Chapter 8

Despite the many glances they received, Jaune and Penny walked to his table as if they didn't notice all the attention they got.

"Hello, everyone! My name is Penny Polendina. I would be most delighted to make good acquaintances with all of you."

"…"

There was a moment of brief, but still noticeable silence. Understandable, given how bizarre it must have seemed that Penny was acting so chipper, when given the previous scene she was the center of.

"Hey!" Nora greeted her with a big smile and wave of her hand. Of course, leave it to her to diffuse the awkward, tense atmosphere.

"It's nice to meet you, Penny. My name's Pyrrha Nikos." The spartan was second to chime in, and shortly after so did Ren.

Penny clasped her hands over her chest. "May I join you?"

"Of course." Pyrrha answered for everyone, and she then sat down and so did Jaune, right beside her.

"…"

What followed was another moment of utter silence as even Nora was merely focused on eating her food, but not pancakes. As much as she loved them, she couldn't eat them all the time, and Ren too, was adamant that she'd better have some variety in her diet.

Crap. Maybe I should have thought this through better. Jaune glanced at Penny, and felt a sliver of worry creep up on him. It's not that she looked anxious or anything, but the energy she exuded when greeting his friends was now missing, and she came to be quiet. Too quiet. And relaxed he'd say.

I hope I won't be a bother to them.

He began to wonder; maybe he grossly underestimated how affected Penny still was about the bullying she went through not an hour ago. Maybe she was still hurting inside, but just didn't show it. No. She probably was, and yet, he just up and brought her back to the place where it happened. I really am an idiot! He internally cursed himself, and as he was about to try and say something to help the situation, Nora beat him to it.

"Ya know, you should have broken that butt-hole's legs for all the crap he said to you," She said, her voice brimming with cheerful confidence.

"Crap? As in, all the harsh things he said to me?"

"Yea!"

Penny paused for a brief moment. "...Breaking his legs would be way too cruel, but I now know I should have stood up for myself," She said, giving Jaune a quick, appreciative glance. "I only wish some of those harsh things he said weren't so true."

"If you mean that other students are gossiping about you then yea, he was right about that. But if you mean that everyone dislikes you and thinks you're a freak, then no, he was dead wrong. Jaune's friends are our friends, so you're definitely not alone, Penny," She said with a friendly, welcoming grin, but then her eyes came to be unsure, and she started to shift her gaze between the two of them. "I mean, you are friends, right?" She asked with such fine, innocent tone of voice, that Penny broke out into a small laughter. She didn't even really know what exactly she found funny about this, if anything at all, but...she just couldn't help herself. It was honestly baffling to her, but a whole lot more than that, it was great. Being able to laugh here at Beacon was great, and she wished she'd be able to experience it a hundred times more, if not thousand or million.

"We are, yes," She said, after her and Jaune had shared a quick glance accompanied with a tiny smile.

"Welcome to our group then!" Nora exclaimed with open arms, while Pyrrha offered a friendly gaze, and so did Ren, a moment later.

Penny's hands clasped over her lap, and her smile was sincere, if nothing else. "Thank you." It felt like the right thing to say, and she came to be sure about something.

She'd be spending a lot less time on her own, and couldn't have been any happier about it.