A few days later, the gang sat down to lunch together. Amy was the first to yank out her ballot for homecoming queen.
"Apparently we have to bring them to Mrs. Landry's classroom by the end of the day. Everyone's voting for our beloved Penny, correct?"
Bernadette smiled. "Oh this is so exciting! You're going to be so cute in your homecoming tiara, Penny!"
Amy looked away. "I want a tiara…"
Penny smiled and laughed. "Look guys, it's no big deal. If I win, I win."
Leonard pulled out his ballot. "So do we have to vote for a guy too?"
Penny nodded. "Yeah, although good luck picking someone. I'm certainly not voting for Eddie or Andrew. Or Kyle or Sean or Mikey. Or Vince."
He looked down at his list. "So you're voting for… whom? The only guys you haven't mentioned are a Sherman Oakley and Robert Vicilli."
Bernadette laughed. "Ewwww who nominated Sherman?"
Sheldon spoke up. "How am I supposed to vote for a viable candidate when I do not know most of the people on this list? And the limited interaction I've had with some of these people has not swayed me in their direction."
Amy just looked at Sheldon. "That's why I brought this quandary to order. I wanted Penny to select a suitor since she will have to dance with one of these people once she is crowned the winner."
Penny looked annoyed. "Seriously? Well let's see. Andrew's a jerk that still wants to bang Bernadette. Eddie is my ex-boyfriend. Kyle is a senior and he totally came on to me at Krissy's party last year. Mikey is just weird. And Sean's also a senior who totally scammed on Trisha when… actually on second thought, I'm voting for Sean."
Howard smirked. "And the claws are still out…"
She filled in her own ballot and smiled. "What can I say, common enemies are good for uniting people."
After school, Leonard was walking through the hallway when Michelle grabbed him by the shoulder. "Hey partner, headed home?"
He adjusted his glasses. "Uh, yeah. That tends to be what I do at the end of the day. Unless I have cello practice…"
She giggled. "Oh you're so cute. Well listen, Saturday I'm not doing anything so I thought you could come over my house and we could work on our project together. What do you say?"
Leonard thought about it and nodded. "Sounds good. Is your address on Facebook or something?"
She grabbed his hand and pulled out a pen from her purse. Quickly, she wrote her phone number on the back of his hand. "Text me later and I'll give it to you. Meanwhile, I've got to run. Talk to you later, Lenny!" Michelle said as she quickly walked out of the building.
He looked at his hand and smirked. "Cool."
Per usual, he was hitching a ride with Penny home. As he got in the car, Penny was drawn to his hand.
"Picking up girls are we? You player." She said with a sarcastic undertone.
Leonard smiled back at Penny. "Maybe I am. After all, I'm quite the ladies' man. You were just lucky enough to get me first."
Penny laughed a bit. "So who's the lucky girl?"
"Michelle."
She quickly hit her brakes in the parking lot. Leonard's head jerked forward. "Ow! You really need to stop doing that."
"What the hell, Leonard? Why do you have her phone number on your hand?"
"I told you, we're doing a project together. She was on her way out and gave it to me."
Penny glanced sideways and started driving again. "Why, so you two can talk on the phone while she pretends to have a sudden interest in History?"
"No. I need to text her later so she can send me her address."
Again, Penny slammed on her brakes, upsetting Leonard. "You're going to hurt someone, Penny."
"Trust me on this, Leonard. She's not a nice girl. I mean, she kinda is to your face, but she's always after anyone she thinks I like."
"Jealous." Leonard said.
"Am not!"
"Even if she is trying to pick me up, what makes you think that I'm interested in her? I'd never accept a pass from her. Believe me, you are 10x hotter and 10x more perfect than she will ever be."
Penny eased out of the driveway of the school. "Thanks…"
"I mean it too." Leonard said.
As Penny approached Leonard's house to drop him off, they continued their conversation.
Penny put the car into park and just looked at Leonard. "You promise you won't let her woo you?"
He smiled really wide. "Of course not, Penny. I'm still amazed you're really going out with me."
She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you. But I'm still keeping an eye on her."
"I wouldn't expect anything less. I didn't dream about a chance to talk to you for years just to turn you down for some girl I don't even like."
"Just don't change your mind about that any time soon."
He looked at her with puppy dog eyes. "Never. And I never will. I love you, Penny…"
And with those three words, Penny froze.
Amy went to Sheldon's house after school to help him pick out something to wear to the homecoming dance. Sadly, she was discouraged by the amount of plaid in his closet.
"I'll be the first to admit I'm not into fashion, but do you own anything without a print?" She asked.
He folded his arms. "And pay a ton of money for only one color? No thank you."
She quickly gave up and closed his closet door. "Well we need to figure something out. We're a couple now, Sheldon. We need to look like we're together."
"Excuse me, but since when does matching attire denote one's relationship status? We're together every day and we don't prearrange our weekly clothing choices for one another."
"This is different. It's our first school dance together."
Sheldon sighed. "Penny said that the attire is dressy casual and not to worry about such gobbledygook due to the relaxed nature of the event. Normally this type of hype is reserved for proms and weddings."
"Fair enough."
"And if I may ask, what do you plan on wearing next weekend?"
Amy hadn't actually thought about her own attire. "I don't know. I mean, Penny helped me pick out a black dress when we first became friends. The one I wore to that house party."
"Ah yes, the one that probably reeks of alcohol and poor decisions by now."
"Hey!"
"Not your poor decisions, mind you."
Amy folded her arms. "I have plenty of skirts and dresses, but I don't know if they're 'cool' enough." She walked over to Sheldon's bed and sat down.
He tilted his head and moved next to her. "Since when are you concerned about such matters?"
"Well, last year, I couldn't have cared less. This year, I'm best friends with the next homecoming queen. I feel like I have an image to maintain. Or at least to start maintaining."
"I couldn't agree more."
Amy picked her head up and looked at Sheldon with a confused expression. "You do?!"
"Yes. You need to maintain the image of Amy Farrah Fowler. A junior at Pasadena High School with remarkable academic achievements and loyal friends. Any other image is a mere façade."
She softened her expression. "Wow, Sheldon. That was really sweet. You mean that?"
"Yes. And if you can't see that, then perhaps I should start re-examining your intellect."
Amy felt her heart flutter in her chest. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." He replied. "And one more thing…"
"Yes…" She said softly.
"It's still no reason to sit on my bed without permission."
Amy flashed him a dirty look before cracking up.
Sheldon got confused. "What's so funny? I'm serious. Stand up."
She leaned forward and hugged him tightly.
He protested. "Hey! You're still sitting! Enough! Don't make me issue you a strike!"
Back in Penny's car, Leonard sat patiently waiting for a response. Penny eventually smiled a bit. "Thank you…"
His heart broke. "Oh. You're welcome."
She took a deep breath. "You know, I kinda have to get going. So…"
"Right, I'm sorry. I'll go. Um, yeah. I'll just see you later."
"Yeah, I'll see you later."
As he opened the door, he looked back at Penny. "You know, there's no pressure…"
"I really need to go."
He stood up and closed the car door. As he went to say goodbye, she sped off. "Good…. Bye… Penny."
As she drove away speeding, her heart was pounding out of her chest.
Holy crap on a cracker. What do I do now?