But in the meantime: what about Stella’s husband, Penny’s dad, and why is Penny so angry?
Stella was married to a lawyer.
Sweethearts at the prom, they married young.
She had some office job, he was picked up by a big firm.
He had a fantastic career but on the marriage front things went bad fast. Stella did all she knew to shelter her daughter from what was going on, but this only meant that when things came to a head, for Penny is was a surprise of earth-shattering proportions.
Then came the divorce and you know what they say, never divorce a lawyer.
He played every trick in the book to put Stella in the worst possible light, finally bringing up allegations of an affair Stella supposedly had with one of the teachers from Penny’s school. To avoid a scandal and possibly being fired, the teacher sided with the husband.
Stella risked losing everything, including her daughter’s custody: what judge would select a penniless supposedly adulteress over a well-respected, wealthy professional?
So a settlement was reached, and Stella got custody (her husband’s got no time for an adolescent daughter anyway) and a monthly cheque to cover for Penny’s school expenses, but lost everything else.
She decided to relocate, for money reasons, but also to get as far as possible from her husband, the schoolteacher, and any possible scandal that might further hurt her daughter.
I think Penny got wind of the adultery story anyway, and this further confused and embittered her. In her eyes, her mother betrayed her and her father, and her teacher betrayed her trust too. Penny is starting to believe you can’t trust no one, and everyone’s out just to screw you for their own reasons.
Penny’s crush.
The sort of cool kid that listens to loud music, smokes pot and hangs out with his mates drinking beer and shooting bull. Not necessarily stupid but as shallow as a pan.
A schoolyard criminal, ultimately a loser, but Penny really got it bad.
And now she’s moved and Dylan is one thousand miles away, and he’s probably forgotten about her.
Penny is really mad at her mother, and at the world at large.
There’s more, but one thing is clear to me: Stella’s husband will not be a part of the story, he will just get mentioned here and there.
I invented him, I hate the prick, and I don’t want him in my book.
And I'm not so keen on Dylan either.
So here you have it, and yes, things might change, and I tried not to spoil all the juicy parts, but some of you asked, and I thought I'd reply.
Thanks for the insights into how the background of the story. Bad things happen to good people. And sometimes, they never get resolved. Often people just need to move on. Will Penny ever come to know the truth, and will she believe it even then? Perhaps not. This puts a whole new light on the relationship of Lynne with Penny. At first, I just thought of Lynne wanting some hot sex with Stella, with Penny as her covert accomplice. A simple corruption story. Penny getting a kick out of her mother becoming, well just like Penny. But now that we know that Penny feels betrayed by her mother. Much more complicated. How does Lynne work with Penny? Especially when Lynne falls in love with Stella, won’t Penny feel used again? Yes, Stella may feel happiness in Lynne’s embrace, but doesn’t that potentially alienate Penny even more? After all, Stella finds happiness, Penny even helped, but Penny gets nothing. She’s been duped again, even tricked into helping. I can see Penny going back to Dylan, then realizing that he didn’t care for her. So, coming to believe that all around her have just been using her, Penny sinks into a dark place. To emerge as a harden, uncaring sex siren, determined to get her revenge. Someone who heartlessly corrupts others. Perhaps she comes after Tara to get back at Lynne and Stella?
ReplyDeleteWell perhaps my imagination is running away with me. I suppose that you don’t want to take it that way. Still I have seen that sort of development happen. It’s sad, but it’s true. You know that Raven was that way. And that was one of your best stories.