Inside, it was the same as it always was: tables and a few booths, some of which were occupied with patrons ranging in age from highschool freshman to college-age. Janice's duiwu was all there, my old bully (Molly Ackley) included. How anyone came to like being around that bitch was and is beyond me. Granted, I suppose having to fight for survival before you turn eighteen does have an effect.
“What can I get for you today?” the barista said.
“Uhm, Robusta Red Eye,” I said, “French vanilla creamer, and don't go easy.”
“That'll be $3.50,” she said as I swiped my card, “Name?”
“Tan Pingning.”
“We'll call you when it's ready,” she said as I took the receipt and sat down at my usual booth.
I propped up my glasses on my head while my computer loaded, though it only took a moment. Linux, unlike Windows, uses a monolithic kernel, much like my ancient work computer with Windows 98 and DOS 7. A kernel, in my experience, tended to run much faster on equivalent hardware when it was just one block of code, rather than having certain modules run in the kernel mode and others in user mode, not to mention that it made coding much easier. Microkernels? Just hell no. One big mess and nothing else.
“Hey, Penelope,” Molly said, coming over to the table and sitting down as I raised an eyebrow expectantly at her, “So, I know things haven't been the best between us.”
I adjusted myself and crossed my arms.
“Anyway, I was hoping we could get together one day and catch up.”
If this girl thinks I've forgotten everything she did to me in school, she shouldn't have graduated with advanced honors.
“Penelope?”
“Tan Pingning,” the barista said.
This place used to feel a little more personal, but I also had little-to-no reason to ever come into town anymore if groceries weren't involved, so it could've easily been a skewed perception on my part, but I didn't see any reason to make a fuss, apart from the fact that Molly was still trying to get me to brush everything under the rug.
“Please?” she asked as I took a sip from my coffee and sat back down to my laptop, “I've tried to tell you for years that I'm actually sorry! Of course I was Molly Megabitch, but that doesn't mean I haven't changed since then! I think that if you just gave me a chance, I could prove it to you! Please, I'll do anything! Jayden forgave me and-”
“Bitch, you stay the hell away from me and Jayden. You're just like the assholes from Manhattan. If I ever catch you fucking around either of us, I'll personally turn your life into a living hell. Got it?”
If she knew when to quit before her ass was handed to her, then it would be a different story. What really happened was that Jayden had a friend who was a good athlete, the quarterback. Molly picked a fight with me, I dodged a few punches early on, and won the fight as soon as I was able to use my Wushu against her. Clean fights didn't exist, however, because she had her lackeys knock me off of my feet and get her a metal pipe. The quarterback jumped in moments later and within moments I had her pinned down by the pipe yelling “Umjig-iji ma!”.
That was the most satisfying day I'd had since I moved here, even if it was in Korean.
Rhys Morgan (Penelope's half-sister that neither is consciously aware of) shares Travis Turner as their father. They have very similar personalities and pursue similar avenues in life, though Rhys Morgan pursues more legitimate avenues in life (despite stretching out a four-year degree over ten years). Rhys Morgan and Penelope have a relationship similar to what the US and Soviet Union would've had, had both been a part of NATO during the Cold War. Constantly upstaging each other and committing "acts of espionage" on each others' turf.
Born November 17, 1997, Rhys Morgan never had a father figure in her life, but she never let it bother her. Staying with her mom (Penelope's Aunt Ruby), she decided to focus her time and energy on what she was good at (computers), as well as learning Russian because "English is a weak and choppy language. Russian may be what the commies speak, but it sounds good and isn't a cesspool of everything else.", though her main use for it is showing up Penelope (who speaks and thinks in Mandarin Chinese) and reading the manual for her Yugo Florida whenever something goes wrong. Unlike Penelope, she can competently drive a stick shift, but keeps her first car instead of getting a newer model because "The new hangtag would be $25. I'd use it four times per semester, so I'm not doing that shit." Rhys Morgan has the same fur, (natural) hair, and eye color as Penelope, though she's warmer to social interaction than her half-sister is, occasionally going out for drinks or to parties.
Rhys Morgan is equally as shut-in as Penelope and has many of the same tenancies she does, though Rhys Morgan thinks in somewhat-more conventional ways. She favors Acer computers over other brands (citing that 20% of the computers made can suffice over 80% of the needed usage), has a smoking addiction (not unlike Penelope's caffeine addiction), and serves as the mail courier and trash pickup for the houses on the campground. She's taking online courses at a local college to go into computers, mostly to do John's job when he's in Asia with Penelope and Jayden. Her usual attire consists of a brown jacket, ice-blue shirt, blue jeans, and gray tennis shoes. Rhys Morgan's mother is perfectly fine with her staying at home as long as she's not "Turning into her bastard-of-a-father", something that Rhys Morgan takes in pride that she's not.
Rhys Morgan and Penelope are known to work together, though, such as a time when Penelope needed her to write a Remote Access Trojan for her high school's computers (all of which ran Windows 10 at the time) so she could give Jayden a grade she deserved, rather than the failing one she was given. Rhys Morgan shares Penelope's hatred of Apple and her love of Motorola, though beyond that, their scopes of expertise rarely overlap (Where Penelope is fluent in Linux, OS/2, Microsoft DOS, and Windows 9x, Rhys Morgan is fluent in modern Microsoft products). Rhys Morgan's Mom's house is a three-bed/two-bath, much like Penelope's, so she took over the smaller bedroom for her own office (something her mother has mixed feelings about) while they each keep the full-size bedrooms. Occasionally, though, she can be seen loading up her car with computer equipment to deliver for Penelope, though she has to get creative because of her "long legs".
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