Girl Next Door

So I guess I'll begin this tremendously dubious--no, intriguingly strange story from the beginning. It all started on the same day I encountered  a certain idiot, but first, let me continue where we left off last time (and get to the idiot later)

"Ah, we're finally here. Man, I'm so glad we finally arrived!" Mark stated with such a surprising amount of enthusiasm.

 "Stop with the sarcasm, we both know you hate this sorry excuse for an education facility" I told him. 

Yeah, I  stand on that. This place is as close as it gets to being a literal hellhole, far from the glamorously grandiose safe haven that the school props itself up to be. Heh, "beautifully constructed Royal Oak"..what a joke. Even their website tagline is a farce

"Hey, I'm just trying to be a little positive. After all, this is the first time you've seen Penny in months, so let me get you hype a little" Mark smirked.

I scoffed, jesting him back: "Yeah ok, how about you worry about fixing that hairline first and getting your magical girl fantasies toned down to about a zero".

"I told you my barber just made a little mistake! It's not that bad!" He said with a hilarious amount of indignation. Actually, it was more like comical fervor, but let's not stress the small details.

 I chuckled, "A 'little' mistake?"

"SHUTUP!"

I'll tell you guys now that it's definitely more than a little. I didn't think about saying this earlier to all of you (mostly because I actually didn't know how to fit it into my astoundingly prolific narrative), but now I have an excuse to do so. His hairline is terrible. Imagine..I dunno..Vegeta's hairline (or if you don't know him, think of the Mcdonalds symbol), but instead of a clean widows-peak, one side is lower than the other. It's so bad, that it makes me want to think that if the barber had a stroke or something while cutting his hair it would still turn out better than how it is at present.

 "I'm getting it lined up next week, so it'll look better by then.." He grumbled.

"Lined up? I think you mean jacked up. What's next, the LeBron special?"

"Shutup!"

As we continued our satirical tomfoolery on our journey across the school to eventually arrive at our lockers, we saw something. No, it'd be more accurate to say we saw someone.

Penny Valentine Chindelin. The poshly elegant (yet quaint) queen of Royal Oak middle school. For some reason, she was standing near my locker, number 254. 

"Huh, that's strange..why's Penny by your locker?" Mark inquired.

"I was just thinking the same thing. Maybe she's waiting on me?"

"Heh, I wouldn't get your hopes up. Maybe she's waiting on her boy-"

I immediately glared at Mark before he could finish his sentence.

"-I mean, a friend" he corrected hastily.

"Well whatever the case," I sighed, "Her locker shouldn't be too far away from here, so I shouldn't worry about her being inconvenienced".

If my memory is correct, then her locker number according to it should be 206. And no, it's not creepy that I remember that!..Maybe a little-but I digress!

"Well if we don't have to worry about that, then lets go talk to her" Mark said casually.

"Y-yeah, I guess that would be a good idea" I replied hesitantly. 

To be completely honest (If it wasn't already obvious), I uh, was a bit nervous about the idea of talking to her. At least, with all these people around. Like, seriously! What would they think of me chatting with Pen-Pen so cordially?! Not that I really care or anything (I do), but I really don't like the idea of people just staring and judging me from a distance.

As we got closer and closer to Penny, my heart gradually fell deeper and deeper into the pits of my stomach, hastily sinking as if it were a massive boulder. I felt pretty self conscious, specifically about the way I was walking towards her. I really don't know why, but every time I get some sort of extreme anxiety or goosebumps derived from some sort of excitement, I become really conscious about the way I walk. I know that sounds stupid, but I really can't help it!

"H-hey P-Penny.." I barely managed to stammer out.

"Yo!" Mark exclaimed

Penny looked up from her phone, moving up slightly from her slumped position on the locker to the right beside mine and smiled. "Hey guys. How've you been over break?"

I immediately began to feel dizzy. Such infectious charm! What is this feeling?!

"We've been alright. Just chillin, playin some games. same old, same old" Mark breathed cooly.

"Oh nice, I'm glad to hear that!" 

Pen-Pen then (gotta love that alliteration) turned her attention towards me...and got closer.

"How about you O'? Did you do anything over break?" ( "O" is her nickname for me since my last name is Onami and all. By the way, I've got a fun fact for you: Penny said she partly got the idea because it reminded her of a cereal brand. As you can imagine, I got pretty torn up about such a sad comparison).

"W-well.."

I faltered

"I-I uh, worked out a bit. Gotta get those gains ya know?" I quickly articulated after my annoyingly incessant plunder.

Penny giggled, and said: "You're so cute, Greg".

"..."

Welp, that was it for me.