Living High School to the Fullest (Completed)

Chapter 11: Dealing with Penny

This chappie is dedicated to thelionmusteat who doesn't write, but reads and really likes this chapter (yay! Go, Penny!), and who made a wonderful trailer for this story! You'll find it in Chapter 29 : Throw a party, part 1. <('')

Chapter 11

Here’s the thing about being spontaneous: you don’t think everything through. I mean, that’s the whole point of it, right? Don’t get me wrong, that can be a good thing! Let’s say, hypothetically, if you make a spur-of-the-moment kind of decision to kiss a cute guy you know nothing about and he kisses you back – that’s great! No stressing about what-ifs and consequences beforehand. You just do it and enjoy.

But being spontaneous can also be a very bad thing. Why? Easy: because you don’t think everything through. Let’s say, hypothetically, that you happen to see the costume of the school mascot of one of your rival schools sitting in a car, windows wide open, practically screaming at you to take it with you, with not a single soul around to witness what you are doing – that might sound like a great opportunity at first. Especially if you have a to-do list with the words ‘play a prank’ written upon it.

Alas, it will only take you twenty minutes, tops, before you realize that you have no clue what to do with it exactly. Or where to hide it until you do. And then you end up sitting in a car with two of your friends, parked at the far dark end of a fast food restaurant’s parking lot, in the middle of the night, arguing about what to do next.

Hypothetically speaking, of course.

Uh, who am I kidding. There was nothing remotely hypothetical about the mess Aaron, Emma and I were in.

“No, absolutely not! No way,” I protested and crossed my arms in front of my chest. “There is not a single place where I could hide it without my family noticing. That head is huge! It was a miracle that we were able to pull it through the car window in one piece. You take it.”

“With my nosy little sisters? No chance in hell,” Aaron said and continued fumbling with his radio.

“Just leave it in your car and throw a blanket over it or something,” I suggested.

“Yeah, because a penguin head-shaped blanket is oh so unsuspicious.”

“Leave it in the trunk, you genius.”

“And where should I put my guitar? Not on the backseat, that’s for sure,” Aaron replied and shook his head. Then he turned around and addressed Em who was sitting behind him: “What about you? Can you take it?”

“Her name is Penny,” Emma announced happily and giggled. “We are friends. Aren’t we, Penny?” She patted the giant costume part right next to her affectionately.

Tipsy Emma sure is something else. She says the craziest things. It would be quite entertaining, if she didn’t get so emotional at the same time.

“Great! Then you can take Penny home with you, right?” Aaron grinned at me. “See? Problem solved.”

“Oh no. Where are your feet, Penny?”  My best friend’s voice suddenly started to fill with panic. “Oh my god! She has no feet!”

Here we go. Emotional Em strikes again.

“That’s okay, Em,” I tried to soothe her. “We love Penny just the way she is, right?”

“But she has to have her feet! Without her feet, she’s not happy. And… she can’t dance! How is she supposed to go home to the North Pole and tap dance with her friends?”