Dinner was made in a timely fashion, but it was also made to perfection. As I set it down on the table, Penny began to furiously pile the noodles on her plate.

"There's more in the kitchen," I announced, pouring each of us champagne. It looked like the perfect date, but we were here to talk business.

"Thank you. I haven't eaten since this morning," Penny answered, shoveling the food into her mouth. "I finished a dress that you may have while you were rehearsing, but only barely. It was your size, so I decided I might as well finish it and give it to you. I brought it with me, but I left it in the car."

"Thank you very much," I answered, putting a forkful in my mouth. When I finished, I asked my next question. "How do I ask Corny out?"

"It'll seem too forward if you ask him yourself. Did you get the job on Broadway?"

"Yes," I answered, watching her eat as though there were no tomorrow. I was prepared this time for the off-topic questions that would soon go on-topic.

"I want you to resign tomorrow and tell me what expression he had on his face and anything else worth noting. You are to take the job in New York, and, if necessary, I will follow you." Penny finally took a sip of champagne and relaxed into a slower eating manner.

"What about you being here to meet Seaweed?" I asked.

"I can go up and come back when he comes to town. He won't return for another year, Amber." She had unusually high spirits, and I asked her about it. "I found a friend here. When you first came to me, I had lost everything. Now I have something to live for; a mission of sorts."

"Would that be trying to help me?"

"It would. Did you make dessert?" I was unprepared for this question, though.

"Yes, why?"

"I don't think I'll be able to eat it. I will sit here while you eat it if you want, though."

"How did we all of a sudden become friends and drink champagne together?" I wondered aloud.

"Amber, when Tracy left, she gave no indication that she was going to keep in touch with me. I had no idea where to turn as Seaweed had left and I was still teary over it. I had no idea that Tracy would do that. Her mother was furious with her, and she didn't tell Link that she didn't want to talk to me afterwards. I was heart-broken and alone for the first time in the world, excepting the time before I had met Tracy. I moved automatically and didn't bother caring about my well-being. Business was the only thing I could do, but I could often think about them while I was sewing. I was in a great state of depression.

"And then you called on me. I didn't want to help you because I thought you would ruin my life even further. But then when you asked politely for my help and were very civilized with me, I thought that you would be a friend to me and help me through all of this. You were very kind to me and even bought me dinner at an expensive restaurant. You were under your mother's spell, you said, and I didn't believe you then, but then I soon learned that you couldn't possibly have thought about hurting all of those people if you were so kind to me. I also saw how you treated the people in the dance room today. You were the same to them as you were to me.

"Amber, you are a nice person who got left in the wrong hands. You were blinded by your mother manipulations and thus disallowing yourself to be kind to the others. You proved a lot of people wrong after that pageant."

"I'm just a stuck-up rich whore," I interrupted quietly.

"Says them," Penny laughed. "What do they know about you since your mother's imprisonment?"

I changed the topic slightly. "My mother won't be out at all. After murdering my father, she received life imprisonment. She hates it something fierce." It had been a repetition from a previous conversation, but she wasn't daunted.

"Amber, focus here. You now have a chance to prove to Corny that you aren't the snob anymore."

"How is that possible?" I asked.

"You are around me more often, and I haven't been scorned recently, have I?" Penny asked, staring at me, waiting for an answer. "With my good reputation there, I can use any methods, legal methods, necessary to convince them that you weren't yourself. I've got it all planned out, Amber."

"Are you sure?"

"I am totally confident. I'll need you to wear the dress I just made you to the studio tomorrow." Penny stared off into the distance for the rest of the night.

-

My dress was as red as rubies and was knee-length, strapless, and form-fitting; Penny certainly had done well. The silk breathed easily for me, and it moved fluidly with my body. It really did make me look like I was rich but not trying to be a whore. Penny admired it for a moment before picking shoes from the closet that matched perfectly.

My stomach flipping over and over, I entered the studio and walked confidently to Corny's office. "I'm resigning." I noted his face for later before his composure returned and stated,

"Wherever did you find a job with your cheek?" he had asked, his lips almost dripping with ice.

"Funny, Corny, that you can consider my acts as cheek and still treat me with utmost disdain and propriety," I countered, strolling about the room.

"This is not a battle of the wits, Miss von Tussel." I noted the use of my surname and 'miss,' but decided to continue with this argument.

"Perhaps you think me inept as to be able to counter your remarks?" My words were not cold or warm, rather questioning.

"Perhaps. Back to the original question, Miss von Tussel: Where did you find a job?"

"In New York. You don't need to know anymore than that." I was trying to be as level-headed as possible.

"Fine. Here are the papers, fill them out and then you'll be gone." He grimaced before sitting behind his desk and started shuffling papers. I noted this, too.

I filled out the papers as quickly as possible before coldly exiting the room and walking out of the studio, but I had a feeling it wasn't for the last time as I had hoped. Penny had been waiting in car for me to return, and I slid into the car and told her, "He called me 'Miss von Tussel,' he shuffled papers while I was filling out the resignation papers without writing anything, and his face was one of hurt and relief."

"He's probably relieved because he can't keep up a front much longer, and he was overexerting himself to keep himself from becoming too polite. He loves you, Amber.

"What about your dance group, though?" You would think I was used to the abrupt changes in subject.

"They are transferring me to their New York branch, and I shall be a coach. I'll have to shuffle that and playing Kim in 'Bye, Bye Birdie.' That was the musical my mother always wanted me to play in, but I always wanted to do it for myself."

"You seem to share a lot in common with your mother..." Penny noted, pulling into the drive.

A/N: This chapter was dedicated to Darthluna01 who waited so long for it. I'm so sorry about the delay. I've been writing for Thoughts and Reflections and A Second Chance so diligently, I almost forgot about this one.