An Exchange

Chapter Five - Conclusion of the First Day

Giles

After my class, I waited for Penny. At first I thought I had missed her, but then I heard her voice approaching with a guy. I turned and saw Ryan still with her and I became angry. He was working her. He obviously wanted to get something from her that disgusted me, and as she smiled at him, I knew she had no idea what he was doing.

As she approached, I glanced up at her. She seemed glad to see me, but I felt annoyed with Ryan and struggled to be pleasant to her, so I glanced away. I knew what I wanted to say, and I kept saying it over and over in my head but I just couldn't let it out—'Ryan is a huge jerk who will only use you for sex.' But instead, I was short with her and we argued.

Zoe appeared at the building door and wave to us.

The whole class welcomed Penny. Zoe latched onto her straight away and sat her between us. As the class progressed, I felt bad for being angry at Penny. It wasn't her fault Ryan was a jerk, and she had been right about not knowing what was going on unless someone actually told her. So, when the opportunity came, I turned to her and made her my scripture partner. Zoe raised her eyebrow at me from behind her, but didn't protest.

“Penny, I don’t want to fight,” I said. “It’s just, I don’t want to see you in any trouble.”

She glanced at her hands. “I understand.”

I smiled at her gratefully, and her face lit up. I found myself drawn to her all over again as we locked eyes and she leaned toward me. “You need to trust that I can handle myself.”

I patted her knee. “I think I can do that.”

We then discussed our scripture, and, after feeling like she had already been put on show enough from having to read out the scripture mastery earlier, she made me get up and talk about what we discussed.

After class, we met Jonas in the parking lot. He stunk of sweat from football training, as apparently someone had clogged the drains in the showers. He did most of the talking on the way home, while I thought about Penny as she giggled every so often beside me. She was so beautiful, and for some reason she seemed to want to be my friend. I wasn't complaining, I felt very attracted to her, and I soon forgot my concerns about Ryan and the cheerleaders.

When we arrived home, Jonas rushed into the house on his usual quest for food, and I went around the car to stop her. “Did you have a good first day?”

She huffed, obviously glad it was over. “It was all very overwhelming.”

“High school, what can I say?” I grinned.

“It’s very different here. I hope I didn’t offend you at lunch. I just kinda got swept up—”

“I know.” I grabbed her shoulder. “Once the novelty wears off, it will get easier for you. But right now you're like birthday cake at a party, everyone wants a piece of you.”

Her eyes flashed up to mine and she chuckled. “Nice.”

Pat then called out from their house.

She looked to me to see if I knew who it could be calling her, and I shrugged. Most likely Zoe, but I didn't know for sure, so I let her run in to answer it. I went inside and collapsed on my bed. I thought about the homework I needed to do, but didn't feel motivated to do it. I couldn’t stop thinking about Penny. What was it like for her to be thrown in the deep end like that? She had responded to my harshness with a level head and shown no resentment in return, despite how overwhelmed she must feel. Guilty swept over me again for snapping at her. I rolled over, moaning. I must seem like a total jerk to her.