Thinking back to her college years, Penelope even thought about their brief falling out. Ralph was a little too attached to her and was pushing for her to go to the college that was downtown but it didn't have an art program and the one Penelope wanted to go to did (a real good one too) but it was two hours away. She promised to call once a week and visit during breaks and that seemed to ease him. That was until he joined Penelope's parents in going with her to the open house and she was making friends with the group of students who were the tour guides. Ralph did not approve of them, not at all, not one bit. You see, their nicknames were Shank, Butcher Boy, Pyro, and Felony and they looked tough. Even the young woman with the innocent nickname of Little Debbie looked every bit as tough as nails as the other four. Mr. and Mrs. von Scheetz warmed up to the tour guides after a while and only Ralph had a problem with the five students. He didn't think it was such a great idea for Penelope to go to this college if this was what the students were like over there and that she wanted to be with these seemingly sketchy ne'er-do-wells.
Shank was the leader of the group; she and Penelope were really hitting it off and the truth was Shank and her crew weren't all that bad. Yeah, they were a little rough around the edges back in college but all in all good people. Ralph didn't believe this and was pushing for Penelope to go to the local college after they went back home from the tour even though Penelope's parents thought they were just college kids being rebellious. "Their appearances and nicknames are like getting a tattoo while away at college to make your parents mad then regretting it after graduation so you have the tattoo removed." Mrs. von Scheetz said then said with a mortified look "Not that I know anything about that." Penelope and the others gave her a look of "oh, my God" and Penelope filed that under things she didn't want to know about her mom. Eventually it was time to start applying to colleges and Ralph was being so obnoxious about going to the local college. Penelope wasn't giving up on her dream because Ralph was clingy and didn't approve of five of the many times that number of students at her first-choice college. That's when Ralph did the stupidest thing that he still regrets even though it was rectified and he had long since been forgiven by Penelope.
Penelope had finished filling out her applications when Ralph dropped by for a visit. She was so proud of getting that all done that she told Ralph about it. He offered to drop off her applications in the mailbox near his house and Penelope foolishly accepted. She guessed she never thought her best friend of nine years would do her dirty like he did, but he did, he screwed up royal. A few days later, Penelope dropped by Ralph's house to tell him about her rough day at school thanks to Tabitha. She went into the kitchen to get a snack in the middle of her story and that's when she saw it. The application for the college Ralph didn't approve of was in the kitchen garbage! Penelope was absolutely furious and took it out of the trash waving it in Ralph's face screaming about how could he do this to her, that she thought he was her best friend, and that she never wanted to see him again. Ralph meekly apologized and Penelope took the medal she made him and threw it on the ground. She stormed off as Ralph picked up the medal and was pleading with her to come back and apologized all while crying. He regretted his actions. Why did he do it? He had to do something to set things right. Ralph drove to Penelope's house and asked to see her.
Penelope was getting ready to head out for a two hours' long drive to hand in some pieces of paper. Her parents were disappointed with Ralph and he explained that he wanted to drive her over to the college and hand in the application with her watching him hand it in. Penelope accepted and the drive over there was long and silent except for Ralph apologizing for his actions and promising to never do something like that again. They made it and thankfully the college was still accepting applications. Penelope didn't say a word on the way home and Ralph didn't push for a conversation as he was on thin ice as it was. He didn't know what else to do to correct his mistake and didn't know if Penelope forgave him, that is until they arrived at the front door to her house and she gave him a hug and tearfully whispered to him "I forgive you." Ralph couldn't hold back the tears forming in his eyes and wiped them away as she went inside and waved goodbye. She was accepted and Ralph, along with Felix and Tammy (Ralph's neighbors and friends who were also friends with Penelope) were there amongst her family during her high school graduation. Ralph gave her a car racing themed graduation card and Penelope smiled at the memory of her at age nine in the soap box derby then gave him a big hug. She knew while in college she would always be counting down the days until the next break and Ralph would do the same.
In college, Penelope always made the dean's list and became a part of Shank's crew being dubbed Candy Girl because of her sweet personality. As promised, she called once a week and came back home during breaks. During her college graduation, take a wild guess as to who amongst Penelope's friends and family was cheering the loudest (even out of the rest of the crowd) when the dean called her name and she walked the stage. She's still friends with Gail Amar (Shank), Steve Kimmel (Pyro), Derek Harnell (Butcher Boy), Tiffany Nguyen (Felony), and Tasha Robinson (Little Debbie) by the way, although they haven't really used their nicknames since college except ironically or in remembrance of their college days. Shortly after Penelope graduated college, she met a young man named August Sterling. He was super cool and Penelope loved hanging out with him but she didn't know if he was interested in her. August eventually asked her out on a date a few months after they met, admitting that he was too nervous to ask her out before, being afraid that she would say no. They went out to dinner that night at a nice restaurant and had a grand old time with Penelope telling Ralph about it after she got home. She really liked August.
Not too long after their first date, August said he wanted to meet Ralph after hearing so many stories about him in the few months he and Penelope knew each other. Penelope agreed saying she was thinking about that too (she never wanted to be with someone who hated her friends or family). Ralph and August got along great much to Penelope's happiness. Four years later, August proposed and they were married a year later. Her college friends and their spouses were mixed between the front and second rows while Ralph was in the front row with Felix, Tammy, and Penelope's parents, wiping away some tears of joy. He always cried at weddings, Penelope remembered him doing the same thing at the alter during Felix and Tammy's wedding. Ralph was the best man and Penelope was a bridesmaid. She remembered the flowy, pink gown dress she had to wear for that wedding back when she was nine. Although she thought it was cute, the collar was a bit itchy so Penelope tugged on it a lot that night and that annoyed her to no end. Since her wedding day, she was now Penelope Sterling. A year after the wedding, Penelope gave birth to her first child, Nicholas Sterling and then very unexpectedly six years later, she gave birth to her other child, Kaitlynn Sterling. They both love their Uncle Ralph. Those years went by so fast it seemed.
When Ralph was forty, he got a stripe of grey hair up front on his right. Penelope thought it looked cool even though Ralph wasn't too fond of it and the fact that his hair was starting to thin in spots once he was forty-five. Ralph's hairline receded to the back of his head by the time he hit fifty-five (which Penelope liked to jokingly make fun of) and his hair went completely grey by the time he turned fifty-eight. Nick and Katie had joined in the holiday season tradition Ralph and Penelope started together long ago of watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Sometimes the kids would get annoyed with mom and Uncle Ralph singing "We're a Couple of Misfits" like they've been doing for many years. It was kind of funny with Ralph's tone deafness and that Penelope would get a bit too into singing that song (especially as a kid). There was even an adorable home video from the December when Penelope was ten of them singing along with Rudolph and Hermey. So many memories of her best friend came flooding back to Penelope as she stormed off to her car after listening to the voicemail from Felix. No, it couldn't be true. Was he alright!? He had to be okay! This was so not happening right now!