Penny and Will

Chapter Two

{W I L L}

||Scotland, 2012||

Will was stuck in a rainy, cold, foggy, foreign country.

Great.

He didn't know anyone, no one knew him, and his American accent separated him from everyone else in this god-forsaken town.

The move from their home in Michigan had been hard for him, but it had been worse for his little sister, Abby. She had complained the whole flight to Scotland about "leaving her boyfriend" and "no cell reception". There was, though.

First world problems, right there.

Plus, the first morning in their new house, Will had been woken at 5 in the morning by bagpipes. Stereotypical.

And then, after not being able to go back to sleep, he had had to make breakfast, pack a lunch, and then run to catch the bus because he thought he was going to be late.

The bus was instead.

Fantastic way to start the day, right?

So of course he had to put his backpack down on the seat that belonged to a pretty girl. With long wavy red hair and hazel eyes and tiny tiny freckles.

He was a sucker for girls with freckles.

Will had moved his backpack - a rucksack, the girl had called it - and told her to sit down. She had, but then proceeded to ignore him. He congratulated himself on his skills.

"What's your name?" Will asked.

The girl hesitated and then turned, her eyes annoyed. At least she didn't roll them, like Will's ex-girlfriend Courtney.

"Oh, err, Penny...?" the girl said.

"Penny. Has a nice ring to it..." Will thought.

"Cool. I'm Will."

Penny rolled her eyes, sighed, and turned back to the window.

Will congratulated himself again, then pulled out his phone. He typed in his pass code (2467, he used the same pass code on everything), then texted his friend Marcus.

Even though there was a 6 hour time difference, Marc was always up until two playing Halo.

"Why do I screw everything up with the ladies," he thumbed out.

Sent changed to read, and the three dots showed up.

"Cuz you're just so smooth."

"Yeah right."

"No man I'm serious. The ladies in Michigan fucking loved your ass."

Will rolled his eyes. "I'm not in Michigan I'm in fucking Scotland," he replied.

"So? Now you get hot accents what's not to like."

Will could come up with a few things. Including but not limited to sitting next to girls that seemed to hate Americans.

***

In French class (why had Will's mom signed him up for French? Oh yeah. Something about "not being able to take another language while in high school"), the teacher, Mr. Beaumont, gave them assigned seats. Guess who Will was next to?

That's right. Penny.

"Oh joy," Will heard her mutter when the teacher called their names. Other people snickered, a couple whispers were passed. Will could sense the gossip starting about him. Maybe Penny would get caught up in it.

Will put his backpack down next to his chair and sat down. Penny, already sitting, moved her chair as far away from him as possible. (She seemed to think this was subtle, but Will noticed.)

This was going to be a great class.