G O O D G I R L S [BILLY]

C H A P T E R F I V E

"Understatement of the year." Penelope laughed and straightened out, leaning back on her hands. Her eyes searched the field, lingering across the grass to where the football team was running drills. An inquisitive wonder fell across her face as her eyes carded through the pride of boys. One boy was on her mind in that moment, and when she finally found the flopping of his dirty blond hair a subtle grin spread on her face.

"Uh oh, Dean W. patrol?" Molly said, amusement in her voice. She rolled over onto her stomach and perched her head on her hands, elbows rutting into the dirt. "I thought you were over that?" she questioned.

A pair of pom-poms fell onto the ground beside them, and Dana D'Amico's shadow casted itself over the two girls. "She was," she said with a tone of finality, "but then I told her she was being ridiculous and should stop being such a priss. Looks like my magic worked." Hands on her hips, she stood with a glare aimed out at the horizon. Her face read business, a mission clear in her eyes as she watched the boys practice. Penelope rolled her eyes. It was typical for Dana to answer for her. Typical for her to think she knew exactly what the blonde was thinking.

"I'm just watching the practice," Penelope said nonchalantly. She shrugged her shoulders like it was nothing, a ringing in her voice that very clearly showed otherwise.

"And I'm just watching the grass grow," Dana mocked, rolling her head and cracking her neck. She rubbed at a sore spot at the base of her neck and walked around to stand in front of the pair on the ground.

"Can someone fill in the blanks here? Please?" Molly begged attentively. She sat up straight, peering at the girls with pleading eyes. "I'm a little lost. Are you with it or not?" She was referring to the prancing quarterback in question, confused as to where her friend's emotions stood. As of yesterday morning, Dean Weselowski was the perfect definition of boring in the eyes of her blonde haired friend. Now, she wasn't so sure where Penelope's head was at, and as she stared out across the billowing field of green, Penelope too wasn't so sure herself.

"It up in the air." She pried her eyes away from the boys on the opposite side of the field. "I suppose Dana's influence may have swayed me a little," her tone was restricted, unwilling to reveal too much, "but I still really don't know about it. We only went on one date, so I guess it was a little unfair of me not to give it another chance."

"Ha, I told you." Dana's so-there laugh was a definitive confirmation of her affect. She pulled Penelope up by her hand, and the blonde stood, brushing the grass off of her behind.

Molly bounced up to join them, stringy arms over her head. Her eyes were latched onto something in the distance and the devilish smirk that spread across her face told Penelope and Dana that whatever it was she was looking at was something that they all needed to see. "Well, if you ask me, I say you should forget Dean Weselowski, and go for the new guy instead."

Both girls immediately turned to look in the direction of her eyes, a sense of mystery in the air that they both were dying to solve. From across the campus, and through the slots of the metal bleachers, a radiating outline of Billy Hargrove stood. He was encapsulated in a grey cloud of smoke, eyes foggy as he inhaled the nicotine from the cigarette in his hand. Somehow through the swirls of hazy air, his face could be seen, perfectly chiseled and just begging to be touched. The attention was on him now, as he stood almost in aloof seclusion against the bricks of the school, back on the wall, seeping almost deliberately into a camouflage recluse. He didn't see that the girls were staring, his mind lost in a pensive daze, and Penelope took it as an opportunity to study him the best she could.