An Exchange

Chapter Twenty-Eight - Second Semester Begins

January 2005

Penny

The sun shone through under the curtains of my window. I stretched and sighed contentedly. The New Year's party had been a hit. Everyone had a great time, a perfect start to the year. I rolled over to look at my clock. 10:43 a.m. My stomach growled. Time to get up.

I showered and went out to the living room where Pat sat on the couch reading. “There's some breakfast on the counter,” she told me.

As I munched, scanning the room, I realised we had left a huge mess. I finished eating and worked at pulling down the balloons and streamers.

Pat looked up from her book and smiled at me. “Thank you, Penny.”

I shrugged. “No worries. It's my mess.”

“I wasn't expecting you to clean until Jonas could help you.”

I smiled. He wouldn't be out of bed until the afternoon. But, being Saturday, I would have time to recover and clean up. “I don't see him helping even if he was awake.”

She chuckled.

A few minutes later, the door clicked and Giles walked in. He didn't even look at me as he walked straight to the TV to disconnect the gaming console. I dropped the streamers in the trash and walked over to him. “Hey, Giles.”

He glanced up at me, but returned his focus to unplugging the console. “Hey.”

“Are you okay?” I asked.

He let out a long, drawn out breath and muttered, “Yeah, I'm just tired.”

I knelt beside him and picked up the controllers. He left abruptly the night before, and had looked extremely disappointed. He told me that he wanted to kiss the girl he liked at midnight, but he hadn't found her. In general, I didn't think it had been a good night for him. His and Ryan’s argument probably didn’t help. I still wished they'd just get along. They were two of the most important people in my life.

My other friends had a good night though. Maria and Marty were now a couple. I couldn’t be happier for both of them, even if I was concerned about Zara and her friends bullying Maria for it. Maria was tough, and Marty would keep them at bay.

“Hey, Giles?”

“Mmm?”

“I'm sorry you didn't have fun last night.”

He exhaled slowly and glanced up at me. “I had fun, Penny.”

I took the microphones and controllers and helped him carry them home, but he didn't want to talk. He thanked me and returned to his room to go to sleep.

I walked back to the house as Jonas moaned inside. I walked in as he finished off the breakfast muffins, and complained about having to clean.

*

Giles

Penny had no idea I was hurting, but I didn't want to talk to her. She did show concern for me when she saw I was distant, but accepted my excuse of being tired. She helped me carry my things back to the house and spoke as she put them away. “Are you sure you're all right, Giles?”

I tried to smile. “Yeah, nothing a bit of sleep won't cure.”

“All right. Well, get some rest then.” She softly kissed my cheek.

I turned away from her, pain rising within me, and rushed to my room. I paced for a few moments while tugging at my hair, then collapsed on my bed. I couldn’t get the image out of my mind of Ryan kissing her and gazing at me with smug contempt. I hated how much he enjoyed holding my feelings for her over my head. I hated that he flaunted his relationship with her in front of me and reveled in watching me react.