Penelope hurried to her cabin, keeping to herself. She was proud of her new nose but felt odd in suddenly showing anyone. Not so much odd, but anxiously nervous. She wondered what they would think, what they would say, and wasn't sure she was ready for all the questions that would follow the staring.

Classes for her didn't start until Wednesday, so ( Read more... )

Alone in her room, Penelope was looking at herself in her hand mirror, studying her new nose. It was her own. Her own face. She reached up to touch it for the hundredth time when she heard her mother say, "It's not going to grow back," she said softly, pausing briefly before adding: "I know... I miss it too. And then I remember you're still you."
( The curse was so simple: Me. One of my own kind. I'd had the power all along. )

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... )

"Hello, mother," Penelope said as she stepped inside her home. Jake was just behind her, his sprightly red sneakers hurrying past to carry her single piece of luggage up the stairs, and to her room. 
( Some things never change, no matter how much you wished they would. )

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... )