Elizabeth Eulberg - The Lonely Hearts Club

Like there really was a choice.

"First off, you ever call me a babe again and no medical team on earth will be able to tell that you were once a guy."

I was only sixteen after all. the smile quickly vanished from his face.

"Seriously, I don't know what I ever saw in you. You're a completely selfish human being. Not only that, you're not nearly as good-looking as you think you are and add as much to a conversation as a bag of rocks. I believe in people learning from mistakes, and let me tell you something — you were a huge mistake. Not only am I never going to make a mistake like that again, I'm never going to have to put up with you again."

I went over to where he was sitting and got in his face.

"You're going to get a job next summer back at home and stay with someone there. You're not going to spend any more summers with us. Do you understand?"

"You can't make me do anything." He crossed his arms.

"Oh, really? Okay, fine." I grabbed his arm. "Were going downstairs and we're going to tell my mother exactly everything that happened this summer — and I mean everything"

Nate stopped in his tracks.

"Come on, Nate — you don't think you did anything wrong, so what's the big deal? I think my mom would love to hear what you did to me, especially since you were doing a whole lot more with a bunch of other people at the same time. God, maybe I'll get lucky and be able to be there when my mom tells your mom about it. Honestly, I'm sick of keeping it a secret from them. True, my mom will be disappointed in me for my poor choices and for giving in to a pig, but for some reason, I think she'll have a few more... ah, words for you."

Nate removed my grip from his arm. "Penny, stop it."

"Stop what? You can't possibly be scared of my mother?"

I couldn't believe I was able to say that with a straight face.

"You know what!"

I went on. "Something good did come from this summer. I deserve so much better than you. I always have. So I guess I should thank you for being a complete and utter jerk so I would wake up and see what I'm worth. But in the end, the people who matter the most to me are my friends, not someone like you. You mean absolutely nothing to me. Yes, in a way your actions are responsible for the Club, which is the best thing that ever happened to me. But I owe you nothing."

I turned around and started to leave my room, but had a second thought.

"And, Nate? You kiss like a slobbering dog, you have bad breath, and you wouldn't know how to push the right buttons on a girl if we came with manuals. Happy thanksgiving, Jackass."

All right, I am going to be a bigger person starting right now.

"No YOU DIDN'T!" TRACY WAS screaming on the phone after I gave her the details.

"Can you believe it? I think I may have gone a little overboard in the end, but I just feel this incredible weight lifted off my shoulders." I was lying in bed with my pajamas on, feeling so giddy the Taylor's had left, and Rita had brought me a big piece of pumpkin pie before heading out for the evening. Life was grand.

"Seriously next meeting I want you to do a complete reenactment for the Club. I'll be more than happy to play the part of Nate. I'll just grunt a lot and shove food in my face. Priceless! Who else knows?"

"Just you and Rita. She thinks I'm a goddess!"

"You have got to call the Club. Everybody's dying to know what happened."

"I will — I just can't believe that seeing him was a good thing; I don't know what I was thinking. He changed so much."

"Penny, it wasn't Nate who changed, it was you. You know that I've never liked him. I always told you that you could do better, but you didn't listen and now you know the truth. Pretty sweet, huh?"

Very sweet indeed.

I fell into bed exhausted after calling Diane, Jen, Amy, and Morgan.

I had done it. I had stood up to Nate.

I went over to my desk and picked up my old journal and went to the last entry. The one that had broken my heart so many times in the past. I ran my finger along the indentations the pen left. There was so much pain in those words. But now I knew that everything would be okay.

I grabbed a pen off my desk and wrote below my "Yesterday" entry. I wasn't rewriting history, I was just reminding myself that I could get over heartbreak if it happened another time.

... I'll be back again.

Yes, I would be back. I could take chances with my heart and I would be able to bounce back, and anything that might hurt me would just make me stronger in the end.

And I did deserve everything I wanted — somebody who would appreciate me, someone I could trust, someone who liked me for me.

My heart sank as I thought of Ryan.

"NOW, PENNY LANE, THIS IS our little secret, pinky swear." Dad held out his pinky and I locked mine with his. "Your mother would kill me if she knew we did this with all of the leftovers still in the house."

Dad and I were on our own for Saturday dinner, and neither of us had been able to stand looking at the leftover to furkey… so we'd thrown it down the garbage disposal. Mom was never going to buy the story that I'd helped him finish it off.

"So what's the Club up to tonight?" Dad asked.

"We're going to catch a movie so you guys don't have to worry about a zillion screaming girls in the house."

Dad smiled. "Well, that's a relief. No karaoke planning?"

Ugh, that was the purpose of us going to a movie — to try to distract Jen from the following weekend's party. She had been totally stressing out. Not only had I promised to sing a solo, I had also agreed to lead the Club in a rendition of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." The phone rang and Dad went over and picked it up.

"Oh, hello, Ryan!' he said after listening for a moment.

It can't be...

I looked over and saw that my dad's forehead was creasing.

"No, no, you did the right thing. I'll be in my office in five minutes. Meet me there."

Medical emergency. "Is everything all right?"

"No, actually that was Ryan Bauer — his sister fell and hit her mouth against a table and is bleeding. I need to get over to the office," He grabbed his jacket. "Actually, Penny Lane, can you come with me? I might need an extra set of hands."

"Umm…"

"Plus," he added, "Ryan seems a little shaken up. It might be good for him to have a friend there."

Before I could protest, Dad threw my jacket at me and was out the door.

Ryan was waiting for us when we pulled up. He was holding his eight-year-old stepsister, Katie, in his arms, her long black hair covering her face. Dad ran over to him and reached out to touch Katie's head.

"Sweetie," he told her, "its going to be okay." He handed me his keys. "Penny Lane, open up the office, get the lights on in my exam room, turn everything on, and get a clean set of instruments."

 Ryan looked at me, noticing that I was with my father, and I saw that his eyes were filled with panic.

I nervously reached for the keys and sprinted into the office. I flipped on the overhead lights and then ran in the back to my dad's main exam room. Like an automatic reflex, I turned on all of the equipment, grabbed a fresh set of instruments, and placed them down on the counter.

Katie's sobs were getting louder as my dad and Ryan approached the room.

"I was upstairs getting dinner ready and then I heard a crash. I guess she was jumping around and. . fell!" Ryan was explaining to my dad.

He set Katie in the chair and Dad gently removed the towel that was covering her face. All I could see was blood.

"Oh, no!" Ryan exclaimed, and he put his hands over his head and started to pace.

"Everything's going to be fine!" Dad said. I couldn't tell if he was talking to Katie or Ryan.

I ran into my dad's office, grabbed Abbey the Walrus, and ran back. Dad was examining Katie, who was now crying even harder.

"Here, sweetie." I went over and gave her the stuffed animal that I used to play with when I was about her age. Katie hesitantly took the walrus and then held on to it for dear life.

"All right, some of the teeth are a little loose, but everything is going to be fine. I'm just going to clean up the wound and then see about stabilizing the teeth," Dad looked over at Ryan, who seemed like he was about to faint.

"Penny Lane, why don't you take Ryan to the lobby," Dad went on, even as Ryan began to protest. "Ryan, I think it's best for you to wait there. You've done all you can."

I walked out the door and Ryan followed me. Before I could even think about it, I placed my hand on his shoulder.

He plunked down on the couch in the reception area and put his hands over his face. "My mother's going to kill me."

I sat down next to him and put my arm around him. "Ryan, you didn't do anything wrong."

"There's so much blood," he protested.

"But that's just because the blood is mixed with the saliva, so it just looks worse than it actually is," I assured him.

He jerked his head up. "Why are you even here?"

I couldn't tell if he was angry or embarrassed.

"My dad, he, um, thought he might need help. And that you might need a friend." I reached for his hand and gave it a squeeze.

Ryan's cell phone rang and he jumped. "Hey, Mom... No, I got a hold of Dr. Bloom… Yes… okay… okay… I will. Bye."