The girl, probably sensing the tension, glanced at me and then Clare. Clare had her eyes locked on mine in an intense stare for several seconds, and then she turned around, grabbing a black garbage bag and shoved out the back door of the gym. Alli looked at me with her what-the-hell look and followed Clare out the door.
And all I did was walk in the room.
"Ex?" the girl said softly, walking backwards to the stage, looking at me with raised eyebrows. "I'm guessing a fairly new ex?"
I was staring at the door Clare and Alli had just gone out and then turned towards the girl (I still didn't know her name), slightly surprised.
"Uh… yeah. How'd you know that?" I asked, the suspicion creeping into my tone.
"I just do. It was… obvious." she said, shrugging. I started to follow her to the stage.
We grabbed another amp and it took a few minutes to get it off the raised stage. She made cute grunting noises as she lowered it to the floor.
Did I really just think that? I'm such a creep…
Once we got the amp on to the floor she collapsed on to the floor dramatically and started laughing.
"Thank God you're here." she said, giggling. "It took me almost a half an hour to get the last amp off the stage and my arms just about broke in the process."
I chuckled. "It's no problem. Those jerks shouldn't have left you to clean up everything."
She smiled. "They always do. I'm used to it. All of our instruments would be stolen or abandoned if it weren't for me."
I forced a smile and sat down next to her on the floor. She sat up a bit and smoothed out her hot pink t-shirt. It said Penny and The Nicks on it in black, boldface letters.
"So your name is Penny?" I asked. She burst out into giggles.
"Well… not exactly." she said, waving her hand at me as if the topic was dismissed.
But I didn't let it go. "Well, then what is it?"
She stopped laughing. "It's embarrassing. Penny is just my… nick-name. It sounds cooler then my real name. A lot cooler."
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, my name is Elijah. Eli for short. I always thought it was a terrible name."
That was weird. I usually don't ever tell anyone that my full name is Elijah.
She punched my playfully. "Oh please. Eli sounds so cool."
I couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic. I cocked an eyebrow.
"Eli sounds like… a gangster. Or a pimp. Or something."
She glanced at me, a happy smile playing across her features. Her dark blue eyes were lit up, like they were smiling too. Then she burst into laughter again. So did I.
And soon enough we were on the floor, clutching our stomachs and trying to stop laughing.
I tried to catch my breath.
"Hey… you never told me… your name." I gasped out between laughs. She sat up, her golden colored bangs flipped across her face. She pushed them behind her ear and shook her head.
"Na-ah. I don't think so. We never made a deal here. I'm not obliged to tell you it." she said seriously, and for a moment I thought I had said something wrong or offended her. Then she giggled.
One thing I noticed about her was that she laughed a lot. And she wasn't one of those girls who laughed over everything and it sounded super annoying. Her laugh sounded so natural and joyous, I couldn't help but laugh with her.
"Come on, please." I begged, dragging out the word 'please.'
She looked up at me and slowly stood up. "Fine. But only because you're helping me move the rest of the equipment to the van and take down the stage."
"Deal." I agreed. She got up and started to grab the amp, I grabbed the other end of it and we started walking towards the door.
"It's… Bertha." she said simply as she held open the front door for me to carry the amp the rest of the way out.
I almost dropped the amp. "Bertha? Why would your parents do that to you?"
She stared at the ground sadly and I realized I had offended her. I set down the amp on the top step of the school and walked towards her.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to be so blunt-" she cut me off with a giggle.
"I was kidding. It's Penelope. Penny… Penelope… get it?" she said. "I hate Penelope."
I then realized she was a good actress. I thought she was about to burst into tears after I reacted to 'Bertha.'
"I think Penelope's fine. It could always be worse." I said, shrugging and grabbing the amp and dragging it down the steps towards the other amp.
"It could be Bertha." she agreed, smiling as we set down the amp.
I chuckled. She took a key ring out of the pocket of her black pants and started walking towards the parking lot.
"I'm gonna go get the van. Wanna run in and grab something light… like a guitar or something?"
I nodded and headed up the stairs. I opened a door and headed back towards the stage. I grabbed a black electric guitar and then found a case it seemed to go with and carefully put it in to the case. I hadn't heard the door open again.
"Excuse me." I heard Penny say politely. I turned around to see who she was talking about.
Clare, Alli and Penny were walking through the door of the gym. Alli and Clare had their arms linked and completely ignored Penny as they headed over to the other side of the gym, where the refreshment table was, littered with trash.
Penny gave me a weird look like what's-their-problem as she walked towards me, grabbing the guitar case from me.
"How cute, Eli found himself another girly-friend to drag down with him." Alli called from across the room. I froze, feeling the blood drain from my face.
"Alli!" Clare's voice hissed. I turned around. She was staring at me, her mouth wide open and a look of shock on her face.
"Excuse me?" Penny asked, in a way different way then she used the phrase just seconds before.
"Careful honey. Just wait. Eli has tons of secrets to spring on to you just wait for it." Alli said, her voice acidic. Penny looked at me in shock.
"She's not my girlfriend." I said softly. That's all I could bring myself to say.
Penny dropped the guitar case and started walking towards Alli.
"Yeah, I don't' know you and I barely know Eli, but what I do know is that I think you should stop shooting of your mouth. Eli and I are here to do something and so are you, so why don't we just finish up and leave all the stupid drama out of it?"
Alli just rolled her eyes. "I know you're from the band, but why is he helping you?"
"Well he was nice enough to volunteer to. I don't see how that's any of your business." Penny replied, standing her ground and crossing her arm.
Clare just stood behind Alli, a look of horror on her face.
Alli just laughed, without humor and started clearing off the refreshment table.
"Sorry. Just go back to doing whatever you're doing." Alli said, semi-sarcastically.
Penny turned back towards me, smacking her lips in an annoyed fashion as she hopped back onto the stage and grabbed the case again.
I felt sick to my stomach. Obviously, I could not handle confrontation with Clare. At least not yet.
"I think… I think I better get home. I didn't… I didn't tell my parents where I was going." I said, gripping the rail on the side of the stage.
Penny nodded.
"Oh yeah… that's okay. Thanks for your help, Eli. I appreciate it." she said softly.
I glanced towards Alli. There was a smug look on her face. Clare was facing away from me, leaning against the table in an odd way.
"Yeah. Sorry I couldn't help you with the rest." I said, hopping off the stage and heading towards the door, Penny was right behind me with the guitar case.
We both walked outside and Penny headed down the stairs in front of me.
"Hey… it's none of my business but even I can tell that you and that girl must have had something… special. If you ever want to vent or anything you could always call me. I'm a great listener." she said, smiling sadly at me.
I forced a smile. "Thanks."
I reached into my pocket for my phone but then I remembered I didn't bring it. I looked at her, apologetically.
"That's okay. Just put your number in my phone and I'll text you so you have my number."
She handed me her phone and I entered my number and handed it back to her. She smiled.
"Thanks again for the help." she called over her shoulder as she opened the back door of a blue van, tossing the guitar into it.
A/N: So far, I have no reviews. That's not something I obsess over like some people, and honestly I don't care if no one reads this story because I enjoy writing it so much it doesn't entirely matter to me. But if you do read it, don't be afraid to review because I do like feedback!