Living with a Heartache

Alex’s POV

“Hey Alex,” my head shot up and I saw the familiar blonde girl as she slid next to me during lunch.

“Hey Penelope,” I replied, a smile unknowingly spreading across my face.

“No, it’s just Pen or Penny, anything which is shorter is fine maybe,” she shrugged and laughed. She had a great laugh; it was as if someone pulled on the highest strings on a harp- it was whimsical and addicting.

“Who’s this?” Jessica asked, as she set her lunch down opposite us. Penelope looked up and smiled at Jessica.

“Penelope, she’s a year below us and she’s going to the prom with Pat,” I saw Jessica’s eyes light up as she glanced at Penelope.

“Oh god, you have the best hair colour in the world, unlike me- mine’s just orange and well, big,” Jessica winced as she gestured to her hair. Actually, Jessica had lovely hair. It was a mix between red and orange, and well, it stood out. Because of how curly it was and how natural and vibrant her hair colour was. I saw Penelope blush as she took in the compliment.

“Aw, yours isn’t so bad. It’s nice and bright!” she said in her cute British accent. Jessica smiled like a Cheshire cat, and she launched into a long lecture about different hair types and colours. I rolled my eyes; Jessica loved her hair speech- and had given it to me at least 4 times already.

From the corner of eye, I saw Patrick trying to edge his way closer to us. Penelope didn’t see him, but I saw him all right. Just as I was about to open my mouth to call him, he tackled me and brought me to his table.

“What, Patrick, I think you missed, Penelope is over there,” I said sarcastically. Patrick smacked my head and glared at me.

“There’s band practice today,” he grumbled as he busied himself by shoving a spoon of spaghetti into his mouth.

“I thought your bass-“I stammered, but then cut myself off as Patrick’s eyes darted around.

“It’s okay Alex. Penelope said she’d be interested to join us and be a guitarist. You know, like a real guitarist, we could use some solo action on the guitar sometimes,” Patrick shrugged. I knew I wasn’t a super guitarist- I only started last year. Then again, having a girl in the band would be great, seeing how I couldn’t tell Patrick or Kyle about that time of month.

“Oh, okay. Cool,” I smiled and stood up- getting ready to return to my seat, but Patrick beat me to it and ended up in front of me.

“Wait,”

“What, now you’re going all Edward Cullen on me now?” I snapped, annoyed by Patrick’s unusual behavior.

“Could you ask her for me?” pleaded Patrick, blinking his eyes at me. I groaned and shoved past him, leaving him blubbering behind.

“Hey guys, sorry I was caught up,” I faked a grin as I shot Patrick a sharp glance from behind my shoulder.

“Ask her,” he mouthed. I was sorely tempted to point the finger at him, but thought otherwise.

“Hey Penelope, care to join us for band practice today? Patrick wants to see how good a guitarist you are,” I faked a smile, while I was itching to tell her how much Patrick liked her. Penelope looked up at me and blinked her huge brown eyes.

“But, I didn’t bring my guitar…” Penelope trailed, her eyes fleeting towards Patrick- who was absentmindedly staring at her. Patrick hastily looked back, and I rolled my eyes.

“It’s okay, you can borrow mine it’s in the Band Room,” I replied, twirling my spaghetti and pushing it into my mouth. Penelope nodded eagerly and winked at someone behind.

“Hey Patrick! Watch where you put your food!” came a hoarse voice. I turned around and saw that Patrick had accidentally flipped his lunch over his shoulder at some burly guy. I smirked, love-sick fool.

Band Room: Patrick’s POV

“Where is she? Do you think she bailed on us? What if she forgot about us and ran off with some guy called Tahini?” I rattled as I paced up and down the room.

“Dude, who’s Tahini,” asked Kyle as he lay on the ground, staring at the ceiling.

“Nevermind,” I mumbled. How could Kyle still laze around when we were about to conduct our very first audition? It was important for our Fugly’s future, no, it was more than Fugly’s future, my future too. How could I relax if we were about to accept a new guitarist that could possibly up our band’s popularity factor by a notch?

“I told you she was cute,” murmured Kyle. I glared at him, and seeing his dazed face made me want to throw something at him.

“Shut up Kyle, Penelope is coming strictly for business, not some weird hook-up,” I muttered, knowing that I wanted to see Penelope just for once today.

“You’re such a bad liar man. It’s so obvious you like her; you’ve got those goo-goo eyes whenever you look at her. Plus, almost the whole school knows that you’re going to the prom with the new chic,” Kyle drawled more. I clenched my fist, my heart thumping against my chest.

Just then, Alex burst into the room all of a sudden. Kyle and I stared blankly at her.

“SHE’S COMING!” she shrieked. I yelped out in surprise, and accidentally crushed Kyle’s hand with my sneakers- who then cried out devastatingly in pain.

“Hey guys, I got the right room right? I thought I heard some shouting from inside here,” came a very familiar and tender voice. Kyle looked up from where he was lying, and smiled at her.

“Hey Penny,” breathed Alex as she straightened herself up, and pinching my arm just to wake me up from my trance.