Penelope, Phineas, and their parents were making their way through the archway crowded with people when they took an unfortunate pit stop by Mr. Nolan.
"Lovely Ceremony!" Penelope's mother doted.
"Great to see you as always, Gale." Her father shook hands with the esteemed headmaster.
To avoid useless pleasantries, Penelope took a step away from the conversation and explored the faces around her. Her eyes caught the face of a blonde-haired boy, not in the uniform, staring right at her. Instead of her usual sarcastic smirk, Penelope smiled at the boy expecting to receive one back. Unfortunately, he got all flustered and walked away quickly with his parents next to him.
"Yes, the pleasure is mine." Mr. Nolan turned his neck to face the lifeless girl standing diagonal from him. "And you must be the wonderful Penelope Scott."
Visibly, Mr. Nolan wasn't thrilled to have Penelope at Welton. He was in fact, displeased with the situation itself. The man had heard of the girl's record from previous schools and judging by the desperation in her father's voice when he begged for her to be accepted; she wasn't going to be easy to keep under control. However, her parents were here and her father, well, stretched far beyond Mr. Nolan's limits.
To his dismay, Penelope finally looked at the man's face up close with a smirk resting on her own.
"Yes, very well. We must be off!" Her father broke what was turning into a hateful staring contest.
"Of course Mr. Scott, and I expect great things from both of your children this year." Mr. Nolan said with another internal glare at Penelope and this time, Phineas as well. The renowned troublemaker and his bad-repped sister. What could be better?
Penelope and Phineas exchanged a mischievous glance. Even though Penelope was the only girl in all of Welton, she knew everything about the school, including the boys' antics. And both she and Phineas planned to partake in as much of the fun as humanly possible.
"And I trust you'll find the uniform by then Miss Scott?"
The now agitated girl was indeed not wearing the uniform. She had on wide-legged, dark blue denim jeans and a tightly-fitted red and burnt orange top with a mock-neck. An outfit generally not approved for a young woman of her standing.
Before Penelope could come up with a witty rebuttal, her mother answered yes for her instead. Penelope despised adults whole-heartedly.
***
Todd had been staring at the girl across the courtyard for a few minutes now. She looked- sad. Lost even. Kind of like him.
Todd had always lived in the shadow of his brother, Jeffery. As much as he loved his brother, Todd wished he wasn't wired to be the way he was. He longed not to be the quiet, shy boy sitting in the back of the class being picked on by the football team.
However, looking at the girl bored of the dull conversation with Mr. Nolan, wishing to be somewhere else or even someone else; he thought maybe he wasn't completely alone.
Todd's thoughts were interrupted when the girl made an unexpected eye contact with him. He noticed that she studied his face for a moment before he turned away, embarrassed that she had caught him staring, and continued walking with his parents.
~~~
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