Aaaah, now this was more like it! Although Penelope couldn't remember the last time she had been to any mall, she knew that she was going to find things that were more her league here. To her, this was a normal teenage thing to do. Except she had never been allowed to be a normal teenager. It was freeing to be able to say she wanted to go to the mall, and then actually get to go!
Penelope felt like a kid in a candy store! They went into all the stores she wanted to go through and then some. She found that she really liked the cute things that were in Hot Topic and Box Lunch. She got a couple cute pairs of jeans from them and even picked up a few things to decorate her room with.
Jezz didn't seem to mind going from store to store, looking for things that Penelope liked. In fact, she was getting a kick out of Penelope's reaction to seeing things that she liked. It wasn't too long ago that she was spending a lot of time at the mall, and to see someone so happily meandering around tickled her to no end.
Of course, she encouraged Penelope to swipe Derek's card everywhere they went. But Penelope was hesitant each time, not wanting to spend Derek's money on such frugal things. Jezz finally just started taking things off the shelf if she saw Penelope looking at them for more than a moment, not giving her a choice on whether or not she was going to buy them. It was funny because Penelope hadn't picked up on what she was doing until they were beginning to get to the point where their arms were loaded with bags of stuff.
Eventually, they had to make a trip out to the car to free up their arms. Then, they decided to go up to the food court to get lunch. They had ordered their food and Jezz had stepped away to go use the restroom. Penelope had picked a table next to a window, where she looked out while she waited for their number to be called. It was nothing more than a view of the parking lot, but she still enjoyed it. She watched cars coming in and people going out with the things that they had purchased.
Suddenly, Penelope heard a voice that made her freeze in her place. "Oh. My. God. Its BUTCH! And look at her. She looks like more of a slut now than ever."
Penelope stood up and turned around to see a girl and Greg standing next to one another, along with a few of their other friends. "I am not a slut. I have never been a slut. And I will never be a slut. Go find somewhere else to act like an immature little brat."
"Excuse me!?" The girl reached for Penelope's hair, grabbing a small portion of it and attempting to pull on it. Penelope pulled away before she could get a good grip and grabbed her wrist.
"Do not put your hands on me." She said rather loudly. Several heads turned to their direction, looking to see what was going on, and the girl backed off slightly.
"Look at you. You get a new look and you suddenly think you're all that, huh? Well you're not. My mom spent a night in jail because of you." Greg growled. "Just you wait. When I get you alone, there is going to be payback."
Penelope stared him down, refusing to give in to his tormenting. When he realized that people were going back to their business, he gripped Penelope's shirt, pushing her up against the window. "Your dad brought you a little present from me. Its just an example of how I am going to destroy you the moment I get the chance to."
"HEY! Get your hands off her NOW!" Jezz bellowed as she sprinted across the food court in her high heels. Greg and his group of friends dispersed, leaving Penelope standing there, her heart racing. "Hey, what happened? Are you okay?"
Penelope didn't realize it, but she was now shaking. She nodded with a whimper, trying not to let the tears escape.
"Come on, lets leave. We can get lunch somewhere else. And then we can go to a different mall. K?"
Penelope nodded. They left without picking up their food, and Penelope managed to hold herself together until they got out to the car. When the door closed, she collapsed back into the seat, bursting out into tears while she struggled to catch her breath.
Jezz rubbed her back. "Its ok, Pennie. You're safe. They can't do anything to you here. Just breathe." She cooed. It took several minutes for Penelope to start calming down, and when she did, Jezz continued to sit there and offer her support. "Do you want to talk about it? You don't have to if you don't want to."
Penelope nodded. "That was my step-brother and his friends. They bully me. Greg said its my fault his mom was arrested." Penelope told him what Greg had said to her, and as she did so, Jezz's face turned red.
"He can't hurt you. I'm not going to let him, you hear me?"
Penelope nodded. "Thank you, Jezz. You're the first real friend I've ever had. It sucks that I don't have any who are my age, though."
Jezz felt her heart break at that. "Well I'm the first of many. You know, I'm not much older than you. I'm only 25." She winked. "Anyways, shall we go get some lunch?"
Penelope nodded with a smile, and they were off. Away from Greg and his goons, and towards a better adventure. They weren't going to keep Penelope from enjoying her life any longer.
~ ~ ~
Jezz and Penelope showed back up to the mansion when it was nearly dinnertime. Clad with bags and bags of stuff, Lilly helped them carry it all up to Penelope's room. "It looks like you got quite the haul today, Penelope!"
As Penelope's cheeks flushed with embarrassment, Jezz spoke up. "Oh my gosh, Mom! It was so hard to get her to buy anything! I had to take the card from her and just put things in the cart for her. I think she still did good, though. Shes got quite the wardrobe, now. AND! I even convinced her to get some things to personalize her room. Don't get me wrong, this floral thing you've got going on for her is kind of cute. But it is not Pennie's style." She teased.
Lilly chuckled. "Well I'm glad you were able to convince her to go all out. Though I am surprised you managed her to convince her to get this much! I can't wait to see it all."
"Trust me, Mom. It was like pulling teeth." Jezz teased.
"Alright, well lets have dinner and you can show me your loot once we finish. How does that sound?"
Penelope nodded with a smile, still embarrassed and half feeling bad at the amount of things that were now piled on her floor. Looking at it all now, she hadn't realized just how much she had bought. Man, this was going to take a long time for her to pay back. Sure, Derek had said that they were getting paid to take care of her but was that the truth? She just didn't know. Nor did she have a way to check its accuracy.
As they sat down to the dinner table, Derek and Dan came in looking exhausted. Lilly kissed Dan affectionately as she gestured for him to sit down. "Rough day, dear?"
"It was a long one, that's for sure." Dan admitted. "We got the majority of it done, though. We'll have to go back in for a little bit after church tomorrow, but we shouldn't be all day."
Lilly let out a quiet sigh. She knew all too well how busy Dan could get, and sometimes, not having a weekend was a big part of the Filmore lifestyle. Especially when they had big projects like the one they were working on. "Well, I'm glad we can at least go to church." She smiled.
She began dishing up plates for everyone. Tonight, she had made spaghetti. Complete with a salad and home-made garlic bread. It smelled divine. When her plate was set in front of her, Penelope's mouth was watering. At dinnertime, though, the Filmores said grace, and she had learned to wait until everyone had their plate to dig in. They didn't have many rules in the house, but out of all of them, this was usually the easiest for her to follow. Almost. Spaghetti was one of Penelope's favorites.
Grace came and went, and Penelope dug in as everyone began to ask about one another's day. Derek and Dan talked about how their progress with their project went. Lilly talked about how her garden was doing, and about her weekly book club meeting had gone. And then it was Penelope and Jezz's turn to talk about their adventures at the mall. They each took turns talking about all the stores they went to, with Jezz doing most of the talking while Penelope tried not to die of embarrassment over the trip.
Penelope hoped that Jezz wouldn't mention the encounter that they'd had with Greg, and to her relief, she did not. She decided to keep it to herself, and hoped that she could come up with a way to never run into Greg again. Fat chance of that. There was still school. Sure, there were still a couple months left of summer break, but that didn't mean that Penelope wasn't dreading it. When they finished, they spent some time on the patio talking until Jezz took her leave. Penelope gave her a hug, thanking her for such a good time before heading back upstairs to her room. Lilly followed her to the door.
"Come with me out to the car?" Jezz asked, giving Lilly a serious look as they made their way through the house.
"Of course, dear."
Once they stepped outside, Jezz quietly told Lilly about the incident. "I don't know if Penelope is going to say anything, but I saw that boy with his hand wrapped around her neck as I came out of the bathroom and had I not stepped in, he most definitely would have hurt her."
Lilly's eyes filled with concern. "Thank you for telling me, dear. I will make sure that its handled with care. Would you be willing to provide a statement?"
"No problem." Jezz promised.
"Thank you. And thank you for taking her out today. She needed that."
"Of course! We had a lot of fun! She has a heart of gold. Was very hesitant to pick out much of anything. But we'll work that out of her. I can't wait to take her out again. Next time, we're going shopping for makeup." Jezz grinned.
Lilly chuckled. "I think you might have a hard time with that one." She waved Jezz off and walked back inside.
~ ~ ~
Upstairs, Penelope stared at her bed. Sitting in the center of it were two things. A bright pink Versace handbag with a note, and a black trash bag. She picked up the note studying it.
Every girl needs a good purse to keep her things in. I had fun with you today!
XOXO,
Jezz
Penelope smiled as she took the bag in her hand and studied it. It was a nice, hot pink satchel style bag that was absolutely adorable! She hugged it to her. "Thank you, Jezz! I'll always treasure it!" She said aloud to the room. She would send her a real message later, but the other thing in the room was calling her name. Like a plague that had been creeping up, waiting for the right moment to strike. Waiting to break her down once more.
~ ~ ~
Lilly had made her way back to Penelope's room to both speak to her about her day and to look and see what she had gotten. The door was closed, so she knocked lightly. "Penelope, may I come in?" She heard a muffled voice from the other side, but couldn't understand it. So she let herself in.
Penelope was sitting up against the wall, rocking back and forth while hugging her knees. The black bag of clothes that she had set on the bed earlier that day had been dumped out on the floor.
"Oh my goodness, dear! What is going on, here!" Lilly ran across the room and scooped Penelope into her arms, hugging her tightly while telling her over and over again that she was safe.
Having heard the commotion, Derek entered the room. "Whats going on?" He asked, concerned.
Penelope pointed. Some distance away, here was a crumpled up piece of paper with a crusty, crumpled up looking piece of cloth.
It was the pair of underwear she had changed out of the morning that she had gone to the hospital. Greg had taken it upon himself to send Penelope a message with it. The message had just a few words written on it.
You will always be a whore.