Penelope's house

It was stifling hot. Penelope picked up her pen again and began to write and maybe because she’d been writing apologies all morning, or simply because it was the way she felt, the letter came out more like an apology than anything else.

Dear Mommy,

I’m sorry for what I said, I didn’t understand, no one told me. I’m not cross with you, it’s not your fault, please forgive me. Okay?

Well, I got to school fine and the first week was good. Bobby has braces and she is not happy at all. Anyway, I shouldn’t be talking about me, how are you? Did you get back to Canada okay? I hope that Auntie Jane is fine with you staying with her while you find a flat.

Please write back to me.

Lots and lots of love, Penelope xxx

Penelope made a point to write very slowly and keep her hand still so she wouldn’t blot the paper and her mum wouldn’t notice how she was on the brink of tears.  Her mother didn’t need more things to worry about just now.

She carefully folded the letter and looked up at the clock, only ten minutes had passed, pathetic. She still had an entire afternoon and all her work was done: apologies written, clothes repaired, prep completed. What was Miss Hammersmith’s problem? Did she like tormenting students by locking them up all Saturday in detention? Penelope stared blankly out of the window, imagining her friends swimming in the pool before lunch.

The desk in front of her was piled high with school exercise books waiting to be marked, and in the rest of the room filing cabinets were overflowing with student forms. The table lamp was barely visible beneath a huge pile of textbooks and the bookshelf looked as if the slightest breath of wind would cause a downpour of books. It was frankly terrifying, although it did explain something about why Miss Hammersmith was so irritable.

It actually was quite boring in detention. Bobby always talked about it like it was nothing, but Penelope didn’t know how she stood it. What she really needed was something to do which was really time-consuming, something that needed concentration, like… BANG! Penelope’s pen flew off the table as Bobby cantered through the door and plonked herself on the desk with the lamp. Several large books thudded on the floor. “Sorry ‘bout that Penny” said Bobby cheerily, casually knocking a few more books down with a sweep of her arm.

“Oh, hi Bobby.” mumbled Penelope, more coldly than usual – she still hadn’t quite forgiven Bobby for landing her in detention in the first place.

Bobby seemed unperturbed, “You look as bored as a dead cod in here. Why not come out, play a bit of tennis? Well, be ref.” Her short, curly black locks bounced on the frecked beam covering her face.

Penelope gave Bobby a look which plainly said, ‘Seriously Bobby?’

“What’s the problem?” asked Bobby gaily.

Penelope gazed intently at Bobby for a moment, “I’m in detention.”

It took a while for Bobby to understand, “Oh yeah!” she clamped her hands over her face and fell back onto the desk, causing another small avalanche, “I forgot to tell you,” she sat up again, “Mrs Still said you could leave at lunch, s’long as your socks were darned.”

Penelope grinned, “You forgot?!”

Bobby began to giggle a little, then exploded with a huge snort of laughter. She sounded like a guinea pig. Penelope felt the corners of her mouth twitching and couldn’t help joining in.

Through her laughter Bobby managed to garble, “Come on.” And they got up and left as fast as they could before Miss Hammersmith could come and put them both back in detention for the mess.

In under a minute they had made it to the entrance hall and Penelope could almost feel the cool wind on her face when they were stopped by a small, fierce girl with fiery hair, Helen, who was marching up to them, followed meekly by her twin, Hannah.

“Whatcha doing?” Asked Bobby suspiciously, eyeing their tennis racquets.

“What are you doing? We thought that you were going to help us with our tennis, but then you left.” accused Helen.

“So Helen though-”Hannah added, but she was unable to finish her sentence because Helen had finished her sentence for her.

“I thought that maybe you weren’t going to help us after all.”

“Well I am going to help, so there.” said Bobby defiantly.

“Good.” barked Helen who then turned and swept off, leaving Hannah to follow. Hannah waved a shy hand and muttered inaudibly to Penelope, but Helen clicked to her like a dog and she scampered to heel.

Penelope turned to Bobby quizzically. Bobby shrugged, “No idea.”

“Me neither.” agreed Penelope, laughing.

***

When Bobby and Penelope arrived at the tennis courts Helen was already there, dressed in prim little tennis whites, bouncing a racquet on her thigh and humming the “my little pony” theme tune irritably. Hannah was also in tennis whites and looked mildly irritated.

Penelope leant over and whispered into Bobby’s ear, “It’s the humming that’s getting at her, isn’t it.”

Bobby nodded in agreement and opened the gate to the tennis court. As soon as she was onto the grass Tarquin, her cousin, walked over and resumed an argument which he and Bobby had evidently been in the middle of when it had occurred to Bobby to go and rescue Penelope.

“No Tarquin” Pre-empted Bobby firmly, “No, you cannot be the referee.”

“But there’s no one else…” Tarquin whined. He was a reasonably tall boy, although compared to Bobby's 5ft 3" he was practically a giant. His face was tanned, with warm, grey eyes and he had unusually long, chestnut hair. In fact, if Bobby hadn’t been wearing a dress you could have easily thought he was the girl and she the boy. Everything about him was remarkable and he had his straw hat on backwards, with the red tassels hanging in his face.

“Actually, Penelope is going to be referee.” countered Bobby.

“I asked first!” he sounded outraged and the tassels on his hat waved manically.

“No, and anyway it’s a girl’s game.”

“You just made up that rule to annoy me!”

“Did not.”

“Did too.”

“Didn’t.”

“You did.”

“Not”

“It’s not fair Bobby. That rule wasn’t there before.” interrupted Tarquin’s eleven-year-old, Clarence, looking earnest.

“Oh, shuttup Clarence.” said Bobby dismissively.

Clarence’s eyes began to fill with tears and his bottom lip quivered, “But Bobby…”

“Oh god, don’t cry.” Bobby sounded harsh.

Tarquin moved forward to protect Clarence, “Leave my brother alone. What has he done to you? Nothing.”

“He is a bit of a baby though.”

Clarence began to cry. He rubbed his eyes with the grubby cuff of his school shirt and walked off. Tarquin threw an angry look at Bobby and stormed after Clarence, taking hold of him round the shoulders comfortingly.

Penelope looked at Bobby fuming in her socks and whispered just too quietly for anyone to hear, “Nice one Bobby.”