Superheroes Suck

Chapter 8: I Stayed Mute

Penn was not prompt.

Nor was he in a good mood.

Apparently, he had gotten into another argument with the football team. George had said something Penn didn't like and it turned into a heated disagreement that was bad enough that both guys had their teams arguing with them.

I was given a monosyllabic greeting and a side-eye glare when I entered his car. It took his halfway home to even say anything more, and when he finally did, it was like the floodgates had opened. He spent the rest of the way home, and the walk up the driveway, ranting about how much he hated "those football assholes."

"I should have knocked those football assholes down a few pegs when I had the chance." Penn muttered to himself as he carelessly swung the car around the corner.

The momentum was enough to throw me right into the door. Penn was too pissed off to take notice of my pain.

"No you shouldn't have Penn."

"And why not? Tell me why I didn't knock those jockstraps into next week."

"First off, you can't call them jockstraps because you also wear a jockstrap." That seemed to break Penn out of his funk momentarily. He gave me a curious look. "I assume, I think that's something all male sports do. I'm not really privy to the dirty details of men's high school sports and at the moment, I'd prefer to keep it that way. That means if what I just said was wrong then don't you dare correct me Pendleton.

"Second," I continued, "if you had fought them like you seem so keen to do, you'd probably get in a lot of trouble. The kind of trouble that gets you kicked off the lacrosse team trouble."

"Good point." Penn grumbled and went back to paying attention to the road.

We arrived home somewhere in the middle of me assuring Penn that taking on the entire football team, alone mind you, would have certainly been a horrible idea. He might have kept me there if the motion activated lights hadn't flashed on.

"Well, I think that's my cue." I interrupted him, quickly taking control of the situation. "I will see you tomorrow Penn. Bye."

I was not subtle in slamming the door in his face.

The next morning, I was up before my alarm. Part of that was my excitement for the night I had ahead of me. The ball itself would be a bit of a bore, it always is, but I was looking forward to my first assignment as a real journalist. My very first time stepping up into the big leagues as an adult.

Also something is bothering me. Something is up with Penn, and that something started with his breakup with Ray.

Penn seemed back to his usual self so I decided to let it go for now. I'd prefer not to spend the whole ride to school with a moody Penn.

There seemed to even be a skip in his step as he bound up the front steps of the school, leaving me in his wake. When he realized I was not behind him, he ran back down the steps to retrieve me. His hand wrapped around my wrist and he pulled me along to my locker, chatting about lacrosse and school as we walked.

Even Murphy seemed alarmed by Penn's complete 180.

The moment Penn left my side, Murphy had taken his spot and was asking, "What the hell is wrong with him? What did you do?"

"Me?" I asked incredulously.

"Yes you." Murphy glared accusingly, crossing his arms as he looked down at me.

But, when it comes to him, I am not one to be intimidated.

"Don't you dare blame me for something I sure as hell didn't do. Before you go pointing fingers at anyone, especially at me, why don't you actually figure out what's wrong?"