that was where people sat when they just wanted to make out, wasn't it - with her crush, watching people kiss. Awkward!
"Jealous?"
Penny looked up. "Huh?"
Jagged smirked and drew her closer to him. She could feel his breath on her top lip, and his hands fingering through her soft pink hair were only making her pinker. "Are you jealous of all the kissing?"
"Uh…" She didn't get a chance to finish. Her lips were taken over by Jagged's - oh my God he was kissing her! - so she closed her eyes and kissed back. Now they were making out.
It didn't last long. "Oh my God Alec, look!" came Nadja's voice, no doubt looking at her friends kissing in the back row. Penny pulled away, embarrassed.
"Oh look, the movie's over!" she exclaimed, standing up and getting the hell out of that movie theater, grabbing Nadja on the way and dragging her along.
"Ow, stop!" her friend complained jokingly, and then, once they were alone in the girls' restroom, burst out, "So?! What was it like? Do you like him? Tell me everything!"
But Penny wasn't persuaded that easily. "Pay me, and I'll tell you," she said, knowing damn well that her best friend had exactly two dollars in her wallet. Nadja groaned and scowled at very satisfied looking Penny. "I'll tell you this: if you flirt with him again, I will murder you."
"Deal."
Penny grinned.
