“Fingers crossed,” she said, smiling. Yet, part of her wished this was it. It would be easier to be done and gone for good. But wasn't it always?
“Well, I have another appointment waiting in my office.” He shook her hand,
gave her a couple of pats on her arm.
She only smiled, and he disappeared out the door.
“Kate?”
It was a new voice. Penny.
Kate turned. Be polite, she told herself. Only a few more minutes. “Yes?”
Penny was standing in the doorway. She had a small apologetic smile on her
face, hands clasped in front of her waist. “I just wanted to say you did a great job. In there.” She gestured with her head.
A compliment? From Penny Fitch? “Thanks. I'm never quite sure if John's just being nice to me.”
“No, as much of a softy as he seems, John's a pretty tough customer.” Penny
nodded, a shy smile on her face. She looked smaller than she usually did. Or maybe just normal. “Well, for what it's worth, I'm putting my vote in to work with Garman.”
Kate knew she must look surprised. “Really? Thanks.” Was this guilt?
“There's something else,” Penny said. “Something I'd like to say. Kind of a
confession, I guess. I want to apologize. I need to apologize, actually.”
Kate forced a nervous chuckle. “Apologize? Apologize for what?” she said,
although she already knew the answer. Let me get out my list…
“It's about school. About the Scholarship Fair, and what I did. Back then.”
Penny paused, searching for words. “I know it was a long time ago, and we were
just kids. That's not any excuse or a good reason…” She looked away, then back.
“But I was desperate, Kate.”
“I don't know what you mean.” Kate shifted her weight, began rubbing her
wrist.
“I was the new kid in school. Worse, I was the new girl in the senior class. I
put on a good face, but you all had known each other since grade school, grown
up together. I was the outsider, someone to be studied and categorized from the
get-go. Nerd, geek, mathlete, athlete…” She ticked them off on her fingers.
“After the first day, I could already tell who was going to talk to me and who was going to giggle behind my back.”
Kate felt something new. A twinge of sympathy? “I suppose it's always hard
coming into a new school like that.”
Penny shrugged. “I'd had some practice. It was my third high school.”
Kate raised an eyebrow. As much as Golden Grove had felt like an
emotional jail at times, she hadn't thought of the stability it had also given. One high school had been rough enough, but having to go to three?
“So, I guess I was jealous,” Penny said, looking down, then up, smiling.
“Especially of you.”
Me? Kate said with her eyes. “Why?”
“Because of Peter, of course.” Penny said it like it was obvious. “He was the
only one who was nice to me when I moved in on your street that summer. Not
just like a boy trying to hit on the new girl, but genuinely nice. While everyone else was going to pool parties and having fun, he would run with me sometimes.
He loved chemistry and hated Jar Jar Binks. We had a lot in common. I thought
