Ender Wiggin's Last Game

Stay

"I've got what I wanted, now go." Penelope fumed at the words, but she knew Ender would be headed her way soon, so she fled... to Valentine and her shared room, of course.

The walls seemed to pass in a blur, but she was hardly even jogging. She was disoriented. Why was this even upsetting her? Wasn't she better than this? It wasn't as if Meiji really kissed Ender.

Wasn't Meiji a little old to be preying on such a young man?

She almost laughed at herself. Aren't I a little too young to be pining for Ender?

But then, she thought, it wasn't the age difference that was the problem. Two, or even five years in Meiji's case, wasn't that large of a gap. The problem was the age at which everyone was now. I'm twelve, Ender as of a few weeks ago is fifteen, and Meiji is twenty.

We really are an odd love triangle. Especially so since Ender doesn't really seem to care.

Oh, she knew Ender cared about her, alright. But he didn't care enough to really stop Meiji, and he certainly didn't care about her in the way she wanted him to.

With the way things were going, Penelope was starting to really believe that Ender liked the attention he got from Meiji. He just didn't show it.

She would have slammed the door shut behind her as she entered her room, but these doors didn't slam. The most she could do was stomp and even that didn't help her mood any.

What did Ender see in him? He was an asshole who not only kidnapped him, but tried to kill him! He's selfish and reminded Penelope of an elf, the way he was always playing tricks on people.

Valentine looked up from her desk as Penelope came storming in.

"Meiji got to you again, I assume?"

"More like Meiji got to Ender."

"What?"

"Yeah, " Penelope looked at her nails as if they were fascinating. "Meiji kissed him. They were alone in the gym where they thought no one was looking. I was there, though, about to deliver nice, cold water, when I saw it."

Penelope purposely didn't say where Meiji kissed Ender, or that she didn't, in fact, actually bring them water. She was angry, and she was going to get him back.

"He kissed him?"

Penelope just nodded.

Penelope could see Valentine struggle to keep herself from getting angry. In the end, she managed to keep herself under control.

"Well, Ender's fifteen, after all. He knows little of what he wants, but he's not a bad judge of character. I can't be angry with him."

The last part of her sentence gave her room to be angry at Meiji, however. He was older. He was preying on someone underage. Or so it seemed to Valentine.

Penelope knew this was wrong. That Meiji hadn't actually touched Ender the way she made it seem. But she also didn't care. As of today, she hated him.

___ ___ ___

M

eiji sat down on a chair near the door of the gym. Suddenly, he had a headache. One that pounded against the sides of his skull. One that didn't go away with over the counter meds.

He had seen Penelope through the crack of the door. Why else would he have stopped Ender? He didn't want Ender to catch her so obviously eavesdropping.

He had pulled him back, spoke to him, and... well, and then kissed him. On the forehead, sure, but that wouldn't matter to a snotty little girl like Penelope. Meiji feared he just made things much worse.