by T. M. Haught
The security guard smiled again. “You’re definitely a class act, young man.”
“Thanks,” said Jonah. He gently brushed some of Penny’s hair away from her face.
Penny stared at him a moment, tears running down both cheeks, then she threw her arms around him and hugged him fiercely. He hugged her back, gently but with equal fervor.
“I’m so glad you’re all right,” he said.
“Ditto,” she told him. She glanced back at Travis and the other boys. “But... how in the world? I mean... how?”
Jonah shrugged. “Remember when I told you about my dad? He wasn’t just in the Army, Penny. My dad was a captain, and he was in charge of an Army Ranger unit. Rangers are as tough as they get. He... he taught me a few things, just in case I ever needed to protect myself or my mom while he wasn’t here. Never had to use it until now.”
“How did you find me?”
“When you didn’t show up outside I got worried,” said Jonah. “I used the locator app on my cell phone. It showed roughly where your GPS beacon was located. I followed it right here.”
“Tiffany stole my phone and sent you that message,” said Penny. “Luckily for me, she still had the phone with her.”
“Lucky for me, too.”
The woman police officer returned now and faced them, businesslike but with an easygoing compassion. “We’re going to need you both to come down to the station with us, so you can give us statements. We’ll notify your parents, so they can pick you up afterwards.” She looked Penny in the eyes and added, softly, “Do we need to use a swab... the rape kit...? Did they...?”
“No,” said Penny. “Jonah stopped them in time.”
The officer glanced back at the boys on the floor, then she said to Jonah, “And you really did all that, to rescue her?”
“Yes, Ma’am,” Jonah said sheepishly.
The woman officer patted him on the shoulder. “Nice going. I wish my kid sister had had a friend like you a few years back.” To Penny she added, “This one’s a keeper, honey. Better hang onto him.”
“I plan to,” said Penny. “Believe me....”
CHAPTER SEVEN
The conference
At 8:30 that evening, Jonah and Penny were sitting in the living room of the old Victorian house on opposite ends of the couch. Rebecca Nash was in one of several easy chairs close to them. Jonah was still wearing what he had before, but Penny had changed clothes as soon as she had got back from the police station. Dinner had been postponed, and Robert Mathews had immediately left again to drive to the school to meet with the principal at her request. That was an hour ago, and the sound of his SUV could just now be heard pulling back into the driveway.
Penny’s ears perked up at the sound, listening, and she leaned forward a bit as the sounds of his footsteps quickly came up the walk. She watched as the front door opened and her father entered the room and closed the door behind him.
Robert’s eyes immediately sought Penny’s, fatherly concern etched upon his tired features. Seeing her made him smile, even though weakly. “Hi,” he said.
“I’m okay, dad,” Penny reassured him, then rose to meet him with a hug that he eagerly returned. “How did it go?”
“One thing first,” Robert said, then turned to face Jonah. He stepped forward to where he sat and Jonah automatically stood. Robert held out his hand and Jonah shook it, then Robert gripped it with both hands before finally yielding to emotion and hugging him briefly.
“I can’t begin to thank you enough,” Robert told him. “For saving my little girl. The principal showed me their copy of the video, exactly what happened.” He turned to face the others as well. “That was about the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, was watch that, to see what those boys did... to know what they would have done if they hadn’t been stopped.”
Rebecca bit her lip, seeing the raw emotion in his eyes and feeling it herself. “I’m so proud of you, Jonah. And I know your dad would be, too.”
Jonah shrugged matter-of-factly. “I couldn’t let them hurt Penny.”
They were all silent for a moment.
“So... now what?” asked Penny. “What happens to us?”
“To you?” said Robert. “You’re the victims in this.” He sighed. “Bottom line is, the principal said she would have to suspend you both for one week, officially for fighting, but not really as punishment. It’s just to give things at the school a chance to cool down before you return.”
Penny frowned. “Well, I did punch Tiffany pretty hard. Not that she didn’t deserve it. Are they going to be waiting for us when we return...?”
“You mean her and Travis and the other boys?” said Robert. “Hardly. First off, they’ve all been permanently expelled from the school. Second, since they’re all eighteen, they’re all going to be facing charges as adults for what they did and attempted to do. With that video tape as evidence, I’d say they’re all facing jail time.”
Rebecca frowned. “Does that mean that Penny and Jonah are going to have to testify against them in court?”
Robert sighed. “Probably. I’m not thrilled about that. I thought it was going to be even worse when Travis’s father showed up at the principal’s office not long after me. He was all red in the face, belligerent, threatening to sue the school, to sue all of us.”
“Oh my,” said Rebecca. “What happened?”
“The video happened,” Robert replied. “The principal showed it to him, let him see what his son did and said, assaulting Penny and about to harm Jonah, too, if he hadn’t fought back. The guy shut up after that. He didn’t exactly apologize, but that definitely took the wind out of his sails and he said that no matter what happened, whether his son went to jail or not, he was going to move his family to another city... maybe another state... far away from here. So I don’t think they’ll be a problem. I didn’t see either of Tiffany’s parents there. They were either away or they arrived late at police headquarters and were still tied up, trying to get their daughter out, which I doubt will happen anytime tonight.”
“A week’s suspension,” said Rebecca worriedly. “What’s that going to do to their schoolwork? Their graduation?”
“The principal assured me it wouldn’t be a problem,” said Robert. “She’ll make arrangements with all their teachers to get their assignments to them, even if I have to pick them up myself. It shouldn’t affect their graduation at all.
Rebecca sighed. “Well, that’s a relief, at least.” She glanced toward the kitchen, then back to the others and said weakly, “Dinner’s still hot. I’m not really hungry, but I guess we all should eat something to keep our strength up.”
They all nodded in agreement, but without enthusiasm. And once they had all gathered around the table and Rebecca had put the plates of roast beef and vegetables before them, they slowly began to eat.
All of them remained silent for the duration of the meal. Jonah looked to Penny a number of times, but she kept her eyes downcast the whole time, and that worried him. Finally, he saw her shiver a bit and push her plate back.
“I... I think I had enough,” she said.
The others were through, too, and Rebecca gathered the plates and whisked them off to the kitchen. When she returned, she stood close to Penny with a look of concern.
“Being a former Army wife, I know a little about post traumatic stress,” she said. “So if you’d feel more comfortable staying in your dad’s room tonight, there’s a cot we can set up, Penny.”
Penny looked up. “No, that’s okay, Mrs. Nash. I’m okay. Really. If Jonah hadn’t swooped in to the rescue when he did it would have been different. But I’m okay.”
Rebecca studied her a long moment, then said, “Well... all right. But if you have any nightmares tonight, or if you just want to talk, come see me. I’m not your mom, but I’m a woman, and I understand what that must have been like for you. I’m here for you. Okay?”
“Okay,” said Penny. She got up from the table and gave Rebecca a hug, then gave
her dad a hug, then she went around the table and stopped in front of Jonah. She gave him a brief hug, too. “Thanks again, Jonah.”
Then she turned and left the room, heading for the stairs....
* * * * * * * * * *
It was close to 10:00 p.m. when Jonah finished his homework in his room. He started to put it in his backpack, then remembered about the suspension and simply left it on his desk, uncertain how he would turn it in. He stood there a long moment, thinking, then he looked toward his closet door. Penny had not stirred from her room since leaving the dinner table. His heart ached to see her, but he was afraid to bother her.
He paced back and forth around the room for what seemed to him a long time, frequently stopping by the closet door, then moving on. Finally, he stopped there and started to reach for the doorknob. He froze and withdrew his hand. He sighed deeply and turned to head for either the chair or the bed, then stopped as he heard the faint familiar scrape of the sliding wall panel between their two closets. He turned back to face it, hoping he was not wrong.
After a few more agonizing moments, the closet door opened and Penny peeked around the edge. “Hi,” she said.
“Hi,” he said back, still uncertain.
“Can we talk a little?” she asked, her expression revealing a vulnerability he seldom saw. “Just talk?”
“Sure, Penny,” he told her. “I was worried about you. At the table you didn’t seem to want to look at me. Is... is everything all right?”
She walked slowly toward him, her eyes alternately downcast and then meeting his. She stopped inches away, hesitated, then put her arms around him and gave him a gentle hug. Then she just stood there awhile, searching his eyes, reading the details of his face and expression.
“When you were coming to the rescue, there in the hall by the gym, how much did you hear of what Travis was saying?” Penny asked him, her eyes large and apprehensive.
“Not all of it,” said Jonah. “But some of it.”
“The part about my reputation at the school I used to go to...?”
“Yeah. Heard that.”
“I want to explain,” Penny said.
“You don’t have to explain anything,” Jonah said. “That’s past history. None of my business.”
“But I want you to know,” she told him. “Because it matters to me. Because you matter to me.”
“Okay.”
“What he said was mostly untrue,” Penny began. “Right after my mother died I was in a really dark place for awhile. For months I just barely functioned, went through the motions. I took care of my dad, did the cooking and shopping, did my homework... that was about it. If you had seen me back then you wouldn’t have recognized me. Then as I started to come out of it, I was also beginning to develop even more—you know, physically—and the boys at school were noticing me more. I kind of liked that, but I went a little overboard, wearing some outfits that maybe I shouldn’t have, flirting excessively, going out on dates a lot. That, and... well...” She blinked nervously. “You’re not the only boy I’ve been with, you know, that way.”
Jonah gave a little shrug. “I kinda figured that.”
“But there were only two, and I thought they were really special. Only two, Jonah, and a month apart. Just two. But then they started bragging to some of their friends, boasting I guess. Before long the rumors were flying. To hear some people talk, I had slept with almost every boy on campus, and half the faculty. They were stupid lies, and they hurt, and they made me sick. I stopped dating altogether. I started dressing frumpy, and went back into my shell. I had a few loyal gal pal friends who stood by me, and I really miss them, but I was secretly glad when we moved here to Palmvista. It gave me a chance to escape all that, and make a fresh start. Or I thought it did, anyway.”
Jonah nodded. “And then you ran into a nerdy guy with girl problems.”
“Yeah,” she said with a trace of a smile. “Teaming up with you was the best thing I ever did, but it sure pushed the wrong people’s buttons.” Her smile faded. Her voice trembled a bit as she continued. “So... now that you know my deep dark secret, my awful past, does it change how you feel about me?”
Jonah hesitated a moment. “Yeah... it does.”
Penny’s gaze became downcast again and a single tear crept down her check and reached the corner of her lips. “Okay... I understand.”
She started to turn to leave, but Jonah stopped her. He gently lifted her chin so that her eyes met his again.
“No, you don’t understand,” Jonah said imperatively. “It’s not a bad change. Knowing all that only makes me love you more. I mean that, Penny. I’ll never stop feeling that way. Honest.”
A sigh of relief escaped her lips and she threw her arms around him once more in a fierce hug that lasted for minutes. Finally, she looked into his eyes again.
“I... I don’t want sex tonight, if that’s okay,” she said softly. “But I don’t want to be alone, either. Will you stay with me? Just to hold me? You saved me from something really awful today, Jonah, and I just want to feel your arms around me... feel safe and protected. Would that be okay...?”
Jonah kissed her on the cheek. “That would be more than okay. It would make me feel safe, too. Just promise me one thing.”
She looked puzzled. “Sure. What?”
“Never change,” he told her. “I miss that sassy girl with the smirky smile, who isn’t afraid to tease me or give me an elbow in the ribs or crack a joke. Do you think she’ll be back anytime soon...?”
Penny smiled. “Yeah. I think so. Any day now, Squirt. Any day now.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
In hot water
They awoke well before the alarm went off the next morning, still side by side in Penny’s bed, with her snuggled close against Jonah’s chest and face, her right hand holding his left hand, fingers interlocked, and his right arm around her back. She stared into his awakening and slightly bleary gaze for several moments.
“Morning,” she said.
“Morning, Penny,” he replied.
She hesitated. “Thank you again, Jonah, for yesterday, and for staying with me.”
Jonah smiled sleepily, drinking in the scent of her hair and her skin and enjoying the feel of her blond curls against his chest and neck and the side of his face. “You’re welcome again. Do you have any idea how many times you’ve thanked me since yesterday?”
The corner of her mouth twisted up a bit. “Yes. Do you have any idea how many times I’ll continue to thank you?”
Jonah thought a moment. “Does my calculator have enough digits in the display for that?”
“No,” she said with a laugh. That seemed to make her think of something, and she tore her eyes away from him long enough to glance at her nightstand with a frown and a sigh.
“I wish the police hadn’t kept my cell phone as evidence of what Tiffany did,” she said wistfully. “I feel naked without it.”
“Ah... you are naked, Penny,” Jonah pointed out teasingly.
The smirky smile was back in a flash and she hit him on the shoulder. “Funny guy. You know what I mean.”
“Uh-huh,” said Jonah. “Since we don’t have to go to school today, do we still have to get up as early?”
Penny sighed. “I’m afraid so. My dad still has to go to work at the usual time, and I don’t know what your mom has planned, but I’m sure breakfast will be at the normal time and we’ll be expected down there.”
“I was afraid you would say that.”
Penny gently disengaged herself from Jonah’s embrace and got out of bed. “I guess we’d better start getting ready, much as I hate to.”
“Yeah,” agreed Jonah reluctantly, but he stayed there in her bed, running his hand over the sheet and pillow that was still warm and fragrant from Penny’s body. He was also enjoying watching her from behind as she walked slowly toward her bathroom, the way the muscles in her legs and backside flexed and shifted so tantalizingly. Then she disappeared inside the bathroom and closed the do
or. Jonah sighed and stayed there, not wanting to leave her bed just yet.
After a minute, that door opened again and Penny peeked around the edge of it at him. “So... shower?”
“Yeah, I usually do,” said Jonah. “Guess I’d better get moving and go back to my room.”
Penny frowned and pouted. “No... I mean... shower, Squirt?” She gave her head a slight toss in the direction of the room behind her, and flashed him a suggestive eyebrow wiggle.
“Oh. OH!” he said. He was suddenly energized and scrambled out of the bed as quickly as he could. He headed for the door to her bathroom to join her.
She already had the hot water turned on in the small shower stall that was green tiled walls on three sides and a glass door on the fourth side. The steam from it coiled in pleasant clouds that crept out into the rest of the bathroom and frosted the glass of the shower door and the mirror over the sink. She was in the shower waiting for him, and he watched as she drew a smiley face in the mist frosting the shower door.
Jonah stepped inside and closed the door behind him. Penny was standing there, soaking wet, with her blond curls hanging limp and dripping. She held a bath sponge in one hand and a squeeze bottle of body wash in the other.
“This should be fun,” she said, temporarily stopping the flow of the water to the shower head.
“I wouldn’t be at all surprised,” said Jonah.
She squeezed a large dollop of body wash onto the sponge and set the bottle back in the tiny rack that hung from the shower head, next to the shampoo. She pressed the sponge against his chest and made slow circles with it, working up a lather, then continued on to wash Jonah’s shoulders and arms, his rib cage and lower torso, then his man parts, then down his thighs to his ankles.