What’s Your Favorite Color?

Penny Rose was a bouncy, happy 16 year old. She always shared her peeping joy with her friends. Well, not all. Juleka. Juleka was an emo girl with black dyed hair, and a black personality. She wore a purple tank top with a black symbol at the top, and fingerless gloves that went up to her elbows. She wore baggy sweatpants that were so dark she blended in at night. Her face was very spherical, and her eyes bulged at nighttime, but in the day, they were always squeezed into tiny lemon shapes. She was pale as pale can be, and she never smiled. Her nose was a decent length, and was perfectly symmetrical. As I said, her eyes looked like saucers at night, but tiny in the day. There is one little tweak to that. Whenever she got mad they winced up like before, at any time of the day. Her pupils become so small that you can barely see them, and her eyes burn a fiery red. This was her normal eye color, but it was usually a dull, dark shade, and no one even thought she had a soul. But, back to Penny Rose. Penny rose had a grayish pinkish hair color, and even so it looked beautiful next to her peppy face. She would wear a cute beret with a bow that matched her hair color, and a dress that matched too. The dress’s top part was white, and there was a line at the top of her chest separating the white from the pink. The skirt part of the dress was small, so she chose white knee-high socks to go with it, and some black buckling shoes to complete her look. Overall, she looked very nice and fashionable, as long as she carried her nice little purse with her. Even though she always acted childish, she was a very clever girl, and always knew when something was up. You probably are thinking, Just get on with the story, lady! I’m already bored enough! and don’t worry, I am. One day, Penny Rose was thinking. I should have studied more for that test! she thought. She hadn’t been focusing on school very much lately, because of the Coronavirus. She thought it was sooooooo boring not being with her other friends. Sure, 20 had bought a nice little condo to share with her, but she had so many more! Usually, she would’ve been in Mrs. Medelaves class, and partying away while the teacher took Instagram pics (They had made a little deal about the class work… let’s just say the landfill may have a little trouble trying to “Digest” all that paper). Still, she didn’t care. She was sneaky, and sure as heck she could find a way out of summer school. She looked at the pile of school work from school over the past 12 years ago… she spotted a little worksheet from second grade, and remembered her nerdy friend Crystal yelling at her face “Get at least ONE Worksheet done!” Now, Penny Rose was sneaky. Penny Rose was cunning. But Penny Rose was also loyal, more than anything else. So she looked at the worksheet and said to herself “You WILL get your worksheet, and I’ll make sure of it, Crystal.” All day she filled out her early worksheets that she had forgotten to do. Finally, she came to the last one. “Fill-out-fun”, it read. Penny Rose rolled her eyes at the corny name. She had always thought these worksheets were completely useless, and she didn’t know why she had to deal with them. She thought Maybe the FBI wanted to collect information about us! Maybe they want to track us down and put our mommies and daddies in jail! But she was just a kid back then. Now, she was full grown, and vowed nothing would hurt her. So, she looked at the worksheet and read the words it said; Call up a friend and ask them these questions! Include as many details as possible. At the top it had those weird chubby kid cartoons, of a kid holding a pencil and scribbling down nonsense on a piece of paper. Penny Rose decided she wanted to do it on her weirdest friend, Juleka. Now, she knew Juleka didn’t like to be bothered, in which I mean she HATED it. In fact, she might as well call the authorities and you’d be arrested in no time flat. But the police had stopped answering calls, and no one knew why. So Penny Rose figured that it would be ok to talk to her, because the pandemic would keep her away. Thank goodness she didn’t buy the house with Penny Rose. So she dialed in her number on the old fashioned phone, and a rough, raspy voice answered “What do you want? I’m working on my homework!” “Hey Juleka! It’s Penny Rose, and I- “Oh, it’s you? Ok then,” she answered, and then hung up. Penny Rose scrunched up her face. She didn’t like Juleka’s personality. She dialed in again. “Juleka, please don’t hang up on me! I just have one question!” “What is it, Rat brain?” “What’s your favorite color?” “Are you serious? You’re wasting my time for this?!” Juleka screamed. She hung up again. She was fed up. She was an introvert, and like her space and alone time. Penny Rose sighed, and called her for the last time. “STOP IT!!! LEAVE ME ALONE!!!” “Please! Answer my question, or Crystal’s gonna think I only did 49 worksheets, and she’ll kill me!” “Pfft, like I care!” snorted Juleka. “Look. Just tell me. It’s the only one I need. What’s your favorite color?” Penny Rose said calmly. “UGH!! Nit-wit!” Juleka yelled through the phone. Penny Rose whimpered, making sure Juleka heard. Juleka groaned. “Fine. Purple.” Penny Rose did a silent YESSSS!!! and then walked back to fill it out. The next day, Andrew, one of Penny’s roommates, was going out to the grocery store. Just as he stepped through the glass door, Penny Rose heard him say “Oh! Hey Juleka!” Penny Rose knew something was up, because Juleka NEVER visited them. Not even before the pandemic. Her gut was telling her that something about Juleka was odd, so she ran to the porch and whispered to Andrew “I’m coming too!” Andrew nodded and smiled. He went to get the grocery bags, and she ran out to the car. Juleka was standing in a strange position, with her hands on her hips. She grabbed Penny’s arm and pulled her back. She smiled creepily at Penny Rose and said “How ya doin’, friend?” Penny Rose felt shaken. Juleka was acting so weird! Penny Rose shivered. “I’m doing fiiiiinee… why are you asking me?” she murmured suspiciously. “Just wondering how my pal is doing!” said Juleka, giving Rose a little punch in the arm. “You seem to be doing… well, what’s up with you today?” Penny Rose said, a little scared. “Oh, just happy to see you!” Suddenly Andrew stepped out on the porch. “So, girls, turns out we still have a couple hours before the store closes! We can get a little chat in.” Penny Rose froze. He’s kidding, he loves ice cream! He wants right away! He’s not going to wait for some girls talking about unicorns and beauty products. But he did. Penny Rose stood there, watching in horror as Andrew went on and on with questions. “How old are you?” “Do you have any idols?” “What’s your favorite food?” It was getting really dark. Juleka’s eyes looked like glowing red flashlights, and they still stayed uptight. Penny Rose was tired of standing, and she was hunched over. “I think we ought to go now,” Penny Rose mumbled as she walked towards the car. She could barely see and everything was blurry. “Awwwe, are you hungry? Who needs that store, it’s already closed. Try some of my homemade cookies instead!” Andrew licked his lips. He started walking down the steps, off the porch. Penny Rose realized what was happening, and whacked the tray out of her hands. “No, Juleka!” She yelled. “Aw, what is it sweetheart? Do you prefer cupcakes?” Juleka said, sweetly. Penny Rose could see through her act, but not completely. What was going on? This all felt like a weird dream. “No, no. We’re just… not in the mood. We’re in an ice cream mood, right Andrew?” she said, trying not to act suspicious. “I guess. I’m pretty much always in an ice cream mood,” he mumbled. He walked back up to the porch, and said “Alright then. Since you want to go SO badly, we’ll go…” he said. Penny Rose was so relieved that she started running towards the car to shake off the pressure. “BUT...” Andrew yelled. “And it is a big but… one more question.” Penny Rose didn’t feel so good. She was dizzy and could remember almost nothing. It all felt like a nightmare, a really terrible one. Oh, but it was real. So very, very real. She approached Juleka. “Alright… drumroll please!” Andrew yelled, in a deep voice, drumming on the bench that hung from the porch. Then he yelled in his most deep and manly voice; “WHAT! IS!! YOUR!!! FAVORITE… COLOR!!!!” He played a party sound effect on his phone. Juleka’s eyes became extremely red. She bent down in a weird, werewolf like position. “Purple. Do you want to know why?” Penny Rose felt like she couldn’t speak. Her vocal chords didn’t work. She looked down at her skin. Instead of tan, she was so incredibly pale, and looked almost a blueish-purple. She tried to say “No!” But nothing came out. Then, out of nowhere, Juleka turned to Penny Rose and said “Blue, like your skin right now. And red. Like your blood.”