The closer they got to the senior finals, the less time Leonard and Penny spent together. At first, neither of them particularly noticed as they were so busy. They still texted each other each night and on some occasions called, and if they finished at the same time they would walk home from school together. But inevitably it was Penny who began to really notice their time apart since she had much less work to get done and Leonard had far, far more.

Her exams started earlier and finished right before senior finals began. She exited the hall quietly after her final exam of the year, having taken Leonard's advice to never walk out thinking back on the exam - there was nothing she could do to change her mark now, so dwelling on it would achieve nothing positive. Automatically she made her way to her locker and then straight outside to where she would usually meet him after school. She switched her phone on and saw no new messages, so she tried calling him. No answer. She tried again and left a message that time before deciding she may as well go home. Not particularly in the mood to celebrate with her friends, she figured she could at least head up to the stables to unwind from the exam stress.

It was effective; she spent a couple of hours up there helping out before going out for a ride on her father's horse. After beginning to feel decisively sore and tired, she headed back for a long soak in the bath. Just as she was about to remove her towel to put on some clothes before going to investigate dinner plans, her phone rang: Leonard. At last!

"Hey," she smiled into the phone.

"Hey, Penny. I'm so sorry, we were trying to cram all this last minute stuff in so I only just got back. How was your exam?"

"It was alright... I would have preferred not to finish with a Trig exam but things could have been worse. And I remembered the thing you told me so I didn't get completely lost on that question."

"That's good, I'm glad I could help. At least it's all over for you now! Are you going to that party? Someone was talking about it earlier in class."

"Nah, I don't really feel like it. How're you feeling about next week? Prepared?"

"Prepared-ish. More like I've got so much stuff in my head that it'll take me the whole exam to sift through it to answer just the first question."

"Oh, you'll do great with your crazy brilliant brain." Penny assured him. "Just don't worry about it too much. Like you said to me, the exam is always less evil than you imagine it to be. They don't write papers tailored to each students particular weak academic spots."

"You're pretty good at remembering things - sure you don't wanna be my brain for the exams?" Leonard chuckled.

"Absolutely not! I'm good at remembering things you say. I have no idea why gravity is something and why x equals fifty. That's your area of expertise."

"X equals fifty would depend on the equation-"

Giggling, Penny shook her head. "I know, Leonard, I know."

"So you are that kind of smart too."

"But not you smart, so you can use your own brain for your exams. I'm saving mine for my own finals next year, remember? Or can I borrow yours for those?"

"This brain has a strict 'do not lend' policy. It has severe side effects of being a nerd."

"I could deal with that, I'm already dating that nerdy brain."

"I dunno, it's a lot to handle." Leonard joked, and he enjoyed Penny's laugh for a moment. "So if you're not going to the party, you wanna do something tonight?"

"Well... currently I'm dressed in a towel so as long as the something doesn't involve putting on too many clothes, then sure. I'm too lazy to rummage through my closet to find something presentable."

"Lazy." Leonard accused. "How does takeout and a crapload of movies sound? I think we both need a night off."

"Ooh, that sounds like something I'd be interested in."

"I'll take a shower and then I'll get going. That enough time for you?"

"Yeah. Don't forget to ask for extra Sweet Chilli sauce!"


"Daddy?"

"Yes, sweetheart?"

Penny had learned over the years from experience and from her siblings when the best time was to ask her father for something. The guarantee was that the day after his team won the game and he was having his afternoon coffee before heading back out to work always did the trick. And so, Penny had spent her Sunday waiting patiently for her father to come in from the stables and clean up before making himself a cup of coffee and taking a seat in his chair before approaching him.

Sitting herself on the edge of the couch, Penny bit her lip. "Remember how you said, when I told you that Leonard would be going to college - and I was really upset?" She paused to give him time to remember how she had been crying in the hopes he'd remember the sympathy he'd felt at the time. "And then you said that you'd teach me to drive?"

Wyatt peered at his daughter, knowing now where this was going. "Yes..."

"Well... can I start learning to drive?" Penny asked, and when she got no answer, she decided to continue. "I already got the website of the driving instructor that Leonard used, and Leonard is a great driver, and I've done an enquiry and everything, I just need you to pay for it and, obviously, I won't do it if you say no. Please?"

Wyatt took a sip of his coffee. "What happened to that money Bridge gave you for driving lessons?"

"It's... umm..." Penny hesitated, not wanting to tell her father that she had spent it on her flights to New Jersey when looking at community colleges - and the rest of it being spent on her nightie for Valentines Day (though even Bridget didn't know that). There was still some left over, but she knew she'd need it in the near future. "I'm, uh, saving it. Since Leonard'll be in New Jersey I'll have to buy flight tickets, you know? I need money for that."

"What about your license?"

"I did that with Kim last week. I used my money for that. See, I'm all prepared."

Looking at his daughter, Wyatt sighed. "Alright. My wallet is in my jacket pocket in the hall, you can use my card to pay for those lessons."

"Yay!" Penny jumped up on the spot before leaning in to hug her father. "Thank you, Daddy." Pulling back, she grinned. "Are we still gonna fix up the old truck for me?"

"I did say we could, so... yes."

"Oh this is so exciting! Will it be mine? Just mine? Not you or Mom's? Just mine?"

"We both have our cars so yes, you may have the truck to yourself. Why are you so desperate for it to just be yours?"

"Nothing. Just want to have my own." Penny said quickly. If the truck was hers and hers alone, it would be easier to convince her parents to let her take it to New Jersey eventually when she moved out. But that was way in the future; she hadn't even told them about her plan to study there yet. "So I can use your card to book my lessons?"

"Go ahead, Slugger." Wyatt chuckled at her excitement.


Bored out of her mind as she had been for almost the past month during the exam period, Penny groaned as she heard the doorbell ring. Didn't people know not to bother people in the final weeks of the summer semester when they had less homework and more time to do nothing? Getting off the couch seemed more dislikable than her Physics exam right now. Leonard was busy with senior exams along with some of her other friends, Kim was busy working, her other friends would text her if they were coming over and she hadn't done any online shopping recently. That was all she needed to convince herself to stay seated on the sofa.

"Penny, can you get the door please?" Meryl called.

Rolling her eyes, Penny flung her head back before releasing a slow groan. "Why can't you get it?"

"Because you literally got in from school and sat in front of the TV for three hours. Get your lazy ass up and open the door."

"Ugh, fine." Penny mumbled as she hit the pause button on the remote control. Hauling herself off the sofa, she shuffled lazily out of the living room and to the front door prepared to sulk at whomever was disturbing her lazy evening. "What?" She asked snappily as she opened the door, but her jaw suddenly dropped when she saw who was waiting at the door. "Leonard?"

Smiling nervously, Leonard held out the bunch of flowers he'd been holding behind his back. "Penny, will you go to prom with me?"

"Oh my God," Penny put a hand to her mouth, staring at Leonard in awe. "Yes, of course I will."

"These are for you." Leonard said, shaking the flowers slightly to remind her he was holding them.

"Thank you." Penny giggled, taking the flowers. "They're beautiful."

"Well... you know, beautiful flowers for a beautiful girl."

"That's so adorable!" Meryl gasped from where she had poked her head out to see what was going on.

"Mom!" Penny turned her head. "Stop being so nosy!"

"Oh, right, sorry. I'll leave you kids to it." Meryl nodded quickly before disappearing again.

"Sorry."

"That's okay."

"I... come inside. This was a surprise. A really nice one." Penny walked backwards into the house.

Leonard shut the door behind them. "Well, I figured I only get to ask you out to prom once so I should do it as a surprise."

"God, I actually forgot all about prom. All these years we were always saying how awesome it would be when we got to go to senior prom, and now I'm getting to go to a senior prom before I'm a senior." Penny grinned. "You know, these flowers are a great color - maybe I'll get a dress this shade of pink. It looks kinda red but I like that it looks pink too."

"Does that mean I have to co-ordinate with that color scheme too?" Leonard asked uncertainly. "I mean, the color will look great on you, but... I get enough teasing as it is without wearing pink."

"First of all, you wouldn't be wearing pink. Maybe just a pink bow tie or something to match my dress. And second of all, nobody is going to tease you because you will look handsome and hot and nobody cares about all those other idiots. And for extra credit - I already know that Lucy is making Kieran wear a pink waistcoat to match her dress, you won't be the only one with something pink."

Leonard smirked. "Kieran in a pink waistcoat? Huh, for once I won't be the worst-dressed guy in... anywhere."

"Though you should be happy to wear the color just to match your date." Penny folded her arms.

"I would have worn it even if you hadn't said all that." Leonard assured her. "I'm going to prom with the most beautiful girl in school, I have nothing to complain about."

"Aww." Penny grinned, leaning in to hug him. "That was sweet. Come on, I'm watching Thor."

"You're watching Thor?" Leonard asked, following her into the front room.

"Yup." Penny flopped back down onto the couch.

"By choice?"

"Well... I dunno if it's by choice, I just saw it was on and I was too lazy to see what else was on. So kind of, but also kind of just because I'm lazy." Penny shrugged.


Penny tried on eleven different dresses before she found the twelfth and perfect one. Meryl was very patient about the whole process, and couldn't help but admire how seriously Penny was taking this. It was nice to get to do this with her daughter; Bridget had gone out with her friends and by the looks of the photos, they had all decided that the shorter the dress, the better. Every dress Penny tried on she would come out and show her mother, for each one weighing out the good and bad things about the dress. On the twelfth and final, they both knew that was the dress she would be wearing. With the others she had been uncertain, but that time Penny had stepped out with a confident grin. A floor-length pinky-red dress with a low back and a thin layer draping over the top so it almost looked like a skirt and top, it was the perfect dress. Penny was then ruthless about finding a bowtie that matched the shade exactly; for this she went with both Meryl and Leonard, and they both felt pretty exhausted by the process.

Of course, Leonard brought a corsage that also matched exactly; after seeing how determined Penny was to match the colors, he had figured he owed her at least that. Neither of them knew just how many photographs Meryl and Wyatt took before they left but Penny was grateful; she'd spent hours getting ready and had never felt so glammed-up before. She knew she would treasure these photos, even the ones where they weren't posing for the camera and were just talking or laughing, because those were the ones that captured them the best. They mingled with both her friends and his friends at the prom, again taking plenty of photos. It was strange to see everybody so dressed up - and even though Sheldon Cooper looked positively uncomfortable in his tuxedo, Penny still thought he scrubbed up well considering how long he'd spent objecting to the whole idea of prom.

With the dancing, company and atmosphere, it was the perfect evening. After the sun had set and the stars came out, Penny and Leonard went for a walk outside together, enjoying some time alone away from the buzz.

It wasn't until the final slow song, Penny with her head resting on Leonard's shoulder, that Penny began to feel a twang of pain in her heart. She had been fantasizing about prom for many years, but it had been even more perfect than she could have ever imagined. It signified the end of the academic year, and she knew exactly what that meant: the summer holidays, and Leonard leaving Omaha for New Jersey. New Jersey. She hadn't felt quite this upset about it for a while up until now. She felt her eyes tear up and subtly moved her hand from his neck to dab her thumb at the corners of her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Leonard asked quietly, as if he could tell just from the movement of her arm that something wasn't right.

"Doesn't matter." Penny sighed into his shoulder, gripping the back of his tuxedo jacket.

"You can tell me." Leonard assured her.

After a few seconds, Penny moved her hands to his arms and moved her head so she could look at him, her eyes glassy despite her efforts. "I'm just really going to miss you when you go."

"I'm going to miss you too."

They kissed gently, and Penny laid her head back on Leonard's shoulder. "Will you come back for my prom next year?"

"I wouldn't miss it for the world."