What on Earth had just happened? Penelope stared at Derek Filmore as he walked out the door. Did he seriously just ask her out on a date? But why? Why would he or anybody want to go out with such an ugly girl? He had to have been fibbing when he called her beautiful because nothing about Penelope was beautiful (or so she thought). Nobody ever told her that she was beautiful in the form she was forced to keep. Nobody.
Being ridiculed by almost everybody who knew her was something that Penelope had become more accustomed to. Before she moved in with her father, nobody had picked on her. When Mary cut her hair and forced her to change her style, she had turned Penelope into a social target. In a world where everybody had turned her into a reject, why would somebody like Derek Filmore take any interest in her at all?
What's more, Penelope realized that she had let her guard down when talking to him and let slip one of the many fantasies that roamed her head. She never told anybody about the thoughts that were nothing more than daydreams to her. Her imagination was so wired that she knew telling people what she thought would just get her pushed away. Living in a dream world most of the time was child's play. It was not attractive.
Realizing that her break was almost up and she hadn't eaten much of her lunch, Penelope woofed down her sandwich and returned to work. In the back, Kyla was grabbing supplies to restock the front before the dinner rush came in. So Penelope stepped in to help her.
"I noticed Derek Filmore sat down to talk to you again." She said mischeviously. Kyla was a sweet girl. She was quite a bit shorter than Penelope with long, beautiful blonde hair that she pulled up in a bun for work. Kyla was quite a bit older than Penelope. In her early twenties with a set of twin babies, Kyla was working two jobs to support her family while her boyfriend finished out medical school. Although she was friendly, Penelope rarely held up a conversation with her.
"Yeah. He asked me on a date. But I said no."
Kyla dropped the box of chips she had in her arms. "You did what!?" She exclaimed as her jaw dropped to the floor. "The richest guy in town asked you out and you said no?" Kyla was completely flabbergasted.
Penelope nodded. "Well, it's not like we have anything in common." She shrugged. "Besides, I'm not allowed to date."
Kyla tried to push and get more details of their conversation, but was met with mumbles, nods, and short answer responses. Knowing she wasn't going to get anything else from Penelope, they finished restocking the front.
Kyla moved on to washing the dishes from the lunch rush and Penelope set out to bake more bread for the dinner rush. Part of her hoped that Derek wouldn't live up to his promise to come see her again. The other part of her imagined sharing a sandwich with him. Sharing a sandwich would be almost like sharing a kiss. If their lips both touched it, then that could mean they met, right? Well, of course not! Penelope could still dream, though. Her mind went back to that first ballroom scene of them dancing. She wanted to make it more realistic, so she reimagined the ballroom into the dining area of the shop. Nobody else was there but them. It was closing time and they had locked the doors. All of the other employees had gone home. The dining music was still on and they had just finished sharing their meal.
As Penelope got up to turn the music off, Derek took her hand. "Let's dance." he said to her. So they danced. Penelope was radiant even though she was in her work uniform. She had no clue what song was playing, but it was slow, soft and allowed them to float along the dining area floor. At one point, she bumped into a table and stumbled. He caught her before she could fall and pulled her into his embrace. They kissed for real. She melted in his arms.
"Oh, how I wish we could really be dancing." She said to him. Often, she expressed in her fantasies the desire for them to be real.
Derek comforted her, telling her that everything was real and that they would be together forever. They ended the dance and he left, telling her that he would see her again soon.
"Penelope, can you help me change a couple of the soda boxes? They're out." Kyla's voice interrupted the end of Penelope's fantasy and she immediately snapped back to reality.
"Sure." Penelope paused what she was doing to help Kyla change the boxes of syrup that plugged into the soda fountain.
"So, if you could say yes, would you have?" Kyla eyeballed Penelope.
Unsure of whether she should answer that question or not, Penelope said nothing.
"Oh, come on! Not only is he like, a kagillionairre, but he is also like, the hottest guy in town! If I wasn't already taken, I'd tap that for sure!"
Penelope looked at Kyla with confusion. "Tap that?"
"Oh, never mind." Kyla giggled to herself. "I s'pose you're not fluent on those... things... Anyways, would you? I won't tell anyone what you say." she promised.
Penelope pondered another moment before saying "OK, yes. I would. I would totally go out with him in a heartbeat if I could!" Hell, if her evil step mother wasn't such a witch, she would have asked when and where! Once upon a time, before she had moved in with Mary and her father, her mother let her date boys. She was a responsible girl and never put herself in a bad situation with anybody. So she didn't understand she couldn't date, now. Well, she kind of did. Mary rarely ever let Penelope go out of the house by herself, let alone with any "friends." Not that Penelope really had anybody she could actually call a friend anymore.
When she had first moved in with her dad, Penelope was able to invite a friend over when Mary left town. Her dad was happy to give her a visitor. They had stayed up late watching movies, telling jokes and stories about school. When Mary returned a few days later, Scott told her Penelope had a friend over and Mary treated her even worse than normal for over a week. Penelope didn't have any friends over after that. After several months of "Sorry, I can't come over." and "Mary said no." people eventually stopped asking. They found other friends. Penelope was left on the sidelines.
"You know, if I were in your shoes, I'd do it anyways!" Kyla suddenly said. "Screw what your parents say. Just tell them you have to work! You come in almost every single day, anyways. How would they even find out?"
Penelope shook her head and sighed. "It would be my luck that one of them would show up to get something to eat and they would find out I lied. It's just not worth it." She wanted to cry at the thought, but was used to holding back tears and managed to keep most of her sorrow and disappointment to herself.
"Well, you're going to be eighteen soon, right? Parents can't tell you what to do after that! Date him then, if he's not taken." Kyla suggested.
"Yeah, but at that point, I could get kicked out of the house for not following the rules. Then I'd have nowhere to go. And I still have to get through my Senior year." Penelope reasoned.
"Well come live with me, then!" Kyla blurted. Both girls became shocked. Penelope didn't expect Kyla to say that, and neither did Kyla. "I, uh..." she trailed off.
"It's OK." Penelope smiled. "You have your hands full with your twins and fiancee."
"Yes, well I... I actually mean it. Even though I kind of just blurted it out. You really can come stay with me. You'd have to chip in around the house, of course. I can't really afford to feed another body. But I know that you get treated like crap, I mean, I see how your Wicked Step Mother talks to you whenever she comes into the store. If I were you, I'd run out of there as fast as I could as soon as I could."
Penelope studied Kyla for a moment before finally saying "Thank you. I... appreciate that." Did Kyla really mean it, though? Would Penelope actually have an end to her hell sooner than she expected?