Meet Me After Class

Chapter 41: Penny's Confession

I tossed and turned all night that night, disturbed by strange feverish dreams where Mr. Scott and Adam dueled over some faceless trophy while I helplessly watched. When I jerked awake at 5 a.m., I was drenched in sweat.

I couldn't go back to sleep after that. My heart felt like a lump of cold iron in my chest.

So I lay there, staring blankly out the window as the darkness gradually faded into sunrise. Neither the cheery morning light nor the birds chirping outside my window could pierce the gloomy fog smothering my mind.

At 7:30 a.m., the alarm clock on my nightstand loudly announced it was time to head down for breakfast. I silenced it with an angry slap then pulled the covers back over my head. I couldn't stomach the thought of food or company, even ignoring my rumbling stomach's protests. So I curled into a ball on my bed, fitfully checking my silent phone now and then.

I hugged my pillow close like a lifeline whenever unwelcome memories of Adam and Mr. Scott flickered through my mind. My emotions spiraled dizzily between sadness, anger, and regret.

The next alarm jarred me from melancholy thoughts; the loud beeps this time were reminding me of my shift at Brown's.

Could I face seeing Adam so soon after our blowup? Surely we would only descend into another argument. With an uneasy sigh, I decided calling out sick was the only option.

I dialed the bookshop, praying Audrey or Mrs. Brown would answer instead of...

"Brown's, this is Adam." His familiar voice filled my ear. My heart plummeted into my churning stomach.

"I-I'm sick. Can't come in," I managed to stutter out bluntly.

"Okay," Adam responded coldly, the line going dead a second later with a definitive click.

My eyes welled up with fresh tears as I replayed our last conversation.

I stared at the silent phone, shocked. We've fought before, of course, but he never reacted so indifferently towards me. Especially when I was supposedly ill!

I quickly wiped my tear-streaked cheeks as the door knob turned. Penny breezed in, immediately noticing my red-rimmed eyes.

"Are you crying?" she asked, plopping down on my bed.

I shook my head, scrubbing at my face with the back of my hand, desperate to quell any fresh tears. "Where were you last night?" I redirected before my emotions could spill over.

But Penny pressed again, asking point blank why I had been crying. I glanced at the clock on my nightstand—nearly 11 a.m. already. Time for some answers from her first.

"Tell me where you disappeared to after the play yesterday," I countered.

Penny leapt up, looking anxious and elated all at once. My intuition tingled as her face lit up. Somehow, I knew what she was about to confess.

"Well, the truth is, Melissa and I have been hanging out a lot lately," she began, pacing the room.

My pulse quickened. This was it—Penny's coming-out moment—and I was the first person she trusted with it. I was genuinely touched, despite everything else occupying my mind.

"Wow," I said gently.

Penny smiled with relief. "We've been flirting more and more," she admitted, a blush tinging her cheeks that I'd never seen before. "And last night, after the play, things sort of escalated in the props room..."

She left the implication hanging as understanding dawned on me. Before I could respond, she barreled on, "I didn't rush to tell you because I wanted to figure things out with Melissa first. Not that I was embarrassed. And not because I thought you'd react badly or stop being friends with me! Just...I needed to know how she felt first."