Chapter 11

Same day. Penny's room.

She was working through an assignment, when she suddenly received a request for a video call on her scroll. Given the caller's ID, she accepted it right away. An older man wearing a pair of spectacles greeted her the moment she did.

"Hello, darling."

Her face lit up with a smile. "Father!" She exclaimed with affection, her emerald green eyes brimming with joy now. "I'm so happy to see you!"

He smiled, and his eyes seemed to brighten up ever so slightly. "Me too, darling," He said to her, paused, and the following words were said with a sliver of worry audible in his voice. "How are you?"

"Great!" She chirped, and he blinked at her words.

"Really?"

"Yes! I'm doing great now. I even made some friends!" She explained to him, and he released a breath he wasn't aware he was holding.

Oh, thank goodness. He couldn't help but think to himself so. After all, based on the previous calls, he knew that she wasn't doing so well at first. He didn't know all the details surrounding her hardships, but he at least knew that more than anything else, she struggled to make any connections with her peers. And even as chipper and optimistic as she truthfully was, he could see that such painful isolation was slowly starting to get to her. Her chipper attitude and vast optimism seemed to be challenged more and more with each new day, and he couldn't do much to help her. But finally...oh, finally, it seems that life's starting to treat you better. Or maybe it's your own effort that is finally starting to pay off. He wondered, yet regardless of which it was, he could feel himself ease up a great deal.

"Oh, that is just wonderful to hear."

She nodded. "They're all good people, I'm sure of it. One of them even defended me when I was being bullied. I really like him!"

Pietro blinked at her words, but the moment they truly sunk in, his lips thinned, his wrinkles deepened, and a sorrowful worry glazed over his paler eyes.

She not only noticed, but fully recognized the emotions she saw as well. "Please, don't worry, father! I'm okay, I swear!"

His lips thinned even further, but then he ever so slowly parted them open. "Are you sure?"

"Yes! Just like I said; Jaune defended me! He even taught me what to do if I was being bullied again. And, and I made some more friends shorty after, so I'm not alone anymore! I'm doing great now. I am!" She desperately tried to reassure him, and given that he struggled to find his words, she added, "Please, believe me. Could you do that for me?"

"..."

What followed was a moment of heavy silence. He examined her carefully, looking for any sign which could have betrayed her words, but all he could see was frantic sincerity. Also, if there was one thing he absolutely knew about his daughter, it was; she was honest to a fault with her words. She said exactly what she thought, and while such honesty definitely had it's downsides, it also had at least one upside. If she was telling him that she was okay, she meant that. She didn't just say it to make him feel better. Instead, her words were her honest, raw thoughts so...so that meant that he could...

He sighed. And then his wrinkles relaxed, and a tiny, ghost of a smile embellished his lips. "Okay, darling. I believe you."

She smiled. "Thank you."

His ghost of a smile came to be an actual one. He thought for a moment, and then decided to ask her about something, which he was sure she'd be happy to talk about. "This boy, Jaune, could you tell me more about him?"

Her eyes brightened up. "Yes! His full name is Jaune Arc and he's a fellow student here at Beacon. He's 6 feet 1 inch and a quarter tall. He's got blonde, messy hair and gorgeous, blue eyes. He wears a black, short-sleeved hoodie, blue jeans and…" And just like that, she rambled on for quite a while about her friend. And he of course, listened intently, and truth be told, hearing her speak about this boy, Jaune, with great enthusiasm and unmistakable joy helped him ease up even further. "...and he really enjoys to run, which I think is wonderful." She finally finished.

He let a quiet chuckle slip through his lips. "Mm, I'd say it was a fine description you gave me of him. He sounds like a fine, young man to me."

"He is!" She agreed with-out a shadow of a doubt, and he couldn't have been any happier that she finally found people she could be with. People who could make her happy. But even so, when considering everything he knew about the hardships she's faced, he still needed to ask her something. Given she'd already been at the Academy for 20 days, he figured now was a good time to do it.

"Penny, dear?"

"Yes?"

"...Do you think you made the right choice by attending Beacon this early in your life?"

Her smile widened, and then and there he realized that something about her smile, the way she smiled had definitely changed. It looked more natural now, he'd say. "Yes. Now that I've made some friends here, I feel great. But I do miss you, though."

"Oh, that's okay, darling. You know you can visit me whenever you've got the time. You could even bring some of your friends along if you'd like. I'd be delighted to meet them, especially that boy, Jaune you talked about."

Her eyes glazed over with excitement. "Yes! That would be most wonderful!"

"Indeed, it'd be." He agreed, and during the following moment, he came to be sure of something.

Now that his daughter was doing much better at Beacon, the quality of his work would surely improve.