Chapter 2

As usual, Penny Palmer was the organiser. In one row there was her and her friends: Abigail 'Abi' Metcalfe, Melanie 'Mel' Godwin, Cassie Phillips, Suzie Valentine, and Katy Cresswell. Opposite them were six boys, all their classmates: including the somewhat reluctant Paul Jennings. They were all aged nine.

"Now what happens is the boys chase the girls and when you tag one you kiss them. When you've been tagged once you stand by the wall, over there," she said, pointing. "And when all the girls have been kissed, it's their turn to chase the boys."

"Do I have to, Pen?" Paul protested.

He was marginally the tallest boy there, and probably the best looking ... according to the girls ... and although the friend of them all, but especially Penny, he was still quite shy. He was now used to being included in such games and he usually conceded defeat and joined in; but he still felt obliged to put up at least token resistance sometimes!

"Yes, you have to, Paulie!" Penny declared assertively, " ... We need six boys. Now count to five ... slowly..."

As soon as the boys started to count, the girls squealed and ran off in all directions. Now most nine year olds do most things enthusiastically ... especially if it involves running around ... and Paul was no exception. And of course he initially looked for his best friend to chase: the girl he had already kissed many times and had no objections to kissing again if he had to; but Penny was nowhere to be seen. But he did spot Cassie, holding her side and trying her best to be inconspicuous.

"Are you all right, Cassie?" he asked, with genuine concern.

"Mmm ... just got stitch..." [a sudden sharp pain in the side of the body, caused by strenuous exercise]

" ... So do you want me to tag you, so you don't have to run any more?" She smiled.

"Are you still going to kiss me though?"

"Do you want me to?"

"If you like..." she said, coyly.

"On the lips or the cheek?"

She shrugged. He put his hands on her waist and then kissed her softly on the lips. She smiled again and then blushed.

"Okay! Hope your stitch goes!" he said, as he ran off.

" ... So did you really have stitch?" Katy asked her several minutes later, as they stood by the wall, waiting for the others.

" ... Course!" Cassie said: but she was looking down at her feet as she said it.

When the bell rang for the end of break, Paul was the only one of the six boys who hadn't been tagged ... probably because he was the only one of them that didn't really want to be caught! As was usually the case, Penny caught up with him as they walked back into the school.

" ... Don't think you've got away with it, Paul Jennings ... we'll get you next time!"

"So who did you kiss, Pen?"

"Jeremy Stevenson ... but I really wanted you. Did you get anyone?"

"Cassie..."

"Was it nice?" Penny asked him. Paul just shrugged his shoulders.

At the age of eleven, Stevie Palmer left St. Thomas Aquinas Primary for secondary school. For some reason he didn't want to go to the nearest one, which was probably his parents' preferred option, but he was quite determined, so he got his first choice.

Penny Palmer was a bright girl, who, with her older brother, was always given lots of love and affection by her parent's, so she grew up happy and confident. Her parents always tried to be honest with their children, so when her body started to change, as all little girls bodies do at some time, her mother sat her down to explain exactly what these changes meant.

Penny and her best friend and next door neighbour, Paul Jennings, were now nine and she was in the early stages of puberty and she'd just had 'the talk' with her mother ... the substance of which she of course shared with her friends at school; including Paul, for whom it was all still largely a mystery.

"We're going to get funny feelings and grow hair and stuff ... and boobs. I'm looking forward to the boobs! And we bleed ... from down there ... but not boys ... you're lucky, Paulie! But you have to shave, or it tickles when you kiss, Mummy says."

They walked to and from school on their own now ... still holding hands. It was second nature them: as soon as their other friends had gone their separate ways and they were on their own. During the week they sometimes still hung out together after school, but they were now of the age where, apart from just being in the same room and reading, watching TV, or playing board or card games, there wasn't much they could do together. As their houses were the same ... three-bedroom semis; but mirror images of each other ... each had a staircase with a small landing where the stairs turned. And in each house there was an outside wall with a window on this landing, which was directly opposite the other; and sometimes Penny and Paul would be on this landing at the same time ... by accident or design ... and they would wave, smile, or make funny faces at the other, producing giggles or fits of laughter across the way! [semis, or semi-detached: two houses that share one, common dividing wall; as in a condominium or town house]

Penny Palmer's brother, Stevie, had an accident while on a school trip in Scotland and his parents made the long journey north to see him in hospital. They didn't want her to miss school for something that was serious but not life-threatening, so Paul's parents said that she could stay with them for a day or two. And although she was worried about her brother, she didn't mind staying with her best friend. So while Mr and Mrs Palmer were heading for the airport, Penny was settling into her room at the Jennings'.

When Paul's father came in from work, they all sat down together to eat. It wasn't the first time, of course; but everyone was a bit mindful that Penny might be worrying about her brother.

"From what your Mum was telling me, it doesn't sound too serious, Penny, Love," Carol Jennings said.

"Thank you! I am a bit worried: but Mum said he should only be in hospital for a few days, while they do some tests and things."

"Mum ... is it all right if Penny watches TV in my room for a bit? Then she usually has a bath before she goes to bed."

"All right! But not too loud or too late, Paul. There's towels in the landing cupboard when you're ready for your bath, Love," she said to Penny, "Paul will show you where they are when you go up. Come down and help yourself to drinks and snacks if you want them."

Penny had been in Paul's bedroom before, of course, but not under these circumstances. His television was on the wall at the foot of his bed, so they put all his pillows up against the headboard, took off their shoes and sat upright watching a programme they both liked.

"Put your arm around me, Paulie!" He did, which was still quite a strange feeling for him and Penny snuggled up against him, like she did with her parents. He went downstairs at eight o'clock and got them a drink and crisps and at quarter to nine she went to run her bath. He got her towels from the landing cupboard.

"Wait there a minute..." she whispered. It was more like three minutes before she opened the bathroom door, wrapped in a towel.

"Quick, come in!" Then before he realised what was happening, Penny opened the towel and let it fall. She giggled, quietly, then she took his hands and put them on her hips, before kissing him quickly on the lips.

"You saw me like this when we were little, but you're the first boy who's seen me like it since! Look, I've even got boobs now, Paulie!" she whispered, "When I'm in my pyjamas I'll come and say goodnight." She peeked out onto the landing, before gently pushing him out of the bathroom.

Paul wasn't sure why his heart had started to race the way it did. He felt that they were somehow being 'naughty', but he couldn't really see what was wrong: as she'd said, they'd both ran around in the garden like it when they were younger. But if Penny was going to come into his room in her pyjamas, perhaps he ought not to put his on until she'd gone to bed.

The bathroom was just along the landing from his room and he'd heard the sounds of people going in, lights being turned on and off, and people coming out many times. After a few more minutes there was a soft knocking on his door, then Penny came in. She tiptoed across the room in her bare feet and climbed onto the bed again. He automatically extended his arm this time.

"You smell nice, Pen!" She giggled.

"Thank you! Just ten minutes then I really must go!" Half an hour or so later, she kissed his cheek.

"See you in the morning, Paulie! Goodnight!" she said, before tiptoeing out of his room.

Paul was in Penny's bedroom one Saturday morning, not doing much except passing the time together. Although now notice­ably taller than her and quite broad, his puberty had yet to really kick in, in the same way as it had for his friend, at least a year earlier.

Penny was very feminine and girly-girl ... although for some reason she disliked the clothes that her mother might chosen for her, if allowed. They were both intelligent and quite mature for their ages: which might explain why she tended to prefer clothes designed and marketed for young teens. She knew that she was becoming interested in boys: although apart from Paul, she had done nothing about it. He was nominally her boyfriend; in a kind of non-adult, non-sexual way; although they held hands and hugged and kissed as friends do. He and Penny had all the same friends at school, but except for her, he wasn't really that interested in the opposite sex.

She was also one of those girls who, when not required to sit, was up on her feet and moving rhythmically, as she sang one of her favourite current pop songs. Penny often tried to get Paul to join her, but even with her he was self-conscious, had no desire to, and he was also at the age where he was rather ungainly and uncoordinated. But she was nothing if not determined...

"We're going to slow dance, Paulie. It's not proper dancing, just kind of shuffling. And it's no good you sitting there looking at me all pathetic!"

She stood in front of him holding out her hands, just waiting for him to respond ... they both knew he was going to give in eventually ... Holding on to one of his hands, she walked him over to a pile of CD's, already knowing which one she wanted.

"Now all you have to do is put your arms around my waist, move to the music ... and try not to step on my feet!"

With his arms around her, she put hers around his chest. He was a bit awkward ... mainly because he was conscious of avoiding her small feet ... but he found himself relaxing and actually quite enjoying it.

Penny smiled as she rested her head against him. She had always felt comfortable with Paul and now she was happy and she had that warm feeling in her belly that she only seemed to get when she was close to him. After two more slow songs they stopped: Penny was actually feeling quite hot and her cheeks were pink.

"See, it's easy! So no more excuses, Paulie..."

On the last Sunday in March, just days before her eleventh birthday: her last before she finished her primary schooling and moved to the more adult world of secondary education, Penny's parents sat together to talk to her about something they said was 'very important'.

"Penny, Love, your Dad and I need to tell you something." Penny was suddenly nervous.

"You're not getting divorced, are you?" Her parents both smiled.

"No, Love ... of course not! But we've been waiting until we thought the time was right to tell you that ... I ... I'm not your natural mother, Love ... we adopted you when you were a baby."

Despite her innate intelligence, this was still hard for Penny to comprehend right away. She knew, in theory, about adoption, but she didn't think that she knew anyone that was ... and now she found out it was her!

" ... I ... er ... okay..."

"We can't tell you very much, Penny, Love, because we don't know ourselves; but we were told that your birth mother ... that's what they're called ... was very young and because she couldn't look after you herself, she wanted someone else to, who could ... that was very brave of her, Love! And you know, of course, that your dad and I love you just as much as we do Stevie, and there's no difference between you and him as far as we're concerned. Are you all right, Love ... we know that this must be a big shock to you! Do you want a cuddle?"

Penny nodded and then accepted the hugs and kisses of the two people who she would always think of as her parents.