1 : oblivious red-heads

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by situated

by situated

the picture above is the color i picture penny's hair to be

Penny groans as she rolls out of bed, groping in the dark until she finally succeeds to turn off her rather obnoxious alarm. After spending the next ten minutes deciding and un-deciding what to wear - and then later choosing to throw on a red checkered flannel and black jeans - Penny treks her way to the bathroom across the hall. She cringes after catching a glance at her hair, which resembles a bird's nest. Penny washes her face and brushes her teeth, not putting on makeup like most girls her age do. Honestly, she just finds makeup a waste of time and just a huge pain in the ass. Penny walks down the stairs to her kitchen, where she grabs a granola bar before noticing a hand-written note on the counter.

Had to work early. Have a good day at school.

-Mom

Penny sighs as she sits down on a stool and begins eating her breakfast. Her mother's notes have become a daily occurrence. Even though her father had an amazing job and could perfectly support her and her mother by himself, her mother still felt the need to work. After the horrible miscarriage that she suffered only a year ago, Penny's mother has turned into a full-time workaholic. Penny spends most of her time alone, except for Michael, of course. She wishes she could say she cared or even felt the slightest of sad that she hardly ever sees her parents.

The sound of the bus outside her window signals that it's time for Penny to go. She grabs her phone and school bag before locking the door behind her.

Penny smiles as she notices the familiar empty seat in the back of the bus next to her friend, Michael.

"Hey, Penelope Jean," Michael says with a smirk.

Penny groans before replying, "Hello, Shithead." She takes her seat next to Michael.

"That's not very nice." Michael fake pouts as Penny smacks him on the arm.

Penny begins scrolling through her various social media accounts before she looks up to the sound of Michael's voice.

"On a more serious note, Penny did you lock your door?" Concern was etched onto Michael's face, like it was nearly every day. Penny wishes she knew what bothered him all the time.

"Yes," she groans. "You don't have to look out for me. I'm older than you, anyway."

"By like two months!" Michael throws his hands up in the air for emphasis.

"It still counts," Penny shrugs with a huge grin plastered on her face.

Soon, Penny begins talking about some boy who she thinks is cute that's in her math class, which brings Michael to the realization: God, I need more guy-friends.

Even though Michel hates when Penny talks about guys in front of him, he secretly loved the way she got so into those types of conversations. Her pretty pink lips were moving at a rapid pace, with her nose occasionally scrunching, and her arms flailing animatedly. It was times like these that Michael wished that Penny was his. His and only his. Even though she was talking about another boy, Michael still loved her. He loved her way too much for her to never love him back.

"Michael, are you okay?" Penny looks over at Micahel, who was looking at the floor.

"Yeah. Sorry, what were you saying?"

"I was talking about Luke Hemmings. God, let him have my children."

At the mention of his name, Michael's heart dropped down to his stomach. Luke Hemmings. Captain of the football team and notorious heartbreaker. The guy that Michael had history with, but a history he swore never to tell anyone. And, what Penny had said after his name made Michael feel sick. Have her children? Luke Hemmings made Michael's skin crawl, but he probably also made Penny's skin crawl in a totally different way.

Michael scoffed. "Luke Hemmings? Penny, you could do ten times better than that, trust me." What he wanted to say was: Open your eyes, I'm madly in love with you. We've kissed before. You were drunk, but still loved it anyway.

"Oh, yeah. Then who do you suggest I go after? You?" Penny scoffs, and looks highly offended, as if she was being insulted, rather than Luke.

Michael wanted to shout, yesyesyes!, but rather all he did was mutter a barely audible "no," before slumping back into his seat and looking out the window.

She had no idea. No idea at all.

this is unedited and i'm really sleepy so i'm sorry for the bad grammar/spelling and terrible writing!