From Me to You

Chapter 4

Usually on New Year’s Eve, I’m excited about a new year with new beginnings. But I was genuinely sad for this year to end. It wasn’t that I enjoyed the disaster that was this summer with Nate, obviously. But if it wasn’t for Jackass, The Lonely Hearts Club wouldn’t have happened. I wouldn’t have had this amazing group of friends.

So I guess I’m thankful that there’ll always be jerky boys to remind us that we’re worth more.

The Club’s party was in full swing in our basement. My parents were upstairs with their friends, and we’d been left alone. We were all dancing away, chatting, stuffing our faces — you know, the usual. While this was something most people only did at big parties, like for New Year’s Eve, it was pretty much a typical Saturday night for The Lonely Hearts Club.

Sometimes I couldn’t believe that this was my life now.

“So?” Diane came up to me with a huge smile on her face. “How are things? How was dinner tonight?”

I froze. I was well aware that Diane knew Ryan and I were dating. The whole school was aware of that fact. But this was Diane, Ryan’s ex. Sure, she’d encouraged us to get together, and since Ryan was one of her closest friends, I was pretty sure he’d already told her how our dinner went, but still . . . it was weird.

“Come on, Penny!” Diane laughed. “It’s a simple question; I’m not giving you the third degree.”

“First” — Tracy approached us wearing a New Year’s tiara — “I need to wear a crown every day. I think it suits me. Second, giving Pen the third degree would be a fab way to spend the evening. So how did it go?” She started wiggling her eyebrows playfully. “Was Ryan the perfect gentleman? Although how much fun would that be?”

I glared at Tracy. She knew that I felt uncomfortable talking to Diane about Ryan. “It was fine. We just got pizza, nothing big.” Yes, we did get pizza . . . and then made out in his car for about thirty minutes before he dropped me off to get ready for the party. So it was better than fine, but couldn’t a girl have a little privacy? Was nothing sacred?

“Hey, everybody!” Tracy called out. “We’re getting the Ryan scoop from Penny!”

Apparently not.

The room went quiet and someone turned down the music. There was a chorus of “ooohs!” Tracy was so dead.

“Hey!” Morgan called out from the corner. “You guys made me spill when I started dating Tyson, so it’s only fair.”

Um, I was the one who called off the hounds when they were circling Morgan after her first date with Tyson.

“We want details!” Kara called out.

Et tu, Kara?

Soon the entire room was throwing out questions and suggestive comments. I knew they meant well. Everybody in the Club was supportive of the fact that I was dating Ryan. There had even been a unanimous vote to rewrite our rules to allow dating, which had been forbidden. However, the rule wasn’t technically changed for me. It was mostly changed because of Morgan and Tyson. Then Michelle got back together with Michael, Tracy’s younger brother. Order was restored in the world. And, yes, that meant that I did get to go out with Ryan.

“Okay! Okay!” I finally gave up. Maybe I’d just give them something. “We’ve been having a nice time.”

“Boring!” Tracy threw a napkin at me. “Of course you had a nice time; tell us about the hot kissing!”

I wasn’t exactly sure what the look on my face was, but Tracy recoiled slightly. She was not one to ever back away from anything, so it must’ve been epic.

“Ah . . .” I turned bright red thinking of all the hot kissing, and fumbled for something to say. Instead I went with deflection. “So Michelle, how are things going with Michael?”

“NO!” Tracy howled and put her hands up to her face like she was in a horror movie. “I don’t want to hear any details about my baby brother. That’s just wrong. So wrong.”

Michelle wisely hid behind Eileen while all eyes remained on me.

I looked out at this new family of friends that I’d been fortunate enough to acquire. I used to be able to tell them everything. They knew all about what I’d gone through with

Nate. They cheered me on after I got to tell him off at Thanksgiving. They were better than family in a way, because this was a family that I got to choose.

It wasn’t that I didn’t want to shout from the rooftops about how well things were going with Ryan, but something held me back. Maybe it was the fact that just a few weeks ago, I was the one declaring that all boys were evil and not worth our time. That we were better without guys. But now I was the one with a boyfriend.

Hypocrite much?

Plus, couldn’t I have this one thing for myself?

“Guys!” Diane came to my rescue. “There’s going to be plenty of opportunities to hear about Penny and Ryan, but we only have twenty minutes until the New Year. Let’s get back to dancing!”

Thankfully, the music started up again and everybody’s attention went back to the music, the food, and (hopefully) gossip not related to me.

“Thanks.” I gave Diane a grateful smile.

“Listen, Penny” — Diane flipped her long blond hair — “I know you feel weird talking about it, so there’s no pressure. There are also no issues and no competition. You know that, right?”

Of course I knew there was no competition between Diane and me. She was this petite, gorgeous, model-like creature who always had the perfect outfit on. She was also really smart and in practically every extracurricular activity the school offered. So there was no way I could compete on that level. She knew that. I knew that. Everybody knew that.

But Ryan liked me regardless of the fact that I wasn’t perfect like Diane. I had a crazy family; my fashion sense consisted mostly of jeans, T-shirts, and sneakers; I’d always have four guys in my life (John, Paul, George, and Ringo); and I had this Club

that would always be a priority. But none of that seemed to matter to Ryan.

So no, there wasn’t a competition.

“Yes, I do,” I assured her. “Now let’s dance!”

Tracy joined Diane and me as we swayed along to the Fab Four.

“It’s time!” I called out as I turned the music off and the television on so we could properly ring in the New Year.

The Club all grabbed apple cider, noisemakers, and horns and started counting down.

“Pen,” Tracy whispered in my ear, “how right was I about this year being amazing? We just knew it, didn’t we?”

“We did!” I put my arm around my best friend as we had ten seconds remaining of the old before we’d be ushering in a new era of The Lonely Hearts Club. “And I’m predicting that next year will be even better.”

“The best.” Tracy gave me a huge hug as the basement filled with excitement, anticipation, and then a chorus of “FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE . . . HAPPY NEW YEAR! ”

All the Club members went around to toast and embrace one another. There was so much happiness, I wished I could’ve bottled it up. And while I wanted to savor my time with the Club, I knew that there were even more amazing moments to come.

We had a whole new year to make memories and grow together.

While the year was only a couple of seconds old, I hoped it was ready for all that The Lonely Hearts Club had in store.

                                                                        THE END

Want more Penny Lane Bloom? Check out We Can Work it Out, the sequel to The Lonely Hearts Club - coming from Point/Scholastic on January 27, 2015!