Penny ~ A Romantic Kind Of Story

The First Chapter

"Pen, dinner's on the table!"

"Just a minute!" I yelled, while finishing my homework. When done, I went downstairs to the kitchen where I saw dad cutting up pizza slices. "You know dad, for a brief moment I actually thought you were gonna cook dinner. I'm glad you didn't." I smiled and reached for a pizza slice.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean? You don't think I can cook, is that what you're saying?" We both laughed, because we both knew the truth; he couldn't. When he last tried, the entire house ended up in flames (well not exactly, but it could've). So, pizza was from that day our everyday-dinner-choice.

"How was school?"

"Okay." I said while swallowing the last piece of pizza.

"And you did great at the exam?"

"I think you already know the answer to that." I said, smiling a bit. I've always been a hardly working girl. A perfectionist. When I do things, I must do it perfectly. School was one of those things. My grades have always been high; straight A's since middle school. My dad keeps telling me not to push myself too hard, and that it's okay to not be best at everything. But I was his only child, and I felt like I had to make him proud. I didn't want to let him down, like my mom did.

"Well, Papa Lou's Pizza, you did it again!" I said while rubbing my now full stomach.

"And thanks dad for sucking at cooking so bad we can have pizza everyday."

Before he could answer, I hurried out in the hall, grabbed my penny board and went outside.

The warm wind played with my hair as I drove down the street. I was living in The Hamptons, and all the houses on my street had the beach as their backyard, and green lawns in the front.

Eventually I hopped off the board and was now standing outside of my best friend's house, which was about a two minute walk away from mine. Her house was bigger than mine though, and if you walked on their perfectly cut grass and not on the gravel path leading up to the house, her parents would not exactly greet you with politeness. But don't get me wrong, her parents were really sweet, just not when it came to their lawn or their opinions about less than five stars hotels. 

"Pen! I'm glad you're here! I was just wondering where you were." My friend Lacey said and hugged me.

"Yeah, sorry I'm late but I had to eat with my dad."

"That's okay. Now you have to help me decide which outfit I should wear for their gig tonight, I'm panicking!" That was my Lacey. She always had to look her best, even when nobody was with her. She was the most popular girl in school, and I guessed the pressure of being beautiful came from that. But she was the sweetest and kindest person you had ever met, and that was why I loved her more than anything. We had been best friends since kindergarten, when she gave me her doll because she thought that I didn't have one, which I didn't, because I've never been girly. I didn't care about what other people thought of me. I liked to wear oversized T-shirts. I didn't spend hours in front of the mirror before going to school. I liked to hang out with guys (and Lacey), and talk about music and I practically lived in my vans.

"You know I'm not the one to ask if you want fashion advice, but if I were you I would have chosen the black dress." I said pointing at it.

"Of course you would." She laughed, "but yeah, I really do like that one.. Okay, I'll wear it. Thank you, Pen!"

Lacey finished her makeup and I fixed my hair a little bit, then we were ready to go. It was our friends first gig with their band tonight, and we were going to go to show them our support.

We arrived at the club around 9 and walked backstage to wish them good luck. Cole, Matt, Noel and Nick were standing with their instruments and rehearsing. Cole was the lead singer, Matt played the guitar, Noel the bass and Nick the drums. And they were actually good! I remembered in elementary school when they had just started playing together, and the only song they played for about a year was  the happy birthday song every time it was someone's birthday.