Author's note: Sorry about this chapter being kinda late. I got caught up in things, and I had another test to do. Enjoy!

Chapter 88: Her Pride and Joy PT 1

Penny sighed as she remained on her knees. Everyone there with her was waiting for her to explain everything. They all waited patiently.

"Fine," Penny said. "I'll explain. But before I do.. I want you to hear me out. Let me explain to you how I came to found team Star, and what happened when it...went out of control. Then you'll understand why I had to do what I needed to stop Team Star forever," Penny looked at her fellow team leaders. "And... when I explain myself fully, you'll come to understand too, why Team Star has to end..."

Everyone stayed quiet. Penny didn't like being in the center of attention- but since she herself was a Star, she naturally would. It was her time to shine, after all. She smiled a sad smile before talking.

Flashback

Penny had a tray with chicken and mashed potatoes in her hands as she walked down the cafeteria filled to the brim with talking students. There were way too many people for her liking, but she wasn't allowed to eat in her classroom with her teacher. She grumbled to herself as she tried finding an empty table.

As she took another step- she felt someone trip her. She lost balance and fell onto the ground. Her lunch spilled onto the floor, and Penny groaned as she heard the sound of her grumbling stomach.

As soon as she lifted herself up, she heard the sound of girls laughing. She looked up to see three girls- two of which she didn't know the names of, but the one in the middle, who seemed to be the leader, she knew all too well: Lilith. She had long dyed purple hair, and blue eyes, and she was snickering loudly with her other friends.

Once upon a time, Penny had a crush on this girl and couldn't help but stare at her during lunch because she was so pretty to her. She thought she'd be safe to just look at her from far away during lunch. The sea of students eating their food while sitting on tables would have served as her veil. She had realized then that being anonymous, being someone that was practically invisible, was very nice. She remembered smiling at the thought of this pretty girl she stared at and would never know that she admired her. She remembered thinking that Lilith couldn't judge her, or reject her, because she didn't know that she existed.

Penny never knew how wrong she was. She remembered that fateful day when she walked past Lilith and her friends, and overheard one of them say, "Hey, isn't that the girl who stares at you?"

Penny remembered the feeling of panic well when she first heard this. It was like a rotten piece of food got into her stomach and made her feel sick. She held her breath for so long that her lungs eventually begged her to take a breath, and so she gasped for air as though she lifted her head out of a puddle. Even after taking that breath, she could still hear her heart racing with fear. Sweat drenched her from head to toe.

What was she going to do, she thought. Should she apologize? No- she couldn't. Maybe if she stopped staring at her- yeah. That should work, she should stop staring at her. That'll get them to forget who she was, and she'd go back to being invisible again.

But she never was forgotten by those people. Every time she walked by durring lunch time, no matter how much she distanced themselves, Lilith and her friends would find her. It was as though they were waiting for her. They would then point and laugh, calling her names.

One of them was the word 'Stalker'. Penny shuddered at that word. She had never stalked anyone in her life, nor had she ever planned to. The idea of her being called a stalker caused her so much distress it made her want to tear up. But eventually, that word became like white noise.

"C'mon, stalker, you have more money to buy food, right?" Lilith said, mocking the glasses girl for dropping her food on the groaned, standing up and shooting a glare at the trio. She hadn't said a word to Lilith before- and that wasn't going to change. Giving her a reaction would just give her what she wanted. Penny turned to her fallen tray and the mess left behind. She would hate to have to clean it up, but she made the mess.

She didn't give Lilith and her group another look as she turned around, getting ready to go back to the cafeteria lunch line workers and ask for a paper towel, or maybe a mop. Suddenly, one of Lilith's friends approached Penny from behind, and pushed her hard enough for her to fall on her side. She groaned- and just as she was about to stand back up, Lilith grabbed Penny's head by her hair- and lifted her up. A sharp scream escaped Penny's mouth.

"Aren't you going to eat your food?!" Lilith cried. "It's right there- come on! Let me help you."

Lilith dragged Penny across the floor- the young girl was in so much pain that she was beginning to cry. Then, Lilith dragged Penny's face across the food that had fallen on the ground.

"There you go," Lilith cried, rubbing Penny's face against the floor. "Chew and swallow!"

Lilith and her friends started to laugh loudly before turning and walking away. Penny lied on the ground for a while. Her arms and legs were trembling with fear and pain.

That was when she began sobbing. She regretted everything at that point. She regretted ever looking at that girl- she regretted ever doing something that would make her visible like this. She couldn't help but feel like she deserved all of this. She could feel a sharp pain on her face because of her face-muscles straining from how much she was frowning.

The only thing she could see was darkness because she still hadn't moved. The dark always comforted her- to her, it meant she was safe- it meant that no one could see her. She could do or say anything she wanted- and no one would hear or judge her- it was why she preferred being alone. So, she stayed on the ground while she cried.

The students around her didn't do or say anything to help her- some stared at her as she lied on the ground, others didn't even notice. Eventually, the school bell rang, and everyone started walking along- ignoring Penny, who had stayed on the ground until the cafeteria was empty.

Eventually, the school bell rang again, and the next batch of kids came in.

"Hey- are you okay?" A girl's voice.

Penny felt someone's hand on her shoulder. Penny groaned, pulling her face from the ground. Her face along with her glasses were covered with gravy- so even though her head was finally off from the ground, she still couldn't see.

"Oh- you have glasses-" The girl said. "Stay right there."

Penny couldn't hear the sound of the girl's footsteps, because it was drowned out by the chatting of students around her.

"I'm back-" The girl said. "Let me get that for you.."

The girl used a wet paper towel to clean off Penny's glasses. Eventually, Penny could see again- and most importantly, she could see the one who decided to help her.

It was a girl with red hair and blue eyes- the top of her hair was dyed yellow. Her hair reminded Penny of a flame.

"There you go- can you see now?" The girl asked.

"...Yeah," Penny said. "Thank you. Wh..What's your name?"

"Mela." The girl said. "What's yours?"

"Penny."

"Hi, Penny," Mela said. "Why were you lying on the ground like that?"

Penny looked away, looking ashamed. Mela frowned.

"I'm fine," she said. "Nothing happened."

Mela narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

"I don't know if I can believe that," she said.

Penny sighed and groaned upon noticing the gravy smell coming from her jacket.

"Did someone do this to you?" Mela asked.

Almost immediately, Penny felt a pang of rage rising within her. It wasn't rage directed at Mela- no, it was directed at Lilith- the moment Mela said those words, Penny wanted to let loose and tell Mela everything, about how awfully she'd been treated throughout the last few days.

But instead, she said nothing and walked away.

"Wait-" Mela cried.

Penny quickly started sprinting as fast as she could so that Mela couldn't chase after her. Immediately, Penny gunned it to the public girls' bathroom as quickly as possible. After checking out the door to see that the coast was clear, she went to the sink and looked at the mirror, noticing how much of a mess her jacket was. She groaned and took her jacket off, which revealed her T shirt she wore underneath. It was a white shirt with a picture of an Eevee smiling. She scrunched her jacket into a ball before sticking it into the sink, started running the water and started using the hand soap dispenser so she could start cleaning it. As she pressed and pulled and pushed her hands on her soaking jacket, she turned her head back a few times, to check if any other girls would come into the bathroom. She quickly decided to run to the door and close it. She may get in trouble for closing the girls' bathroom door.

She started thinking about her situation and felt her anger rising. Sadly, she had no one to aim that anger at but herself. She had no one she felt like she could rant to without them making it a big deal. She could talk to her Dad, but he'd definitely call the school and that would be disastrous. She could talk to her only Pokémon, Leafeon, but...she'd want to fight that bully.

If only they'd just stopped and left her alone...If only she had just not decided to stare at that girl. None of this would be happening. Penny lowered her head, sighing as she stared at the water filling the sink up- which was seconds away from overflowing. Penny stopped the water faucet and pulled out a Pokeball from her pocket. She lightly tossed it to her side- and out of it came her Leafeon, purring loudly and smiling- but then frowning upon seeing her trainer's face.

"Leafeon-" Penny said, pointing a thumb over to the sink. "Could you absorb all of the water in the sink and my jacket and use Sweet Scent to get rid of the smell?"

Leafeon leapt onto the sink. Half of its little body was submerged into the water. Slowly, the water began draining from the sink, and a pink mist started forming around the grass type from using Sweet Scent.

The entire time, Leafeon looked worried for her trainer, who looked very sad. Leafeon cried out its name in worry.

"Oh- I'm fine," Penny said. "I'm just-...a little sad."

Leafeon frowned and began to look frustrated, as though she were pouting.

"Ugh…" Penny groaned. "I really don't want to talk about it...but knowing you, you'll figure out a way to get me to talk. So fine. I'll tell you Just don't overreact, okay?"

That's when Penny explained everything. About Lilith, and about the bullying that's been going on. She left out the part about how she blamed herself for the situation.

"And that's why I'm here," Penny concluded, "Trying to get the smell out from my jacket with your help."

Leafeon looked absolutely furious, just as Penny expected. Penny knew that look in her Pokémon's eye- it was the one that told her that she was ready for a battle.

"I know what you're thinking-" Penny said, raising her hands up as though she were in a surrender motion in an attempt to calm her Pokémon- although, she couldn't help but smile a bit because of her concern. It was proof that her Pokémon loved her very much. "But I don't want to resort to violence. I don't think we can solve anything by doing that."

Leafeon's glare didn't go away.

"What-" Penny said. "You want me to go to a teacher or something?"

Leafeon nodded quickly.

"I can't do that…" Penny said. "I don't want to bother them. Besides, this is my problem. I'll figure something out."

"Figure out what?"

Penny turned her head and saw Mela, who approached her.

"When did you-.."

"I heard everything," Mela said. "And I agree with Leafeon. What those girls did to you was wrong. You've got to talk to a teacher about it."

"No way," Penny said. "They'll make it a big deal.. I can handle it."

"Is it okay if I ask how you're going to handle it?"

"Uh…Well…" Penny scratched the back of her head.

"Do you plan to talk to her?"

"Heck no."

"Then how are you going to deal with it?"

"Well..when you're someone forgettable like me, all it'll take is a few days for this to fix itself." Penny leaned toward the sink, picking up her Leafeon and placing her down on the floor. "With time, eventually, they'll forget about me and leave me alone."

"I don't think so," Mela said. "Bullies are horrible. The only time they forget about you is if you disappeared completely. Trust me. The sooner you talk to someone about this, the better," Mela said. "Trust me, I know."

"You're talking as though you have personal experience," Penny muttered.

Mela lowered her gaze, looking sad herself.

Penny faked a defeated sigh, lowering her gaze and adjusting her glasses "But fine, you're right. I'll tell a teacher," She said.

"Thank you," Mela said, sighing a breath of relief. A sigh of relief left Penny's mouth as well, as she was thankful that her lie satisfied the red-haired girl. "Sorry about getting into your business like that. I'll go now."

"Goodbye," Penny said.

Penny waited a while after Mela left, making sure that the girl was long gone. Penny turned to Leafeon, who glared. She knew her trainer had lied to that person's face.

"Listen, Leafeon," Penny said, crouching and patting the grumpy grass type's head. "Everything is going to be okay."

The bell rang, and Penny returned Leafeon into her Pokéball. She looked at the sink, noticing that there was not even a drop of water left on it or her jacket. She picked up her now dry jacket, which smelled pretty nice now, and put it back on as she left the girls' bathroom.

Penny went to her classroom as quickly as possible, and for the first time in her life, she felt like she was safe in a classroom. Those bullies weren't able to bother her from here. Class wasn't going to start for a while, and even the teacher hadn't arrived yet. Penny often stared out the open front door while she waited for people to come in as a pastime.

But as she stared out the open door, Penny noticed Lilith, and her eyes widened. Lilith glanced over to Penny- and the glasses-girl froze.

"Oh look," Lilith said. "It's my stalker! We're at my stalkers' class!"

Penny pulled her hood instinctively and put it up as she put her head on the table. She heard the laughter of those girls.

"Look at her hide her face- what a loser!" One girl said.

"I know right?" Lilith said.

Penny didn't feel like lifting her head up. She just repeated to herself in a whisper that it would stop eventually- that those girls would eventually forget about her.

But they didn't.

Months had passed, and those girls hadn't let up in their taunting. They constantly berated her when she went to the cafeteria, pushed her when she had her food tray, all just to get a reaction out of her. But every time they did something, Penny did and said nothing. She just kept walking, praying silently that they'd eventually get bored and leave her alone. The entire time, as more days turned into weeks, Penny felt her rage growing. And because she refused to rage at the one who was causing her suffering, that rage was directed at herself.

It's all your fault, Penny thought to herself. If you just hadn't been so careless, if you just minded your own business and didn't stare, this wouldn't be happening. None of this would be happening.

Penny stared at her Peanut butter jelly sandwich as she sat alone on a cafeteria table. She was terrified because those girls hadn't done anything to her yet. Summer break was almost here, and she couldn't bring herself to eat.

"Hey there, stalker!" A girl said.

Penny's entire body jolted with fear. She saw Lilith's friends beginning to sit on the table around her. On the other end of the table, Lilith herself sat, smirking wide.

"It's almost the last days of school, and I'm gonna miss messing with you," Lilith said.

"Remember that time when we stole your Pokeballs and made you go to a forest to get them back?" One of Lilith's friends said.

"Oh yeah! Oh- what about that one time when we took her backpack and sprayed ketchup and mustered all over it before giving it to her as a gift!?" Another one of Lilith's friends said.

"That was hilarious!" Another friend said.

Penny gripped her peanut butter jelly sandwich tightly in her trembling hands, so much so that it was starting to break apart.

"What's wrong, stalker?" Lilith asked. "Aren't you going to finish your food?"

Penny said nothing.

"Why doesn't someone help her out with that?" Lilith asked.

Almost immediately, a girl slammed Penny's face onto her sandwich and her tray. The girls laughed as Penny grumbled, lifting her head up.

She wanted to say, 'Why don't you girls just leave,' so badly, but she held her tongue. She frowned and felt herself trembling even more. She didn't know why she was trembling so much. Was it fear?

"Anyway," Lilith said, "We're just here to say, thank you for being such a hilarious loser,"

"Oooh-" One of the girls said, "I've got an idea."

Suddenly- one of the girls did something that made Penny shriek immediately: They took her glasses. The girl that took her glasses began running off- leaving Penny partially blind as she tried to chase the thief. Penny ran as hard as she could- reaching and tackling the girl onto the ground. The girl yelped and dropped the pair of glasses before falling on top of it.

Penny could feel her fists vibrating, she felt adrenaline rushing across her entire body, so much so that she instinctively grabbed the girl's shirt tightly. She gritted her teeth as she glared at the blur that somewhat resembled a human face.

"Gah- get off of me-..." The girl said. "I don't want to catch any of your loser germs!"

The girl shoved Penny to the side, and she yelped. The girl spun around, and gasped before chuckling.

"Look at what you did!" The girl cried.

Penny's glasses were slightly bent, and Lilith's friends were delighted. Lilith herself approached as she looked down at Penny, who was trying to look for her glasses by reaching around at the floor but couldn't.

"She's like that girl from that like that one show- I forget what it's called. Scooby doo?"

"Yeah! That one! " Another girl said.

"You know what would be even funnier, guys?" Lilith said, approaching Penny's glasses. "Watch this."

Penny heard the sound of glass breaking, and immediately, her eyes widened in complete and utter horror. She coudln't see a thing, but she already had a feeling- a horrible feeling of what had just happened.

Lilith had stomped on her glasses, and completely shattered them.

"Who wears dumb glasses like those, anyway?" Lilith said. "I'm doing you a favor."

Lilith peeled the broken glasses off from the bottom of her shoes, and then put it on Penny's face. She could barely see any better- because of the countless cracks that were on her glasses.

Penny felt her body trembling with an intensity she had never known before. She was crying- and her entire body was starting to turn red with emotion.

It was then when she truly realized why she was trembling the entire time. It wasn't fear she was feeling. It was rage.

"Hey stalker," Lilith said. "Got anything to sa-"

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Penny cried.

All of the girls took a step back.

"LEAVE ME... ALOOOOOOOOOOONE!" Penny screamed at the very top of her lungs- so much so that she could feel a sting lingering in her throat.

Penny screamed at the top of her lungs again- reaching out toward anything her hands could find. The first thing she put her hands on was one of the cafeteria table's legs. She grabbed onto it and pulled it with strength she never knew she had and dragged it across the ground- as though she were attempting to use it as a weapon to strike Lilith and her friends.

Little did Penny know, Lilith and her friends had already ran away.

"I HATE YOU!" Penny roared loud enough to get other students' attention. Penny continued dragging the cafeteria table across the room, causing students around her to crowd around but steer clear from her blind rampage. "I HATE ALL OF YOU! LEAVE ME ALOOOONE!" Penny cried, managing to use both of her hands to lift the table up slightly, and swung it around- causing the students around them to gasp. "I HATE ALL OF YOU- I HATE- I HATE..!" Penny began wearing herself down, and tears began flooding her eyes. "I-... I…!"

That was when she sat on the ground, and started crying at the top of her lungs. She cried louder than she ever had in her life- louder than her father had ever heard, even when she was a baby. Her scream carried the lament and hatred she felt at that moment, the hatred that had nothing to target but herself.

"Everyone back away right now!" Someone cried. All of the students looked toward a teacher who approached the scene. Penny was still screaming at the top of her lungs- and she couldn't stop.

"I'm sorry, but you can't stay here," A teacher said. "We can talk about what's going on when we go to the Director's office. C'mon-"

Penny couldn't stop crying the entire time- but she took the teacher's hand and let him lead her on. She didn't want to hold the teacher's hand, but she couldn't see. She had to go to the director's office, though. That girl Mela and Leafeon were right. She had to say something.

She couldn't take it anymore.

Eventually, the teacher led her to Director Clavell's office. Clavell's eyes widened when he noticed that Penny was crying inconsolably but decided to wait patiently for her emotions to settle. Eventually, Penny was a sniffling mess, trembling with emotions as she stared at the ground. She could see almost nothing through her broken glasses.

"Penny?" Clavell said. "Would you like to tell me what happened?"

"Girls-...they…" Penny sniffled. "They- they took- took… my glasses."

"Take a breath." Clavell said.

Penny sniffled a few times. "They-...took my glasses…a-and…broke it…and I-...got…mad…and…"

"I was told about what you did, yes." Clavell said. "But what's this about girls? Do you know who they are?"

"One's…name…Lilith…" Penny muttered. "I-...D-D-D-...Don't know…other…names.."

"I see," Clavell said. "While I do understand where you are coming from, the way that you reacted to what was going on was not the correct thing to d-"

"They…. took my….glasses…!" Penny cried. "They-...they wouldn't-...they won't leave….me alone.!" Penny began sobbing a bit. "They won't ever leave me alone…"

"I'll give Lilith a stern talking to when I can," Clavell said. "But in the meantime, unfortunately, I will have to give you detention for-"

"De-...detention!?" Penny roared that word out with fury. "Why?!"

"You took one of the cafeteria tables and started attacking wildly. Imagine what would happen if you hurt someone-"

"I-...was…bullied…!" Penny cried. "They were bullying me- and-"

"I understand that. But-"

"But…Nothing!" Penny stood up. "You don't…get it..! You're not helpful at all! You- you don't understand...what I've been through! Every day- ...very day they've made fun of me!"

"Penny, please settle down."

"And you're…going to give me detention!? This is why no one…can confide in you teachers!" She cried. "All of you…can just go straight to hell!"

Clavell's eyes widened- he looked genuinely hurt. Penny spun around and ran- she didn't care if she couldn't see- she didn't care if she splatted against the wall, or about anything. She just wanted nothing but revenge.

If the school wouldn't help her- then she had to help herself.

Luckily- when Penny ran out of the room, she hadn't face-planted into the wall and went straight through the door. She didn't go far, however, without letting out her Leafeon, who extended a vine from her body for Penny to grab onto so the grass type could lead her home.

Penny's dad gasped when his daughter got home so early, wondering why her glasses broke and why she looked so sad. But instead of telling him anything, Penny said that she accidentally broke her glasses herself, got extremely distraught, and left it at that. She didn't want to confide in another grown-up. Even her Dad.

She was the only one who could do something about this. She was convinced by now. When her Dad gave her an extra pair of glasses, she went straight to her room and started writing on a piece of paper.

She looked at Leafeon, who glared furiously and nodded along with her. Then, Penny began writing on the piece of paper.

'Meet me at the Pokémon battlefield next to the academy after school. If I win, you have to leave me alone forever...' She wrote.

The next day came.

Penny was waiting at the Pokémon battlefield next to the academy. School had already ended, and standing in front of her, ready to fight was Leafeon.

Lilith finally arrived, and walking beside her was a Machoke. Penny gulped.

"You know how stalker-like it is for you to leave a note in my locker?" Lilith said. "I sure wasn't surprised about it...but boy, you should have seen the look on my face when I read you wanted to have a battle..." Lilith said, cracking her knuckles. "I got detention because of you…and so I've got to kick your butt to let out my frustration...!"

"Why are you blaming me!? You're the one who broke my glasses..!" Penny cried.

"Not my fault you decided to be an idiot and tackle my friend! "If you just let her take your glasses, none of this would have happened!"

Lilith pulled down her shirt sleeve, revealing her invoker bracelet. Penny gasped.

"H-Hey- no invokers allowed!" Penny cried. "This is a traditional Pokemon battl-"

"You think I care about your stupid rules!?" Lilith cried- engaging her invoker armor. Her armor shined with red light, indicating that its fighting type power had been shared with its trainer. Lilith charged after Penny and threw a punch.

"L-Leafeon- use..!" Penny had no time to give an order as Lilith closed in and threw a punch. Penny leapt back- watching her enemy's fist swing and miss right in front of her.

"What are you doing!?" Penny cried. "You could have seriously hurt me..!"

"What if I want to seriously hurt you!?" Lilith cried.

Penny took several steps back, hesitating to activate her own invoker armor. Just then- Machoke appeared behind the girl with incredible speed and put her in a full-nelson hold to restrain her. Penny struggled to fight back against the massive Pokémon that was several times stronger than her. And because Machoke held Penny's arms away from each other, she couldn't activate her invoker armor.

Leafon gasped, running toward her trainer with worry.

"Leafeon, no!" Penny cried. "Don't worry about me- You have to-"

Lilith appeared in front of Leafeon with incredible speed and landed a devastating kick to its side. It was sent flying until it was dragged across the ground. "Leafeon- no!" Penny cried. She turned and glared at Lilith, who approached while cracking her fists more.

"Now then..." Lilith said.

Lilith punched Penny in the gut. Spit flew out of Penny's mouth the moment the attack connected.

"Aww- does it hurt?" Lilith said. Penny started coughing loudly as she moaned in pain. "I only punched you a little hard~ Aww... you gonna cry?"

Penny did start crying, and Lilith started chuckling. "You wouldn't have felt a thing if you had invoker armor on," Lilith continued. "Oh wait- You DON'T!" Lilith punched Penny in the stomach again- causing her to scream out in pain.

"Please…!" Penny moaned. "Please… stop…"

"Did you really think you could stand a chance? against me?" Lilith punched Penny in the stomach again. "Huh?!" Lilith kneed Penny in the gut- causing her to scream.

Lilith beat Penny down for a while, punching and kicking her mercilessly. After a bit of time passed, Penny's head was hung low as she struggled to breathe.

"Okay- I'm finished…" Lilith said, "Machoke, put her down."

Machoke let Penny fumble onto the ground stomach-first. As the beaten girl moaned and attempted to crawl away, Lilith walked up to her quickly and grabbed her by the hair as she lifted her face. She and Penny were looking at each other face to face.

Lilith smirked at Penny's pained, tear-filled expression. "I'm going to keep messing with you until the end of time. And there is nothing you can do about it." Lilith said. "I can't wait to break your glasses again tomorrow. Ooh man, I have such great ideas in store for you..."

Lilith threw Penny's face onto the ground, causing her to wince in pain. Then, she heard Lilith's laughter. She sounded like she heard the funniest joke in the world.

Penny looked up toward Leafeon, noticing how hurt she was. She pulled a potion from her coat jacket and tried to crawl her way over to the grass type. As she finally reached it, she sprayed the potion bottle onto Leafeon, and her wounds disappeared. Soon, Leafeon's ears perked up, and she sprung back to her feet. She immediately gasped upon seeing her trainer all beaten up.

"Thank goodness you're okay," Penny said, breathing heavily and turning to her back. Leafeon began crying out her own name with worry as Penny lifted her arm, revealing her invoker bracelet. With a push of a button, she activated her invoker armor- and immediately used Lefeaon's Synthesis. A green healing light rose around Penny, slowly replenishing her health.

Leafeon worriedly cried out its own name over and over again as though to lecture Penny.

"Yeah... you're right," Penny said. "If I'm going to get that bully off my back... I'm going to need some help..."

Author's note: Fun fact! Originally, I wasn't going to put a whole flashback chapter thing in this story, but I felt like in order to help you, the reader, better understand how Penny felt and why she came to make her decision, this flashback was necessary. (I also felt like a flashback like this would have been nice in the original story, so that we would understand Penny's point of view more- but that's beside the point) I also realized that this chapter would be WAY too long if I didn't break it down to two parts.

Sorry about leaving things in a 'sad' note. I put it in quotations because it's technically not a sad note since Penny's like 'I'm gonna need some help' and we all know what that means... But I hate having to write cliffhangers like that. So, here's a funny deleted scene that might perk you up:

"Why were you lying on the ground like that?" Mela asked Penny. Mela had just cleaned Penny's face from all the gravy.

Penny looked away, looking ashamed. Mela frowned.

"I'm fine," She said. "Nothing happened."

"Do you really expect me to believe that you dropped your food, decided, 'Hey, I'm still hungry', and decided to eat the food while it was on the ground?"

"...Yes?"

"Oh, okay." Mela said. "That makes se- Why in the world would I believe that?! Excuse you?!"

"...I would...like to be excused."

"...Uh...No!?"

"I wasn't asking."

Penny and Mela stared at each other for a solid thirty seconds. Then, Penny spun and ran off.

"GET BACK HERE!" Mela cried.

Hope this made ya' giggle. If not, welp, I tried.

See you guys next week!