Drumroll, please. Penguinshipping has entered the building! Part of my reasoning for having Kenny make an appearance was that Barry wasn't really a rival for Paul. He was just some jerk that Dawn hated. The thing with Kenny is, he really isn't a jerk. He's a genuinely nice guy, who also happens to be extremely cute. The second part of my reason for having Kenny appear is that I felt that you learn a lot from dating difference types of people, and you'd be hard pressed to find two people more difference than Paul and Kenny. So, with that out of the way, here's chapter 10.
For once, the sound of her alarm clock didn't fill Dawn with the dread and irritation that it usually did. She practically bounced out of bed and into the shower, humming to herself as she went about her morning routine. It was funny what a difference a field trip made in her attitude toward the day.
Dawn was just finishing braiding her hair back into a long plait when she heard Paul honking the horn. Rolling her eyes, Dawn grabbed her purse and jacket, not even bothering to hide the spring in her step as she made her way out to the truck.
"Somebody's in a good mood," Paul commented as he pulled away from her house. "You do realize that it's only Thursday, right?" A couple weeks ago, Dawn had come out to the car giddy with excitement because she thought it was a Friday. Paul had been the one to break the news to her that it was only a Thursday.
"Field trip day," sang Dawn, leaning back into the seat and closing her eyes.
"Not for me," grumbled Paul.
Dawn's eyes shot open in horror. "You're not going?" she asked, dismayed.
"Nope," Paul replied briefly.
"Oh, that's just wonderful," Dawn moaned, slumping backwards. "May and Marina aren't going either. I'll be all alone."
"You'll survive," he said sarcastically. "Worst comes to worst, they'll stick you in a group with all the other losers whose friends didn't go."
"Hey!" But the sad part was, Paul was probably right. As they pulled into the school parking lot, Dawn actually contemplated staying behind and going to class instead. At least she'd be with people she knew.
As they walked inside, Dawn looked dismally over at the crowd of students waiting to load the field trip buses. Paul smirked at her and said snarkily, "Have fun."
"Oh, shut up," muttered Dawn, walking over to the group. She tried to look on the positive side. As boring as spending the day alone would be, at least she'd get to miss History class.
Dawn was so lost in her bout of self-pity that it took her a second to realize that there was someone standing next to her. Kenny grinned and jabbed her in the side, causing her to jump a mile.
"Kenny!" Dawn yelped, dancing away. Kenny just laughed, grinning wider at the look of shocked outrage on her face.
"Sorry, Dee-Dee, I couldn't resist." His green eyes flashed merrily at her, and Dawn felt herself begin to blush.
"I hate you," she said, trying to cover up her embarrassment.
"Oh, come on," Kenny teased, "you know you love me."
"Not if you keep doing stuff like that," Dawn warned, but she smiled in spite of herself.
The chaperones started roll call, and when she and Kenny were assigned to the same bus, Dawn felt a rush of excitement buzz through her. As she climbed the bus steps, Dawn grinned, barely able to contain her rapidly growing excitement. The tap dancing elf in her stomach was back, summoned by the prospect of an entire day alone with Kenny.
Automatically, Dawn slid into the seat near the emergency exit. She saw Kenny glance at the bright red bar with a knowing look in his eye, but he didn't comment on it as he sat down next to her. Dawn sighed a bit in relief, reclining against the green pleather seat.
"Have you been to D.C. before?" Kenny asked, stretching out his long legs.
"Once, when I was five," Dawn replied. "But we were just stopping through on our way back from Georgia."
"That doesn't count."
"Yes it does," Dawn argued.
"Did you see the Washington Monument?" Kenny asked critically.
"Well, no, but—"
"Then it doesn't count."
"Oh, please," scoffed Dawn, "who cares about that? It's literally a giant rock."
Kenny gasped in mock horror. "Blasphemy! And you call yourself an American."
Dawn giggled. "And don't get me started on the Lincoln Memorial."
"I'm dead," Kenny said, clutching his heart and falling backwards. "You've killed me."
"You're such an idiot," Dawn laughed, swatting him on the shoulder.
"Careful, Dee-Dee, or I'll have to recreate that haircut you had in second grade." Dawn gasped as Kenny mimed snipping off her long braid.
"Don't you dare!"
"Or what?" Kenny grinned, his green eyes twinkling.
Dawn spluttered, but couldn't come up with an answer. There was something about having those eyes focused on her made her brain feel like it was coming unraveled.
"That's what I thought." Kenny crossed his arms and sat back, looking satisfied. "Anyway, if you're not interested in the monuments, why did you come on this trip? And please don't say shopping."
Dawn just smirked, unaware of how much she looked like Paul. Kenny groaned. "If you think I'm spending the whole day in Forever 21—"
"Oh, relax," scolded Dawn. "I could do that here."
"So, what then?" he asked warily.
"Honestly, I don't really know what I want to do," admitted Dawn. "I just know that I don't want to spend the entire day walking around in the cold, staring at giant pieces of stone."
Kenny grinned suddenly, looking like the Cheshire Cat. "I have three words that may or may not make your day."
Dawn raised an eyebrow and smiled. "What?"
"International. Spy. Museum."
Four hours later, Dawn was practically bouncing out of her shoes. While the museum itself had been cool, apparently the gift shop was an attraction in and of itself.
"I came here a couple years ago with my parents," Kenny said, sidestepping a troop of enthusiastic Boy Scouts, "and ever since, I've been dying to come back."
"I can see why," Dawn replied, her eyes wide as she took in the display of cryptology books. That was one of the things that had always pulled her towards ciphers; when you got right down to it, codes were, essentially, math. And Dawn was very good at math.
"Hey, Dawn, look," Kenny said, laughing. "This is perfect for you." He held up a pink t-shirt with white letters emblazoned across the front.
Dawn put a hand on her hip and cocked an eyebrow. "Really, Kenny?" The shirt read, "Deny Everything."
Kenny snickered. "For the girl who once painted a skunk stripe down the back of my dog and then blamed me? Most definitely."
"Oh, come on," Dawn said sweetly, "Midnight looked so cute."
"You traumatized him," Kenny retorted. "We couldn't get him to come out from under the couch for weeks."
"That's just because your mom insisted on giving him a bath," Dawn argued. "If she had left him alone, he would have been fine."
Kenny shook his head exasperatedly. "You're something else."
"I know." Dawn smiled at him innocently before disappearing into the book section. Kenny rolled his eyes and followed her, a blush slowly creeping across his face.
After a long and agonizing decision, Dawn went with the coolest code book she could find. Kenny tried in vain to get her to buy the "Deny Everything" shirt, but in the end, Dawn felt that she had enough clothes.
"You know what's weird?" Kenny asked as they walked outside.
"The fact that they sell a camera that's embedded in a tie?" offered Dawn.
"No. It's just funny, how when we were kids our favorite game was Spies."
"So?"
"We're seventeen, on our own in Washington, D.C., and what are we doing?"
Dawn giggled, realizing what Kenny was getting at. "Playing spies. And speak for yourself. I'm still sixteen."
"Semantics. Anyway, are you hungry?"
"I'll give you three guesses," Dawn said sarcastically.
Kenny laughed, which made the tap dancing elf start to do somersaults in Dawn's stomach. Kenny had a habit of throwing his head back when he laughed, which caused his hair to glint red in the muted sunlight. Idly, Dawn wondered if his hair felt as soft as it looked.
"So, where do you want to go to eat?" Kenny asked, hunching his shoulders slightly against the wind.
"Oh, I don't care," Dawn said absently, still fantasizing running her hands through his thick mop of hair.
"Have you ever been to a Five Guys?"
"Uh . . ."
Kenny laughed. "I'll take that as a no."
"It's not some weird ethnic place, is it?" asked Dawn warily. Over the summer, May had convinced her to try a new restaurant called Fujiyama's in town. Since Dawn had a general aversion to most ethnic foods, including sushi, it had been a disaster.
"Definitely not," Kenny said, leading Dawn down the street. "It's more of a hotdog and hamburger place."
"Two of the most beautiful words in the English language," Dawn sighed happily.
As a general rule, Dawn wasn't very flirtatious. Before Kenny had moved to Pennington, her interest in dating had hovered somewhere between complete and total apathy and cool indifference. The dating pool at Pennington was rather scarce, and Dawn didn't believe in dating someone just to feel good about herself. Whenever May or Marina had pressured her to do out on dates, Dawn had shrugged them off, assuring both girls that when she met someone she truly wanted to go out with, she would.
Enter Kenny.
As a general rule, Dawn might not be very flirtatious, but Kenny had her breaking that rule.
On the bus ride home that night, Dawn fell asleep. When she awoke, Kenny was grinning down at her, his green eyes dancing.
"Have a nice nap?"
"Hmm?" Dawn sat up groggily, noticing belatedly that her head had been resting on Kenny's shoulder. "Oh, I'm sorry . . ." she started, but Kenny waved her down.
"It's fine. Honestly, what else are shoulders good for other than napping on?"
Was he flirting back with her? Dawn felt the blood rush to her face, and she was thankful that it was so dark on the bus. She giggled self-consciously. "Still . . ."
"Hey, what are you doing on Saturday?" asked Kenny suddenly.
"Not much. Why?" He was not asking her out. No way. Not Kenny.
"I was thinking we could go bowling," Kenny said, suddenly very interested in the bus floor. "Like we used to when back in Charleroi." He was! He was most definitely asking her out.
"You mean when we were eight and you could barely lift the ball?" Dawn asked, laughing. She was surprised at how casual she sounded, when on the inside, she was flipping the fuck out.
"Yeah, like that."
"Well, if there's an opportunity for me to show you up at something, count me in," Dawn said, grinning.
"Don't count your chickens before the fat lady sings," Kenny warned. Dawn laughed, partly due to the horribly mixed metaphor. If it had been anyone else who said something like that, it would have irritated Dawn to no end. But when Kenny said it, she couldn't help but smile.
"Okay," Dawn said mockingly. She had to bite her lip to keep herself from grinning like an idiot. The elf in her stomach had stopped somersaulting and was currently doing a series of backflips, making Dawn feel giddy.
"Keep it up, Dee-Dee," Kenny said teasingly.
"Or what?" It was Kenny's turn to search helplessly for answer. "That's what I thought." Dawn smirked satisfactorily.
"You really haven't changed," Kenny said, somewhat wonderingly.
"Neither have you."
Uh oh. Paul definitely has his work cut out for him. Especially since Dawn doesn't even see him as a guy right now, just a friend. Aw, I friendzoned Paul. Eh, oh well. Anyway, if you like the story, feel free to leave me a review. Thoughts, feelings, rants, critiques, and futile shouts into the silent void of space are always welcome. Thanks!