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Characters: Peneope: 13 Harry: 14 Richard: 15

Relationship: Best friends.

Setting: Treefort. Location: Penelope's Backyard in Leeuwarden, Holland.

Conflict: Harry and Richard both have a crush on Penelope, but neither of them have admitted it to each other, or Penelope. Penelope likes another guy at school named Josh who is older then all of them. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> In the summer of 2005 Richard, Harry and Penelope sworn best friends for life, were hanging out in their favorite hideaway, the treefort in Penelope's backyard. They were having a great time telling funny stories to each other when suddenly on a whim, Richard decides to ask Penelope out. He is incredibly nervous and blushes bright red. But before he even got the chance, Penelope decides to say, "I think we should make new friends".

"Are you kiding me?" Richard and Harry yelled at the exact same time. "We had sworn to be best friends for life!"

"Well...um...there's this boy at our school named Josh and I think that I'd rather be friends with him." Penelope struggled to say.

"FOR LIFE!" Richard and Harry repeated. In the end, Richard and Harry realized they had been feeling things similar to Penelope about the whole Best Friends For Life thing.They all ended up agreeing to find new friends after all of those years. Richard and Harry went searching for another girl to replace Penelope in their group while Penolope searched for Josh and his friends. The truth was, Penelope missed Harry and Richard, but what she didn't know is they missed her too.

The next day, Penelope spotted Josh walking off the school bus. Josh is one of the most popular boys in school. He plays football and he skateboards. Every girl in the school has a crush on him! "Josh, Josh!" She yelled. He swung around to see Penelope staring at him. "Josh, hey, um, I like your sleeves." He gave her the strangest look ever.

"Oh, hey Polly, Thanks, I never knew you went on this bus".

"I dont, I was just waiting here to stare at you like I do everyday." she replied not realizing what she had said. "And it's Penelope, not Polly."

Josh was confused.

"Everyday?" He croaked nervously "I don't remember ever seeing you ..."

Penolope, caught up in her feelings for Josh, didn't notice what an idiot she was being in front of him.



"Well, I always wait here and stare at you because you're hot! Like last Tuesday, when you were wearing those hot jeans, and that hot T-shirt, that made you look even hotter then hot! I call Tuesdays "HOT TUESDAY" because Yesterday was Tuesday, and every Tuesday before that you looked well... hot."

"Paula, you're a freak!" Josh yelled as he ran away from Penolope. Penelope was speechless. "It's Penelope!" She called after him, but he was already too far away to hear her

"How many people think I'm a freak she thought to herself. Then her thoughts turned to Richard and Harry. They always seemed to like her even if she was different."Have they always been there for me?". "Then I just turned on them for someone who doesn't even know my first name?" "I'll be friends with them once again if they can forgive what I have done."She whispered aloud."If they are true friends they would understand how I felt and why I ditched them."

The next morning Penelope tryed to call Richard. His mother answerd the phone. "Hello?" "Hi it's me, Penelope is Richard there?"

"One moment please," Richard's mom replied kindly. As Penelope waited for Richard to pick up the phone, she had the song //Thriller// stuck in her head. "Ahh." She thought. "Michael Jackson is super duper hot! But not as hot as josh..." She started to sing "Josh is hott, hott, hott!" in the tune of Michael Jackson's //Thriller//. But what she didn't know was that Richard had already picked up the phone. And all he could hear was "Josh is hott, hott, hott, hott!"

"Oh that's nice!" "Now she's rubbing it in!" ichard thought as he hung up the phone. He headed straight for he computer. He was so determined to ruin Penelope's life that he hacked into her msn. Since they were best friends, Richard knew Penolope's password. So he went onto her msn and started fighting and causing trouble with all the people online. Of course it was Penelope's msn so everyone thought it was her. "That's what Penolope gets for rubbing it in!" Richard growled. He was actually having a good time making Penolope's life miserable but what he would soon learn was that he was just making matters worse. And the worst part was, one of the people online was Harry!

The next day at school Penelope couldn't get the thought of why Richard hung up on her last night. "I guess he just doesn't want anything to do with me anymore." Penelope sighed. Penelope looked over and out of the blue Richard walked by giveing her a very dirty look. "Huh?" Penelope thought. "Whats his problem?" "Does anyone know what his problem is?" Penelope asked the people around her. "No, but what you said to us on msn last night was really low." They all walked away leaving Penolpe standing there speachless. "But...but...I wasn't even on msn last night!" Penelope cryed. "Ta, whatever." One of the people said. "But I really wasn't!" Penelope thought. "Who in the world would hack onto my msn and do that to me!?" Penelope thought. Thats when it hit her. "Richard!" Penelope said. She decided to tell her parents about the whole scenario.

"Mom?" She said in a fake tearful voice. Her mom looked over at Penelope very concerned. " What is it?" She asked. Penelope put on a fake crying voice and blurted out, " Richard and Harry have been prank phone calling me and telling everyone mean stuff about me at school, and saying JOSH, JOSH, JOSH into the phone, and they even hacked onto my MSN and told everyone that I KISSED DANNIE KEBLAH! " Of course Penelope was acting up a bit and embelishing things that never really happed. But hey, we all know what can happen when Penelope gets talking! Her mom looked surprised (in a bad way of course)! "Hacking onto your MSN and telling people you kissed foreign exchange sudents from places we probably don't even wanna know, and spreading rumors about you?" Penelope nodded slowly. "Well, I think its time to call the RCMP!" She exclaimed. Suddenly Penelope had a large pit in her stomach. "Mom's going to call the police and they are going to all find out that I lied!" Penelope thought. " Uh... yeah mom great idea!" Penelope said nervously without thinking. But the pit was just getting WAY BIGGER!

Penolope had no clue on how to stop this."I guess I was wrong and they weren't there for me all this time." She thought. Her mom was going to call the police, she couldn't stop her, they would know, then her mother would know, then there will be a long lecture about telling lies. If only this was'nt a lie...maybe she could make it come true! Bing! At that second she had an idea. She rushed over to her computer so she could make an e-mail address very close to Richards, and she could send the rumors. If I were to add humerously fake rumors, everyone will know its all lies and blame Richard.They will all hate him and Josh will fall into my arms (I hope.)

It took 48 minutes to send the e-mail. Everybody thought it was Richard because his e-mail address was Richard.....footballstar@sompatico.com she took 1 dot away from it so it looked like Richard....footballstar@sompatico.com. no one noticed the diference!

Here was what she wrote about herself

Hey this is Richard, So you know that crazy girl Penolope me and Harry ditched well I just happened to figure out some stuff about her.She is too clueless to know how to keep secrets, it turns out she has scurvy, gingivitis, dandruff, acne,and she has RABIES! She is also alergict to germs because she is secretly an alien worm baby.Her father is a FROG!. Didnt help with the school fundraiser to stop the rwandan genocide __SHE KISSED DANNIE KEBLAH!!!!! and she still loves song's that came out in the 80's and when she grows up her dream is too be a stop sign__ ! And she is cruel to her horse... performing cruel and unusal methods of punishment when it does anything even a little bit wrong! Wouldn't you do stuff wrong if some girl was constantly inserting ladybugs into your ears???. Is that the kind of person you want to be friends with? HECK NO! Oh and by the way, I'm the best.

Sincerly: Richard who is better than penolope

"Muhahaha!" Penelope laughed. Now that she sent the email she felt so good! "THIS IS SO AWESOME!" She thought, overcome with the power of hate. "I think I'll go on MY msn and see who's online I'll ask them if they got a e-mail lately."

No one was online to ask but many of their display names were "I Can't belive you would do that Richard!" Which meant they probably got the e-mail and were now mad at him. she was overwhelmed with the power she possesed. Just with the magic under her finger tips.Then one of her contacts signed in and it was Harry! I guess I can talk to an old pal for old time's sake. Penelope thought. This is their conversation"

Peneope says: Hey hows it going buddy old pal? Harry says: Um..hi there Penelope. Penelope says: I can't beleive your still friends with Richard hes a LO-to the-OSER! Harry says: I'm not, that guy's got issues. Jeeze Luieeze! Alien worm baby? Who makes up dumb crud like that? Peelope says: lol I know eh? Penelope says: So..now you have no friends? Harry says: Well...um...ahh...no. Penelope says: Wait, is that a hint your giving me to be your friend again? Harry says: No I'm sure you would be much happier with Josh. And we broke up remember..?

The truth was, Harry really wanted to yell at the top of his lungs "YES!" YES I WOULD LOVE TO BE FRIENDS AGAIN!" AND TO CELEBRATE WE CAN TOATALLY GO OUT ON A DATE!" But he tried to be strong and he held back his TRUE emotions. Penelope says: Oh.Does that mean that you don't sit around all night unable to sleep because you fell bad about breaking up with your very best friends and its all your fault? Harry says: huh? Penelope says:Harry are you there? Penelope says:Hello? Harry signed off without saying anything else. He just wasn't that strong. He sat on his bed and began to weep.

She went offline and was just as furious as when Richard hang up on her that time. Now she did have something against harry.

Penolope was on her way to the police station with her mom a few hours later. Over and over in her head she rehearsed her story. Her mother looked down at her "Penolope, won't it be nice when we tell the police about thoses bad kids?" "I'm acctually looking forward to this, maybe the police officers will agree with us so much that they will come give an oral presentation on bullying at your school." "Then there will be way less bullies for us to deal with and you will be away from that Richard and it'll just be you and Harry, how lovely?"

Penolope wasn't sure anymore, sure she wanted things to be back to normal, not Richard and Harry normal her perfect happy life normal where she and Josh are together and everybody claps as they kiss at the main stairs normal and they are happy and everybody tells her how much they love her shoes. Penelope took a deep breath and stepped into the brick building. " This is it" she said quitley to the small worm on the ground as she pretended to tie her shoes " No more putting this off" Her mom's last name was called and the two of them stepped into a small dark room and sat in a deep grubby sofa.

The lighting was bad, and Penelope's nose wrinkled up to the smell of mold spores in the air. She wondered how many times this cubicle got cleaned. Cheesy child's scrwling drawings inhabitated the walls as well as a small brass plate that said ' Officer Dick Whaney, since 1980. Specializing in Child to Child Harrassment ' The small stubby man at the desk stood up slowly. " So Penelope, let's hear exactly what happened, right from the start" He drawled in a thick Boston accent. Suddenly Penelope made a spur decision. She asked that her mom would leave. Confused,she left, lookng very hurt, and hoping this was a joke. Takeing a deep breath, Penelope told Dick the entire story. The true story. From start to finish. "And so," she finished "You can see my conundrum!" Dick Whaney nodded with a smile. "I'm no shrink" he said jindly, " but heres a number that i want your mom to call, and you can visit this woman once a week for as long as you need" He handed her a small piece of paper on which a thick pen line had chicken scratched the number 1-555-973-3536. She smiled at him shyly. " Now go get your mom so we can explain everything to her" he returended her smile. " I'm sure she's very concerned"

After Dick Whaney and Penelope told her mom the story, she had a shocked look stained to her brown eyes as she looked to Penelope and asked "Alien worm baby?,you must be from your father's side,i have no idea what we are going to do.'' Dick Whaney said "it seems she has been threw enough, I dont think you should punish her, I dont see how that will help any,but what you //can// do to help is bring Penelope to Dr.Justine Mc//'Cain//. She is good with issue's like this,she even made a documentary that the university uses for their students.

"Justine Mc'Cain, eh? Do you really think she can help Penelope?" Asked Jenny (penolope's mom,she needed a name) "Oh,yes,she even does anger management classes that you can take Penelope to" he reassured her. "Anger management?!" Penelope jumped out of her seat. "But, I dont need anger managment classes I'm just a victim from the world around me,being pressured and taunted by my peer's in the depths of the unknown with no one to pull me out..." "Now she is going on about another one of her fanatical stories." Jenny sighed and shook her head. "This is just perfect, no one understands me if I'm not able to lean on to any body's shoulder for support. I'm going to have to fix this myself!" She promised under her breath as they exited the doughnut reaking building.

As her mom dodged car to car, slightly passing the speed limit from the stress of what had just happened, she cast a side glance at her daughter. "Wasn't that police man kind? Taking the time to help children solve their problems." "Help me? You have to be kidding! That police guy is the one with the problem!" Penelope let out her 'issue' in one big breath, like she had been punched in the stomach. "I know what a blow this must be to your mental state right now, but the first step is to admit that you have a problem." "Mom, don't listen to what some guy with a badge says to you! What about me? Oh, the shame of having a mother who doesn't listen to her own daughter!" "Penelope Martha Stewart! You are seeing Dr.Mc'Cain, even if I have to drag you by your ears to her classroom young lady!" With that the car screeched to a halt as they both realized they had arrived home by some magical miracle. They didn't say another word to each other as they walked through the door and into the hallway. Penelope had decided she had had enough of this day and went up to her room to sleep the day's events out of her mind.

Shaken awake by her mother, Penelope looked over to her hello-kitty clock her grandparents had gotten her for her birthday. She had slept through the end of the day and through most of the morning. When her mother opened the curtains it was like a scene from a twisted vampire movie when Penelope shrieked and tripped over one of her pillows that had fallen off her bed, exclaiming 'Help! I'm on fire! I'm melting!'. "Time to wake up Penelope, or in this case, //grow up.//" She sidestepped the twitching Penelope and left her alone in her room. "We're leaving in ten minutes for your appointment with Dr.Mc'Cain!" Penelope sat up, wondering if it would be that painful to jump out the window and into the sweet bliss of her backyard's freedom. She groaned when she felt the sore spot on her back that her stuffed pony doll had given her when she slept on it (Another fantastically thought-out gift from her grandparents). At least she had convinced them that she didn't need the matching outfit and that her school pictures had a strict 'no kitties and/or ponies' rule.

Dr.Mc'Cain's office was a rather odd seen to behold, even from Penelope's point of view. She had cheesy posters of happy faces and under each logo was the phrase 'BE HAPPY!!!!!'. The rug was dark navy blue to match the sky blue of the walls, but even so, you always felt as if someone was watching you. Her desk had hanging pictures of smiley faces and you could hardly see the top of it through the stickers that were faded of old age. Penelope and her mother sat awkwardly beside each other and stared at the floor, trying to stay still, when they felt a tap on their shoulders. Both turned to see what had touched them, but it had disappeared. Then the lights started to flicker on and off. Her mother reached for Penelope as they went off completley and they were left in the darkness. Suddenly, they heard a click and a face covered in shadows appeared below them with a light projected from below it. "SWEET MAYONAISE AND PICKLES!!!" Her mother cried. They could feel things crawl up their legs as the face took a breath and opened it's mouth and with a deep and menacing voice, rolled it's eyes back and bellowed. "//The doctor will see you now.....//" The light flickered of and the face vanished. Someone had clapped their hands and the lights flickered on to reveal a woman smiling and sitting on the floor with a flashlight in her hands. She wore an olive green sweater and a long black skirt, which brought the green of her eyes and the brightness of her blonde hair. "A-are you the doctor?" Jenny stammered, holding out a trembling hand. "Why, yes! You can call me Justine. I hope I didn't scare you too badly, I love to start off my sessions with a little excitement!" "Yeah, excitement." Penelope was still clutching her mothers hand and trying to slow down her heart rate. "Let's get down to business!" Justine pulled out a pair of glasses from her pocket and pulled herself up on to the couch behind her while Penelope told her her dilemma.

"So you understand, right!?" Penelope asked, out of breath from not breathing evenly between her sentences. "Don't worry; I understand fully what has happened to you and your friends." "THANK GOODNESS!!!" "Yup, it is plain to see that Richard has a severe solitary complex and that Harry should stop this stalker nonsense." "Um..." "Richard will grow up in jail, but Harry shall only grow up with issues, while you rule the world, because you are much more superior than they are." "Well....." "Those poor unfortunate boys, they definitely need some help. Were they left alone as children?" Justine laid back and pulled her glasses from her face. "Hey! Those guys are the best friends anyone could ask for! They were the best friends that I could have ever met. It's my fault that we were split up, and that Richard was mad at me, and that Harry doesn't know what to do any more!" Justine lifted one eyelid and smiled at Penelope as she huffed and puffed. "Is that so?" She remarked slyly. "DUH!!!" Penelope collapsed on to the couch beside her mother, realizing what she had just said. "Oh, sugar fungus." "So, any other things you need to talk about, sweetheart?" Justine looked from Penelope to her mother and back. Jenny put an arm around her daughter and hugged her gently. "No thank-you, we are fine now." "Great, excuse me one moment." Justine walked over to her door and stuck her head out. "You owe me ten bucks Al!!!"

Penolope gave her mom a look,a disgusted humiliated look.She felt terrible for coming here not guilty but frightened and didnt feel safe.Justine mc'cain came back to the room wearing a huge grin,out of the blue, she swung her shoulder lenth blonde hair infront of her face as she came down to a hard fall on her brown, oak, marked with lighter burns desk.All the be happy posters that were yet to be hanged floated softly to to the stained ugly carpet as Justine went "CLUNK". "ahh!" both yelled "do you like to end with exitement as well?"Jenny asked trying to reassure her daughter ,this lady will not hurt her.

"No, she replied gushing the words threw her smile, i just wanted to offer you a lollipop" She rummaged threw her desk trying to find a lolipop digging threw all her drawers she almost tipped herself right over wich would of toppled the desk right over her.Penolope could imagine her slipping head first into the be happy cheese posters with nothing but the hard chewing gum to break her fall.she presented her a yellow sucker with goo hanging off of it to heat exposure.Penolope really did not want to eat this lollipop ,But she knew her good manners and should of probalbly took it but she REALLY did not want to eat it "was no one going to save her from this monstrousity.Just then a little buzzing noise straight from heaven came in from the light to save her.the mosquito perched itself on the sucker,so now it was obvious penolope did not have to eat it. Jenny spoke for her daughter"eew, i don't think we will be accepting that "skeeter sucker",Jenny grew up in the country so she had her own words for things."We can just toss it out then".But Justine was completley oblivios about the rejection.She eyed the sucker,as did Penolope where she observed the mosquito try to break free but his legs were stuck in the ooze. Justine gave the sucker an other look ,when the mosqito finnaly sunk in.It was in so far, you could barley tell it was even there. A twisted and grossed out face held opon the stewart's as they saw one of the most distinguished member of their dutch community, attack at the lollipop with a wide pie hole. Their face churned with a new form of disgust and crunched down on each sugar-full candy segment, to make it gross enough she had to chomp with her mouth as open as it could be.Penolope swear she could see the mosquito in their somewhere............it was like a new demension ,as if she was Kirby!.Jenny grabed hold of Penolopw's arm, and scurried them out the door. When the left penolope gazed deeply to show honesty to her mother"thank you thank you so much" She was so happy and leveled her self to her daughter"i was just doing what any good mother would do" She gave her child a hug, it was long and warm she almost shought a tear would roll down her cheek.Penolope pushed her away back to reality "Really, I didn't have the courage to walk out or say anything,what you did was true heroisim" Jenny was confused,all this time she thought she was being appreciated for her mother skills,but i guesse dragging Penolope out was good too".