"Can I please speak to Mr. Pan?"
"This is he." Peter had just dropped Penny off at school and was walking through the doors to their apartment. He still needed to get ready for work when the call came through.
"I'm principal Blackwell and I need to talk to you about your daughter, Penelope, is now a good time?"
"Sure," Peter said hesitantly as he slipped off his shoes and headed for the stairs.
"Penny was in a fight yesterday." Peter froze on the stairs unable to think, a fight? That's what the scratch was from.
"Who hit her?"
"No sir, you see, Penny hit two kids. I would like you to come in and we can talk about this in person."
"What do you mean she hit two kids? She is not a violent person."
"I would have called sooner but I didn't get the messages until this morning when I was informed by the parents and other children that witnessed the fight."
"She had a really bad scratch on her face, so they must have attacked her first. She wouldn't have started such a thing."
"I understand, she is your daughter and no one believes their kid is possible of doing-"
"Penelope is a great kid, always on her best behavior, she wouldn't-"
"Can you please come in, Penelope is in my office today and won't be attending class until we get this sorted out."
"I'm coming but I want to talk to the other parents too, and their delinquent children." Peter hung up angrily throwing his phone down and stomping back down the stairs.
"Penelope Jean Pan," Peter said embracing his daughter when he burst through the office doors.
"Daddy, I'm scared."
"It's all gonna be okay. But you need to tell me what happened, honestly this time."
"Mr. Pan," Blackwell held out a hand and Peters face turned bitter but he shook the mans hand.
"I need a moment alone with Penelope," Peter said ushering Penny into the empty hall. "Tell me what happened so I know how to protect you." Penny held onto his hand and twiddled her feet, her Sketchers sparkling with every twist.
"People are mean." She said her lip sticking out.
"But what happened?" Peter was never going to let this happen again, he was going to know everything about her life, no more letting things slide because she is a good, trustworthy six year old.
"They were making fun of me."
"Why honey?"
"Because I told them about mom and you..."
"What about us?" Penny remained quiet and Peter looked down to her shoes. He stood up from his squat and paced for a moment. "What did you say?" He tried to keep his voice level as he squatted back down to her level.
"I just told them that we travel a lot, and your name, people know your name," she added looking to him, "and I didn't say you-know-where and I didn't think I did anything wrong..." her voice faded away.
"And..." he urged.
"They started making fun of me, since that family project..."
"Since the project-" Peter stood back up and dropped back down placing his hands on her shoulders. "Honey that was the beginning of the year, it's almost Christmas. This has been going on this entire time?!" Peter was outraged, Penny was not the one to be reprimanded, she was the victim. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't want you to worry."
"Well, I'm worried now." Peter held onto her tiny, calloused hands. "You can tell me anything, and everything, always." She nodded slightly her eyes flashing to late students entering through the main door.
"They were saying mean stuff and then they started to poke at me and then..." she thought back to yesterday, he would have been proud of the jab to Kevin's nose and the right hook to Katherine's stomach. "This mean girl swung her fist trying to punch me and I ducked." Peter held his breath unable to believe that anyone would try and hurt her. "So I swung back and hit her in the stomach and she fell to the floor." Penny bit her lip trying not to smile, Peter rose a brow trying not be impressed but instead tried to be upset about the fighting. He let out his breath but only for a moment, thinking he could finally breathe. "But then this mean boy, Kevin, he's bigger then Little John" she stated holding her hands out to show his height and width. "Huge," she said again, "and he pushed me against the lockers, like I was flying at them."
"That's how you got that scratch?"
"Yeah," her fingers went to her face, tracing the line of the bandage. "They were surrounding me, a bunch of kids and..."
"Mr. Pan."
"We are not done." Peter growled his eyes daring Mr. Blackwell to interrupt them again. He nodded and closed the office door, disappearing behind a computer screen. "Go on..."
"So I punched him too." Peter let out a smile, he knew he shouldn't have smiled. "Oh Dad it was awesome!" She took a step back and punched out her fist, "I was so fast, just like the lost kids taught me..." she was beaming, "and my hand doesn't even hurt! I thought it would but it doesn't." Peter grabbed her hand to examine it. "Dad I was ready to take them all, I want to fight the pirates when we get back, I think I can do it!" She was so excited.
"I'm glad you are okay and I wish you would have told me sooner. I would have dealt with all of this before it got to punching classmates." Peter tried to wear a straight face like a normal parent would if their child punched two other kids but he was proud of her sticking up for herself. "You defended yourself, you did nothing wrong... good job," he added kissing her head as he stood up. They walked through the office doors and sat down in Blackwell's office. Before Blackwell could begin Peter began the conversation.
"She has been being bullied all year," he started a hand still on Penny's shoulder, but his eyes drilling a hole in Blackwell's head. "You all did nothing to help her, she has been made fun of and bullied for months and when they finally throw a punch at her you do something?"
"We were not aware that she was being bullied." He tried to act as though he cared for Peter and Penelope but he wanted this conference done with. Penelope would be suspended and that would be the end of it.
"Because you all are a piece of..." Peter looked to Penny who rose a brow waiting for him to say something not appropriate for an elementary school. The way the lost kids talk is not how we talk at normal school Peter had told her, they used strange insults and not all were the average swear word, in fact the majority of them were just strange insults that sounded much worse. "Listen to me, my daughter stood up for herself. That girl... what's her name?"
"Katherine" she said as if she had a stuffy nose.
"Katherine threw a punch at her and missed because Penny ducked. Then Penny punched back because she was being attacked." Blackwell rolled his eyes. "Then that fat kid-"
"Kevin" she said in a deep gruff voice.
"Kevin, even his name makes him sound like a bully. He threw her against the lockers and she got a nasty cut on her face." He motioned at Penny's cheek but Blackwell didn't bother looking. "She punched him because he threw her against a wall... a wall!" Peter bellowed.
"Listen," Blackwell said dully opening a folder.
"No, this is unbelievable, Penny is a great kid and she was defending herself, she was being attacked by these mean,"
"Horrible."
"Horrible, that's right Penny these little kids are horrible human beings and they deserve a good beating." Blackwell sat up straight and his eyes widened. "Nuns do it in catholic schools don't they? Maybe you should take notes from those nut jobs."
"I think I have heard enough, from both of you."
"Penny, go clean up your locker. We are leaving."
"She is suspended." Blackwell said as they stood to leave.
"No, she is leaving, for good." Peter said as he slammed Blackwell's office door shut.
"I want to say goodbye to Miss Turner." Penny added as she skipped down the hallway. Peter following her. He hadn't seen her this happy in a long while, she was getting what she wanted, she was going back to Neverland.
"Hey little freak..." Kevin said as they changed classes seeing Penny opening her locker. His nose still had a slight bruise. Peter took a step forward but Penny held up a hand to stop him, she looked back to Peter and he nodded. Kick his butt he thought as Penny took a step towards Kevin, Katherine suddenly appeared, only to back up slightly still scared of Penny. Penny rose her fist again and Kevin leaned back as well, making Penny burst out laughing, lowering her fist.
"I should thank you," she said with a gorgeous smile on her face. "I no longer have to go to school here, with all of you jerks." She jabbed a little finger at the people that gathered.
"Freak." He said again, trying to be brave. He should have just stayed quiet and Penny would have grabbed her things and left in piece, but he had to speak up. In one quick motion Penny raised her hand, fist clenched and rammed her fist into his fat face sending him back into the wall, screaming bloody murder.
"Miss Turner!" Penny said running through the crowd to her frightened faced teacher, Miss Turner watched the whole thing and did nothing. She was stunned at the power within the tiny girl and impressed with her bravery. Miss Turner looked to Peter next and saw that his face contained a smile. A smile pierced his face so widely as he shoved all of Penny's things in her bag. "I'm leaving but I wanted to say thank you."
"For what sweetie?" She was still slightly in shock.
"Being kind to me, when everyone else wasn't." Penny wrapped her arms around Miss. Turners waist and hugged her. "Maybe I can convince my dad to take me to church." She whispered as she released her teacher.
"I would like that very much."
"You ready Penny?"
"Yeah daddy," she cooed as she marched through the crowd of kids, they all separated leading a way for her to leave.
Immediately upon leaving the building, even before getting to the car Penny requested they move back to Neverland.
"Your mom wanted you to go to school."
"But DAD!" She whined.
"She didn't say what kind of schooling..." Peter pulled out of the parking lot and saw her confused face through the rear view mirror. "Home schooling," he suggested and she lit up.
"Neverland homeschool?"
"I wanted your mom to do Neverland schooling with me and she didn't dislike the idea..." Penny launched out of her seat at the stop light and kissed him furiously.
"Yes!" She screamed.