Penelope is just an unpopular girl in school without any friends. But, she's not the only one there who has no friends. Ash, an emo girl in her class also has no friends and doesn't mind. No one knows what's going on in Ash's life. She's a mystery...
Just then, I remembered the gifts I bought for my parents. I left them downstairs, on the living room table... "Gimme a sec," I said to Ash, before running out of the room and down the stairs. I grabbed the bags of stuff and went back upstairs. It's a good thing I remembered them before my parents arrived. If not, that would've been the end of my surprise. "What's that?" asked Ash. "You ran out of stuff?" "Nah these are for my parents," I said, laying them on my table. "For their anniversary Day." "Aww," said Ash. "That's so sweet of you. But then again, I do that too!" "High five!" I said as I raised my hand for her to hit. Luckily, she did. "Hey can you give me an idea on how to wrap them?" I asked, taking the stuff out of the bag. "I wanna make it like a hamper." So that's what we did. Ash helped me to wrap the stuff up like a hamper. It looked good, and I put them away. Then, I made the cards with Ash just watching. "I never knew you were Poppy..." said Ash. "It doesn't sound anything like Penelope..." "It's what my parents call me," I said. "It's kinda like my middle name." "So it's basically your nickname?" asked Ash and I nodded. "Oh okay then." "Yeah but I won't let you call me that," I said. "It's specially for my family members." "My nickname is the other way around," said Ash. "I make my friends call me Ash while my family call me Ashley." I looked at her for a moment, stopping my card making for a second. "Is your favourite character actually Ash Crimson?" I asked. "If it is, then you're a pain to play with in KOF." "Actually not really..." said Ash. "My favourite character is actually Saiki." "That's even worse," I said, shaking my head. "I was gonna suggest having an online match together, but now..." "No no I was only kidding!" said Ash, and started laughing while shaking her head. "My main characters are Iori, Kyo and Ralf, oh and Clark too." "Well if you spam me with Vulcan Punch, I will turn you into an ice sculpture with Kula," I said. "And then I'm gonna thaw you out with K' and burn you to a crisp with Iori." "That sounds like a cruel punishment," said Ash. "People would think we're some twisted people, who do gruesome stuff. Turns out we just play fighting games." "The only 'Cruel Punishment' I know is Anna's throw," I said, hoping she would understand. "You know which Anna I'm talking about right?" "Of course I do!" said Ash, nodding while smiling. I laughed and continued with the card making. I was almost done. Ash was talking nonstop about how she hoped to have a friend that wouldn't question her disguise. "You know I was kinda hoping that you wouldn't ask anything about the disguise," said Ash. "And when you did, I was forced to distance myself from you. It was hard, because I really wanted to be your friend..." "Well it was your fault," I said, adding the finishing touches to the card I was making. "You're the one that made yourself look unfriendly and unwelcoming." "Yeah I guess you're right..." said Ash. "It is kinda my fault..." "But I have to hand it to you," I said. "That was a really good disguise. I couldn't see through it. Only with a very close look." "Thanks," said Ash. "I was afraid it wouldn't work at first." "Hey and thanks again for saving my life back there," I said. "I think I owe you one." "Well... I think there's one thing you can do for me," said Ash, thinking. "Please cover for me if I need any help." Just then, my mother opened the door of my room and entered. I quickly hid the cards I made. "Hey Poppy," said mom and then looked at Ash. "Who's your friend?" "This is Ashleeeey..." I said and looked at Ash and saw her shaking her head at me with a panicked look on her face. "Anna!" "So is her name Ashley or Anna?" asked mom. "Or is it both?" "Yes it's both," said Ash quickly, and mom looked confused. "It's Ashlianna. My parents couldn't make up their mind if they wanted to name me Ashley or Anna. So they combined both names and thus, my name is Ashlianna." I felt like laughing when she said that. She seriously didn't know how to handle an awkward situation. But then again, I'm not very good at it myself either... I tried my best and suppressed my laughter as best as I can. "Nice to meet you Ashlianna," said mom, giving out her hand for Ash to shake. Ash shook it, smiling widely. "Nice to see Poppy having a nice friend." Funny thing is, she already knew her as the weirdo... "Luckily you didn't become friends with that Ash girl," said mom, to my dismay. "I heard she does weird stuff, like peeking into the boys' bathroom." I nodded and glanced nervously at Ash who gave me a questioning look. I just smiled awkwardly. Why did mom have to say this now? "So what's for dinner?" I asked, quickly changing the subject. "Anything special?" "Yes it is," said mom. "It's chicken chop." "Yay!" I said, leaving the room. I turned back, remembering Ash. "You wanna go home now?" I asked her and she nodded. "Well so long! See you at school!" She nodded, greeted my parents and left. I was relieved when she left. I washed up and went to have dinner with my family. The chicken chop was delicious. It came with grilled chicken, obviously, fries, mushroom soup and coleslaw. It was a good meal. After that, we decided to have a card game together. I won the first round, we took turns winning after that. It was a good game. "So what have you been doing today?" asked mom. "Nothing much," I said. "Just talking to Ash- Ashlianna while playing some games." "Glad you chose her as your friend instead of that Ash girl," said dad. "She sounds like a creepy person." I nodded at what he said. Little did he know, Ash and Ashlianna was the same person. It was getting late and I went back to my room. It was then that I noticed that I forgot to hide the gifts and cards properly. It was a good thing my mom didn't see them when she came in. I hid the stuff under my bed and laid on the bed to relax and ponder the day's happenings. Gosh, today was a long day. I found out that Ash isn't even a goth and that she's a very cheerful person. She's a completely different person in disguise. Talk about Jun Kazama turning into Unknown... But now that I think about it, she seemed weird as an emo person. At one point she almost accidentally broke character when she got to know that I like Tekken and KOF too. Oh and that one point when she burst out laughing when I told her not to kill me. It was also funny how the bullies found her scary. Just then, I received a text from an unknown number. The display picture was a picture of Dark Ash from KOF XIII. I have a feeling that I know who it is.
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A/N: This is Ash's display picture btw. Unknown: Sup Unknown: It's Ash btw That was quick. Where did she get my number? Me: How did you get my number? Ash: Class group Me: Really? Me: U're in it? Ash: Of coz duh Ash: Guess u didn't know my number then... Me: Yeah Ash: We should chat sometime Me: Sure! Me: But it's late so bye Ash: That was kinda harsh... Me: I'm not a vampire bat Ash: Fine Ash: Night Me: Sweet dreams! I decided to save her number as Ashlianna so that if my parents see me chatting with her, they wouldn't think that I'm chatting with the renown Ash the weirdo.
