Chapter 9

The first day of finals has begun. Penny was positioned at the second row of desk chairs, and was in the same classroom with Stan, who was seated almost at the back. As Penny answered the last item on her History test, which was the second one to take after Spanish. She turned her back to see Stan, who looked back at her, and winked. She grinned back and stood up to submit her test.

"Could you please tell him? You're the only person he listens to." Penny admitted, while having lunch with Gordie

"It's not like he's gonna listen to me now, is he?" he doubted, refusing to tell Chris to fix things with Penny before graduation.

"Gordie, I'm running out of time. I can't do it after graduation, it's too late."

"Too late? Don't be so exaggerating, Pen. We can always fix things; just give me time to think of a plan."

"Oh, right." Penny agreed sadly, remembering the fact that she's moving out after graduation. But she thought that it wasn't best to tell him now.

*---*

"Okay, here's the plan, we'll all crowd up to the table; then when you see this signal, it means you approach the table and sit, then we leave you guys." Gordie discussed with Penny, Jadey, and Roma a few minutes before entering the exam rooms.

"But what if he leaves too?" Penny asked.

"No, he won't. Well, I hope not. And if he would, follow him. He'll never find us." Gordie assured her. "Now, goodbye, ladies. I have a Math test to take."

And Gordie proceeded to the exam room. The girls followed, who had separate exam rooms but were all taking Math. Penny sat on her assigned desk and looked at her back to see if Stan was there, but he wasn't. She heard running footsteps and saw him stand by the door. He wasn't late but was on time. He walked by Penny and she saw a passport almost falling off his bag. Why would he bring his passport to school? She wondered.

The test was all about the usual lessons: geometry, trigonometry, algebra and all those numbers that drive Penny crazy. She took out a pen and read the first number. Damn! Even the first number's this hard, she thought. She looked at the clock, 8:00am, she still has 1hour and 30 minutes to take the test.

"Help me." She murmured, silently under her breath, and began answering the first number.

Penny still had 15 minutes to take the test and there were only about fifteen people left in the room including Stan. As she finished, she stood up and handed the teacher her test and gathered her stuff and left the room, and wiped off some sweat off her forehead.

"It was hell." She complained, and drank some water with Teddy, Gordie, Vern and Jadey.

"I know! I don't know if I could pass it." Vern said, talking about the math exam.

"Hey, guys, I think Chris is coming." Gordie thought. "You know the plan, right?"

Penny temporarily left the table until Chris came and sat with them. Penny simply hid in a corner and looked at them. Chris sat with them and everybody stared at him, which was the signal.

"What? Did I do something?" he asked, confused.

"No, anyway, how's it going?" Vern asked casually. Chris started talking about what happened and Penny started walking towards the table and everybody simply walked away from the table. Chris looked at them confusingly and gazed at Penny as she sat with them.

"What the hell are you doing?" he asked her.

"It's called sitting." She answered back. Chris suddenly stood up quickly and walked away from the table, which was really part of the plan to go after him. Chris. Chris, wait."

Penny followed after him until they reached the empty hallway. "We can't be like this forever."

"What?" he asked, surprisingly and looked back at her.

"Look, before we graduate, I really want to fix things with you." She said.

"Yeah, I guess me too." He admitted.

"I'm sorry if we can't bring back the relationship we had before but, can we still be friends?"

"Actually, umm, there was something I wanted to ask you more than that." He said. "Can't we go back to being together?"

"I don't know, Chris. What if I can't do this anymore?"

"What do you mean? Don't you still like me?" he asked, and held her wrists.

"Well, I do like you for sure, but,-"

"But what? You found someone better?" he said, starting to get frustrated.

"No, it's just that, I don't want someone to get hurt anymore." Penny tried to find a reason. Chris let go of her wrists and leaned on a wall.

"I don't get you anymore. Why do you think someone's gonna get hurt? I won't hurt you, I promise. Forget about what happened in the past. " He said sincerely. Penny started to feel confused.

"Chris, just hear me out. I'm sorry but we can't, it's for the best."

"Yeah, I hear you now." He said, disappointingly and walked away. Penny froze on where she was standing and just yelled,

"We could've at least been friends! Damn!"

She stood frozen at the hallway and placed her hands on her waist and looked confused. I think he's the one who cracked this time, she thought.

*---*

"I'm sorry but I just couldn't agree to that." Penny explained, a few minutes after what happened with Chris. She was sitting with Jadey and Roma on the stairs near the school entrance door.

"Why? And I really think it's your fault." Jadey said.

"My fault? Jadey, don't you remember? I'm moving out after graduation!" Penny reminded her.

"Oh, does he know about that?"

"No." she answered blankly.

"Then what reason did you tell him? Let me guess, you're going out with Mr. Van Der Bolt?"

"No, I'm not yet going out with him. And, I just kind of said that, it's for the best and other stuff." She said.

"Gosh, ever since that Stan showed up you two kind of screwed up." Roma observed.

"I didn't screw up, he did! Well, partially it's my fault because I kept agreeing with Stan but Chris was so insecure!" Penny protested, accidentally flicking too hard the pen she was holding. The pen flew almost a meter away from them. Penny stood up to retrieve it when someone took it for her.

"What are you three still doing here?" Stan asked, and handed Penny her pen.

"Well, what are you doing here?" she answered sternly.

"I have training today." He reminded her, looking curious with her tone.

"Right." She said.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong? You sound down today." He said, holding her shoulder to face him.

"Stan, it's nothing. It's just school stuff. And I really gotta go. So, I'll see you soon." She said, and took out his hand from her shoulder. She gathered her stuff and dropped her pen in her bag and glared at the girls. She walked away quickly into the parking lot, leaving Stan with the girls. Stan looked at Jadey and Roma and they stared at him confusingly. He remembered something suddenly and tried to catch up after Penny.

"Do you think he's mad? Is he gonna confront her?" Jadey whispered to Roma, as he walked quickly to follow after Penny.

"I don't know. But he might."

"Good luck with Penny." Jadey said, and continued writing.

"Penny, Penny, wait up." He said, and tagged along behind her.

"Stan, could you just leave me alone? It has been a hell of a day already." Penny said reluctantly, and walked some more.

"Listen, I know what happened a while ago." He admitted, and held her elbow.

"You know it?" She asked, surprisingly. He nodded honestly. "Then why the hell did you ask?"

"I don't know. I guess I just wanted to ask you why you said no, and will you answer it now?"

"I'm sorry if I was so cranky, but I just had to." She explained.

"Well, are you answering me?" he asked her.

"Oh, right, about that," she suddenly remembered, she already tried to answer him with a yes but failed to, but now, things changed. She couldn't just say yes to him, since didn't want him to get hurt or anything if she leaves, but she didn't want to tell him just yet. She looked away and took a step backward, trying to avoid the situation.

"Why can't you just tell me?! After all the things that we've been through!" he busted frustratingly, and gripped Penny's arms with his fingers all over them.

"After all the things that happened to me since my sophomore year, you would expect me to have another relationship again? My God, Stan, it's been all about hell! In all of these bullshit relationships, I had to undergo all such crap, and then I would go start blaming myself and crying all night and ask for another chance, and do you know what I think? I think it's just shit!"

"Then why don't you just tell me right away? I gathered all my guts to ask you to be mine, tried to talk to your brother, and changed myself for the better."

"No one told you to do those stuff. You could've just asked another girl whose dying to be with you, 'cause I hear a lot of girls are crushing on you."

"I don't care about those girls. I care about you. And I've dated some of them who always said yes but we just break up. Now, I know that we won't end up like that 'cause I asked you to be my girlfriend because I love you."

"Well, what if I don't?"

"Then stop pretending. Just answer me!"

"Oh, you think I'm pretending? Well, now I won't."

"Then tell me yes or no!"

"Fine. My answer's no!" She yelled ruthlessly but sounded a bit hurt, and left him and walked away. Penny headed back to the school grounds with a straight face, and looked at sky, which was almost darkening, and thought about everything. I did it; I said no, she thought without any regret.

She left school and walked down a bleak street which wasn't familiar, and it came to her senses that she was lost, but she couldn't be since she was too familiar with this town. She slowly tiptoed further to find people. She saw this dark figure of a person, who looked to be like a guy, sitting on the gutter. She took one last step, and that strange figure suddenly lit a cigarette, letting her see him more. The guy looked familiar, though. But he looked older now, like a man on his late 20's. He had short blonde hair and she saw his other arm with a scar that looked like it had been shot or something.

"Charlie?" she murmured, making him hear her. He stood up and threw the cigarette. Flashes of what had happened to her a couple of years ago make her feel like having déjà vu. She stepped back and dashed away from that creepy street. I can't believe it, she thought.

"I thought Charlie was in jail." She whispered to herself, and suddenly bumped into Johnny. "Johnny! Thank God."

"What are you still doing on the streets?" he asked, impatiently.

"Sorry, I stayed in school for a while and then I walked through this creepy street, and I think it was like a shortcut."

"And did you think that you had to run?"

"Oh, well, I, uhh-I-I, " she stammered, thinking of a reasonable excuse, since she tried to avoid telling him about seeing Charlie. "Just got scared."

"My goodness, scared? You're like what, eighteen? C'mon, let's go." He said, and grabbed her hand and walked back home. "How old are you again?"

"Eighteen."

"Well, look who's scared of a street." He teased, and kicked her butt.

"Hey, it was dark and creepy." She protested, and kicked him too.

"Whatever. Little miss scared of the dark." He murmured under his breath. The two travelled back home before it got too dark and Penny still couldn't get over it when she saw Charlie.