Chapter Text
Though she had been sent on countless other missions, Penelope couldn't help the overwhelming rush of nervousness that filled her. Then again, most of her other assignments hadn't involved her attending a boarding school and fitting in there. Fitting in wasn't what Penelope was anxious about, the girl could fit in anywhere with her charming personality and good looks. No, it was the fact that her parents, along with the rest of Triad, were counting on her to come through. As the car turned around the corner, revealing the rather large school, Penelope was able to calm her nerves.
"You remember the plan?" Her mother turned around in the front seat to question her, nothing but seriousness in her voice.
"For the last time, I already told you I know what to do." Penelope sighed as she answered her, her excitement rose as she knew she would be getting some space from her overbearing mother.
"Listen here, Penelope. You fail this mission, you fail me and the rest of Triad. You hear?" Penelope swallowed the lump in her throat before nodding as she took in her fathers stern words, connecting their eyes in the rearview mirror. "Now, you've got a school to terrorize." He gave her a smile before exiting the car, grabbing the girls luggage.
Penelope sighed as she followed her parents lead and exited the vehicle.
The school was nicer than Penelope had been expecting. As she followed her parents, and the headmaster who briefly introduced himself as they approached the door, as they passed through the common area on their way to the headmasters office. Knowing her mission had started the second she exited the car, Penelope made sure to catch they eyes of her fellow students as she walked past them.
When Alaric shut the door to his office and sat at his desk, he didn't hesitate to address Penelope.
"Now, Penelope. I've read through your file. Correct me if I'm wrong, but magic isn't your strongest suit." Alaric stated more than asked.
"Perhaps if she had a tutor she would do better." Her mother, of course, had taken initiative.
"We can deal with that later." Alaric gave a slight reassuring smile to Penelope's mother before returning his gaze to Penelope. "But right now you have a tour to go on."
Penelope gave him a questioning look as he called out for someone. When a boy entered, a grin on his face which happened to be framed by his afro.
"Penelope, this is Milton Greasley." The headmaster directed his hand to the boy.
"Come on, Dr. Saltzman." The boy pleaded.
"Right, MG. Take it from a guy named Alaric, I get it." The man corrected himself before continuing. "I've assigned him to be your tour guide for the day. If you come across any questions, he should be able to answer them."
Penelope looked at the boy, his smiled still just as wide as when he entered the room.
"Shall we?" He motioned towards the door.
Penelope smiled before taking the lead and leaving her parents to discuss the rest of her enrollment.
"So what do you people do for fun around here?" Penelope asked as the tour came to a close.
"I know it may not seem like it, but we do know how to have a good time around her." He tried to convince her. "There's actually a party being thrown at the old mill tonight. If you want I'll pick you up and we can go together?" The boy offered her smile.
"Asking me out on my first day, huh?" The girl formed a smirked as she watched him blush.
"Oh! No, no. It's not like that." He quickly assured her. "I already have my eye on someone. Not that you're not attractive. Cause you are, it's just-" Penelope laughed at how flustered the boy had gotten.
"MG relax. I was messing with you."
"You-" he shook his head jokingly. "If I didn't shun all forms of toxic masculinity, you and I, would be throwing down right now." He motioned his finger between the pair.
Maybe she would keep this one around, she enjoyed his company, and his morals.
After agreeing to letting the curly haired boy pick her up, the tour ended after he showed her to her room. The dark haired girl was pleased to only find one bed in her room, eliminating the idea of having a roommate. Penelope, seeing as she couldn't be bothered to unpack right now, settled for searching through her clothes till she found the perfect outfit for tonights party. A party was just what the girl needed to draw the students towards her, and for her to get a feel for her fellow classmates behaviors.
Piecing together an off the shoulder sweater with a short black skirt and heeled boots, she topped the outfit off with her classic loose ribbon chocker.
MG, as promised, arrived exactly on time.
"Wow, you sure know how to dress to impress, Peez." MG compliment her after his eyes glanced over the outfit.
"Peez? Hasn't even been a day and you've already given me a nickname?" She raised her eyebrow, slightly teasing.
"Come on, if we're going to be friends I gotta have my own name for you. Nicknames are kind of my thing." He gave a playful shrug.
Penelope shut the door behind her as she joined him in the hall.
"As long as you never call me 'Penny', we should be good."
"Noted."
As the two walked entered the party, Penelope was quick to glance around. Making note of who hung out with who, pointing out which group was which. The nasty overly full of testosterone wolves, the thirsty and flirty vamps, the goth gossiping witches. She would have kept observing, but her attention was robbed by MG.
"Follow me. Let's get ourselves some drinks."
The girl followed the boy, smirking at the fact that nearly everyone starred at her as she passed.
When the Penelope finally had a cup in her hand, she put on her game face. After careful observation, the girl selected her first target. The alpha. Perfect for her reputation, and the inside scoop on everything she needed to know about the schools wolves.
Penelope didn't bother catching his attention, as it had already been on her along with the majority of the others. She sent him a quick wink as her lips formed her classic flirty smirk. Not surprised, her flirty motions had worked. Jed pushed himself through the group of kids surrounding himself as he made his way over to her.
"What do we have here?" He formed his own smirk as he shamelessly looked her up and down.
"Why? Interested?" Her flirty notations caused him to lick his lips.
"I'm Jed. The alpha of the pack here." He wasn't so subtle with his brag, but Penelope refrained from rolling her eyes.
Flirting with guys like Jed always drained Penelope. Flirting with guys in general, drained Penelope. She would much rather flirt with girls. But unfortunately for her, Jed was her best option at the moment.
"Alpha, huh? Am I supposed to be impressed?" Playing hard to get. Penelope's best approach when it came to cocky guys like Jed.
"Are you?" He stepped closer.
"I don't know, what are the benefits of being the head of the pack?" She leaned back against the tree behind her.
He stepped closer until he pinned her against the tree, just like Penelope wanted.
"I got everyone where I want them." He answered, inches away from her face.
Penelope opened her mouth to respond but her mind went completely blank as she glanced over his shoulder, eyes landing on a tall brunette. Penelope was instantly mesmerized as she watched the girl. Observing her soft features. The girl was so lost in her own world, focusing on the beautiful girl that she had almost forgotten about Jed. It wasn't until he leaned in that she snapped out of it, ducking just in time to evade the boy. She slipped out from under his grip and walked around him.
"It doesn't take an alpha to get people where you want them." She winked as she left the lone wolf.
Although the plan had been to pursue Jed, Penelope figured there was no harm in taking a break to go and introduce herself the the brunette that had caught her attention. After all, she was much more pleasing that he was.
Josie hated showing up to parties this late. Not because she was afraid of missing out on all the fun, but because it was always a difficult process to track Lizzie down at them. She spent the first 15 minutes since arriving in search of Lizzie. She huffed out of frustration when her luck turned up short.
“What’s a pretty girl like you doing pouting at a party?” A voice spoke out from behind her causing her to jump slightly.
She turned to face the direction the voice extended from. And Josie would have responded to the dark haired girl that stood before her, if she wasn't knocked speechless by what she saw. Before Josie, stood the hottest girl Josie had ever seen in all 15 years she has been alive. Her long raven black hair, her gorgeous green eyes, and all around stunning physique. And that outfit... she was totally pulling off.
The raven haired girl had picked up on Josie looking her up and down, or so Josie could tell as a smirk formed on her lips as Josie's eyes made their way up to meet her mysterious green orbs.
"Subtly checking me out, huh?" They girl's smirk was accompanied with a raised eyebrow.
"I- I'm sorry. It's just-" Josie was fluster and didn't know how to respond knowing she had been caught full on admiring the girl. Hear heart began to race and the rush of blood to her cheeks didn't help.
"Hey, it's okay. I checked you out too."
Josie's knees almost gave out as she received a wink from the girl. Did she really just tell her that? Did Josie hear her correctly? Josie rarely gets attention, let alone from pretty girls like this, so it was hard for her to believe what was happening.
"Um," Josie was able to pull herself together enough to form a few sentences for the girl. "I don't think I've ever seen you before." Josie would have remembered if she had. "You must be the new girl. Hi, I'm Josie." She extended her hand to shake the girls.
Josie wanted to pull her hand back as she realized how stupid a handshake seemed. But she was content with her decision when the green eyed girl took her hand, holding it for longer than necessary. The contact was short and little, but it still made Josie's heart skip a beat.
"Cute name for a cute girl. I'm-" The girls flirting had been cut off when someone interrupted her.
"Peez, there you are." MG appeared beside the two girls. "You met Jo, I see." He smiled at both of them.
"Peez?" Josie had to fight the laugh that was threatening to seep out of her mouth.
The shorter girl tilted her head as she glared at MG. Without saying anything, MG understood the message she was giving off, causing clench his teeth as if he was offering an apology.
"Nickname, courtesy for curly boy over here." The girl then returned her gaze back to Josie. "I'm Penelope Park."
Josie found the way she said her own name, very attractive. Josie starred at the girl, and she starred back. Neither one of them breaking the eye contact until MG, once again, interfered.
"I told you I'm a nickname kinda guy. Even Jo has one."
The other girl responded, continuing their eye contact. "Jo, huh?"
Josie gave a slight smile to the girl, as if she were answering her question.
"Well maybe I should give you my own nickname." Josie had a quick intake of breath as Penelope's familiar smirk returned to her face before she took a few steps closer, lightly brushing Josie's arm. "See you around, JoJo." And with that, she left Josie with a wink, and unsure feeling.
Josie turned and watched as Penelope walked through the party and out of her sight. She might have been staring too long because MG commented on it.
"You might want to closer your mouth before any bugs go in." He teased her.
She quickly averted her eyes away from the girl and turned her attention to MG, as she realized he had spoken to her. "What?"
"Jo, are you already crushing on the new girl?" He smiled out of excitement for his best friend.
"What?" She was unable to stop the blush the flushed her cheeks. "No." She denied. "We just met."
"And? Love at first sight exists, you know?"
Josie rolled her eyes and let out a slight laugh. "C'mon, lets find Lizzie."
Linking their arms, Josie lead them, in hopes of locating the blonde.
Penelope heard the buzz of her phone against the sheets of her bed as she finished getting ready for bed. She sat down on the edge of the mattress as she read the recent text that had appeared.
~Good luck, baby. You've got this. Don't let me down. -Mom.~
Penelope wasn't surprised when the message didn't contain a single "I miss you already" or a "We're so proud of you" or even an "I love you". This was usually how their conversations went. A kind exchange of words before a threat.
~Don't worry, I know what to do. -Penelope~
And with that, Penelope turned off her phone, laying down in her fairly small bed, and closed her eyes. Tomorrow, Penelope would learn the schools deepest secrets. Tomorrow, Penelope would make her parents proud. She let her thoughts empty her mind as she drifted off to sleep.