Day of Reckoning

As I headed to my next class, I thought intently about when, where, and how the heck I was gonna ask Penny to partner up with me.

Yup, that was the thing I had decided to do after Mr.Allen's speech, and adamantly so might I add. There's absolutely no way I could let this opportunity just slip through my fingers! Even if I am a little anxious (if not outright terrified) about asking the girl of my dreams something so overwhelmingly profound, I still had to try!

So, I've decided. I have to ask Penny by the end of the day to work with me on this project.

As the next couple of hours passed by, I even thought about the different topics I may want to base our study topic off of before eventually settling on researching the butterfly species (or I guess genus more accurately?) since Penny loves them so much.

I thought about asking her at lunch, but (again unsurprisingly) of course I quite obviously chickened out (I mean what else did you expect from me?).

So instead of talking to her due to my silly trepidation, I decided to go talk to Mark about the situation.

"Mannn..you really gotta get over this fear you got. Besides, it's not like she'd just reject you. I think" He said (very unassured-ly. Seriously that just makes me worry even more! The heck do you mean "I think"?! Say it with some confidence already!)

I sighed, looking around the lunch hall as I carefully prepared my response. 

Jeez...why's it always so noisy? I can barely concentrate on my conversation..stupid kids..stupid bare bones banal cafeteria..who even designed it like this? The walls are just a plain grainy white plaster coating over brick, the kitchen in the back is a complete mess of hackneyed dishes and shambolic clutter of miscellaneous products (mostly scattered food particles), and the floors and tables are just a plain gray medium density fiberboard (A.K.A MDF for short) littered with multitudinous trash and weird liquids. I hate it. I absolutely, despise it! I hate it! I-

"Greg? You good man?" Mark said suddenly.

I quickly turned to him with wide eyes, before shaking my head to clear my arbitrary thoughts.

"Uh, yeah, I'm good. I just got distracted" I said absentmindedly.

"Oh, well I was just saying that the worse she'll probably say is that she can't buddy up with you since she already got a partner, but even that's not really that bad" He finished, before chowing down on some of his chicken sandwich.

"I guess you have a point.." I huffed, looking down.

I stared at the table sullenly for a moment, before a thought promptly came to mind.

"Wait! are J.B. and Penny..together?" I asked, swiftly turning to Mark.

He continued to eat as he responded, saying: "P'wobably not..I meanb..he didn't twalk wike he did yesterdaysh" (yes this is quite literally how he sounded).

"Chew first" I chastised, annoyed by his blatant indifference regarding my situation.

After quickly gulping down the rest of his (admittedly tasty looking) sandwich, he continued.

"Anyway, I don't think they're together. Or he probably would've called her "baby" or something when he saw her with us, knowing how he is" 

I shuttered at the thought. Imagining that degenerate, borderline sacrilegious fool taint my consecrated goddess made me want to puke. Ew, okay..definitely a terrible image..I think I'd die of shock if I saw them makeout or something (oh God no!).

I nodded, agreeing with Mark's assessment. 

"That's a fact. On that note though, I wouldn't be surprised if he wanted to try and get at her. He's already tried it with like half of the girls anyway! Bro wanna be like Magic Mike so bad" I teased.

"Hah, for real though!" Mark hooted (I guess going along with the joke, probably. It kinda felt like a forced chuckle, but usually he's pretty genuine so I think he actually thought it was funny).

Mark gave me a hard few pats on the back, laughing gleefully.

"You got this bro, just don't think to much about it"

 "Thanks-ow-okay stop-jeez!" I winced out.

After he halted his violent heavy handed assault on my back (pause), I turned my face to him, saying "Thanks man, I appreciate that. I honestly..feel a little better now".

"Anytime. Let's meet up at the same ol' after classes" He responded as we fist-bumped (our way of saying goodbye. also P.S., I know this might not be necessary, but I'll say it anyway so you're not confused: "the same ol'" is just slang for "the same old place". Was this a stupid thing to clarify? Yes-but was it worth it? Probably not- but don't get mad at me for trying to help you out!).

After my 5th hour lunch, I begun to prepare myself for the tremendously dubious, oppressively herculean task that would be proposing-I mean-asking for Penny to be my partner (not in that weird way you're thinking of!).

Once I got into my 6th hour film class (yes I have a film class, and it's actually just as entertaining as it sounds), I started to sweat and felt my heart skip some beats at the mere though of my future (probably, maybe, potentially) girlfriend. 

Now, as much as I would love to yet again gloat and preen on about in great detail the amazing, unparalleled specimen created to embody the concept of perfection that is Penny Chindelin, I'll spare you for now. All of you (at least for now).

Why do I bring this up so randomly, you ask once again? Well..it's to give you a sense of what exactly was running through my mind constantly, all the up until 7th hour rolled in.

Speaking of 7th hour, this was when everything was supposed to go down. I'd have to wait until the end of this period though since Penny sits in the back row of the class while I am stationed near the front (quite inconvenient if I do say so myself).

And so, I waited. 10 minutes passed, 20 minutes passed, 30 minutes passed..time went on, and on, and on. Excrutiatingly protracted as it was, I endured the trial that was my ever growing anxiety, persistently determined to endure every torturous moment. Minutes felt like hours, hours felt like days, days felt like weeks, weeks felt like months, months felt like years..until it finally happened. 45 minutes had passed.

Now's my chance! I gotta ask her before 8th hour starts!

Quickly, before the wave of unutterable dread filled my brain like a vice as it had at the most critical moments in the past, I stepped out of the classroom, grabbing my stuff along with me, and tapped her shoulder as the crowd cleared around her, giving me the perfect opportunity.

She turned around casually with a curious look on her face, as if she was expecting me to say something (no duh, idiot!).

I removed my hand quickly, fidgeting with my fingers in a crudely conspicuous manner as I looked down at the floor.

No, stop it! Look at her! Face your fears!

I breathed quickly, moving my eyes up to hers and placing my hands in my pockets.

Good, now...do it!

"What is it, Greg? Did you need something?" She inquired innocently.

"Uh..yeah..I do. I was wondering if...um.." 

I hesitated. Again. Idiot..what the heck am I doing? This isn't a circus, fool! Stop playing the jester and SAY IT!

I stopped my eyes from shifting to the ground, my gaze remaining steadfast.

"Would you...like to be my partner, for Mr.Allen's project?"