School is not something that could be enjoyable whilst one is hungover. Not even willingly hungover, just 'I accidentally drank spiked punch' hungover which is actually probably worse than regular hangovers. Adam warned me... But that didn't begin to cover the frustration I was feeling towards any human being who decided to speak to me today. Luckily, my mom didn't quite catch it, sometimes I wonder if I could get away with murder and her not ever once notice. I'm not saying she doesn't care about me or anything, it's just... She works a lot. Like, a lot. It's just hard to get her to notice anything mostly. It's not her fault though, it's really okay. The last thing I honestly remember from yesterday was puking into my toilet, which was not very fun. I really remember bits and pieces of stupid things I said or did, but all of it just isn't quite there.

Luckily, school was almost out. The day had dragged on like it was molasses. I couldn't stand the embarrassment of speaking to Adam... He had tried to talk to me several times throughout the day but I really couldn't bare it. Every time we sat near each other, I tried my hardest to ignore his presence and busy myself with something. I ruined the slightest chance of him enjoying his birthday, and I felt like a complete idiot for it. This time, it was my fault that he didn't like his birthday... Not his mother this time. It was me. I didn't feel like looking at Charlotte and him together either. Ever since he told me... All that he did, I just couldn't bring myself to look at him. He was so unhappy, really. But that was not something he let show. I never understood that, how people can hide real emotions so well. I've never been good at that. It's hard for me to hide simple things, much less something big like what he had been hiding.

I held my head in my hands and rested my elbows on my desk, trying my hardest to focus on what the teacher was droning on about. I wasn't succeeding at all. All I could think about was when the bell was going to ring and how it was going to feel to go home and lay in my bed. I could practically feel my cotton sheets and my soft, cushiony pillow... "Penelope!" I jumped and opened my eyes widely to see my teacher staring me down. "Huh? Ma'am?" I could hear the snickers coming from everyone around me. My cheeks grew warm. "Why don't you answer the question I asked you?" The evil woman crossed her arms, expecting me to crumble under her gaze... Which I did. "Uhh... I'm... I... Sorry." I fumbled with the zipper on my hoodie nervously. "I don't know." I mumbled. She clenched her jaw. "Why don't you know, Penelope?" I was starting to get frustrated, why couldn't she just leave it alone? I said I was sorry! I didn't answer her.

"How about you go and see if the principal knows..." No. No. Are serious?! No way. Is she making me go to the principal's office??"Wait what?" The entire class was silent now. This was so stupid. There's no way she can make me go to the principal's office for something as harmless as accidentally closing my eyes for a few seconds! "I said, go see the principal Miss Forbes." She hissed at me like a snake.This had to be a joke. For all the 12 years I have been going to school, from K-4 to 11th, I had not once visited the principal's office for anything worse than getting a birthday pencil. My mouth hung open as I slowly lifted myself from my desk and awkwardly stammered my way past my teacher and into the hallway. Shortly after I was excused, she slammed the door behind me making my jaw unhinge a bit wider. I could not believe. This psychopathic crazy woman just sent me to the office... for no reason! This woman has been my teacher for the past two and a half years and not at any time has she shown any signs of disliking me at all, and now it's just all of a sudden!

Did I do something to piss her off? No, no I am not going to the principal's office. Not today. A strand of something odd, something courageous tightened itself around my chest and I sucked in a deep breath. "Excuse me," I swung open the door to the classroom to reveal my teacher mid-sentence, looking at me as if I had just killed a man. The rest of the class all looked up and I could see Dean specifically, grinning from ear to ear. He must be enjoying this. "I'm sorry, but..." I cut her off, not even thinking about what I was doing. "No, I'm sorry Miss. But I don't believe I deserve to go to the principal's office. I apologized for shutting my eyes. I didn't do anything that in the least bit that makes me deserve to get written up." I snapped. Her eyes widened as every word slipped out of my mouth to the point where I was quite afraid they'd fall out.

There was a moment of silence and then she went right back to her bossy disposition. Her hands were placed on her hips and her eyes narrowed. "Well..." Oh shit. "Now you did." And there I went. I was escorted right down to the principal's office. Book bag and all. I sat in a red chair outside for so long that my butt began to hurt. Maybe the punishment wouldn't be too bad since it was my first time ever getting in trouble. I really couldn't believe what I had done. That was not like me at all. I had never snapped like that. Maybe it was the alcohol left over in my system. Maybe it was the hangover, whatever it was... I hoped I never had to deal with it again. "Penelope? Uhh... Principal Brown said to send you in." A short kid with shaggy black hair that covered his eyes walked out and gestured for me to go inside. I smiled at him. "Thanks dude." He didn't look at me, he simply stared at the ground. Maybe he had done something crazy too. Maybe he was ashamed.

"Hello Miss Forbes. How are you today?" Not too good, was what I wanted to say but I stuck with the simple, "I'm fine. Thanks." Honestly I wasn't as nervous as I was expecting to be. I sat down in front of the large wooden desk that sat in the middle of the room. "I'm sorry it took so long to get you in here. George and I had some things to speak about. He's a really nice kid, ya know. Just kind of shy and upset..." That was one thing I did like about our principal, he was chatty. He had only been there for about two years. I mean, there was nothing I didn't like about him but he was our principal. I wasn't close to many school faculty members, except for, of course, Mrs. Polly... who is gone... because someone fired her. And that someone was sitting right in front of me. "But that is not why you are here is it? Why don't you tell me a little bit about why you are here." I mentally sighed. Ugh.

"I closed my eyes in class, my teacher got angry, and I guess... I kind of got a little upset about it..." I twisted my mouth up to the side. I did not want to be here and I did not want to deal with this today. "How about we skip the painful stuff, yeah?..." Until this point, I have been staring dead at the same red pencil lying in the middle of his desk. Now I looked up at Principal Brown, my eyebrow raised. "Uh, yeah. Yes sir... I mean. Okay." I was now very scared of what was supposed to come after the so-called "painful stuff." Maybe I didn't want to skip it. "Well, Miss Forbes, throughout your years in high school, you seem to have a sparkling clean record. Nothing has ever come up about you in my files and you make wonderful grades..." Oh no, there's a but coming. I can feel it. God, don't say it.

"But," Well, it's all over for me. "by my own word, I cannot overlook this small act. I apologize Penelope, but I'm afraid I cannot allow you to go to the homecoming dance. Now, your punishment will not extend beyond that. I just..." My eyes widened. I know, I hadn't wanted to go to the dance just a little while ago but since then, I guess my opinion changed. In all honesty, I was kind of looking forward to it. "But... but Mr. Brown, come on. You said yourself I haven't done anything. How's that fair?" He sighed, closing his eyes. "I know, I know. But, Penelope. I made the announcement that any students who visit the principal's office for any offense this week will not be able to attend homecoming. I'm sorry, I can't go back on my word. It would be unfair to let you go. On the other hand, I could allow you to man the punch bowl the entire time if you'd be interested."  I sighed, feeling defeated.

"No sir. I'll be fine, thank you for the offer though. Do you mind if I go to the restroom before going back to class?" I tried to be as polite as possible but I was steaming on the inside. To be honest, I just didn't want to go back to class and deal with that impossible woman I had to call my teacher. "Of course not Miss Forbes. Again, I'm very sorry about this and I wish there was something I could do." Wellllll, you could do something... Per say, LET ME GO TO THE DANCE WITH MY FRIENDS?  "Yeah." Was all I mumbled before grabbing my things and lightly stomping out of Principal Brown's office. When I got to the bathroom, I locked myself in a stall and played on my phone until the bell rang. Sweet, sweet freedom. Thank you, you beautiful bell, you.