Chapter Text
An hour ago Penelope and Josie had shared kisses in the hallway of the Salvatore Boarding School. Now Penelope was alone with her thoughts, sitting on the bed in her room. There were so many things rushing through her head.
She knew that they were far away from getting back together and knowing that hurt. But that kiss... That kiss had just taken her breath away. It had been so long since she had had the pleasure to have tasted Josie's lips. Penelope missed that feeling and she missed them being a couple. It was her fault that they were no longer together, but that didn't mean that she didn't regret how things went down. She never wanted to break up with Josie, she just couldn't take Josie sacrificing her own happiness for the sake of her sister anymore.
Sighing she stood up, pacing up and down her room. Luckily her room mate was out somewhere doing whatever and she had the entire space to herself. Sharing was never her thing anyways.
Josie had left so suddenly. One minute they were kissing as if their lives depended on it and the next she was rushing off, because she had heard her dad asking for her. Not even once looking back to Penelope.
It was a good thing no one had seen them. There would have been too many questions and it just would have made the entire situation more complicated. But on the other hand did Penelope not know which page they were on now. Knowing her ex, Josie would be calling her 'evil one' again tomorrow morning.
Frustrated by it all Penelope used her magic to throw off all her stuff off the desk. They loudly crashed down and scattered all over the wooden floor.
“Well that didn't help at all.”, she huffed and rolled her eyes at the mess she made. With a few quick movements of her hand everything was back in their original place.
“So very unsatisfying.”, Penelope commented in a bored and annoyed tone, shaking her head slightly- She then decided to go out and find MG or some party to distract herself.
Before she could make her way to MG's room she heard loud chatter coming from the hallway to her right. Judging from the hushed voices that were too high pitched from excitement to actually be quiet enough to not hear, these people were heading to a party.
Smirking Penelope followed the noise and not soon after she could see lights in the forest and hear the faint sound of music in the distance.
It wasn't a huge party, but the vibe was chill and there was a lot of alcohol and people. The best combination when one needs a break from real life. She wasn't a huge party girl, but she could definitely respect a good get together with booze and attractive people.
The first thing she did after scanning the crowd for people that she knew, was to get herself a strong drink. She knew there was no way that she would not be drunk by the end of the night. Drinking would not solve her problem, but at least it would help her to numb the aching of her heart. Tomorrow morning she could worry about everything again, but right now she needed to let loose a little bit.
“Penelope!”, she heard someone call out and turned around to stand face to face with MG.
“MG. I didn't see you when I arrived.”, she stated, a small smile on her lips. MG may have been a pawn of hers in the beginning to make sure Josie still cared about her, but to her surprise they developed somewhat of a good friendship.
“Yeah, I just got here. At first I didn't want to go because of the night we just had, but then again why not come to a party with girls and booze after a night like this.”, he grinned, bouncing lightly on his feet in accordance with the beat of the music.
“So you plan on slutting it up like Superman tonight?”, Penelope laughed, remembering their conversation from earlier. From before her kiss with Josie.
“Exactly! But I think I'd rater slut it up like Batman. Superman is too much of a goody-two-shoes.”, MG smirked, obviously hyped for what the night had in the cards for him.
“You're such a nerd.”, Penelope rolled er eyes at him, but was sure to make him see that it was only in a friendly teasing kind of way.
“Oh no my dear Penelope...I am Batman.”, he said in a silly deep voice that made him and Penelope crack up.
“Quick tip though, don't introduce yourself like that to all the girls. I have the suspicion that it might not work.”, Penelope said and flipped her short hair, walking away with the drink in her hand.
Just as she wanted to approach a group of girls that she knew by the beer pong table the dark haired girl heard a laugh she thought she wouldn't hear this soon. Rolling her eyes she turned around to find Lizzie Saltzman talking to some vampire guy.
There was no person in this world she disliked more than the crazy blonde. She was just so demanding and sucked the life out of any room she entered and out of any person she interacted with. Josie was trapped in the spiderweb her twin sister had spun and all Penelope wanted was for Josie to be free of the claws Lizzie had her captured in.
Penelope would have thought that Lizzie would be with Josie until classes start tomorrow. After all their biological mother had been possessed by a monster. Knowing how the world works they probably had to eliminate the threat she posed. She felt bad for them, especially Josie. It must have broken their hearts.
Her own parents had died when she was a young teenager. Penelope and her parents were kind of close. Definitely not the kind of family who was always hugging and declaring their love for each other, but they respected one another and always had their backs. It had broken her when they died, but she told herself over and over again that it was a part of life and at one point she accepted it and got stronger.
That was the way her parents taught her to think. To be rational, practical and superior. Only if you think and act like that you can be successful and in control, they had told her.
Shaking her head Penelope forced herself back to reality. Taking the last few sips of her drink she decided to not provoke Lizzie immediately, but to get a drink first and then see where she could take a shot at her. Preferably something that would happen tonight, but would only become public knowledge tomorrow. That way Lizzie had time to grieve for a night, which is all Penelope would give her before bringing her down again.
As she was pouring herself another drink Rafael approached to take one of the snacks that were next to the various bottles of liquor.
Smirking Penelope turned to face him, a plan already in mind. She knew Raf had just dumped Lizzie, even though they hadn't even been dating in the first place. So what was better than publicly hanging out with Lizzie's heartbreaker. Penelope could already picture Lizzie having another meltdown because of her and her smirk widened.
“How was your quality time with Hope?”, she asked innocently, biting back her signature smirk.
“Penelope. What do you want?”, he answered, obviously still mad about her locking him in the gym with Hope earlier today.
“You're not still upset about locking you in, are you?”, she pouted and continued, “And here I thought you could take a prank.”
“I don't expect you to understand what decency is, Park. You knew I'd miss Lizzie's entrance and how important it was for me to be there.”
“Jeez, you're tense. We haven't even properly met and you're already so set on disliking me. I thought after what you've seen with Landon and everybody here thinking that he was a monster, you'd give people a real chance to show you who they really are.”
Apparently the words resonated with him, because he averted his eyes to the ground for a second. “You're right. But after the stunt you pulled you can't blame me for not trusting and liking you.”
Penelope smirked. “I understand that. But what do you say about starting fresh? Maybe with a round of beer pong?”, she suggested.
“Alright.”, Rafael accepts and they make their way to the tables.
Penelope loved how she always got what she wanted. Making conversation and pushing people's buttons was something she excelled in and it made her life so much fun.
She knew Rafael would be good at the game, but it looked like he was surprised to see that she was a great player as well. Rafael resorted to trash talking the other team whenever they were close to catching up on them and Penelope got into their heads with her words.
They were a pretty good team and when Penelope got the ball in the last cup of their opponents, Rafael hugged her out of joy.
Jackpot. Lizzie would be furious tomorrow when the word got out that Rafael Waithe and Penelope Park crushed it at beer pong.
Just as they were letting go of each other a familiar, judging pair of chocolate brown eyes locked with hers.
Josie.
Penelope's smile immediately vanished from her lips when Josie shook her head in disbelief and turned around to walk away.