Penny and Will

Chapter Five

{ P E N N Y}

||Scotland, 2012||

If only she could get that bloody American boy out her head. She didn't want to talk to him or see him again; he was an annoying boy, and he seemingly liked her.

Why? She had done her best to be rude to him; she didn't want anything to do with him, but her master plan had evaporated into the ground like mist.

Penny flopped down on her bed and mashed her face into her pillows. "Ugh," she groaned.

"Penny! Come downstairs; it's time for supper," her mum called. Her voice echoed off the stairway.

Penny didn't get up to go downstairs. She just pulled a pillow over her head and grabbed her phone, plugging in her earphones and playing her music.

"Penelope Katherine Alloway! Get down here!" her mother called again a few minutes later.

She hated being called Penelope. Her name sounded like a nun's, or at least an old, crotchety lady's.

Penny literally rolled off her bed onto the floor; her bed was fairly low to the ground, so she could successfully do so without hurting herself. She pulled on her favorite pair of fuzzy slippers and took a look around her room, wanting to find her hairbrush.

"Coming, Mum!" she called downstairs, searching her vanity for the hairbrush.

Her room was on the smaller side, with white walls decorated with photos she had taken of herself, her friends, herself and her friends, and a few objects. Her favorite photo was of the sea rolling in, a bird bobbing on the white-crested waves. She had taken it on their family trip to Italy a couple years ago.

Her bed was white, with drawers on the side. She kept her cameras (she had a polaroid and Canon IT3) in the drawers, and her sketchbooks. The bedspread was also white, but a bit ruffled at the top. She had her favorite black fuzzy throw blanket neatly folded at the foot of the bed, and a ton of funky throw pillows.

The four bookshelves that she had were all packed with books. They took up a whole wall, and she loved the way her room always smelled of paper and magic.

Her rug was zebra-striped, and her vanity was covered with pictures and filled with neatly organized makeup products.

Finally, her hand closed around the light-blue handle of her hairbrush. Penny peered into the mirror and quickly drew the brush through her long, wavy red hair, and then headed downstairs.

The smell of her favorite soup (ham and bean) filled the air. She could almost taste it.

"Smells great, Mum," she said, coming into the cluttered kitchen. Pots and pans were hung from a magnetic strip on the wall, and all the dishes and cups were scattered in cupboards. Silverware was in a few drawers by the sink.

Ruby Alloway was slight and willowy, with gorgeous dark red hair and flawless skin, and bright green eyes. Her hair was always up in a messy bun, the kind that Penny had tried a thousand times to re-create but could never get just right. Her mum was wearing her favorite pair of worn-out jeans and a cable-knit sweater, and a pair of fuzzy socks. Penny never could have pulled a look like that off.

It was like someone had taken Ruby and looked at through a fishtank. Penny had the same red hair and freckles, but her body was much curvier than Ruby's. She was still considered to be skinny, but next to her mother she looked like a boulder.

Ruby threw a smile at her daughter. "I heard there's a new boy in your class."

"Ugh, please don't talk about him," Penny groaned, but her pulse gave a quick jump at the thought of him.

"What's his name?"

"Will."

Ruby began pouring soup into three mugs. "That's a nice name."

Yes, it is, Penny agreed. "I guess so."

Her mum handed her a mug and said, "Please take this into the dining room, it's for your father."

Penny took the bowl and nearly dropped it. It was scalding hot. "Ouch," she muttered. Carrying it carefully by the handle, Penny brought it into the dining room and set it onto her father's place.

The dining room was small and homey, with red walls and wooden trim. The table was round and made of oak. There were three mismatched chairs, one that matched the table, and two that were plush and squishy. One was green and one was pink. Penny adored them.

From a chest of drawers in the corner, Penny took out three napkins, and three spoons. She set the napkins by the mugs and the spoons on the napkins, and then went back upstairs.

She had managed to keep Will out of her head for a while, but he came rushing back as she closed the door to her room. Penny didn't understand why he seemed to like her so much. She wasn't anywhere near pretty, and she wasn't tall and slim and willowy like the other girls in her class.

And she considered herself to be fairly boring. All she did was read, take photos, and draw. Her life consisted mainly of these three things, if you didn't count school and chores and homework.

Penny flopped down on her bed and began scrolling through the photos on her camera. She stopped at the one of her and her old friends laughing together, with the sea in the background. They had been in Brighton at the time, and she had taken so many pictures of the sea and the little houses near it.

She missed her friends.

They all went to different schools now, and a few - Ava, Helen - had moved away. Her only friends now were her cameras and - sigh - her parents.

At least Will seemed to want to know her. Maybe it won't be too bad, Penny thought. At least I'd have someone to sit with at lunch.

She normally sat in the corner by herself, doing her homework.

It would be nice to have friends again.

A/N: Here you go! Sorry it took so long; I was trying to get it just right. Hope you like it! xx