not The Perfect Life

Bye Bye Penelope

Chapter 9

Thursday, 10th of January 2019

Bye Bye Penelope

So much time has already passed. My mom had her baby. A healthy little boy named Malachi. The name wasn't my first choice. Suddenly my mom is the happiest person in the world. During the day she even takes him to work because we just need the money. I love my new brother very much, but most of all I love that mom and dad are so happy again.

Galen and I. The perfect couple. At least the most perfect played couple in the world. We meet with his family almost once a week. Nobody suspects. His dad doesn't scare me anymore. At the beginning of our meetings I still had this feeling and sometimes I had to leave earlier because of it. It's hardly there now. Maybe in the beginning it was really just excitement and uncertainty.

Today is the first day of school after the winter holidays. It's freezing outside. Everywhere is snow. Winter is my favorite season. Galen and I go to school and encounter a huge hustle and bustle at the main entrance again. Several emergency vehicles are parked in front of the school. There are paramedics and policemen running around. What can be going on now?

Galen runs off to school while I just stand and watch. Mr Walsh comes out of the building and pushes Galen aside.

"Mr Vergara, go home. School is canceled for the time being," he orders angrily.

"Can we get a memo or something next time, please?" Asks Galen, offended. Mr Walsh stares at him with a look that could kill.

"Be careful, Mr Vegara." Mr. Walsh walks past us with a raised finger and talks to the police. Galen stands by me again. He sticks his index finger in my face and jokingly whispers: "Can't you see my finger, Ms. Rector?!" I push it out of my direction.

"Stop it, you Idiot! I want to know what's going on."

"We'd better go."

"Why? Gal, aren't you curious?" He takes a deep breath and looks down at the floor again. I try to look in his face.

"Hey..Gal..All right?" I ask, more confused than concerned.

"Yeah, it's just ... if it's that bad again, then ... I don't want to see it and I don't want you to see it either," Galen explains calmly.

I take another look around. Ambulance, police and not a single student around us. Something must really have happened. So I turn around and signal to Galen with my eyes that I want to go. We do that too.

Galen has this thing about the fact that he always has to take care of others first. That's why he waits for me at school every morning and always brings me to my bike. It doesn't matter what I say or if I sort of order him not to come along. He just can't help it. I prefer to be happy that I have him.

We get to the bikes and see something unusual. There's someone on my bike, crouching by the tire. Galen wants to rush over there immediately, but I stop him quickly. First I observe a little what is actually happening. There's a guy sitting there. I am able to see who that is. Suddenly he pulls out a knife and begins before I can really notice it to slit open the rear tire of my bike. I run up to him and shout: "Hey! What's the matter with you?! Fuck off, Alex!" Alexander Sanchez jumps up frightened and runs away so quickly. I try to run after him, but he's the captain of the cross country team. I don't have a chance anyway.

"Fuck off, you fucking idiot!" I call after him.

After getting upset, I go back to Galen and my bike. The whole rear tire is broken. I can't actually ride that.

"Shit! My bike!" I swear loudly.

"Liv, calm down. That can be repaired.", Galen tries to downplay the current situation.

"Galen, are you serious?! The bike means something to me. It's such a good bike and my dad gave it to me. We don't have quite as much money as you do. We're not perfect." He looks at me disappointed.

"Perfect?​​ Only when you have money is life far from perfect." Galen grumbles. Of course he's right. I hit my hands in the face and hide myself in them.

"I know. I'm sorry." I mumble into my hands.

"Do you want to drive with me?" Asks Galen sensitively. I nod with my face hidden.

"Come on with me and stop being ashamed. I'm not mad at you.", He says with a laugh. I clear my face again and go with him to his car. Even though Galen expressly forbade me to do so, I'm still a little ashamed.

While driving, I surf the Internet on my cell phone. Then I want to check out the school website for a moment and I'll be hit. These teachers don't do a good job of removing certain content. Immediately tears welled up in my eyes. The school dropout is definitely justified. My jaw drops and a lump forms in my throat. Galen stops at my house. I cannot perceive anything that is happening around me. He looks at me and asks, "Liv? What is it? Are you on the school website?" For a moment I can't even react.

"Olivia?"

"People posted pictures of .. of .." I stutter.

"About what?"

I can not say anything. I am totally traumatized. Galen quickly snatches the cell phone out of my hand and just takes a look himself. His face seems petrified, but not as bad as mine. On the side there are pictures of how a person killed themselves in our school. In the photos they are hanging on a rope and on the walls it says "Fuck all men!". It is very clear to see that it is Penelope Climps. The girl who tried to kill herself a few months ago and who was raped before that. Among the pictures there are a lot of comments from girls from the anti-rape club. They call for all men to be exterminated and they really go below the belt. I can see from this that this cannot end well.