I found an email from two years ago with about four chapters worth of text which got me so excited. Not only am I able to read some of my old writing from a few years ago, but I'm also able to give y'all some chapters quicker. I hope y'all enjoy. The next few chapters are all thanks to Past Me.
"So, Penelope, I've been meaning to ask..." Rory started. I couldn't tell if he was genuinely curious about something, or if he was trying to make me lose this staring contest with Kelsey. We were three minutes in, and it was getting intense.
"Go on," I said, keeping my eyes wide. With Kelsey's help of breaking the ice for the past hour, I found it a lot easier to talk to Rory now. After a few stories about the things he did at camp on a dare, Rory somehow appeared more like a regular guy than the gorgeous celebrity-like image I made for him in my head. It was nice, and gave me hope that he would be able to see me in the same way I saw him.
"What was up with your mom not hugging you?" I felt my face contort into a more awkward expression. My eyes were burning from having them open for so long. Kelsey didn't look like she was ready to quit anytime soon, and I knew I couldn't lie about my mom stiff-arming me while staring her dead in the eye. A puff of breath was all it took to make Kelsey blink.
"Ah! Cheater!" she shrieked, rubbing her eyes. I blinked so hard that when I opened my eyes again I had to wait for them to readjust.
"You saw that too, huh?" I said, getting ready to regurgitate the same lie I told Kelsey. Before I could respond, Kelsey blurted out, "Pen just doesn't like to be touched!" A fresh burn poured over my cheeks.
"Shut up!" I hissed, smacking her lightly on the arm, "You're making me sound weird!" She shrugged.
"I just calls 'em like I sees 'em." I glowered at her. Sometimes, I wondered why I put up with her ribbing, but I knew it was because I couldn't retaliate. It wasn't that I wasn't good at retaliating- Well, it was that, too, but more importantly it was because I was trained not to. From a very young age, Mother had always taught me to just let things happen. I found that she was right in most situations. When you act out or push back against people, they tended to become agitated and more violent with their attacks. But, Kelsey wasn't a bully. She had always been kind, and never actually hurt me with her teasing. Despite embarrassing me 9 out of 10 times we're in public, she made me feel like I was normal.
"Well, you're not getting any of the trail mix my mother packed," I countered. Kelsey was about to say something, but Rory interjected.
"One, no eating in my car. It smells fresh and I'd prefer it to stay that way. Two, trail mix? Seriously? That's not a snack. That's something you feed horses at the stable or squirrels in the forest." I gasped.
"You guys have horses too!?" I've only seen horses in books and videos. One of my friends in Georgia was obsessed with horses and would always tell me little facts about them, and stories about the horses on her grandparents ranch up in Oklahoma. I'd always been so amazed by the beasts in her tales, and now I might actually be able to see one in real life. Rory nodded.
"Yeah, something like that. Kelsey didn't fill you in?" He asked. Kelsey looked away, like the plains of dry grass outside the window suddenly got interesting.
"Kelsey," Rory said sternly, "What'd you tell her exactly?" Kelsey started rubbing her neck nervously.
"Er... Well, I did tell her...It's just, I didn't tell her...everything." Rory pinched the bridge of his nose. He raised an eyebrow and moved his gaze back to me.
"What'd she say?" Rory asked, voice lower than before. The hairs on the back of my neck to raise.
"U-um," I stammered, taking a deep breath to try to compose myself, "Well she just said that camp was really fun. And you guys play cool games like capture the flag and there's have a lake for canoeing and stuff like that." Rory glared accusingly at my friend.
"Skimmed the top again, huh?" Kelsey smiled back apologetically.
"Well, I didn't want to scare her and her mom. Or trigger anything into coming after us," Kelsey said quickly. She glanced back at Rory, saw his expression, and promptly turned back to the window. I tilted my head in confusion.
"Scare me? Coming after us? I wonder if maybe Mother was right about people waiting for the right opportunity to snatch me up." I started to think that I wasn't going to a super fun summer camp, and maybe I was being kidnapped by criminals instead. I stopped that train of thought immediately as it was stupid and didn't make sense. It'd be impossible since I'd known Kelsey for a whole year, but then again, a few years ago a boy was kidnapped and forced to help his abductor. From what I remember there was some kind of shootout between the boy and his kidnapper. The boy was freed, but kidnapper was never caught. Many think the boy shot him and his body was carried off to sea. Could Rory and Kelsey be working for an abductor? I pulled at my gloves again. I started to feel anxious, like any moment a hand with a rag of chloroform would grab me and smother me.
"My mom's a cop, you know," I blurted out. Rory looked to me.
"Ha, yeah I know. She threatened to get me sentence to life if even a hair on your head was hurt." The corner of my mouth twitched up. That was something my mom would say. Kelsey seemed to sense my uneasiness.
"Don't worry. Everything will be explained once we get to camp."
"If you say so," I muttered. We continued to ride in silence for what felt like forever until Rory finally turned the radio on. It had been preset to the local rock station, so for the next hour we rode while listening to a bunch of bands ranging from my favorites to those who were vaguely familiar. When singing along in a tone-deaf harmony got boring, I suggested the we play the animal game, a game I created when I was in elementary school. There wasn't any cool rules or tricks to the game, you'd just take turns naming animals in alphabetic order until someone couldn't think of an animal with their letter or repeats an animal. We were on our third round, and Kelsey and Rory had just finished arguing over whether or not jackrabbit counted for 'J' when I saw a green rest stop sign fly past us.
"Uh, Rory, I need to use the restroom," I said, crossing my legs tightly for emphasis.
"Gotcha," Rory nodded, already turning to the exit point on the highway. "I've got to get some gas, too." He pulled up to a gas station much like the one he had picked us up from. This gas station, however, looked far less abandoned than the previous one. A few customers were filling up their tanks while others went into the station store no doubt to grab snacks or relieve themselves.
"Whoa McDonalds is everywhere!" Kelsey exclaimed.
"And water is wet," I shot back so quickly it even surprised me. Rory chuckled. Kelsey turned to me slowly and gave me a nasty look.
"Okay, Pen. I'll remember that," She said nodding.
"Oops," I laughed nervously, dreading the pranks Kelsey was no doubt coming up with now. Rory took the keys out of the ignition and opened his door.
"Get out and stretch your legs," he ordered, "If you have to use the restroom, go now because we won't be stopping for a long time."
"Okay, Dad," Kelsey mocked, sticking her tongue out teasingly to Rory. I laughed at Rory's scrunched up face until I realized I was a few seconds from peeing my pants.
"I have to go," I muttered before quickly running into the gas station. I looked down the aisles of snacks and drinks for any signs of the bathroom. Then, I caught a glimpse of a sign hanging from the ceiling. I moved closer to see it better. It was a little difficult to read due to my dyslexia but I knew it led to the bathroom because of the two pictures on the sides. The bathroom was exactly what I expected. It wasn't dirty, but it definitely wasn't clean. A faint stench hung in the air, and water was all over the cream colored counter and gray tiled floors floor. At least, I hoped it was water. I made my trip quick, not wanting to stay in there for very long. As I washed my hands, I looked at myself in the mirror. Gold eyes reflected back at me. I knew I had an unusual eye color, and I used to want contacts to change them brown, but my mom said that contacts were too expensive and came with too many risks of me hurting my eyes. Jacob said they looked cool, which they were. They work awesome when I was give someone a death glare from afar or puppy dog eyes. Also they looked nice against my skin which was the shade of coffee if you poured vanilla cream in it. My eyes also stood out against my dark wavy hair. My hair texture was much different from many of the black girls who went to my school. Their hair was naturally springy and easily formed cute little afros and curls. Mine on the other hand was a long partially wavy mess that I had to frequently brush in the morning and at night. Mother said that these traits came from my father, a man who walked out on us before I could even remember him. She said he was killed by a group of gang members who would squat around the neighborhood we lived in when I was young. It was clear she resented him, and sometimes when I would catch her watching me in a certain way, I wondered if she felt the same way about me. I've tried to please her, to make her proud of me, but I'm not sure if what I'm doing is enough, and I don't know when it will be enough. I frowned and raised my hands to my face.
"The Devil's hands," I whispered, gold eyes wide and ominous.
The loud creak of the bathroom door made me jump. A young woman walked in. I cleared my throat, and quickly pretended I was not staring at myself in the mirror, which was stupid because that was what mirrors were for. I waved my hand over the automatic paper towel dispenser, but no paper came out. I looked into the transparent box to see if maybe there was a paper jam. Empty. I sighed and held my hands over the sink, letting the water drip off. I glanced at the woman who just walked in. She was tall with pitch black hair that was piled on top of her head. She had sharp cheekbones and thin black eyebrows that looked almost like they were drawn in. Her eyes were a bright green which matched her shimmering green dress. A tannish orange snake skin belt hung around her waist. She looked like she was ready to go to a fancy dinner party, not a gas station bathroom. When she saw me she watched me for a while. I looked around trying not to take notice, but her eyes seemed to burn into me the longer she stared. I could have sworn I saw her lick her lips, and I immediately wanted to leave, not caring about my wet hands. Unfortunately, she was standing in front of the door, so I put on my polite face and asked,
"Can I help you?"
"Maybe you can," she said her voice was soft and nurturing, like a mothers, yet cold. My skin prickled and my smile faded into a grimace. She smiled back at me, her lips stretched and curled back revealing sharp fangs instead of teeth. I began to panic as she swayed towards me. I clenched my fists, bottled up all my courage, and quickly ran towards her. I ducked at the last second, maneuvered just out of her grasp, and running out of the bathroom, not stopping until I reached the car outside. I was in such a hurry I forgot my gloves on the bathroom counter. I pulled the door of the passenger's side open and leaped in, not caring about Kelsey protesting beneath me. I fell to the backseat with a hard "thud". Kelsey and Rory, who had been arguing over who knows what stopped what they were doing and looked at me.
"We have to go," I hissed through bared teeth, trying not to raise alarm. I kept an eye on the gas station's front door.
"Why?" Rory asked. Kelsey looked around. She must have seen what I had seen because her eyes went wide like mine.
"Monster," she said. Rory looked to her, then back to me. He reached in his pocket, but Kelsey grabbed his arm, stopping him.
"There are too many people."
"Why are we still here!?" I said, yelling now. There was no time to just sit here and wait until Fangs came for us.
"Sit back and put your seatbelt on," Rory ordered. I strapped myself in just as the woman from earlier pushed the gas station door open.
"GO! GO!" I screamed. Rory hit the gas pedal, and I was thrown back as we sped off.
What I found really funny when editing this was that originally Kelsey's character was a satyr boy named Scott who became best friends with Penelope much like how Grover was best bros with Percy. I feel bad that I took him out now, but maybe he'll make a cameo later. J