Chapter Text
Mischa arrived Penny's house about an hour early. When he rung the doorbell and walked inside, he found that Ricky was already there.
"Yo! Penny! Ricky!" Mischa greeted.
"Hiya" Penny said. "Ricky says hi too."
Where's her brother?
Almost as if Penny could read his thoughts, she spoke again "Oh, you should meet my brother!" She yelled out, "Ezra come down here."
Ocean arrived around 40 minutes later. 20 Minutes later the doorbell rang.
Mischa answered the door. "Yo! Constance!" He said.
Constance smiled, "Hi"
Mischa held the door open for Constance, so that she could get inside. Constance stayed in the threshold for a moment looking around, before heading inside
"Constance! I'm so glad your alright!" Ocean said.
Penny stood up. "Welcome to my house! That's my brother, Ezra, by the way." Penny pointed towards her brother.
"You glad to be out of the hospital?" Ocean asked.
"I suppose." Constance replied.
"Yo, now that your finally here we can get this party started!" Mischa said.
"Hold on, what about the company, the- the lawsuit, shouldn't we be working on that? Didn't the company behind Wonderville just completely disappear?" Constance asked.
Ricky signed something to Penny, who then said "We can worry about that later. For now just enjoy the party, okay?"
"This party is going to be madwickedawesome, we got movies, we got snacks, we got games, yo" Mischa told Constance.
Constance paused for a second, thinking. "Alright then!"
"You know Penny, we don't actually know you that well." Ocean pointed out. "Anything you want to share with the class?"
Penny spoke quickly, "The horned lizard has two constricting muscles that line the major veins around its eye. When these muscles contract, they cut off blood flow back to the heart, while it continues to flow into the head. This floods the ocular sinuses with blood, building pressure, and causing them to bulge. By further contracting these muscles in a rapid manner, the pressure increases even more, rupturing the sinus membranes. The result is a jet stream of blood that can shoot up to four feet from the eye socket."
"Why do you..." Constance trailed off.
"I meant about yourself." Ocean pleaded, somewhat unnerved.
"Oh. I'd say I'm mostly normal, I'm 17, my parents are in jail for dealing drugs, I'm Pescetarian, I like the band 7-UP, and I want to be an animal conservationist." Penny murmured.
"Dope, I'm going to go grab a snack." Mischa said, he was feeling kind of hungry.
Mischa found his way to the kitchen. Penny had laid out a selection of snack items on the Kitchen counter. He wasn't actually that hungry, he realized. No, he just needed to get up.
He was waiting for a call from Talia. He needed to have this conversation with her, but still...
He was dreading it.
Mischa heard someone entering the kitchen, "Hey. You good?" Ezra asked, monotonously.
"Oh, yeah, fine." Mischa responded.
"You sure? You don't seem fine." Ezra remarked.
"I mean I almost died on a rollercoaster, but other than that I'm fine." Mischa said.
"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to-" Ezra started.
"It's fine, really." Mischa said.
Ezra nodded, "Did you know that Jeffery Dahmer used to work night shifts in a factory making Chocolate Santas? "
"No. No i did not." Mischa said, befuddled.
"So imagine the fluorescent lighting, the endless chocolate Santas, going to bed at sunrise and clocking in at sunset? It's no wonder he was driven mad." Ezra said.
"And how is this relevant?" Mischa asked.
"It isn't, just wanted to know what you thought about it."
"I like you." Mischa said, grabbing some chips. "Want to go rejoin everyone else?"
"Sure."
Everyone ended up splitting into smaller groups. Mischa ended up continuing to chat with Ezra, Penny talked with Ricky, and Ocean and Constance continued to talk.
When Mischa got up to go to the bathroom he walked past Penny and Ricky. He didn't mean to eavesdrop but he noticed them fingerspelling the name 'Savannah' (he had been learning sign language so that he could talk to Ricky, but so far he could only fingerspell) followed by a both shocked and excited look on Penny's face. Interesting, he thought. He would have asked what they were talking about but it would be rude and also would have spoiled his surprise.
Eventually the group decided to play Monopoly.
"In the official rules, landing on Free Parking doesn't mean you get the money from the center!" Ocean said.
"No one actually plays that bullshit. I landed on Free Parking, give me my money." Mischa argued back.
"Guys it doesn't really matter..." Constance meekly said.
"Just let him take the money." Penny sighed, holding her head in her hands.
"We are playing according to the official rules, and they don't say that landing on Free Parking gives you the money from the center." Ocean complained.
Ricky signed something to Penny, who then said, "Well your in my house, and in my house when you land on Free Parking you get the money in the center."
"Fine." Ocean said.
Mischa's phone rang. He looked and saw that Talia was calling him. "It's from Talia, I should go take this." He said.
Mischa stepped outside. Ok, your telling her. She deserves to know.
He accepted the call. "I love you." He said.
"Ok?" Talia said skeptically. "You said that we needed to talk."
"Firstly I want you to know that I love you." Mischa said.
"I love you too..." Talia said with even more skepticism.
Mischa took a deep breath. "I think I have feelings for my classmate, Noel. Romantic feelings."
Silence.
"I- I still want to marry you." Mischa said, to no avail.
"I need some space. I- I don't want to talk to you for a while." Talia said.
"Talia, I-" Mischa started.
Talia cut him off, "Please. I don- I don't want to talk with you."
"What about the wedding?" Mischa pleaded.
"I don't know if I can, at least not right now Mischa."
"I di-"
"Please. Leave me alone."
She hung up.
Shit. He knew she might not react well, but...
Mischa threw his phone at a trashcan, cracking the screen even more. It also inadvertently created a loud noise, one that the rest of the choir probably heard.
A few moments later Mischa heard Ocean calling out to him. "Hey Mischa, you alright?"
"Talia called off the wedding." Mischa told her.
"O- Oh." Ocean said, surprised. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"It was my fault, really. I did something stupid and she- she-" Mischa broke down.
"I'm sorry." Ocean said.
"Ca- Can I have a moment?"
Ocean nodded and turned back inside. Mischa picked up his phone and sat down, burying his head in his hands, as tears rolled down his face. A few minutes passed, before he heard the door opening again.
"Ocean told me what happened." Penny said. "I'm really sorry."
Mischa looked up at her, "It's not your fault."
"Do you want to watch a movie or something, distract yourself?"
"No, I think I'm going to head home. It's late and I have work tomorrow anyway." Mischa said.
"Okay." Penny nodded. "Goodnight then."
Mischa returned to his basement. He lied down on the mattress that acted as his bed, and scrolled through comments that Talia had left him.
I thought love conquered all Noel. Why did you lie to me?