Penny came up to me quite quickly, looking very worried. “Franny, are you okay?” She was looking at me quite funny. I think it was probably because I wasn’t looking the best. I hadn’t really thought about it too much, but I hadn’t had a shower since Thursday. My face was probably all oily and gross. That happens sometimes, when I don’t wash it enough. And my hair was a mess. I already knew that part, I just didn’t care, really. And I realised I was wearing the same clothes that she saw me in on Friday, too.
“Have you been home yet?” she said. Penny is really a very smart person. She probably knew straight away that I hadn’t. “Your uncle came to my house yesterday looking for you. He said no one has talked to you since Thursday. What’s going on?”
I couldn’t really look Penny in the face very well then. I was feeling a bit ashamed. “Oh, I’ve just been doing a lot of errands at the moment,” I said. It was a pretty bad excuse, but it was all that I could think of.
“Franny,” she said, and she sounded very sad. That made me feel even worse. I wouldn’t look at her, though. But then she did something. She took my right hand and held it between both of her hands. I had to look at her then. She looked very concerned. “Franny, you have to go home.” She said it very nicely though, not in a very bossy way.
“I will,” I said. Which I guess was true. I suppose I had to go home eventually. “I just don’t want to just yet.”
“Please. Let me take you home. I’m parked over the road. I can come in and see your family with you, if you’d like. They’re so worried about you. I am too.” When she said that she was worried about me too, I felt horrible. I was making all this trouble for my whole family and now even for Penny too. “Can I take you home?” she said. I didn’t say anything though. I was just feeling quite bad, and I didn’t really feel like talking. Then she very gently said, “Here, I’ll give you a ride,” and started leading me towards her car.
“No.”
“Franny—”
“Please. I promise. I promise, okay?” I said. “I promise I’ll go home in just a bit, I just need a little longer. But then I’ll go straight home. I promise.”
Penny looked at me for quite a while then. She was really staring at me a lot. But then she finally said, “Okay.” I was quite relieved when she said that. “But if you want me to help you with anything, come and see me, okay? You can always ask me for anything.”
“Okay,” I said.
Then Penny gave me a really big hug. I couldn’t really hug her back though; I didn’t really feel like I deserved to.
“I’ll come over and see you and your mother tomorrow, all right?”
“All right,” I said. She gave me another big hug and then left.