Veronica, Callie, and Penelope hadn't had a sleepover in weeks. So when Callie announced one with the dramatic urgency of a presidential address—"Ladies, we are in crisis mode, and this demands snacks and pajamas"—Penelope didn't argue.
The sleepover began with popcorn. It escalated to ice cream. By 10 p.m., it had completely unraveled into chaos.
"I think I'm allergic to emotional repression," Callie declared from the floor, spoon-deep in a tub of cookie dough.
"You mean like Penelope's current situation with Julian?" Veronica said, raising one eyebrow like a villainess in a teen movie.
Penelope groaned and threw a pillow at her.
"I'm processing!"
"You're hiding," Veronica said.Callie nodded solemnly. "Like a sad little love hermit."
"I'm literally right here," Penelope muttered.
Veronica smirked. "Then explain the poem I found in your sketchbook that said, and I quote, 'his silence is a symphony and I forgot how to breathe.'"
Callie spit out her drink. "OH MY GOD."
"I was journaling!" Penelope cried, red-faced.
"You were spiraling," Veronica corrected. "But poetically. Which we respect."
Then came the face masks.
"I look like a haunted zucchini," Callie said, staring at her green-covered reflection.
"Honestly," Veronica said, tossing popcorn into her mouth, "you're the hottest vegetable in this house."Penelope tried to speak through her laughter and nearly snorted yogurt mask up her nose.
By midnight, they were dancing in pajamas, screaming lyrics to old songs, and reenacting the worst dates they'd ever heard of. At one point, Callie gave an entire fake TED Talk titled "How to Flirt Without Crying."
Penelope laughed so hard she forgot the ache in her chest.
Because for a moment, she wasn't "the girl falling for the quiet boy."
She was just Penelope. Loved. Loud. Alive.
And even though she still didn't know where things with Julian were going, tonight, she remembered who she was before it all began.