No Good Hoodlum

little gym class of flashbacks

Penny gets hit in the nose during gym class and gets a nosebleed. This wouldn't be a problem if the sight of blood didn't take her back to Mushnik's flower shop on Skid Row...

°°°

Second period gym was the worst, and Penny grumbled with her friends Miriam and Eliza as they were forced to patricipate in stupid exercise.

"I detest dodgeball," Eliza said, unbuttoning her blouse and pulling it off, replacing it with the itchy green gym shirt.

Dodegball? They were playing dodgeball? That always meant someone getting hit in the face, usually leading to a nosebleed...Penny went white in the face. Blood reminded her of that stupid Audrey II plant.

"Pen? You alright?" Miriam asked as she laced up her Ked sneakers.

"Y-yeah," she stuttered, hurriedly pulling off her skirt and changing into her gym clothes.

The three girls exited the locker room, talking about standard girl stuff. Penny tagged along behind, staring at her feet. What excuse could she give the teacher for this? Sorry, teacher, I actually hate this game because someone could get a bloody nose and blood makes me freak out because I was almost killed by a giant plant that ate it? Penny scoffed just thinking about it. 

The gym teacher explained the rules, Penny just staring off into space. She really didn't want to play this game.

"Ready, go!" he yelled, as students ran to grab the rubber balls which could certainly hurt someone. Miriam and Eliza ran for them, but Penny stayed back trying to avoid the sight of anything bloody. The game continued for a while, and she was doing alright until,

"Krelborn! Get up there!" the gym teacher screamed, tossing a rubber ball at her.

Penny groaned and took the ball to the line, throwing it weakly. Somehow, she managed to get another girl out, which shocked everyone. Penny wasn't known for being good at sports. She smiled. Maybe this game wasn't so bad, after all. 

Then, it happened.

The girls friend, who never really liked Penny, got angry and threw a ball at her. She didn't see it until it hit her straight in the face. It stung like a bitch and Penny fell backwards onto the gym floor. The gym teacher whistled to stop the game, and the woozy Penny felt something leaking from her nose. She wiped it, and her heart stopped as she saw the red, coppery smelling liquid smeared on the back of her hand.

Feed me, Penny.

No, get off her!

Feed me!

Stop it!

Blood, I need blood! Kill kill kill give me blood! Feed me feed me!

"No! Stop! I don't want to feed you!" Penny screamed, sobbing, holding her blood soaked hands over her ears. 

"Penny! Krelborn, calm down!"

Penny felt a hard slap across her face, snapping her out of her flashback to Skid Row. She was now aware of her surrondings, and the fact that her clothes, hands, and hair were slick with blood. Eliza and Miriam sat next to her, looking at each other in shock and horror. 

"Eliza, Miriam, can you take Penny to the nurse?" the gym teacher softly asked. "Get her cleaned up first."

The two girls nodded, and they helped Penny to her feet. Her skinny legs wobbled, and there were droplets of blood on her white shoes and socks.

"Are you okay?" Eliza asked as Penny emerged from the showers, her hair and face and body clean.

"No," Penny whimpered, her bottom lip jutting out and wobbling, tears pooling in her eyes.

"Why did you freak out?" Miriam asked, handing Penny her regular clothes and an extra pair of socks.

Penny sighed, and motioned for the girls to turn around as she changed.

"I used to live on a really bad street called Skid Row, and I worked in a flower shop. You're probably not going to believe me, but, basically a giant man-eating plant was brought in by Seymour and well, it ate blood. It tried to eat me and now whenever I see blood I just...freak out."

Miram and Eliza had looks of confusion, before the girls softened. Penny wasn't a liar, and her freak out was very scary and very real.

"We believe you," Eliza said, patting Penny's shoulder after she was done changing.

"Yeah, it's what best friends do," Miriam said, wrapping the girls into a hug.

"Thank you guys. You guys are the bee's knees."

The two girls walked Penny to the office, and said goodbye to head to their next class as the bell rang. Miriam and Eliza waved goodbye, and ten minutes later, Audrey showed up in the office, frantic and her hair disheveled.

"Penny!" she squeaked as she noticed the girl in the office chair.

"Hi, Audrey," she said quietly.

"Let's get you signed out."

Audrey signed out with the office lady and led Penny to the car, a small yellow Bug. They got in, but the whole drive was silent. Penny usually was a chatterbox, but the events of the day made her upset and sullen.

Seymour was home, and Penny remembered it was his day off. Great, now she had to explain it to him too.

"Penny?" he asked as she walked through the door. "What happened?"

"I got hit in the face during dodgeball, got a nosebleed, and freaked out from all the blood," she mumbled shrugging.

Seymour stood up from the couch and hugged her tightly, and ruffled her damp hair.

"I still get dizzy and faint with blood, too," he said. "It's not something that will go away immediately, but you will someday. If you ever start to feel bad, both me and Audrey are here and we love you very much."

"Thank you, Seymour."

The trio formed a big hug circle, and despite Penny's bad start, she began to feel better.