Least Annoying

It’s the first day of school, but it’s also Penni’s second year. You would think that by the second year she would be comfortable. That was an understatement. She had a decent social standing, but her friends who managed to support her in that achievement graduated. She was practically starting over. At this point she didn’t care for friends. She just wanted to stick the rest of her time out and hopefully get out of there early. According to her counselor she could graduate by her junior year.

When the bell rang, Penni didn’t have to move an inch. She was already sitting in her first period. It was a teacher she got to know over the past year. Penni considered her as a mother figure since her freshman year. Ms. Song is the electronics elective teacher. She is also the advisor for the corresponding club. Penni was pulled to her classroom one lunch by a family friend and the rest was history. She blended well with the older students and club members. She was even volunteered for the treasurer’s position in the club. She had some of the best times with them, but now they were gone.

“Are you excited?” Ms. Song asked with a bit of excitement.

“Not as excited as you are trying to be.” Penni chuckled.

“You should be excited, Pat. A new year, new friends.” Ms. Song listed.

“This is why I call you mom.” Penni deadpans.

“Well I have to live up to the title right?” Ms. Song playfully scoffed.

The door opened and students began to file in. Penni just went back to the phone. She could see Ms. Song from the corner of her eye. She was watching one of her new sets of students take their seats. The sound of chairs being moved, bags being placed on the ground or tabletops. There was also the chatter of friends who didn’t expect to see each other. This kept Penni’s attention to her phone. Then the chair next to her moved, but she didn’t think much of it. She thought it was just being moved to another area. Then the table shifted and Penni stilled. She looked over to the girl next to her. The girl met Penni’s glance with a smile. Penni immediately thought the girl was weird.

“Hi, I’m Darla.” She introduced with a smile.

Penni just looked on at the friendly girl. She looked familiar, but she didn’t remember meeting before this.

“I’m Penni.” She returned.

“Like the coin?” Darla asked.

“With an ‘I’.” Penni answered.

“That’s cool.” Darla complimented.

“Thanks.” Penni expressed.

The bell for class rang. Ms. Song stood at the front and wrote her name on the board.

“Good morning, I am Ms. Song and welcome to Electricity 1.” She greeted. “So how many of you signed up for this class?” She asked.

Penni raised her hand along with two other people. When Penni looked at the few hands she snickered. Ms. Song clicked her tongue that made Penni’s snickers turn into giggles.

“Well I am still happy to have the rest of you here. Now let’s go around the class and introduce yourselves. Say your name, a nickname if you prefer, something about yourself, and why you chose this class.” She explained. “So who is first?” She questioned.

The room was silent.

“Pat.” Ms. Song selected.

Penni shot her a raised eyebrow. Ms. Song just quietly encouraged the girl. Penni rolled her eyes and stood up.

“Well, I’m Penni. It’s spelled with an ‘I.’ One of my nicknames is Pat. During Christmas one year my grandma had to change my name on my presents because I could read and practiced on the gifts under the tree. She put Patty on the tags instead of Penni. Then my brothers and cousins started calling me variants of the name, so Pat.” Penni explained before thinking about the next thing to say.

“And I chose this class cuz she told me to.” She added while pointing at Ms. Song.

Ms. Song gawked and scoffed at Penni’s answer. Penni just smirked and sat down.

“Oh, you want the other reasons? One of her past students forcibly took me on as his apprentice and trained me backwards starting with the last couple things she is going to teach us. I am also an officer in the club.” Penni tilted her head at Ms. Song with a big toothy smile.

“Okay, who is next?” Ms. Song asked after shaking her head at Penni.

The rest of the introductions carried on. Then Penni figured out why Darla seemed familiar. Penni knows Darla’s brother from the club. She had to chase after him one day after school. He rode the bus so she had to run and catch the buses before leaving. She remembered seeing Darla on the bus in a nearby seat.

“Now, as Pat mentioned there is a club linked to this class. Pat will explain.” Ms. Song brought up.

Penni looked at Ms. Song with a questioning look. She didn’t tell her to do this beforehand. Then again she probably wouldn’t have prepared if she got a heads up anyways.

Penni talked about the club and what they did to fund raise for the class. So far they just took part in school events and had a game booth with consoles. They had a few new ideas for this year but Penni still needed to present them. Penni presented the club for what it was. A safe haven during lunch and a reason to play games on campus. 

As her closing statement, she expressed on her desire to make it more than that. However, the statement came too late and didn’t save her from the light hit from the rolled up newspaper. Penni didn’t flinch away but just played up the incident. She exaggeratedly frowned and widened her eyes at Ms. Song. She rubbed where the roll hit and quivered her lip.

“You couldn’t have waited for when I saved it?” Penni whined out.

“Then don’t say words that need to be saved.” Ms. Song retorted.

“There’s no fun in that!” Penni whined again while trying to suppress a laugh. “I apologize for her abusive nature, it’s her Asian blood.” Penni mentions behind her hand.

“Pat!” Ms. Song scolded before lifting up the rolled newspaper.

This time Penni flinched and cowered away behind her binder. Her laughter left her lips as she supposedly hid away in fear.

After their introductions they paired off to prepare for the next class. Penni and Darla obviously paired off. As they talked, they discovered some commonalities. They both enjoyed animation, particularly anime. Their tastes were also very similar.

They joked around on the computer chairs. Which were breaking since they were put in the class 5 years prior. They were down to no extra supply but that never stopped Penni and alike from riding around them. She treated one without a back rest like a foot stool. As they laughed and talked she laid on two chairs. It was something she started doing the last quarter of last year.

“Pat!” Ms. Song called out as poked Penni.

Penni giggled as she was at the end of Ms. Song’s glare. She didn’t move. Her lack of fear obvious. She just widely grinned up at the woman who had her arms folded to her chest. Penni raised her hands in surrender as she sat up.

“Mommy.” Penni whined. “You know I can’t help my stupidity. It’s a condition.” She innocently smiled.

“Did you do what you were supposed to?” Ms. Song interrogated.

“Of course.” Penni answered.

Ms. Song gave her a questioning scowl. Penni answered it with her hands raised above her head.

“We just did the last one.” She said before pointing her lips to Darla. “Ask her, we did.”

Darla nodded with a nervous smile. Ms. Song nodded and zeroed her eyes on Penni who just flashed an excessive smile with her teeth on full display. Ms. Song gave her signature scoff followed by a smile. Penni just tilt her head left to right with her smile still glued to her face.

When the class ended they went their separate ways. Penni killed some time with Ms. Song before heading to her second period. As she arrived to her second period she saw the line outside the classroom. She looked over her next set of classmates and saw Darla. She instantly found herself walking over to the only pleasant face.

“So who’s following who?” Penni joked.

Darla looked up from her phone. Her smile appeared when she understood the joke.

“You have this class too?” Darla asked.

Penni answered with a nod. They stood in line together as they talked about their favorite anime titles. They got closer during second period, especially after finding out that they had the same 3rd to 5th periods. Penni and Darla became glued to each other as friends since then.

Thanks to Darla, Penni met more people than she would have met on her own. She was able to have a new set of friends to go through the rest of high school with. It made the experience more enjoyable.

Now Penni was laughing with the rest of their group of friends at Darla’s expense. The previous day they were celebrating a friend’s birthday. Penni baked velvet cupcakes for the occasion. Before they partook in the sweet treats, Darla got the idea to smudge the birthday boy’s face with frosting. As payback he did the same to her and they exchanged the cupcakes to eat. Penni snapped a picture as they laughed with frosting on their cheeks.

That night Penni told her parents about the day and showed them the pictures. Penni shared on the group chat that according to her dad they looked like a cute couple. The comment turned into a joke amongst their friends. They gave them a couple name and teased the two. They became the star couple of the group, even though they were nothing of the sort. Darla blamed Penni for the situation and Penni never missed a chance to tease her.

“I blame you.” Darla told Penni again.

“You shouldn’t have sat next to me.” Penni retorted with a playful wink.

“I thought you were the least annoying.” Darla defended her action.

“Little did you know!” Penni laughed.

“You are lucky I love you.” Darla grunted.

“You have to love me, I’m stupid!” Penni smiled as she hugged Darla.