8 Home Alone

At the end of the day, Penelope left work with a smile on her face. Today had been a wonderful day! There was nothing that the Witch could say or do to ruin it at this point. Just knowing that she had caught the eyes of the richest guy in town was enough to out her up on cloud 9!

Penelope wore her smile all the way home. She had to work extremely hard to put her neutral face on when she walked through the door and took her shoes off. If someone saw her in a good mood, they would do their best to kill it. Especially if it was one of the boys. When she walked into the living room, she saw that her dad and Mary were dressed up. She greeted them and started to head towards the stairs.

"Your father and I are going out to dinner tonight." Mary announced.

"Okay." Penelope replied. "I'll get all my chores done." she promised, before continuing towards the stairs.

"We got invited to sit with the head of Filmore Industries today. He wants to talk about a new marketing campaign for the company. Penelope, I might get promoted soon!" Her fathee beamed.

Penelope turned around and smiled at him. "That's great, dad. Have fun. You both look nice." She complimented. Well, that was a lie. The only one of them who looked nice was her dad. He was cleaned up and wore a freshly pressed grey suit. Mary, on the other hand, was wearing a tight fitting peach dress that really didn't flatter her. In fact, it practically melted into her skin and makes her seem like she was almost nude. Her makeup was caked on her face. Her hair was curled, but the strands went everywhere. Nothing was flattering about her look, but she put her arm around Penelope's father like she was a prize to be won.

"We won't be home until very late. Greg and Scott are staying over at friends houses tonight. There's an extra list of chores for you to do on your bed to keep you busy."

"Yes Ma'am." Penelope replied. It was already early evening time. After working hard all day, why did Mary always feel the need to make her do more things? She knew that Penelope would probably watch TV, and she probably didn't want Penelope in any of the electronics. Whatever. She'd get the list done quickly and watch TV anyways.

She went upstairs to get changed out of her work clothes. When she got downstairs, Mary and her dad were gone. Penelope looked in the fridge. No dinner. She sighed. Her night alone came with a price. No worries, though. She made herself a couple of sandwiches and whoofed them down before she set out to work.

"Alexa, play the top 40." She called to the echo dot in the kitchen as she set out to work on the list of chores that Mary had left her. She wasn't allowed to use the device, but it was connected to her father's phone and he never looked at the history. Even if he did, he probably wouldn't have cared. Not like Mary would have.

She connected it to the living room's surround sound system and turned the volume up as loud as it could go. This would help her get through her chores faster. She set out to do the kitchen first, washing the dishes, dusting and mopping the floors. She sang to her favorite tunes and danced around the kitchen as she did her work. Next, she went to the living room, vacuuming and dusting Mary's endless amount of knick knacks. None of it really took that long. She was done in a little over an hour.

When she finished, she turned the music off and took a shower. With nobody home, she could stay in as long as she wanted. So she did. The hot water hitting her body was so refreshing! It was the perfect thing to wash away all the dirt, grime and cleaning products that Penelope had to use to keep Mary's house spotless.

When she stepped out of the shower, she wiped it down to dry it off and put her towel in the hamper. Then, she put her pajamas on and went back downstairs to turn on the TV. Realizing she had left her list out, she picked it up and took it to the trash. When she tossed it in, the paper flipped over revealing more stuff for her to do that she hadn't seen. Penelope picked it up and looked at it.

"Baseboards, walls, shelves lights, fans? What the-" Penelope cursed under her breath. The baseboards alone would take her half the night! She sighed heavily, changed back into her clothes and got back to work. At least she could listen to her music while she got everything done. For awhile, anyways. Eventually, she knew she would have to turn it off in anticipation for her father and Mary to come home. Lord knew what would happen if they walked through the door and had their eardrums blown out with music they didn't want to hear.

After another hour of work, Penelope finished cleaning all the shelves, lights and fans. They weren't too difficult because she cleaned them on a monthly basis, anyways. The baseboards and walls would take her longer. She paused to take a break, going upstairs to her room to rest for a few minutes. It was already past eight.

She reached for her work pants and fished around her pocket. Derek Filmore's number was still in it. She stared at it, wondering if it was too late. Then again, perhaps he was at that dinner with her parents, too. They did say that they were eating with the head of Filmore Industries, and Derek was training to be the head of the company. So he was probably sitting in with them

She went downstairs to the house phone and stared at it. She went back and forth looking at the number and the phone. Would Mary see it on the phone bill? Would she get in trouble? Absentent mindedly, she found herself picking it up and dialed the number. When she realized it was ringing, she quickly hung it up and put it back on the receiver. 30 seconds later, it rang.

Nervously, she picked it up. "Hello?" She asked.

In the background she could hear the clatter of dishes and conversation. "Hi. This is Derek Filmore. Can I help you?"

"Hi... um... it's Penelope..." She trailed off.

"Oh, hey! Hold on a sec." He immediately became cheerful. His voice dropped as he said "Excuse me for a moment. I need to take this."

For several moments, there was nothing but the sounds of a busy restaurant in the background. Finally, there was silence. "What's up?" He asked.

"Oh, well, not much. Just hanging out at home. I wanted to try your number to see if it worked, then I realized you were probably out with my parents. Sorry if I'm bothering you." She admitted.

"Oh, not at all!" Derek exclaimed. "I needed a break anyways. Your step-mother is... something..."

"Yeah, I know." She said, realizing that she was getting ready to say something else, she became quiet. "But my dad is really cool, though." she finally spoke up. "He works really hard.

"I can tell." He replied.

"Derek, what do you like to do for fun?" Penelope asked.

"I like to go to the gym and work out. I rock climb, paddle board, jet ski... Every once in awhile I go skydiving. And I enjoy traveling and sight seeing. I've been to the Grand Canyon like, 10 times in my life already." He chuckled. "Something about being in the middle of nowhere with no other people watching nature is invigorating. I really love the outdoors."

"That sounds really nice. I've never been to the Grand Canyon before."

"Oh, it's amazing! I will have to take you there some day."

"That would be nice." Penelope smiled. "Well, I guess I'll let you get back to your dinner. Thanks for letting me talk to you."

"You're welcome. Call me anytime. Goodnight, Penelope."

"Goodnight, Derek."

When Penelope hung up the phone, she deleted the phone calls out of the history and leaned up against the wall. Her heart was filled with happiness. Derek interrupted his work to talk to her. Suddenly, she got a new wind to get back to her chores. "He took my phone call! He called me back! He likes me!" She exclaimed through the house. She turned her music back on once more and danced through her work. She realized that there weren't too many walls that needed her attention, but they would still take at least another hour to get done.

"Someday, maybe he will be my Prince Charming and maybe, someday, I will marry him." She hummed. "We will raise a family together and see the world!" She couldn't say she had much interest in seeing the Grand Canyon per sae. But if Derek loved it so much, she would go. She wanted to go to places that looked like they were filled with life and happiness.

She would love to see the Eiffel Tower while eating dinner at sunset. New Years Eve in New York. Sail past the streets of Venice with a man sang an Italian tune whilst rowing a gondola. Of course, she enjoyed certain scenic places, too. Fields of flowers, vast mountains with trees and snow, lakes, rivers and oceans with water the water ever flowing. Never stopping their movements for anybody or anything.

"Oh, thank you, Derek for giving me more to think about!" she exclaimed. This was such a perfect day with a perfect (almost) ending to it. All that was left was to finish the walls and go to bed.