Penelope tore off the train to her dress and ripped the adorned barrett from her hair, tossing it aside. She was exasperated beyond her own endurance. She couldn't take anymore! The pokes, the stares; feeling like a monster, making Edward almost marry her; living a lonely sheltered life where playing outdoors as a child was only ever a dream! She ( Read more... )

Penelope sat at her vanity. She was still; her outward appearance calm as maids fussed over her, doing her make-up and hair and nails. Staring at her reflection she felt anything but beautiful. Not as a bride should feel. And her phone call from Joan last night kept her up, thinking and mulling over what the message meant.

"Mother, I feel stupid."

( What makes us different, makes us beautiful. )

Tomorrow was the wedding. The moment that she was both looking forward to and dreading to the point she felt sick on her stomach. She'd locked her door so that her mother wouldn't bother her this evening. Even she had to understand the calm that she needed. And while it was calm that she wished for, Penelope was far from achieving it.

She sat in the ( Read more... )

Going to the Theatre with Edward's parents turned out better than Penelope had assumed it would. Still awkward, but not even close to a disaster. Waiting for her coat, she didn't see Max step up behind Edward and help him into his.

( He couldn't give her what she wanted. )

Penelope's picture was plastered on newspapers throughout the city and suburbs, gracing, no doubt, everyone's home. Lemon wasted no time in showing the world just what she really looked like. Her mother ranted when she found out what Lemon had done, but all her father had to do was remind her mother of the engagement, and that made her very, very ( Read more... )

Being home for just two days, meant Penelope was ready to get out of the house. She was quiet as she made her way down the stairs and out the door. Her mother was more than a touch reserved about letting her out into the public, especially before the wedding this coming weekend.

She was so conflicted about Edward but her mother (always her mother) ( Read more... )

Penelope sat on her bed, looking down at the single suitcase that was seated on the floor near her feet. She was packed and ready to go and had already recieved an excited phone call from her mother, telling her she could not wait to see her. Penelope just wished she could be as eager; this visit home was not somethng she was looking forward to.

She ( Read more... )

Penelope wasn't sure what to think about radio. Not about her, but about Hurley and K-Mart. It shouldn't settle awkwardly in the pit of her stomach because she and Hurley certainly weren't dating. She had no right to feel things or... think things.

But the thought of them together, like that, hurt. Understanding that the island was affecting ( Read more... )

After her... encounter in the common room earlier, and unmistakenly having her feelings and thoughts and worries, confirmed, Penelope came running back to her room and crawled in bed and cried. She cried and cried until there was nothing left but soft, small hiccups, and even those she tried to hide by throwing her blanket over her head.

She was a ( Read more... )