Page 36 of Loved

Penny stood up so fast, her chair almost toppled over behind her.

I grabbed her arm. "Penny, don't. It could be the media."

"It's not." She looked like she wanted to throw up. She went to grab the phone, but her dad beat her to it.

"Hello, Ellen. This is Penny's father speaking."

"Who is it?" I whispered to Penny.

"She works for the First State scholarship committee."

Oh shit.There was only one reason for her to be calling. Penny was going to lose her scholarship. I knew she’d been worried about that. Her dad was already upset. This was going to make it so much worse.

"Allegations?" her father asked.

This was really fucking bad.

"There are no allegations..." he went silent and looked over at Penny in me. "The Delaware Post? I don't even know what you're referring to."

Silence.

"Penny has successfully maintained the 3.5 average."

Silence.

"I don't see how this is a behavioral issue. Her professor clearly..."

Silence.

"Ellen, I really don't see why..."

Silence

"How dare you insult my daughter?!"

Silence.

"You'll be hearing from my lawyer." He slammed down the phone. His face was visibly red.

"Peter?" Penny’s mom said. "Peter, take a deep breath."

Instead of acknowledging her, he turned toward me. "Get out of my house!" he yelled.

I quickly stood up. "Mr. Taylor, I don't know what you just heard on the phone, but..."

"There's an article in the Delaware Post about this mess? Why didn't you two start with that?!"

Fair point.I probably would have remembered to mention it if he hadn’t been throwing insults at me though.

"Dad, what did Mrs. Fitzgerald say?" Penny asked. Even though it seemed pretty obvious.

"She said you lost your scholarship because you're sleeping with your professor." He pointed at me. "Didn't you think about that, Penny? Did either of you think of any of the consequences?!"

"I can get a job, Dad. I can pay the difference. I'll figure it out. Please just calm down."

"You know how we feel about you working during school. It's out of the question. You need to focus on your grades. Something that you've clearly put on the back burner recently."

Penny looked like she was about to cry. And I really hated when she cried.

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