A/N: Guess which author is going to be the subject of many, many flame reviews this week...

Chapter Four:

The Road We Must Travel

On Monday, Penny was actually taking notes in Physics for once when a note, folded into a tiny square, landed at her feet. She looked up to make sure the stodgy old teacher wasn't looking, then stealthily dropped her pencil and grabbed it and the note off the floor in one scoop. She checked once more to see that the teacher wasn't paying attention and, upon satisfaction, quickly unfolded the note under her desk.

Get any interesting notes lately?

-A

P.S. Please accept my sincerest condolences regarding your recent breakup.

Penny was speechless. Amber (it had to be her; she was the only "A" in the class) seemed so sure that she and Seaweed had broken up, which was shocking for two reasons: For one thing, Penny hadn't mentioned her talk with Seaweed to anyone except Tracy, and that had been over the phone. For another, she and Seaweed were still together.

She pulled the note out and read it again, muttering under her breath. "Interesting notes…" Suddenly something clicked. Her head snapped up and she glowered at Amber, who smiled and wiggled her fingers.

Tracy glanced over at Penny and noticed the animosity in her friend's stare. "What's wrong?" she asked, suddenly very worried.

None of them could have expected what happened next.

Penny wasn't even sure what was happening until she found herself on the ground, on top of Amber, interrogating her loudly. She punctuated each question with a forceful blow.

"How did you know about the message on my house?" Slap. "Did you write it?" Scratch. "Well, if you did, too bad for you, because we're in love and I will NEVER leave him until the day I die!" PUNCH!

Amber, by now, was looking sufficiently scared, and managed to answer the questions between strikes. "I didn't… write it… Heard about it later… from a couple of senior boys…"

Before she could offer a more thorough explanation, the teacher had Penny by the ear. (Despite the seriousness of the situation, Penny couldn't help thinking that she had no idea the old man could run so fast.) "Miss Pingleton!" he bellowed. "This is the sort of behavior I would expect from your friend, Miss Turnblad," he said, gesturing towards Tracy, "but not from you. This is a first—and hopefully last—offense, so I'll let you off easy: detention after school for a week!"

"Yes sir," Penny said, sneaking a hostile glare at Amber when he wasn't looking.

Later that afternoon, Penny and Tracy walked into detention. They were greeted warmly by the other "regulars," including Seaweed.

"You in for the usual, Trace?" he asked.

Tracy sighed. "Yes. It's just not fair! They gave me a WEEK of detention for the latest fashion in hair!"

Penny shook her head. Tracy had been elevated to martyrdom for the number of detentions she had received because of the height of her coif. The principal claimed it was a distraction to the learning environment, but Tracy was adamant about staying in touch with the latest trends—which was why she was stuck in detention nearly every day.

Seaweed turned to Penny and grinned. "How 'bout you, Penny?"

Penny smiled weakly. Seaweed asked her this question every afternoon. It was a big joke—the only reason she ever went to detention was to give Tracy moral support. Her answer usually consisted of a giggle and a kiss; she decided that might be the best approach for this time, too.

"I got in a fight with Amber von Tussle," she said blithely, leaning in for her kiss.

Seaweed chuckled and leaned forward, kissing her lightly on the lips and placing his hands on her waist, as though they were eighth graders at a junior high school dance. The other "regulars" groaned, just like they did every day. Penny rejoiced inwardly; he'd fallen for it!

Then he pulled away and looked at her strangely. "You what?"

She winced. Busted. "I… sort of beat up Amber von Tussle in Physics." This announcement was met with much cheering from those who had witnessed the fight.

Seaweed raised his eyebrows, more from concern than shock. "Penny, this isn't like you. What happened?"

"She… she basically told me she knew about the spray paint on my house," Penny explained, hanging her head. "I thought she'd done it, and I went sort of nuts."

Seaweed sighed, picked her up, and sat her down on a desk. "Penny, you remember that Dr. King my momma was talking about, right?" She nodded. "Well, one of the things that makes him so great is that he preaches against violence. He says that it just breeds more violence. 'Hate begets hate… wars beget wars…'" He stared off into space for a moment, and Penny looked at him quizzically. He snapped out of his reverie and quickly said, "Basically, don't fight with the people who disagree with you… at least, not physically."

Penny chewed on her bottom lip. "All right… I'm sorry; I guess I just lost my mind."

He smiled. "OK. But I don't wanna hear about it again, or I'll tell my momma and yours."

She chuckled and gave him a quick peck on the cheek as he swung her down off the desk, to the divided entertainment and disgust of the other "regulars".

Detention was finally over at four o'clock, and Tracy, Penny, and Seaweed had to rush to get to the Corny Collins studio in time. A person standing on the other side of the street might have laughed at them: Penny's pigtails bouncing along as she ran, poor Tracy sprinting to keep up (and not doing a very good job of it), and Seaweed running between them, yelling, "Can't you girls run any faster?!"

They were concentrating so hard on not being late, in fact, that they didn't notice the rusted Buick creeping down the road behind them.

They didn't notice the two vengeful-looking senior boys in the front seat.

They didn't notice the car speed up as it came up behind them. They didn't see it run off the road.

They weren't even aware of the car until Penny hit the ground and it roared away in the other direction.

A/N: CLIFFHANGER! All right, I know this looks bad... but don't take me off your alert lists just yet! There's more in store for Penny, I promise...