Breathe

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

*~*~*~*

"Good morning." I jumped at the sound of my mother's voice when I walked into the kitchen. I pulled my earbuds out of my ears, turning off the music that had been playing from my phone to look at her, finding her sitting at the kitchen table with a real breakfast set out: sausage with biscuits and gravy and juice.

"Good morning?" It came out as more of a question as I stood behind my chair at the table. "Why are you here?"

"Well, I do live here." She reminded me.

"Yeah, but isn't there some sort of parent-teacher meeting at the school this morning?" I pointed out. "I didn't think you'd want to miss out on Principal Bolan's big speech on how to notice signs of depression in your child. I mean, you are a cop. Wouldn't that stuff be useful for work?"

"Would you just sit down? I thought we could actually have breakfast together." She gestured to the table between us. "It's been awhile since we had a meal together."

"Yeah," I nodded in agreement as I took a seat. "The last one we shared had four places set instead of two."

"Please, Penny, don't start." She shook her head. "Can we please just have one meal together without you dragging up the past. I made your favorite."

"You did, if I were still twelve." I said.

"What?" She frowned at my words. "You love biscuits and gravy, last time I made it you had seconds."

"Again, when I was twelve." I took a sip of my juice. "I can't eat this."

"Why not?" She asked.

"Well, for starters, there's sausage." I stated the obvious, only to earn a look of confusion from her. "I'm a vegetarian."

"Since when?" Her frown only deepened.

"Since I was fourteen." I rolled my eyes. "Look, I should be getting to school anyways. I promised a friend that I'd check his math homework before first period."

"Penny, wait." She stopped me. "We need to talk."

"About what?" I sighed, eager to get out of the house.

"About Hannah Baker." Her words made my stomach drop. "You were friends with her, weren't you?"

"I really don't want to talk about this." I shook my head, getting up from my seat. "Not with you."

"Penny." Her voice grew sharp as I gripped the top of the kitchen chair tightly enough to make my knuckles go white. "Because of this lawsuit between the Bakers and your school they're having some officers look at things more closely."

"And?" I asked, my jaw locked. "What could you possibly need from me?"

"The truth." She was blunt. "If you know something about this girl then you need to tell me, you can't hide secrets from me. Not this time."

"You want the truth?" I scoffed. "Okay, here's the truth. Yes, Hannah was my friend. No, I did not know she was going to kill herself. Yes, I do miss her. I miss her because she was one of three people in this shitty town that actually seemed to give a damn about me."

"Penny-" She began.

"I'm going to school." I shook my head, hurrying out of the house before she had a chance to stop me.

*~*~*~*

"Let me guess, you're supposed to be Sodapop Curtis?" I guessed as I walked down the hall with Tony. Since most of the student body was dressed up today for a costume contest, I decided that I'd have a little fun teasing my leather clad tattooed best friend.