𝐅𝐎𝐎𝐋𝐒 𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃 ᵍⁱˡᵇᵉʳᵗ ᵇˡʸᵗʰᵉ

15

-🌸-

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Penny sat cross-legged on her bed, in a white lacy nightgown.

A single sheet of parchment sat on her lap, Mr. Phillips' handwriting staring back at her. His cursive handwriting molded into each other and the letters blended. The A's turned into E's and the B's into C's. She continued staring down at the letter she couldn't even read clearly, the same thought running through her head.

What's wrong with me?

Reading was supposed to be easy. Everybody should know how to read. Well, she did know how to read, but the letters seemed to run marathons on the page. She folded the letter up, running her hands over her face. Thousands of thoughts ran through her head and she just couldn't untangle them fast enough before they knotted into one another and she couldn't even tell one worry from the other.

Instead of folding the letter nicely, she scrunched it up into a ball and threw it onto the floor, breathing heavily. As she heard someone at the door, she snapped her head up towards the door frame. Expecting to see Margot, or Christian, she frowned. Vance stood at the door, his tie hung lazily around his neck and hair messy. Penny looked at him with red eyes as he moved over to her.

"Hey, Pen," he said, stepping into her room.

Vance had been at work for months in America, causing Penny to not have seen him for weeks on end. She stood from her bed, watching as he looked at her, then the scrunched up ball on the floor. Penny swallowed the lump beginning to grow in his throat. Her mouth opened to speak as he leaned down, picking it up with two fingers.

"What's this?" He simply asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

Penny's gut twisted as he opened the letter. Him reading that was the thing that would ruin her. Her father finally figuring out what a failure she was would destroy her. When she was younger she made a promise to herself she would never let her parents feel disappointed in her. She had broken that vow. As Vance's eyes flickered over the letter, she could see it in his eyes.

Everyone praised him for having a beautiful daughter, but behind closed doors Vance had a stupid daughter.

Penny's jaw locked as he read over the letter once again.

"When did you get this?" Vance asked, looking up at her with an emotion Penny couldn't figure out.

Penny's fingertips found the hem of her sleeve, twisting it and picking at the frilly white lace. "A few weeks ago."

"We'll sort this out." Vance nodded.

Christian had said the same a few weeks ago. He said he would figure it out, only then Penny actually believed it would be okay. But nothing had changed, and now Vance had found out. It wouldn't get better now. Because she couldn't tell her numbers from her letters.

Vance turned around, leaving Penny's room. Until she heard his voice from Christians room, she didn't know where he was going. Vance spoke harshly to Christian, as though he was yelling through the walls.

Penny couldn't hear much, only Vance yelling the question whether Christian knew about the letter or not. Christian yelled back, louder than his father. Margot's footsteps soon joined the sounds, before her shrill broke too sounded through the walls.

Penny wanted to walk into the room next door, but her feet wouldn't move. The only part of her that did move was her arms, moving to shield her ears from the noise. She moved back to her bed, sitting down and resting her elbows on her thighs, head facing the floor.

Her family was screaming now, about her. Screaming and shrieking at each other. Christian was getting yelled at for not telling them sooner and Vance was yelling at Margot for telling him he was being over dramatic.

It was Penny's fault again. First it was the fight with Gilbert, then the family fight. It was her fault. Gilbert was mad because she wasn't communicating properly and Vance was mad because she couldn't learn properly.

She would fix it. All of it.

-🌸-

The words of her friends ran in one ear and out the other.

Prissy's wedding was something all the girls were talking about, apart from Penny. She just couldn't find it in her to care about Prissy marrying Mr. Phillips. If it was any other man, she would probably find it in her to muster up a hint of joy for her friend. But since Mr. Phillips had been cruel to her, every emotion other than joy was in her gut.

Instead she looked to the side to where Gilbert was sitting at his desk, reading a book and furrowing his eyebrows in concentration. She hadn't spoken to him since their argument. Confrontation was something Penny couldn't do even if her life depended on it. She was quiet and avoided conflict, so Gilbert being mad at her hit her like a sudden train.

She sucked in a breath, standing up and marching towards his table. Gilbert looked up at the flash of pink in front of him. Penny's emerald eyes looked back at him, as big as ever.

Her fingers played with the hem of her skirt as she looked down at him. "Morning."

"Hey Penny," he replied, closing his book and giving her his full attention. Her gaze continued flickering to the seat beside him. "Do you want to sit?"

"Thank you," she said, slotting herself in beside him. Despite him being angry at her, the feeling of her being close to him never failed to make her cheeks go rosy.

"Before you say anything, I'm sorry I got mad at you," Gilbert told her. "I shouldn't have."

"I came over here to say the same," Penny replied. "Not that I got mad at you, that I'm sorry if I did anything to annoy you."

"Don't worry, you didn't," Gilbert smiled. To him, Penny couldn't do anything wrong. "I never got the chance to tell you that you played really well. The song you wrote was the best one though."

"Thank you," Penny nodded. "I'm working on a new one."

"Is it for anyone?"

"Not for anyone." Penny furrowed her eyebrows ever so slightly, continuing to look at him.

"But if they asked me to, I would give it to them in a heartbeat."

---

27/07/2024

Lazy chapter but guys I'm getting over jetlag. the next chapter that comes will be better trusttt

also fair warning I don't think this book will be very long. Maybe thirty chapters if we're lucky. But I like the idea of this book being short and sweet, and I hope you guys to do. 

If you've stuck around until this note, thank you and I hope you're enjoying.