What a Party!
Don't own any characters that you've seen on TV.
Leonard smiled and tried to make the girl feel a little more comfortable, and being right by the pond didn't seem like it was going to be a place where she was comfortable. "I know it's a little crazy right now but everyone is pretty nice once you get to know them."
The girl looked up and gave Leonard a weak smile. "I'm… Karen… Karen Burbrick…"
Leonard stood and put out his hand. "Hi Karen… would you like a lemonade? There's a big cooler up by the porch…"
Karen smiled. "That would be nice… but you should be with your friends… and Penny…"
Leonard thought that some of those words were completely out of place. It was true that he knew at least some of these people… and Timmy was his friend… at least he thought that Timmy was… and Penny was definitely his friend… so technically… he was with his "friends"… but it appeared pretty clearly to him that Penny was pretty interested in Timmy. Most of the other people… especially people like Kurt and Jimmy… just made him more uncomfortable and nervous than anything else.
Leonard smiled. "Penny is with Timmy and I could use a glass of Lemonade myself… c'mon… I'll show you where it is."
Penny happened to break away from Timmy's hold and splashed him again with a big laugh… then she turned and saw Leonard standing above some girl she didn't know… offering her his hand and then walking away with her toward the house. Just then… as she had her mouth open trying to get a grasp of the sight of Leonard walking off with another girl… Tammy and Anna came over and pulled her under the water.
Leonard brought Karen up to the cooler of Lemonade and poured her a glass. Sitting down on separate chairs, Leonard handed Karen the cool liquid. "I have only been back in the area for the summer… I used to go to school here when I was younger"… Karen accepted the lemonade and seemed to be just a bit less anxious than she was down on the dock. "I'm sorry… but I don't remember you going to school here… not that I really knew that many people that went to school here… or any… really… and even if I did… You probably have changed in how you looked then… well obviously…"
Karen smiled as she noticed that Leonard seemed to tangle himself up in a long jumbled question. She thought that he was kind of cute in his rambling disconnected kind of way.
Leonard looked at Karen's slim figure. She had all the right girl parts in all the right places… her breasts not necessarily as big as Penny's… and her hips were a little different… slightly wider… which wasn't necessarily a bad thing… because she was a bit thinner…and her waist was smaller making her curves that much more… well… just more… and she was shorter…
Karen could see Leonard looking her over just a bit and her smile lessoned some becoming a little nervous because of it. She shivered a little breaking Leonard's thoughts.
Leonard quickly got up and reached for a pile of towels that were put out for the swimmers. "Oh… Ummm… I'm sorry… are you cold? Here is a towel if you got wet." Leonard held out the towel… trying to figure a way to make himself sound less… stupid.
Karen smiled again, took the offered towel and wrapped it around her waist and sat back down. "I'm actually new to the area myself… I will be going into my junior year this year… Tammy is my cousin and she said that today would be fun and that I might meet some new friends… what grade will you be going into."
Leonard thought that he probably looked like he should be in one of the lower grades considering he was short and rather slightly built… Penny and he wore the same size clothes… for crying out loud. Leonard shrugged and smiled. "Actually… I'm going into my junior year also… although I don't really know if I will be attending school here, my mother is back in New Jersey and I don't know if my Father will let me stay for the new term." Leonard then sat down on the porch swing… it was a little closer to Karen than the chair he was originally sitting in.
Karen frowned a little. "I'm sorry… but I understand… my parents are divorced too".
Leonard looked up. "Oh… my parents aren't divorced… they're… just… Well… they're just them…"
Penny came up from under the water coughing and spitting out water. "What the HELL?"
Tammy looked a bit horrified. "Sorry… sorry… we just wanted to get in on the fun…"
Penny looked back with a piercing stare. "And DROWNING me was your first idea of FUN?"
Timmy came over and tried to pull Penny back into a hold. "Are you okay?"
Penny pushed him away. "Yeah… I'm fine…" Timmy looked on not understanding what her problem was and then swam off to a group of the other boys. Penny then swam back to the dock with Tammy in hot pursuit. Penny lifted herself out of the water and shook her head and then grabbed her hair into a bunch and twisted it trying to get the water out as much as possible.
Tammy and Anna followed Penny out of the water. "We didn't mean to drown you or anything…"
Penny looked over at her friends. "It's FINE!" She looked around to see where Leonard went off to and couldn't see him. She turned back to her friends. "Hey… did you guys see where Leonard went? He was sitting by some red haired girl in a white bikini…"
Anna poked Tammy in the side. "Was that your cousin? She had a white bikini on… and she has red hair…"
Tammy thought. "I don't know maybe… she didn't even want to come… she's just got in town… just moved here… and she said she didn't know anyone… and I was like... c'mon… it'll be fun… she's real quiet… real bookish too…"
Penny tilted her head to one side and hopped on one foot. "Great… a shy bookish cute girl… in a bikini…"
Tammy looked confused. "What's wrong with that? It's not like Leonard isn't bookish… and he's just as pale as she is… and you were getting along pretty good with Timmy…HUH?" Tammy then nudged Penny and winked at her.
Penny just looked around. "What?... well… yeah… no there's nothing wrong with it… me and Leonard are just friends… that's all… he should have a good time… What's her name anyway…?"
Tammy was a little confused with Penny's quickly changing moods. "Karen… She's really nice… you'll see… please just give her a chance…"
To Penny it almost sounded like Tammy was begging her to not pick on this Karen person… Since when did anyone care what Penny thought of anyone else? And why wouldn't Tammy think Penny wouldn't give her cousin a "chance"… whatever that meant.
Penny looked around half not paying attention to Tammy or Anna. "Yeah… sure… whatever… I'm sure she's nice…" Penny then grabbed one of the towels that were set out and wrapped it around her waist. After looking around some more, she thought she could see Leonard's curly hair over the railing on the porch. Without even thinking, Penny walked away from Tammy and Anna in midsentence. They were babbling on about something about being a new group in school…
Penny walked up to the porch and saw that Leonard was sitting close by to this "Karen" person. With little fanfare, Penny walked up the steps and went directly over to the lemonade and poured herself a glass. Then she came back and sat directly next to Leonard on the porch swing. "There you are Sweetie! I missed when you left the pond…"
Leonard noticed right away that Penny was sitting very close to him and that she looked quickly at Karen as she spoke the word "Sweetie"… "Umm… well… I wasn't actually IN the pond as much as just sitting on the dock…"
Penny looked back at Leonard. "Yeah… okay… but we were all having so much fun and then you just left…" Immediately, Penny turned to look back at Karen again.
Leonard could see that there was something going on. "Well… it was a little hot… and Karen looked like she would like some lemonade… and it IS out of the sun up here… so… well… HEY… you do know Karen don't you?"
Penny looked back to Leonard. "No… not really…" Penny turned back to Karen. "But Tammy says you are her cousin… is that right?" Penny got up to be polite and offered Karen her hand… Which Karen took and shook lightly. Penny looked square into Karen's eyes. "It's nice to meet you… and thank you for coming to "MY" party… Are you going to be going to school here this term? It's nice to have new people… Right Leonard?..."
Karen looked somewhat sheepishly back at Penny. "Ummm…yeah… probably… ummm… have you and Leonard been friends long?"
Penny squinted just the slightest. "Leonard has just come back here from New Jersey… We're really CLOSE… aren't we Sweetie? We were best friends when we were kids… before he left… and now he's back… and now everything is the SAME… or even BETTER…right Sweetie?" Penny then sat back down on the porch swing… closer to Leonard… if that were at all possible.
Leonard could see that Karen was getting nervous again… he could tell because he could see that she was looking at Penny and then him and then away completely… repeating the pattern quickly. It looked to Leonard just like something he would do to avoid making eye contact with someone that was going to bully him… it was like Karen was trying to figure out how she could get away from the two of them. "Well… yeah… we're friends… like we used to be… and like you are with… Timmy"… Penny then looked quickly back to him and it didn't look like she was all that happy with that remark… Leonard swallowed a bit. "Ummm… and Anna... and Tammy… and all them".
Karen smiled weakly. "Thanks for inviting all these people… everyone here is nice… at least so far…" Penny might not have noticed… but Leonard recognized that Karen had just spoke of her expectation of things not turning out so friendly once people got to know her. "I guess I am going to stay for school here… My mom just moved us here after she split up with my Dad… My mom and Tammy's Mom are sisters…"
Penny softened a little. "Oh that's awful… don't you worry… people aren't all that bad… except for some… like Valerie…"
All of a sudden a bunch of the other kids came up onto the porch led by Timmy… T.J. … Bobby and his brother Roy… followed by Tammy and Anna. They picked Penny up off the swing and carted her back to the dock with her screaming and wiggling all the way. When they got to the end of the dock… Bobby had Penny by the hands and Roy had Penny by the feet. They swung her back and forth and then tossed her into the pond… T. J. and Timmy grabbed Anna and Tammy and proceeded to toss them into the pond as well… The four boys then proceeded to all jump at the same time… cannonballing a huge wave of water into the faces of the three girls that had surfaced not far away. Each of the girls were screaming and splashing back at the boys. After that display… all the kids were jumping and splashing.
Leonard looked at Karen and smiled. "We better get down there and get at least a little wet… We already look like we don't belong… let's not make it any worse…"
Karen smiled and took the offered hand of Leonard and the two new friends walked down to the dock and quietly slipped into the water.
Once things quieted down and the day started to turn into the evening. All the kids got together and went to an open field space off to one side of the house. All the boys helped Wyatt and some of the other parents pile up some wood that was going to be used for the bonfire that night. Some of the girls went into the house to change out of their bathing suits… Any of the boys that wanted to change, went in the barn.
Because the evenings were getting cool at the end of the summer, Penny had put on a pair of low waisted cutoff jeans shorts that showed off her long toned legs and an oversized Nebraska Cornhusker sweatshirt rolling her sleeves up to her elbows and gathering the sweatshirt up tying it at her waist. She figured if it got cold, she could just let out the sweatshirt and let it hang longer. A bunch of the girls had wrap around cover ups that they put over their swim suits. Karen had brought a nice pair of jeans and a cute light sweater to wear. Valerie just kept parading around in her bikini… keeping the stares of the boys as long as she could… much to the dislike of Curtis… and Penny. Valeri just made sure that Curtis knew that she was doing it because of the ogling he did in Penny's direction when she was wearing her yellow bikini earlier.
Leonard changed into his usual jeans and t-shirt covered with a hoodie. Some of the other boys opted to keep their swimming trunks on with just a shirt or sweatshirt in case they decided to go back into the pond when it got dark. The air temperature would be less and the water would feel nice and warm. Timmy was one of these boys… he and the other guys were hoping to entice as many girls as they could into pond with them… It would be harder for their parents to see what the kids would be doing when the sun went down. The pond was away from where the bonfire was and they hoped that most if not all the parents would be watching the fire.
When the evening ended and the sun went down, Wyatt started the fire and retreated back to the porch with the other parents to shed a watchful eye at the group of teenagers. The adult conversation centered on all that was going on in town, crops and farm animals and how nice it was of the Pettersson's to host this party. Everyone thought that things couldn't have gone better and the children were so well behaved. Some couldn't believe it… considering who their children were. Suggestions were even made to start planning for a second annual party next summer. Wyatt just smiled warily at that particular suggestion, peering over at his wife who had an expression on her face somewhere between pride and abject fear.
Leonard made sure that Karen was not left out of the activities… They were going to make s'mores and play the telephone game as well as have fun with the other kids. Penny saw that Leonard was walking with Karen and she quickly grabbed Timmy and Tammy.
Naturally, Anna followed along quickly… she and Tammy were pretty much joined at the hip, and considering they were always hanging around Timmy, Penny didn't mind… although they could spend less time fawning after Timmy…
At that point T.J. tagged along… soon to be joined by Lisa. Penny figured there would be safety in numbers, and then Karen couldn't cause any problems.
Things were going well when Penny was suddenly pulled away by Donnie… She was taken by surprise and before she knew it… he had pulled her over to be confronted by Valerie and Curtis over on the dock. Valerie had been watching the way people were acting toward Penny all day and was pretty aware of Penny's growing reputation with the boys. Not wanting to be upstaged or ignored when school started, Valerie wanted to mend fences with Penny. Not really wanting to be seen with Valerie considering Valerie's involvement in the "Brad affair"… Penny was hesitant to get close to them.
Unfortunately… this group was pretty close friends with Brad and it was just a matter of time before Brad came over. He tried to put his arm around Penny's hip when she turned and she slapped him. At that point… Timmy came over figuring something was happening between Penny and Brad… and then punched Brad for upsetting Penny… which started a bit of a commotion. Curtis then punched Timmy… and then T.J. jumped on Curtis falling into the water followed by Timmy Brad and Donnie. Penny started to tell them all to get out of the pond when Valerie not so subtly nudged Penny off the edge of the dock. Penny immediately started to go under with the weight of her wet sweatshirt.
The commotion brought over some of the other kids, one of which was Leonard. When they got to the edge of the dock, all they could see was a bunch of boys in the water with just Penny. Timmy was the first one to get to the now splashing Penny. He quickly pulled off the sweatshirt and then noticed that Penny was not wearing a bra.
Upon seeing this… a bunch of the other kids threw off their shirts and cover-ups and jumped in the pond. Some of the girls followed Penny's lead and took off their bras. The boys were more than happy to be in the water with the now half naked girls.
Penny immediately crossed her arms across her chest and Timmy took her into a tight hold holding her up as she got her breath. His hands came precariously close to the sides of her breasts under her arms. Choking, Penny turned to Timmy and threw her hands around his neck, effectively pressing her bare chest to his. Timmy's hands slid down her slim torso past her soft breasts and settled on Penny's hips as their legs now intertwined as they kicked under the water keeping their heads above the surface.
Seeing Penny splashing in the water, Leonard ran to get a towel for Penny knowing that she would need one when she came out of the pond.
Penny was surprised at the feeling of Timmy against her bare chest and blushed as she pulled away just a bit. His chest against hers was not at all uncomfortable… she saw the bright smile on Timmy's face as he held her slim hips just that much closer to him. Penny then sighed as she smiled back and buried her face in Timmy's neck. When she looked up over Timmy's shoulder… a little afraid to move… she saw Valerie with no bra clearly holding onto Kurt in the water being held up to clearly show her exposed breasts with what appeared to be her bathing suit bottoms over his shoulder.
Leonard ran back to the edge of the dock to see Penny and Timmy in a tight embrace. He just let the towel drop to the dock and sat down looking away.
By this time the commotion of the teens in the pond had garnered the attention of some of the adults on the porch, Wyatt and a few of the other adults followed the porch around to the other side of the house. When they could see what looked like a topless girl jump into the pond with her breasts highlighted by the reflection of the moon on the water, Wyatt went into the house.
Within a few minutes, Wyatt emerged from the house through the back door to the kitchen which was right off the den where Wyatt kept his gun safe. Seeing Wyatt step off the porch with his gun along with a few of the other Fathers, Henrietta gathered the mothers and followed.
When the small group of parents made their way to the dock, Wyatt raised his old double barreled shot gun and let off both barrels in quick succession with an incredible BOOMING noise. Immediately… the raucous nature of the teens stopped as they turned to the shore and saw Wyatt Pettersson standing with his rifle over his arm with the Boxlock action open so he could load an additional two shells.
There was almost no noise at all except for a few of the girls swimming to retrieve the bras of their swim suits. Wyatt slammed close the action of his rifle and slapped the barrel in his left hand while holding the stock by the triggers in his right. With a few of the other fathers close behind,… Wyatt glared at the young faces looking up at him. "I would be much obliged if you all would 'PLEASE' exit this pond… I'm sure that you would all agree that your folks and I are extremely disappointed and that the events for this evening have now ENDED!"
Penny had removed herself from Timmy's grasp and swam quickly to the other side of the dock. She had no bra to find and was pretty sure that she was going to be in deep trouble for what just happened. Not really knowing how she was going to pull this off, she looked around for a discrete exit place from the pond. Upon reaching the shore, Penny crossed her arms across her chest and bent over as low as she could. Suddenly a towel was held out to her by a small thin hand. Penny looked up as she took the towel and quickly wrapped herself in it. She let out a sigh and climbed out of the water as she reached for an assisting hand. Penny grabbed a hand that she had felt before and quickly looked up into Leonard's eyes… noticing that Karen was standing next to him. It must have been Karen that was the person that had held out the towel.
Leonard quickly turned when Penny was on firm soil and walked away. Karen looked at Penny and then at the quickly retreating Leonard. Not really knowing what to do and clearly caught between a rock and a hard place, Karen decided that the best thing to do would be to follow Leonard.
Timmy and a bunch of the boys clambered out of the pond and were trying to make a hasty retreat when they were suddenly stopped by a group of the fathers. As the girls came out of the water, they were met by a group of the mothers. The girls were mostly dressed appropriately… although it was clear to even the casual observer that none of them had matching bras and bottoms to their bathing suits.
Penny quickly made her way to the back of the porch walking around the barn to the side door. She had hoped that she could make it inside and get a shirt on before she had to face her father.
Unfortunately, as Penny made her way to the stairs up to her room, Henrietta called out from the kitchen. "Penelope Ann Pettersson… Just what did you think you were doing? … AND… what are you wearing! OR… more appropriately… what are you… NOT wearing!""
Penny scrunched her shoulders up to her neck and turned toward her mother pulling the towel around her all that much tighter. "Mom… none of that was supposed to happen… I was wearing my big Nebraska sweatshirt… and someone pushed me in… and it was really wet and heavy… and I had to take it off … or I could have drowned… and then everyone jumped in… and then Daddy came…"
Henrietta hung her head slightly. "You get yourself up stairs and change into something appropriate… Your father and I will want to have a little talk with you…"
Denise was at the top of the stairs already holding out a shirt and a pair of shorts for Penny to take. She smiled as Penny stopped before her. "Now… THAT's the way you make a scene!" Denise just chuckled as Penny snapped the clothes from Denise's hands and marched forcefully off down the hall to her room.