Wouldn't You Like to Know?

Twenty:

Twenty

Several years ago

Whistledown Academy

Penelope Featherington loved a good costume. Christmas, Halloween, Valentines Day-----any chance to theme anything, Penelope would do it. She often made her own costumes and clothes too because it was usually hard for her to find things to wear. Portia Featherington wanted everything to be designer for her daughters, and for Penelope, it was a lot harder to come by clothes she even liked because of that.

Usually, her mother dressed her like a First Lady. She thought that was how Upper East Side girls should dress.

When Pen started Whistledown Academy, that was when she started altering her clothes. They did wear uniforms, but on weekends and for school functions and free time, they were allowed to wear whatever they wanted as long as they fit the dress code. She could buy things online then remake them so that they fit her.

For her first, real Halloween Party that she'd been invited to by Daphne Bridgerton, who was a senior and Eloise's sister, Penelope had taken a page from her favorite romcoms Legally Blonde and Bridget Jones.

She had worn the classic, black Playboy Bunny outfit.

Penelope still remembered walking into the senior floor of Whistledown Academy that Daphne lived on. Colin had spotted her first. Eloise hadn't been there, because she would have died before being at a party, much less her sisters. She was off somewhere reading or studying or something equally boring and responsible.

Penelope normally wouldn't have gone either, but Daphne had asked her, and she couldn't remember the last time she'd hung out with the oldest Bridgerton girl. She was going to be graduating soon, would get married to her handsome, Prince boyfriend, and she Penelope had no idea when she would see her again. So, she'd agreed to come.

"Hey!" she said when she found Colin. "What do you think?"

Colin looked her up and down and let out a whistle, clapping. "That is a fucking great Halloween costume."

Penelope smiled. "Thanks, I made it myself."

"Are you really sure you want to be a writer?" Colin asked. "Because if that doesn't work out, you could have a serious career as a fashion designer. You know my mother knows people."

Penelope rolled her eyes. "Your mother knows everyone. Anyway, I don't want to be in fashion. If I had to deal with bitchy models all day, I'd go insane."

Colin laughed. "Right. Want a drink?"

"Yes please!" Penelope smiled.

"I'll go get us one." He winked at her. "Seriously, Pen, you look smokin' hot."

Penelope blushed. "You're an idiot."

He grinned and went off to get them drinks. When he was gone, someone shoved into her and spilled beer all over her outfit.

"Shit!"

"Oh! Sorry I didn't see you..." Cressida Cowper, one of mean girls of Whistledown Academy, sneered at her. "You honestly think you look good in that?"

Penelope could hear laughter, and her ears started to ring. She knew she should have been looking around for napkins but she could feel people staring at her and the laughter growing worse. Her cheeks heated and someone had taken out their cell phone to take a picture.

There was a crack, and she saw Simon Basset, one of Anthony Bridgerton's friends, punch the stranger in the face. He came over to her and handed her a napkin so she could wipe herself off.

"Fucking asshole," he muttered, "Anthony used to scare people stiff and with him off at college, people think they can get away with shit."

Penelope took the napkin from him and started to wipe herself off. "Thanks, Simon."

"Anytime, Penelope," he said.

But people were still staring and still whispering. She looked away from them, aware she didn't belong with the likes of them. "I'm going to go."

"Come on, Featherington. Don't let the assholes keep you from having fun."

She rolled her eyes. "You shouldn't let the assholes keep you from telling Daphne how you feel."

Simon clenched his jaw. "Well, now that was just cold, Featherington."

She sighed. "Thanks for the help. I'm going to go before anyone else gets brave enough to take their camera out again." She left, hating her school, and hating herself for thinking she was brave enough to pull the outfit off.

"Pen!" she was about halfway down the senior hallway when she heard Colin calling her. He was dressed up as Spiderman and had his mask off. "Hey! What the hell happened?"

Penelope crossed her arms around her chest. "It's nothing, Col. Go back and enjoy your party."

He wrapped an arm around her bare shoulders. "C'mon, Pen. It's not nothing. Simon said Cressida was being a bitch to you."

She rolled her eyes. "Cressida is always a bitch. That's nothing new. It was everyone else agreeing with her that I didn't look right in this costume."

Colin frowned. "Not everyone agreed about that, Pen."

She was trying hard not to cry, but the tears came anyway. She wiped them away. "You don't count. You're basically my brother."

He looked at her with an expression she couldn't quite read. "Right, well. Let's get you the hell out of her and uh, go find somewhere that we can have a party of our own."

"I can't go back to my dorm room. Eloise is studying in there and I don't want to deal with her saying "I told you so"."

"Don't worry," Colin said, "I've got a plan."

He took her by the hand and Penelope teetered a little. She regretted her choice to wear high heels. But he held onto her and they snuck out from their fancy school, and went down to the school football field.

He took out his phone and started playing a song.

Penelope laughed. "Coldplay? Really?"

He smiled. "Come on. They're a modern classic."

He held his phone and then wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her in for a dance. The two of them swayed on the football field. This was the first time they'd really been alone together. Someone else was always around, which is what happened when you were best friends with a guy that had eight siblings all close together in age.

He reached out and brushed back one of her red curls. "They're wrong, you know."

"Who is wrong?" Penelope asked.

"You're fucking beautiful."

She blushed. "You're only saying that to be nice."

He frowned. "I mean it. I wish you would see it too."

"You have to say that because you are my best friend," Penelope said.

"Is that all I am?" Colin tilted his head to the side, his brow furrowed.

Penelope, not quite meeting his eyes, whispered, "Yes. That's all."

"Right," said Colin softly.

She wondered at the ache in his voice but it was probably nothing. Boys like Colin Bridgerton were dreams. Fun to think about but when he had so many options why would he ever look at her? She had to be realistic, even if it broke her heart to do it.

"Eloise says you've got a crush on David Debling," Colin said, "that you two flirt all of the time."

Penelope blushed. "Eloise always thinks everyone is flirting because she doesn't know how to do it."

"Right," said Colin with a laugh.

They stayed out on the football field until the morning. Sometimes they danced, sometimes they just sat in the grass and talked about what they wanted her futures to be. It was one of her favorite memories from Whistledown Academy. Her, and Colin, and a vast empty football field, discussing their dreams. If only that version of them could live on.