Chapter Text
Chapter 2
The warmly lit office was contrastingly chilly and I could hear the AC running behind the wide, wooden desk. Before me stood a short woman with kind eyes and a tired smile, her lips and nails painted a matching plum purple. Her skin was dark mahogany color and her soft eyes were an equally dull hazel brown. She also didn’t really seem very old, maybe somewhere in her late 30s, but she had a sleepy expression that radiated ‘This job is taking several years off my lifespan’.
It almost reminded me of Aunt Margaret in a funny way.
“Alright, hun- here’s your schedule and the other information you may need to know. One of our students volunteered to give you the ‘grand tour’ and make sure you get around to all of your classes alright due to your similar scheduling.” She cleared her throat and tapped a folder on her desk to straighten the papers inside, turning to me.
“I will warn you that she can be a bit… much- but I’m sure you’ll get along just fine, so don’t you be afraid to ask her if you have a problem. She shouldn’t be much longer now, so you can just wait in here until she gets here.” I was handed a yellow folder with my name scrawled across the top in glittery blue marker.
“Thank you, ma’am.” I murmured, tilting my head forward slightly as I reached back to slide the folder into my school bag.
She clicked her tongue with a nod and glanced up at the time as she turned to shift through some awry papers scattered on her desk.
“Oh geez- sorry for the wait but I’m here!”
Both of us jumped a little when the large office door swung open abruptly to hit the stopper with a thud and a ball of sunshine in the form of a red-headed girl with the most colorful clothing I’d ever seen came darting in just as quickly, panting dramatically with her hands on her hips.
“So so sorry, Miss Shawsen! You would not BELIEVE the traffic in those halls- I mean, phew! Love the look by the way- verrr…“ she trailed off a little as her gaze flickered over to me, letting out a remarkably emphasized gasp. A wide smile rose on her lips as she looked me up and down quickly- her exhaustion suddenly forgotten.
“OH. MY. GAWSH- you are SO cute, and tall, like- wow! OH- hi hi by the way! My name’s Alice! You’re Penelope, right? Your eyes are so pretty- I’ve never seen that color before, well colorsss I should say- blue AND greenish? Kinda weird- but GOOD-weird, like my friend Ron’s eyes! Oou~ where'd you get your turtleneck- did they have any in purple? Oh oh- what about-” She rocked on her toes energetically, startling me slightly with her loud demeanor.
Her hazel-green eyes were bright, curious, and she was about half a foot shorter than me. She had long hair that was the color of a fiery sunset and long nails that were painted green, to match her emerald green scarf and skirt.
She rattled off about a dozen excited questions at me- one after another with a little less than a breath between questions number four and five. I stood wordlessly as she kept shooting inquiries at me, nodding or shaking my head dumbly whenever I could. My silence didn’t seem to bother her, however, and her spirit didn’t seem like it could be dampened.
I was stunned completely silent, her name bringing a sickening weight into my stomach as I recalled the last time I’d seen this very girl.
She’d been much, much younger then, locked up in a laboratory under a considerably… questionable school. A school that wasn’t even hers at the time.
She wasn’t just illegally and immorally experimented on to be turned into a bloodthirsty monster- she was also kidnapped. And I was the one who did it.
I’m so so sorry Alice…
Should I say something? Maybe an apology? No. Definitely not. They, especially her, cannot know who I am. You are not ‘Penny’ here, Penny is not welcome among this area. You are Penelope Scott. A new student who is most definitely NOT part robot- and definitely did NOT lock up her classmates so her mother could do creepy experiments on them.
Your mother is… Margaret? She could be- she really isn’t that much older than mother was anyways, so that could technically work. But maybe it would be easier to just tell everyone that my mother died in a car accident or something. I wonder what Aunt Margaret put down as- oh dangit- Alice just asked where I’m from- what do I say to that??.
”uhh…” She just seemed to accept that as she moved on to another question/story- something about family pets.
Not really sure what to do and realizing that we were probably late to at least one class by now, I glanced awkwardly over to the tired principal. She just sighed and stepped over to us, her actions catching Alice’s attention and momentarily quieting down the energetic redhead.
“Alice, you two can exchange pleasantries later. I also want you to find time to show Penelope here around the school. For now, I’ve excused both your tardiness for your first class in regards to this little meeting. But hurry, you may be able to catch the last half if you're quick.” She said in her bored tone, making a shooing motion with her hands.
“Thanks a lot, Miss Shawsen- I’ll make sure she gets where she needs to be! Don’t you worry! C’mon Penelope- we’ve got chemistry in Mr. McMarr’s class first!” She assured, waving for me to follow her from the office.
I thanked the principal one last time before hurrying out to follow the bouncy girl as she continued rambling about the school, pointing out little details as she led me down the winding halls. She also stopped to show me her and my lockers- that were, thankfully, really close to one another and we dropped off our bags and what we didn’t need.
I had already memorized the general layout of the entire school last week, so I knew where everything was- but figured it was probably better to hear it from someone who actually went to this school, rather than a digital map.
“There’s Mr. Cosby’s room, he teaches biology and coaches the basketball team- oh- and there’s Mrs. Merez’s classroom! I don’t think she has any classes going right now, first day and all, but she teaches the advanced Spanish classes- I’m still gonna be in the sorta mediocre level in Miss. Alire’s class so I won’t be able to take her class ‘till next year, but I hear she’s super nice! And my best friend Madison’s taking French this year in that classroom over there- Mr. Cordiar’s class! Madison and Ron are my two best friends here! Also Lily and Billy… aaaand sometimes Carla. Also Nugget! Actually, I have quite a few best friends, heh.”
She was walking backwards now, the halls pretty much empty besides a few faculty members and a couple of astray students, so she didn’t really seem all that worried about bumping into anyone.
I mostly just listened as she talked, sometimes answering if she asked me a pointed question, but being very careful to leave out anything that may give away who I was. Thankfully, it wasn’t that hard since it’s been about a decade since we’ve seen eachother and the both of us had changed a fair bit since then.
I would only be mildly surprised if she just-so-happened to not remember the incident back in kindergarten- it was so long ago that just maybe she didn’t have any memory of those days. Her and the other’s.
But maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part…
She stopped for a moment to pull her phone out of the pocket of her emerald-green skirt, scanning it over before rapidly tapping at its screen with a grin. “Oou- Madison and Lily are in Geometry right now… ugh- I don’t know how Mads actually LIKES math. But I guess it’s easy to like if you’re good at it. Madison’s really smart! And it looks like we’re almost to the science class. It’s just over- dangit. “ she lifted a thumb to point over her shoulder, pausing as her happiness suddenly faltered slightly. I was a little confused before realizing that her eyes were focused not on me, but behind me.
“Alice. You’re supposed to be in class right now. What are you and… whoever you are, doing in the halls? You do realize that I have the authority to take your phone if that’s the reason you’ve decided to skip your first class on your first day?” I turned quickly, inwardly startled slightly by the sudden voice behind us.
A short man stood firmly behind us- his foot tapping impatiently and his expression about as crossed as his arms were. I wasn’t really sure whether he was a student or part of the faculty- but, to say the least, he looked pretty young, his black hair cut neatly and some dark stubble growing contrastingly on his pale, squared chin.
I glanced over at Alice to see an uncharacteristically annoyed expression in her eyes- that she seemed to be half-heartedly trying to hide with a strained smile.
“Stevieeee- heeeey! So good to see you again. Hall monitoring, I see. How was your summer? Good?” She paused for a moment, the stone-faced hall monitor only narrowing his eyes at her. “IIIII’m going to assume that that means it was good. But anyways, we don’t really have all that much time to talk with you- see- I’m helping Penelope here around for the day! She’s new to our ever-so-wonderful highschool- and we were juuuust getting to science for our first class! Principal Shawsen even excused us for being late- but we should probably be getting going now! Don’t wanna be later than we already are! C’mon Penelope-“ she had shoved her phone back into her pocket by now and hooked my arm with hers, pulling me along to the door down the hall she’d been pointing to earlier.
I looked over to see her rolling her eyes with a sigh, giving me a small smile upon noticing I was watching.
On the door, there was a cheesy meme about science and ‘Mr. McMarr’ pasted of big green letters in Bree Serif font across the top. When she opened the door, a brightly lit room covered in science-themed decor, mostly in green, and a room full of students was revealed. At the front of the room, standing near a whiteboard with the words ‘Welcome class- to this year’s Chem with Mr. McMarr!’ scrawled in lime green across it, was the chemistry teacher. He was dressed in a long lab coat and rubber gloves colored, you probably guessed it, green.
That’s a lot of green. Huh. I always knew science was the color green. Guess I’ll have to tell that to aunt Margaret later.
I was a little smug at the thought, but tucked it to the back of my mind subconsciously at my sudden burst of nerves at seeing all of my new peers- a sickening feeling in my gut as I realized how packed those empty halls would be in passing period.
The teacher looked at us questioningly, along with the rest of the class, with his eyebrow raised. He had tan skin and jet-black hair, his height only a little less than the top of the doorframe and he had his arms crossed as he leaned against the front of his long desk. He didn’t look angry, however, just curious. He also had friendly hazel eyes that shined with a lively energy that told me that this class would likely turn out to be quite interesting.
“Alice, good to see you again and finally have you in my class! Hope you had a good summer! And… Penelope, right? I heard about you- welcome! Take a seat- your tardiness is no problem at all! I was just explaining some of what to expect from this class as the year goes on, you didn’t miss much, don’t worry!” My nerves remained fairly strong, but I felt a little better at his greeting- following Alice after she waved to the teacher peppily, the redhead greeting several of the students as she passed to sit. I assume she probably knew most of them, and if she didn’t, she acted as if she did.
I awkwardly just followed behind her, my fingers flexing anxiously at my sides and my chin held high.
“You’re better and smarter than most of those achne-riddled kidlets, Child. Own it- alright? Now, hand me the power drill.”
I was internally relieved to find that the desk she sat in had an empty one right next to it, in front of some girl wearing Pit Vipers and a black hoodie with something about a washing machine printed across the back it. Settling in one of the classic blue chairs, I tried to ignore the subtle (and not-so-subtle) glances of the other students around me- most of which may have just been my nerve-wrecked imagination.
“Alright, class- good to see everyone make it to their first class. Maybe a little later for some cases- but better late than never, I always say!” The teacher let out a laugh, continuing on without as much as a pause.
I barely paid attention to what he said, knowing that my senses would record his year plans to me memory wether I happen listen or not.
Huh…
Chemistry.
The first class of several I would take this year. Thankfully, I think I already had a friend, or at the very least, someone friendly to tell me the ins and outs of this school’s social dynamics before I found myself in a particularly unfavorable situation.
(Even if I royally do not deserve any kindness from her or the people she had mentioned to be her friends.)
I’ll be totally fine.
Nobody will find out who I am- and if they do, maybe they won’t care…?
I mean-
Kindergarten WAS over ten years ago-
So none of them likely even remember anyways…
Right?