Maggie's Life.

I deftly manouver the stairs so that nobody hears me leave the house. Somewhere, my grandparents are bickering in muted voices again, my father is pacing the floorboards of his room and Teddy is nowhere to be found. I grab my jacket and crack open the front door, get hit with an icy blast of air. Definitely a day for layers. I half wonder where my mother is right now and if she is somewhere warm before stuffing the thought into a small safe in the back of my mind. I will not allow myself to think about her.

My arms are barely inside my jacket when Penny ambushes me outside the house, throwing her long arms around my neck. We twirl for a few unstable moments, then crash into the hedge in fits of laughter. Penny is a silent laugher whereas I'm a snorter. My own laughter becomes worse when I catch sight of Penny, clutching her side in hysterics and her face turning a deeper shade of purple with each passing second. I push myself to my feet and brush off a stray spider from my shoulder. Penny is still laughing. The joke suddenly seems a bit dull and I feel like the utlimate party-pooper.

"Finally! I almost forgot what you looked like. I considered filing a missing persons report." she says.

Her voice sounds like she's joking but I wouldn't put it past Penny to actually head to the police with my picture in hand. There's a stab of guilt everytime I look at my phone; countless missed calls and text messages from her flash up whenever I do.

"You've been missing in action, Marg." she accuses, wagging a finger up at me. She's still sat in the bush, with no intention of moving. "How 'bout we ditch this paper job and go get ourselves some hot chocolates at my place!"

"Hey, come on. I'm gonna be late for the Mason's."

The Mason's are the husband and wife who run our local corner store. He's short, stocky and red-haired and she's tall, thin and blonde. Polar opposites but perfect together, peanut-butter and chocolate. They're my employers; I am the newspaper delivery girl. Chances are, they won't be too annoyed with me for being five minutes late, probably stuff handfuls of sweets into my bag instead. I decide not to share the information with Penny though, I am determined for the distraction of pacing the streets for a few hours.

"Live a little, Margaret." Penny pouts as she struggles to her feet. She's an inch shorter than I am but carries a few more curves, which I'm envious of but have never told her about. On her way up, she scoops my newspaper bag into her hands and shoves it towards me moodily, annoyed that I ruined our reunion and her good mood simultaneously. I am the Destroyer of Happiness.

"I have a job, Penelope." I mutter back, pulling the strap of the bag onto my shoulder.

She flips her hair, the muddy-blonde of it catching the light of the sun. Just for a moment, her hair glows. Then the sun retreats behind a cloud and the illusion is shattered.

"Oh no, you brought out the Nemesis."

Her 'Nemesis', as she so lovingly calls it, is her christian name of Penelope. She grew tired of the endless Wacky Racers references and verbally changed her name to Penny. This didn't exactly help, only spurred on the perpetrators further and now the whole town calls her Penelope except myself, our mutual friend Joseph and my family. Her mother Judy refuses to allow this name change, insisting Penelope is the name she was given and will go by for the rest of her life.

"Yeah, I'm about to bring it again if you don't hurry up and move." I say, smiling to show that I'm just kidding. Sort of.

Penny's mouth twists down in reluctance. She hates joining me on my rounds but is too loyal to me to let me be. Not that I force her into coming, some time alone is what I want most but she insists on following me from house to house, rattling on about boys or her latest irritation with her Mum, all because she says it's not fair for me to walk around the town on my own incase I get mugged.

I think it would be more fair for me to piece my broken life back together.

We start on the journey to the shop, conversation apparently ended for now. All I can hear is beeping as Penny presses down heavily on the buttons of her mobile phone. I cast back in my mind to remember if we've ever had this problem before now, having difficulty recalling even one uncomfortable moment with her. It's my fault and I know it, Penny is acting the same as she always has. I'm just screwed up, so tired of my new found bipolar emotions.

"Jo is meeting us at the Mason's." Penny chirps as we walk, smearing her lips with a frosty pink lipgloss. I consider telling her that the lipgloss is closer to her forehead than her lips when the words register in my brain.

"Joseph?"

I brighten at the thought, knowing I wouldn't have to endure Penny's endless ranting on my own. Unlike myself, Joseph has an endless patience that can stretch on for years, a handy skill when you have a friend like Penny. His knack for setting anyone at ease in any situtation is a feat I can't even comprehend, let alone attempt to reflect myself. The truth is, his personality moulds him into an attractive person, his happy-go-lucky attitude has all the girls at school swooning over him though I doubt he notices. Okay, so it helps that he isn't hard on the eyes, either.

"Uh, yeah. How many Jo's do we know?" Penny says, her faint grimace transforming into a radiant smile as soon as she sets her eyes on Joseph.

Shorter than the average seventeen year old boy, he's stood upright near the entrance to the Mason's shop (Jo never slouches, never wanting to give off the impression that he's unhappy with life - or maybe he's really self-conscious about his height?), wearing a light, summer jacket despite the fact that it's mid-winter and a smile with the size and warmth of the sun. His eyes are half hidden beneath the thick, curly tangle that is his hair; the majority of which is being kept under control by the beanie hat he's managed to stuff it all into. Despite the visual impairment, I can tell his eyes are laughing too. I feel a hundred times lighter being around Joseph.

"Hey, stranger."

"Hey." I reply, unable to stop myself smiling like a dork at him.

Penny is stood between us, her eyes flickering like lightening from one face to another. There's something in her face that I can't quite read but before I get the chance to figure out what it is, her expression is back to gleeful again. She's already talking the ear off of Joseph but right now, in the present, I feel content.

During my round, I hardly get the chance to speak to Jo, his preoccupation being a typically talkative Penny. I manage to grasp sections of their conversation each time I walk up the path from a house and I grin into the hood of my jacket at Joseph's slightly bemused face. I can tell he wants to pull away from Penny, his eyes keep landing on my face before darting off again in embarrassment, though he has a difficult job for two reasons. 1) Penny loves being the center of attention and if she feels like she's not involved, she goes all out to recieve the complete focus of others again and 2) He's too damn nice to walk away.

His moment comes when we drop Penny off at her house. Her bottom lip juts out when we say goodbye and my idea that something isn't right with her is reinforced. Penny keeps us outside her house for five minutes, babbling about random things until her mum spots us from a window.

"Penelope, come inside right now! It's freezing outside." Judy yells. She turns her head towards me. "Hello, dear. I hope you're coping okay. Send everyone my love."

I assure her I will (not) and hug Penny before she trudges miserably inside. I look at Joseph.

"There's definitely something going on with her." I say, tugging my jacket tighter around myself. Already, the streets are dark and the temperature has plummeted further. I pull on the sleeve of Joseph's jacket. "Can you even feel the cold?"

He chuckles, shaking his head. His hair springs around his face with the movement. "Nope. I'm epic."

"Yeah, of course you are."

"Uh-huh. I am."

"Sure. If you think so." I say, bumping my arm against his. "It's good to see you again."

Expressing myself is not my strong suit. I say this awkwardly and consciously, no matter how much it's true. I brave a quick glance at Joseph but his face has softened and he's nodding enthusiastically.

"Same here. Thought you'd disappeared. Dreaded the thought of being alone with Penny forever." he whispers, looking over his shoulder at Penny's house. His face turns serious. "Don't disappear again, okay?"

That hard hitting guilt again. I can't believe I nearly cut myself off from my friends. The day my mother left, I became as reclusive as my father. Sure, I packed away all of my posessions in cardboard boxes and helped my Grandpa heave our now useless furniture into his garage but on the inside, my emotions were whipping up a storm. I was angry and defeated and humiliated because the whole town had found out about my mum's vanishing act in less than a week. I realised I was letting everyone down: my grandparents, my dad, my friends, Teddy. We weren't the only family to be affected by this, I knew I had to pull myself together. I guess I'm still in the process.

"Promise." I reply quietly, squeezing his hand.

We stop in front of my grandparents'. The lights are all on, I can see my dad's silhouette pacing behind the curtains of his room. I gaze up mournfully, wishing the old dad was here with me again. A great, exasperated sigh jolts my attention from the window. Joseph is twisting his hands together nervously and he's chewing his lip so hard I begin to fear that he might bite right through. I have never seen him this agitated.

"Jo? What's wrong?"

Out of nowhere, a growl erupts from his mouth, low and frustrated. I'm startled and step back from him.

"Yeah, just - nothing. It's nothing. I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

And just like that, Joseph is back to his normal, smiling self. I thought I was the only one with a rollercoaster ferrying my feelings.

I nod, unable to find the words. He throws one last, sun-drenched smile at me before turning on his heel and marching off into the darkness.