Chapter 10

It was now the last day of finals and a few days till graduation and every senior was either excited or sad about it. Chris was sitting on an empty table in the cafeteria, reviewing for the last minute before the last test, which was chemistry. He was skimming on some pages until he heard someone pass by him.

"Hey." Stan said. Chris looked up for a second and went back to reading. "So how's everything going?"

"Great." He replied. Stan sat with him and stared at him for a few seconds, making him feel awkward.

"Yeah, and I know it could be a little stressful, especially the part where you deal with women." He said.

"What?" Chris asked, and finally looked up.

"Listen, man, I heard about what happened yesterday." Stan confessed.

"That is none of your business." Chris said, disgustingly and started clearing up his table fixing his stuff.

"No, dude, I asked her the same question too. It was just a bit different." He explained, and stood up when Chris did.

"Why, is it the fact that she said yes to you? So now I get it, she doesn't wanna go back with me because of you." He declared angrily and pushed him backwards on his chest.

"That's not true! She said no to both of us!" Stan protested, and yanked his hands away. "And don't accuse me of that, because I love her too as much as you do, or maybe even more."

"You don't know what it's like being with her for a long time because you two had never been together. And I love her more than anyone can imagine!" He said.

"Well, I respect that. But I'm telling you, you can't say it's my fault, because she chose this." Stan said, and walked out of the cafeteria. Everyone's attention was still on Chris and Stan after their loud and unusual confrontation. He looked at everyone and said,

"Football. He loves it so much."

And everyone nodded and went back to what they were doing. Chris sat down lousily and bumped his head on the table.

*---*

"Ouch! You did what?" Jadey exclaimed, after hearing about what happened to Penny and Stan yesterday.

"I did it. I said no."

"Gosh, wonder what those two guys felt after you did to them." Jadey thought.

"Hey, it's better to say no now, then to leave them after graduation." Penny explained positively.

"I guess. But when will you tell them about it?"

"I don't know, I'll try to tell them someday but not face to face, let's say I'll ask a person to tell them."

"Now, that's gonna hurt them even more."

"But that's all I got. What else can I do?" Penny asked them.

"Well, you're right. C'mon, our finals are done and we'll just rehearse for the graduation which is just for a period of time, of course. And then it's our graduation day and then you leave, like when?"

"A week after that." She answered. A teacher suddenly passed by in front of them while they were sitting in a corner.

"God, I'm really gonna miss Mr. Williams. He's so cute; I wish he was just a student." Jadey said, talking about their music teacher, who was just ten years older than them.

"Mr. Will is cute but isn't ten years too old?" Penny said. They both admired Mr. Williams since their freshman year but rarely check him out since they hate him during classes. "I'm gonna miss a lot of people here."

"Yeah, and we're gonna miss you too."

"Don't worry. We'll try to keep in touch." Penny promised. "We'll keep writing or calling to each other."

"Yeah. Hey, you wanna get some ice cream?" Jadey asked, and wiped some sweat on her forehead. Penny nodded and they both left school and went to a nearby ice cream store.

*---*

The seniors have been rehearsing for graduation now but things were starting to get a little unusual for them. Some had problems on where to go to College, and some were arguing about being separated from each other. Penny on the other hand, was just trying to get away from things. She walked alone near the woods. Since she wasn't that familiar with that place, she started to feel the creeps again. She walked quickly but suddenly slid from the slippery ground. She fell on her head and started to feel a bit dizzy and she didn't plan on getting up. She heard a sound of footsteps coming near her and she knew this was her time. Could it be Charlie? What if it was some murderer who saw her? She thought. She looked and saw the person she didn't expect to see.

"Chris?" she said, while lying down on the ground. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"We used to go here to find the Rey Brower's body when were just twelve." He said, not answering her question.

"Yeah, I remember that."

"Then what are you doing here? And lying on the ground?" he asked.

"I just wanted to go here. Now, can you help me get up?" she asked him demandingly. Instead of pulling her arms to help her up, he slowly knelt down between her legs and placed his hands between her head and rested his body on her. "What the hell are you doing?"

He ignored her whining and rested his lips on hers, something he hasn't done for a long time. And he missed it. He didn't care if Penny kissed back or not, he just wanted to feel her again.

Penny was trying to constrain herself since she didn't like it anymore. She didn't think if she would something anymore. Chris suddenly stopped and Penny stood up quickly, pushing Chris aside, and dashed from the woods, leaving him lying on the ground sideways.

Chris remained lying and looked a bit surprised. It's weird, he thought. She's different this time. She didn't want to kiss me anymore, or maybe someone kissed her aside from me. He knew that he was the only one who kissed her aside from Eyeball which Penny didn't consider as a kiss. Maybe that asshole kissed her, he thought angrily. He squatted for a few minutes and looked at sky, which was almost darkening. I guess she changed, he thought again.

Penny was running back home quickly. She saw shadows of two people coming her way from a distance. She paused for a second and took a step back. The two mystery people went closer to her sight, and she breathed in relief to see Jadey and Roma.

"What happened to you?" they both asked in surprise, seeing Penny looking she just lived in a tree.

"Um, long story. Can we do it somewhere else?" Penny requested.

"I have an idea." Jadey said, her eyes brightening. "Something we haven't done for a while."

*---*

"I like your thinking, Jadey." Penny said, as they all hung out at the Blue Point Diner. "The last time I hung out here was my Junior Christmas with my brother."

"Yeah, now, what do you guys want?" Jadey asked, as a waitress was approaching their table. They all said to each other,

"The usual."

The food came for just a few minutes and they all had their early dinner, fries, a burger and some milkshake.

"Now, tell us your long story that made you look like the queen of the jungle."

"Okay, so let's start with the part where I went to the woods heading to the river." Penny said, and sipped from her strawberry milkshake. "Okay, I know those faces. Anyway, so I paced around and then I slipped on something and I bumped my head a bit hard that it gave me a blackout."

"Ouch. That doesn't like you." Roma commented, on Penny sliding and getting a blackout.

"It's nothing like me. Now, let's go to the craptastic part." She said, inventing a new word. "And then I didn't stand for a few seconds 'cause I was really freakin' dizzy. I heard footsteps coming towards me and then I saw Mr. Chris."

"Oh, and?" the girls asked curiously.

"Since this is a little bit awkward, why don't I just whisper it to you?" Penny asked, and gathered around them closely and murmured something.

"He what?!"

"SHUSH!" Penny whispered.

"That's weird. But, how does it feel now?" Roma asked.

"Oh, that, um, honestly, it's weird. I don't if that's how a kiss is supposed to feel."

"I can't believe it, what do you mean, no more sparks?" Jadey asked.

"Well, yeah, I guess. Something like that. Damn."

"What would you say about kissing Stan?"

"Don't rub it in. It's ruining my day. Oh, right, my day is ruined."

"Aw. I can't wait for you to get over those." Roma said.

"I know, right? I can't wait." Penny said impatiently and bit from her burger.

*---*

Penny walked in the hallways and stared at everyone who were chit chatting about graduation and stuff. Graduation's coming in a couple of days and people were all having different reactions. Some were all excited to go to College together and others were discussing about moving out together with their boyfriends and stuff. She passed by a group of girls who all were looking surprised and talking about the jocks. It was hard to ignore them since their voices were all high-pitched and they were almost yelling. Penny spoke to herself last night and now she changed today.

"Penny! Penny!" someone called after her. She remained walking like she didn't hear and Jadey came after her and walked with her, catching her breath.

"What's with the rush? Got news?" Penny said.

"Yeah, I do. And you're not gonna believe this!"

"I will. Now spit it out." She demanded.

"Okay, um, Stan's moving out after graduation. Somewhere." Jadey said, nervous to see Penny's reaction. But she just walked around and had that straight face. "Now that doesn't look like you."

"What do you mean?" Penny asked.

"And that doesn't sound like you either. Did you take something or what? Oh, no, you're on drugs!" Jadey exclaimed loudly, making people look at them. Penny dragged her quickly to a corridor and walked normally again.

"Jadey, first of all, I'm not, and I mean not, on drugs. Second, I think you'll why that news won't do me anything." She explained, still looking emotionless.

"Oh, right, right about the second one. Well, don't you wanna say goodbye or something?"

"Can't we just do that some other time?" Penny asked, hesitatingly.

"Well, fine." Jadey said. "Oh, speak of the devil…"

"What? Oh, damn." Penny said, as Stan passed by and looked at her. She glared at him for just a few seconds and continued walking like he didn't pass by, something that she usually doesn't do. Stan felt curious if the news had given her the reaction he expected. He stopped walking and looked back and passed by Penny, purposely bumping her shoulder, making her drop her bag. He pretended not to care and just simply walked out. Penny started to look intense and picked her bag and went after him.

"What was that for?" she complained, smacked his arm. He glared at her grinned sheepishly at her reaction.

"That doesn't sound like you." He said.

"Oh, so now even you notice that? Let me guess, three people have noticed that, my brother, my best friend and now you. I guess this is working." She yelled.

"Okay, okay, chill, Penny." He said, trying not to laugh.

"I'm sorry. It's just adrenaline. And I'm not deaf to hearing news, you know. I'm updated too." She said, starting to get calm.

"So, I guess you heard." He stated.

"I did. Really?" she asked. He combed his hair with his fingers and looked down and said,

"No."

"What? You mean,-"

"Yeah." He continued and took some small paces around.

"Then why'd you tell everyone that?" she asked, trying not to sound mad, since she was feeling slightly being lied to.

"Because I wanted to see your reaction." He said, and stood an inch before her. "And I didn't expect that."

"Well, you wouldn't think I would run around and find you and stuff, would you?"

"Actually, I'd think if I would pass by you could've at least said something."

"Okay, do you want to replay it?" she said, sarcastically.

"Penny, stop. You're irritating me." He said, still smiling.

"Okay, I'm serious now, listen Mr. Stan, that surprising-but-it-was-a-lie news made me feel all down for a bit but I'm sorry, I also still feel guilty about what happened for the past few days. And then I had a little me-time and then I just thought of chilling myself for a bit. I'm looking forward to summer, anyway." She said, excited about leaving on summer. Stan flinched about hearing summer which made Penny a bit curious but just ignored it.

"Well, that new you sounded a bit fun. And, it's okay. You know, like, what happened a few days ago." He hinted. "Just, do this for me, one small thing; we'll always be friends, right?"

"Hell, yeah." Penny said, jokingly and pulled him into a hug. As soon as he broke it off, with his arms still around her, he looked at her and smiled.

"Hey, I know that look! I know what you wanna do. And you can't!" Penny warned, and teased at the same, and pointed at Stan's face.

"Haha, I can't believe you knew that. But seriously, it's the last one anyway." He requested her, and grinned again.

"I'm sorry. But, it's not counted anymore to do that." She said. "But, I am good at reading you too."

"Well, I guess." He said.

*---*

"It's fine. Just have one more person." Penny said, thinking of a plan to be friends again with Chris.

"Good. How about the part where you're leaving?" Jadey asked.

"Oh, that, maybe just not now." Penny said. "But I think I have an idea to make him listen."

"Really? That was quick. What is it?"

"You'll know." Penny said, as she was about to leave school.