ONE - PART TWO

            Penelope sat at the back of the classroom, staring into space. She didn't know what period it was, or which classroom she was sitting in, nor did she care. She tugged at the long sleeve of her jacket, pulling it past her palm, covering half of her hand. Below the thick black cashmere were more cuts and grazes. She tried not to think about them but they stung as the material moved across her skin. She cringed and waited for the pain to pass. She thought about the things those people said in the hallway. What they said was not all true, about her dad. She was not trying to defend him, but was just telling the truth, although she hated him. 

           Grimwell Summers was a clean man. He never drank, smoke, gamble or did drugs. A wealthy man, Summers owns Grimwell Banks, one of the top banks in the country. He was well respected by people of all ages.

           His wife left him for a department store salesman from a small town in Waterford 5 years ago. "A banker?", he had snorted. "He had a better personality than you", she had said. By she he meant his ex wife, he never spoke of her name after she left. She had said she did not want any share of his money during the divorce, she was happy with that man. Happy? He thought, how can one be happy without money? After she left, life resumed itself. He did not need to take care of his daughter, who is capable of taking care of herself. He was proud of her for he could see that she would be successful in the future, no matter what she would become.

           He had never hit his baby girl before. Not before last week, but it was an accident.

           He came home late that night, frustrated. There was a meeting with all the banks in Ireland. They had told him that he ranked at 6. He could not believe it. After all the effort he put in into the bank, making it prosper. He gave special interest rates, different schemes for different people, housing loans, education loans and so much more. How could he have ranked at 6? There must have been some strings pulled by the other banks that he had never known about. Even so, he would not have done the same. Honesty was his best policy. 


         He had found Penelope sitting at the dining table, revising for an exam next month. She saw him come home and went to the kitchen to get him his dinner. 

        "Mum called today." She said while bringing out the food. 

        "Yeah? What was it about?" He asked, just to hear how badly she was doing. Probably broke and living at her new husband's mother's house.

        "Just an update. She said she's doing great. They bought a house near the beach, it's so beautiful, she said. Mum's also pregnant, a baby boy is on his way. She sounded really happy." Penelope said with a sigh.


         Rage overcame Grimwell. Not only was she happy, she was also living his dream. It had been his dream to live with his wife in a house near the beach. It had been his dream to have another baby, preferably a boy, to take over the business. It had been his dream, to be happy. She was the one who shattered his dreams by running away with a bloke she barely new, and now she's happy? 

         He stood up and flew his plate off the table, shards of the crystal plate pierced into Penelope's arm. She screamed with fright. He tried to calm her down, said that they will go to a clinic. But she couldn't stop screaming. Her screams filled up the whole house, blood was trickling onto the floor. He could not take it anymore, he shouted at her to shut up, but she did not listen. So he slapped her on the face, so many times till his palms hurt, until her screams were reduced to tiny sobs. He took her in his arms and drove her to the clinic. 

        Her arm was bandaged and the crystal shards removed. She was told to stay home and rest for a few days. 


        She never looked at him again, she was hurt that her father had done this to her. Not only injured her, but also slapped her. Her face was swollen from his rough hands. But that was just the beginning.

    







          

ONE - PART ONE

            Penelope Summers walked through the school gates as quick as she could. She pulled her hood down to cover her face and kept her head even lower. Hands in pockets she finally reached her locker.

           Suddenly a boy knocks into her, making her fall and the hood of her sweater came off. Students who were around gasp. Her cheeks, forehead and neck were covered with scratches and gashes. 

          The boy who knocked her down mumbled a quick sorry before heading off quickly, obviously afraid of her minorly mutilated face. She quickly pulls her hood back on, and runs to the girl's room.

          She dodged and ran, ignoring whispers of the student body. "I heard that her dad is a drunk and hit her till she got injured badly. That was why she was absent last week." One said. Another said, "I heard her house got broken into when she was asleep alone in the house. The intruders hit her when she refused to tell them where the money was. Her dad did not make a police report because he did not want his image ruined." 


           She ran into a bathroom stall and sat there. Hands in her face, she sobbed and sobbed. She tried to pull herself together but she could not. She cursed herself for letting this happen to her, for being so useless and powerless. She cursed herself for not preventing this from happening. She sat there and cried, oblivious about the people who heard her crying, nor did she care.

***

PROLOGUE

This is a story about 3 very different people; different lives, different backgrounds, different personalities; going through te same thing: joy, happiness, excitement, passion; heartbreak, heartaches, hurt and disappointment.

This, is a story about love.