My Heart's Choice (On Hold)

Chapter 6

Once Penny and I had gotten over our initial shock, due to the huge catastrophe that befell us, Penny pulled me to the ladies room to 'brush' my 'lips'.

"They are contaminated!" she shrieks, rubbing toothpaste all over my lips.

I look at myself in the mirror and do my best to not cringe. One glance at me and even a zombie would run for his life. My eyes look horrible and exhausted which makes me avert them feeling very self-concious.

For a full quarter of an hour Penny takes her time to clean my 'contaminated' lips. And Penny's idea of clean is very much different from my own. Her definition of 'clean' is very much closer to 'shiny and about to crack due to all the brushing'
I have no idea where she found a brush and toothpaste, to begin with.

"Penny, that's enough!" I whine, trying not to swallow any of the toothpaste.

"Hold on!" Penny commands, and like every other day, I can only protest with my dramatic eye roll, which I manage to execute precisely.

Penny sighs, giving me a pointed look.

What?

"Done!" she says, clapping her hands together to admire my 'clean' lips.

Pftt.  I mentally give her an over-exaggerated eye roll.

She then somehow drags me to the nurse, who dares not question my bruises as soon as she hears the name Mason Young.

People don't fear Mason, as in physically. But everyone fears the money stowed in countless bank safety lockers, belonging to his dad. And they fear the power he owned to loose anyone of his or her job, with just the click of his fingers.

I then sneaked into Mr. Mill's office and stuffed the two joint essays in with the rest of them. Well, Penny just made up signatures for Mason and Seth, in order to help me out. Although they looked a bit girly, with a lot of curves and hearts and all, I couldn't have done anything about that, right?

Not the best day ever...

"Dana, this is not turning out to be good for you," Penny says walking by my side to the cafeteria.

I nod, trying my best not to stare back at the millions of pairs of eyes that stare - or rather glare at me.

"They think that you are Mason freaking Young's new girlfriend!" she whisper-yells in my ear.

My mind is a bit foggy with everything happening so soon and without notice, and nothing seems to make any sense. The mere thought is scaring the hell out of me.

Why is this even happening?

"Penny," I say, "please tell me this is a dream."

She looks at me like I've lost my mind, but then starts pondering on what I said. She then looks at me with a sour expression.

"No honey, if this is some dream, Mason and Rhea wouldn't be in it," she says with a shrug.

I give her an agreeing nod. Sure, same applies for me. This is a nightmare! That much is pretty clear.

"Now! Act NORMAL!" she suddenly commands, seconds before entering the cafeteria.

"How much normal?" I ask, given that people consider my 'normal' behavior to be 'abnormal'.

"Just normal, like everyday," she says and plasters a huge smile on her lips.

Both of us drop our trays beside Dylan's on our usual desk.

"No reading at lunch!" Penny hisses at Dylan who shuts his book and drops it in his bag in one second.

"Dana?" Dylan says, looking at me like he thought I had candy for him, "I have a question."

"No, she is not Mason's girlfriend!" Penny answers for me, before even Dylan can voice his question.

"Oh," his eyebrows shoot to his hairline, "Okay, but I wanted to know if I can borrow her copy of Jane Eyre."

Penny looks at him like she tastes bile on her tongue.

"Sure, you can," I say to Dylan, before the whole cafeteria could remind themselves to stare at our desk.

"I also have another question," Dylan says taking a sip of his coke.

"What?" Penny snaps at him stuffing her mouth with her sandwich.

"Are you Mason's girlfriend?" he asks me with wide eyes.

Penny stops chewing and glares at him as if wishing him to melt into some meaty stew.

I shake my head at him.

"No!" I state, clearly.

"Oh," he says before digging into his food with his plastic spoon.

"Don't look now, but half of the cafeteria is staring at you... Make that three quarters... Oh wait, the whole cafeteria is staring at you," Penny says, scanning the cafeteria with her huge spy- eyes.

I pull a huge textbook out of my backpack and cover my face with it, pretending to read, despite Penny's no-books-at-lunch warnings.

What the heck just happened to me?

My phone buzzes in my pocket making me jump on the spot. I pull it out and stare at the text message I just received.

Mason:
Game. At 4.

I slowly turn to Penny, still trying to process what the text message means, at all.

"What is it?" Penny asks, trying to read my blank face.

I show her the text and she visibly goes pale.

"He wants you to show up at the game?" she asks trying to look calm.

"Is that what it said?"

"Yeah, today's game starts at 4. And he wants you to be there."

"Why me? I don't like football! And I know nobody!" I whisper-yell.

"Well, you are his new girlfriend. Remember?"

Dylan and I both stare at her.

"Really?" Dylan asks.

"No!" I say quickly.

"Yes!" Penny says to me, choosing to ignore Dylan's puzzled expression.

"Unless you want a replay of what happened today morning, I strongly recommend that you go," Penny says, pointing her plastic spoon at me.

"But Rhea is going to kill me!"

"Technically, Rhea has no right to do that. Anyone can show up at a game. If someone asks, you're there to support the team," Penny shrugs.

Huh?

"Okay," I shrug, imitating Penny, "If someone asks, you're there to support the team too."

"Hm... Sure....WHAT?" Penny gives me her signature glare.

"Thanks, you're the best, Penny," I say, returning to my food, and trying my best to ignore her glares.