PENNY

"Okay, I'm getting two seconds. What's the answer?", Penny asked Kyle, who was sitting opposite to her on her bed.

He frowned, "First, the answer does not have the digit 2, second, the answer is in kilograms, third, we're doing Chemistry, so no answer can come in seconds."

Penny put her head in her hands,"What am I gonna do in the finals?"

"Cheat?", Kyle suggested.

Penny punched his arm, "Now is not the time to make jokes", but she felt terrible, even Kyle had lost hope in her. She was gonna be a failure. She would not be able to get into some good NCAA college, then turn bitter like her mother, who instead of living her dream had to marry Penny's father. Oh God, she did not want to turn into that woman.

And then the door opened and there she was, practically strutting into the room in her very high heels and tight pencil skirt, holding a bunch of letters in her hand.

"There is no confirmation from Berkeley yet, but", Mom said, holding three letters in her hand, "We have a bunch of offers from other colleges. There is", she said, holding up the first letter, "UCONN,", Penny's heart stopped for a minute. One of the top NCAA colleges had made an offer for her?!

"Then there is Duke", she said, holding up the second letter, and Penny's heart skipped a beat yet again. What the heck. Duke?!

"And...UCLA", Mom said, holding up the final letter. And Penny could have jumped up and down with joy. Freaking UCLA made her an offer.

UCLA.

God.

Penny couldn't breathe.

This was happening.

This was really happening.

UCLA, the one college, which she had dreamt about going to, had made an offer for her. Yes, she could do with a better basketball team, but she was not looking forward to playing in the NBA. Basketball was a way to attend one of the best colleges in the world. At least, the best college to her. There were Harvard, and Stanford yadda yadda, but they were just full of nerds.

Then she saw her mother's gaze shift to where Kyle was sitting, "We'll talk about this later", she said, and strutted out of the room. UCONN. It was close to New York, right? Maybe she could go there and still be with Kyle. Maybe.

Kyle must have read her fricking mind when he shook his head, "You are not coming to UCONN, you're going to UCLA."

"But, it's one of the top NCAA colleges", Penny said.

"UCLA is the top college", Kyle returned, being completely right as always. Ugh this was so irritating.

"But if I go to UCONN, we would literally just be an hour away, not half the country away", Penny protested.

Kyle shook his head, then took Penny's hand in his, causing a hot wave of goosebumps cover her skin. Even after all this time, he still had this effect on her.

"I want you to have the best. You having the best will make me happy. I don't want you throwing away UCLA, just for me. I don't want you to make any such decision that you would regret later. So please, no sacrifices for me", he said, then pressed his lips to her cheek. She placed both her hands on the sides of his face and leaned in.

Then the door burst open and they sprung apart, and Penny was completely annoyed to see Emma barge in.

"Guess who-", she began but then must have noticed their position, as she said, "I'll just come back later-"

Then Will barged in, "Guess what-", then he looked at Penny and Kyle, "I'll go outside-"

Then Matt barged in with Kevin in tow, holding a teddy bear, "Guess where-", then he looked at Emma and Will, then at Penny and Kyle, "Um, I'll just-"

"Just say what you wanna say!", Kyle said impatiently.

"You first", Matt said to Emma, but the other shook her head.

"You first", she said to Will, but then Will shook his head.

"You first", Will said to Matt. Penny was getting more and more annoyed. These dipshits had just ruined a pretty good moment. Assholes. Had they rehearsed this?

Kevin sighed, "We found Matt's long lost Mr. Bear in Erica's pre-school's lost and found."

Matt jumped up and down with the bear, "I know! Nothing could make me happier!"

"I just got a confirmation from Harvard!", Will said excitedly, and everyone gasped. Whoa, he just got into Harvard. God. That had been his dream forever.

Emma turned to Matt and held up a letter, "I guess Duke needs some real students too beside dumb athletes."

Matt's eyes went wide and he hugged Emma then lifted her into the air. Penny laughed, as she couldn't be happier for her best friends. But she did feel a twinge of sadness. They were gonna be together, while Penny and Kyle would not. And Penny really wanted to, but she knew that if she went to UCONN, a small part of her would always wonder what it would've been otherwise. And that is a terrible feeling to have.

"Well, you just made me happier", Matt said, after setting Emma down.

"You said nothing could make you happier", Will pointed out.

"Shut up, Willy Wonka", Matt said, but then Penny saw Wills smile disappear. Must have reminded him of Liv. Penny felt so sad when she thought about what Liv did. Will deserved so much better.

Then Emma smiled and held up a piece of black cloth, "You ready?"

Penny frowned, "What for?"

Half an hour later, Penny was walking somewhere she didn't know, because of the blindfold on. It felt like that date when Kyle had told her he loved her. She could feel Kyle's hand on her back as she walked forward and felt a car door. Kyle seated her in and then they began driving, she didn't know where.

When they finally stopped, Kyle pulled her out of the car and they began walking. She then felt sand around her sandals, and kind of figured out where they were. This place had literally become a hangout for them now, even though it was an hour away.

Kyle pulled the blindfold off and Penny gasped when she saw what these people had done. Yes, as she had suspected they were at Matt's beach, and they had decorated it with lights around the palm trees, there was a table full of snacks nearby, and Shane's car's hood was open where there was a stereo plugged in, which had now started blasting all their favorite songs.

Everybody from the gang...except Liv, was there grinning at her. She grinned back at them as Kevin, who had now put on a blonde wig walked to the centre with a box.

"And the prom king is...Will!", he announced in a girly voice. Oh...he was trying to act like Kelly.

Will smiled and walked over to Kevin who put a crown on his head.

"And the prom queen is...Penny!", Kevin said, and Penny laughed as she went over to accept her tiara. Then Kyle walked over.

"And this is what happened", he said as she pressed a gentle kiss on her lips. And like every time, Penny felt her brain short-circuit, and her heart did the macarena as he let go off her and grabbed his guitar while Matt brought him a stool.

"I'm only taking song requests from the prom queen", Kyle said as he sat and strummed his guitar.

"That song Sterling Knight sings in your favourite movie", Penny said with a smile. Kyle grinned at her wide, and began playing. Will offered her a hand, and she smiled as she took it and he placed his other hand on her hips while she placed one on his shoulder. Kyle began singing

I'm no superman,
I can take your hand...

"Why did you guys do this?", Penny asked Will.

"Everyone deserves a prom well spent. And yours got ruined became of a psycho who hates me", he said.

"And me!", Emma and Matt, who were dancing beside them, said together.

"Everyone?", Penny asked, raising an eyebrow.

Will looked down, "I did call her, you know. But it went straight to voicemail."

Penny smiled at him, "How can you be so amazing?"

"If I was so amazing, then why would Chloe and Liv do such a thing?", he asked her.

Penny looked him in the eye, "Will, you can only feel happiness if you have felt sadness before. Remember, you'll never be happy if you continue to hold on to things that make you sad. Cut down on the self-pity and enjoy. If Liv still has, or ever had the tiniest bit of feelings for you, trust me, she'll come. You still love her, don't you?", she said, while swaying to Kyle's singing.

I'll be your hero

I, I can be everything you need
If you're the one for me
Like gravity
I'll be unstoppable
I, yeah, I believe in destiny
I may be an ordinary guy with heart and soul
But if you're the one for me
Then I'll be your hero

Will looked down and nodded, "I always will, Penny. No matter how many times she breaks my heart."

Penny smiled over Will's shoulder, at the person standing behind, "I told you he did, bitch."

WILL

Kyle stopped playing as Will looked at Penny uncertainly. He then turned around to see her standing behind them, wearing jeans and loose plaid shirt, her chocolate curls loose hanging about her neck, just the way he liked it. Why was this pleasant and painful at the same time?

"Liv", he breathed, as he saw a single tear escape from her hazel eyes and onto the sand beneath. Watching that tear fall pained him, as much as seeing her here did.

"I haven't done anything but bad deeds, and I wonder why you got stuck with me", she said, her voice shaking. He did not like any of it. He didn't like that he was not being able to look at her directly in the eyes, he didn't like the fact that he was happy yet sad that she was there, he didn't like the tears rolling down her cheeks and the ones threatening to roll down his, he didn't like that his body wanted to walk to her, run up to her and wipe those tears away, but his mind told him not to. Why did things always have to become so complicated?

"I-I just want you t-to know that I l-love you too. And even if I can't be in a relationship with you, being friends with you is the next best option. Anything to be around you. But if you d-dont want that, and...why would you? You know what? I'll just leave", she said and shifted on her feet.

And then Will's body betrayed him and he closed the distance between them in two strides and was next to her. He held his hand up and wiped the tears off, as he felt her loose a breath. He too didn't realise he had been holding his breath till he wiped her tears.

"Don't cry, please", he said, wiping away another tear.

"Will I know I screwed up bad, but please give me another chance", she pleaded, more tears replacing the ones he wiped away.

"I will never stop loving you, Liv, but I need time", he said, as gently as he could.

Liv gave him a small smile, which still made his stomach flutter, "Take all the time you want. I'm not going anywhere."

Will was about to reply that he was gonna go to Harvard, but he was interrupted by a sniff behind and he turned to see everybody standing where they were, watching them, and Matt had a hand on his mouth.

"This feels like a movie", he said, then weeped on Emma's shoulder, who began to awkwardly pat his head.

This made Will crack a small smile, "Why have we stopped?", he asked, then turned around to face Liv, "And I want you to stay."

The rest of the evening was spent with Kyle singing songs, Shane becoming the DJ when Kyle wasn't playing, everyone joking around, Matt drinking all the Gatorade, while Emma chided him for drinking too much Gatorade, Penny singing along to Kyle and completely ruining the song, not that anybody complained as they too joined in for singing many of the songs. Well, maybe Kyle did complain when the others, especially Matt began singing. Matt and his love for Ed Sheeran, Will would never understand. Will almost finished all the s'mores for the campfire before Kevin had to literally hide them away, Will was happy to see Liv laughing, singing and dancing along, basically having a great time. At around 12 o'clock, they built a campfire, where they sat and sang more songs, while enjoying s'mores and watching the captivating bioluminescence and fireflies, not caring out the final examinations coming up the next week.