Penny's Gang- Short Story

Penny's Gang

6- October 2004

Based on the writing challenge:
Write 400 words including the phrase:
"It wouldn't stick no matter how hard I threw it."

Sammi shuffled her feet, intent on the pattern her maryjanes made in the dirt. Penny paced back and forth in front of her, and the row of other girls who all focused their attention anywhere but on their leader. The feeling of shame was practically tangible.

"Frankie!"

The blonde next to Sammi shuttered involuntarily at the sound of her name. Sammi felt badly that she, being the first singled out, would take the brunt of the emotional tirade that was to follow, but Sammi also couldn't help but thinking what she knew was going through the mind of every other girl there. Thank God it wasn't me.

Frankie turned to face Penny as slowly as she dared. As reluctant as she was to take on their leader's wrath, she knew it would be worse if Penny felt she was being disrespected. Eye contact was important, and not talking back. And not crying. Never crying.

Penny walked down the line again, and then would walk to the other end before coming back to stand in front of her chosen target. She liked to draw out the tension. Fear was a powerful motivator, and Penny was an expert at wielding it. Sammi waited until Penny had passed her on her way back, then quickly stole a glance at Frankie. She stood military straight in her oversized jersey and torn jeans. Her head remained forward, but her eyes followed Penny's trek. There were tears in her eyes.

Damn, thought Sammi. Don't cry, Frankie. Whatever you do DON'T CRY. As much as she would like to admit her silent pleading was on behalf of this girl she considered her only real friend in the bunch, Sammi knew that if Frankie were to let even one tear fall, then Penny would be even that much harder on the rest of them. Punishment for crying was universal.

Penny pivoted on her heals, and Sammi quickly resumed looking at her shoes, but kept her head tilted in such a way that she could make out the legs and torsos of Frankie and Penny, who had now stopped mere inches in front of the terrified girl. If she squinted Sammi could see a bit of Frankie's face.

"What the hell happened out there, Frankie?" It was more of a shout than a question, and Sammi could tell Frankie only just managed to keep her spot, to not lean away from the accusation.

"I ran into some troubles with my weapon, sir." Frankie's voice was strong, even though the fear was evident. Penny didn't like weaklings.

"What kind of "troubles" would these be?"

"It was the fork, sir. It wouldn't stick no matter how hard I threw it." Frankie blinked madly as the tears threatened to spill over.

"And why do you suppose that is, Frankie?"

"Because I did not practice on the right kind of target, sir. I had no trouble getting it to stick into the practice dummies, but flesh is harder to penetrate, sir".

Penny considered this, staring critically at Frankie. Sammi looked up through her eyelashes, and saw with relief that Frankie had managed to reign in her tears. Penny seemed a bit disappointed at this when she finally replied.

"Barb, do you have a solution to this problem with our training."

A small bespeckled girl who was second in command stepped forward from her spot in the end of the line. "I think so, sir. If we were to bring in something that more resembled human flesh, such as an animal, road kill and such, we could not only practice throwing hard enough to penetrate flesh, but also it would work on our aim, as our target would be smaller."

Penny considered this a moment, then nodded. "Do it." She turned to walk to her orange-create turned platform, and Sammi saw Frankie visibly relax. As Penny climbed up on her platform the only sound was a brief shuffling as the row of girls straightened up and faced their leader.

"Well, girls, this means more training. Barb, you and Hadie are in charge of getting the road kill. Ann and Maggie, go steal some snacks since we'll be here longer. Everyone else, sharpen the weapons. The next time the boys try to come into our territory, we'll be ready.