Chapter 12

"Graduates, please rise."

Penny stood quickly, after snapping out of some kind of thinking session of the future. She stared at the other side of rows of chairs where the boys sat and saw Chris at the second row, and Stan almost to the last smile at her at the same time, since they were seated alphabetically. She didn't know who to look at so she just looked away and smiled to herself.

Soon, the graduates started to receive their diplomas. They were almost done with letter B so Penny started lining up beside the stage. Chris stood up and lined up a few students from her since Penny was almost to the last.

"Good luck going up there." Jadey and Roma said, as they passed by them casually and tapped her shoulder and headed back to their alphabetized seats.

"Chambers, Christopher!"

Penny looked at Chris as he went up the stage and got his diploma. He didn't even bother to look at everyone since they weren't clapping that much at him.

"Whoa, that was fast." Penny whispered to herself. "Wait, it's almost me."

"Connors, Jamie Penny Dean R.!"

"Okay, let's do this." She said, and walked five steps and unto the stage. She smiled as she got her diploma from her Mr. Williams and shook hands with him, which felt warm and to their principal and winked to her parents and brother who were waving at her.

It didn't take too soon 'til all the students were done being called to receive their diplomas. Stan was coming up and Penny knew that Stan was planning to have his moment on the stage. And sooner, Stan's name was called. And almost everyone heard the cheers from his parents and saw that some of Stan's relatives were there, particularly his cousin, who looked like they all lived from the View. She smiled, and controlled her laughter and faced Stan as he received his diploma. His teammates, friends and a lot of girls cheered and gave a loud applause as he smiled at everyone and jumped randomly while walking.

The senior graduates were all starting cheer once they all finally graduated and they all threw their hats above, which was the common thing you see at a typical graduation. Red hats flew and sooner dropped everywhere. Families started approaching each other and you could see people started to hug. Penny saw her mom, Johnny, and soon-to-be dad run to her and gave her a group hug.

"Hey, Pen, guess what, you made it!" Johnny said excitedly, and gave her a tight hug.

"Thanks, Johnny. I couldn't have done this without you. And mom, you've always been there for me." She said, and gave her a hug. She faced her soon-to-be dad. "Mr. Stefan, thanks for doing this. I'm happy that I'm having you as a dad."

He didn't say anything. He just smiled lightly and pulled her into a hug. Johnny soon started chatting about random stuff 'til he saw Penny's friends coming from behind.

"Hey, you might wanna check them out." Johnny warned, jokingly and pointed at Gordie, Chris, Teddy, Vern, Jadey, and Roma.

"I guess you're right." She said, and approached them. "Hey, guys."

"Aw, Pen. Can you believe it? We just graduated." Jadey said, and gathered everyone into another big group hug.

"Wow, guys, we're all group hugging around the place and it gets bigger." Vern observed.

"What a great observation, Verno." Teddy said, laughed oddly.

"Chris, come here." Penny said, in a low tone. He walked slowly to her.

"What?"

"I just wanna say that I'm gonna miss you, all the times we had together, especially at our good 'ole tree house, when I used to kiss you, and hanging out, making plans and you know, a lot of things. I won't forget that, especially you."

"Really, Pen? I guess, I'm really gonna miss those times when we used to be together. But, hey, we can still hang out this summer, right? I mean, we're still friends." He said, and held both her wrists.

"Uh-yeah. Of course." She said, unsurely. "Just remember to keep your promise."

"Okay. I always will." He said, confidently. They both smiled at each other and had some laughs. Penny saw someone behind him and she knew she had to do something.

"Chris, could you excuse me for a moment?" she asked him and he nodded and spoke to Gordie. Penny approached Stan with his teammates or what he also considers 'friends'.

"Happy graduation, guys!" Penny said, and hugged all of them and kissed them all on the cheek.

"You're lucky you get to kiss us all even though you aren't a cheerleader." Stan joked and smiled.

"Yeah. Hey, Stan, I'm gonna miss you. A lot." Penny said, sadly.

"What? Oh, I get it. It's everyone's common statement. Now, c'mon, we can always hang out after this." He comforted her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"And what you said is what I keep hearing from all of my friends."

"Well, it's true! C'mon, Penny, it's not like I live a thousand miles from you." He said, and grinned.

"I don't too." She said, sounding a bit guilty, since she's moving more than a thousand miles from this town. Randomly, Stan ran his fingers through his fixed hair, making it a little ruined. Penny blushed several times and saw his good-looking cousin walking to them, with Stan's parents and two relatives.

"Gosh, I didn't know you were just as good-looking as your cousin. But I think your cousin's better-looking than you are." She joked.

"Oh, so you like him now, huh?" He said, with a bit sadness and anger in his voice.

"I'm just kidding, man! But seriously, you guys are like brothers."

"Yeah, but I hate him." He whispered and soon faced back to see his family come to him. He grabbed Penny's hand from behind, with his hands on his back.

"Charlie. Aunt Rose." He greeted seriously, and gave them a nod.

"So, I see you have a special someone to celebrate graduation with aside from your friends." She said, as she looked at Penny. She flicked her curly, brown hair that looked really shiny. Her eyes were green and stared arrogantly but she had this sarcastic smile under her dark red lipstick. She really looked like she lived from the View. And also like Stan's mom.

"Yes, this is Penny. Penny, this is my aunt Rose." He said.

"It's nice to meet you. It's smart of you to choose to my nephew. He's just one of a kind." Rose bragged, but smiled as if it was a joke.

"Well, we're not really dating. We're just friends." Penny said, and gave a small laugh.

"Hmm, friends it is?" she said, and walked away. But left this fine-looking boy, which appeared to be Stan's cousin.

"Just in case you don't want to introduce me to your so-called 'friend' and nothing more, I'll do it myself." Charlie said to Stan. "Hey, there, I'm Charles, Stan' cousin and Rose's son."

"Hi, I'm Penny. You know what, you and Stan really look a lot like each other." She complemented and stared at him and then at Stan.

"Not really. I'm better-looking." He joked, held his head high and Stan looked at him and Penny almost about to protest.

"Well, you both look good-looking, you guys live in the View?"

"Oh, my mom and I don't live in the View." Charlie said. "We actually just visit here when my mom feels like. We're from LA."

"I see that."

"Well, I better go. So, I'll see you around." He said, and left. He looked back again one last time and winked at Penny and she waved back.

"See? He's really annoying!" Stan said, and faced her again.

"No, he's not! Or maybe you just don't wanna admit that he's better-looking than you are." Penny teased, and laughed around.

"Hey, listen, I'm better than him, and a lot of girls would date me and I know you want to." He said, confidently and placed his hands on Penny's cheeks.

"Alright, Mr. Stan." She said, and yanked his hands off her face. "Hey, listen, are you going to the Graduation party later?"

"Are you?"

"I asked first, so you answer mine." She demanded.

"Well, I'm not." He said, and folded his arms and looked away.

"Aw, why not?"

"Because I don't have anyone to go with. I mean, all my friends wanna go with their girlfriends."

"Don't you have any girl you wanna ask? There are a lot of girls in our school." She suggested.

"Fine, can you come with me?"

"Aside from me."

"But you're the girl I wanna ask." He protested.

"Well, there're gotta be someone."

"There isn't. Now, are you gonna make me beg?" he said, impatiently.

"Okay, fine. I'll go with you. But, just as friends and you're gonna hang out with my friends too." She said. "Okay? And no complaints."

"Sure. Anything for you." He said, and grinned to kiss her on the cheek but Penny looked away. "What? I'm a good boy!"

"You might not wanna do that right now because I can see your parents coming and your mom looks like she really really wants to hug you."

"Yeah, you're right. I'll see you at the party." He said, and walked to his parents and Penny went to find her friends.

*---*

"Hey, I'm back." She said, brightly approaching Chris and his friends.

"Yeah, and I see you're talking to rich people now, huh?" Chris said, and raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, that was his aunt and cousin. They don't actually live here. They just came to visit." She stated.

"Okay. Well, guess what, we're all going to the Graduation party right?" he asked, including everybody.

"Yeah, we are. But, is it okay if Stan comes?" Penny requested.

"He has a lot of friends and a lot of girls are following him. Can't he just go with someone else?" Chris complained, but Penny's face and arms dropped.

"That's kind of hard to explain but, he doesn't want to ask any girl and his friends all have dates." She said, but Chris still disagreed of Stan going with them. "I already said 'yes', and besides, he's also my friend. And, if you're my friend, you're gonna have to hang out with my other friends too. And try to be friends with them too."

"Well, I'll befriend your other friends anytime. But he won't be a friend of mine."

"Fine. Then you won't be a friend of mine either." Penny said, folding her arms and starting to walk away.

"Hey, stay, okay, fine he can come." Chris said, pulling her elbow. Penny gave a small smile and said,

"I'm just playin', man. Of course, you'll always be my friend."

"So, now that means that-"

"But, you already said it. He's still coming." She interrupted him, before he protests.

"Fine." He breathed, and tried to change the subject.

"So guys, I better get going. See you at the party." Penny said to her friends.

"Wait, where are you going?" Gordie asked.

"I'm gonna hang out, with my family." She said, and walked slowly while facing them. "Bye, guys."

"Bye." Everyone said, and waved. She nodded and went to find her mom and brother.

Heyy! Sorry it took me a really long time to update. I really got busy after Graduation and this summer, I'm really trying to find time to finish this since I've got training and stuff. But, I promise I will finish this story as soon as possible. Thank you so much for the reviews and I'm looking forward for more. And by the way, what team are you guys supporting on the 2010 FIFA World Cup? Well, after three years of cheering for England, I'm now with Brazil. BRAZIL!!!!