To get to his next class, Penn needed to walk from the edge of the south wing to the edge of the west.

The north wing was completed only three years ago. Technically it didn't shoot straight west. It went west and north, which further increased the distance. This made for probably the longest walk one could travel in this school. He made this walk each morning at 9AM when going from Biology and Drawing and Painting.

The new north wing featured fewer lockers, a brighter color palette and most importantly, for Penn, a lack of crowds. The bulk of the kids congregated in the older north and south wings. That's where the jokes would be taking place. Where the excited talks of new plans would echo and

echo

until the excitement of others' would deafen Penn's mind.

Murmurs of

weekend

plans filled the halls. Until he reached the north wing. Then all would be brighter. Quieter.

Penn's mind would still think of all the plans being discussed. There were there big events this weekend. The 

homecoming

football game

Friday

night. Followed by the homecoming

dance

Saturday night. Then finally the patchwork of parties after. the dance.

There were so many parties. Penn had already learned of at least three from just the hallway murmurs. This information was obtained through mere infusion. Him walking by and catching wind. Penn imagined how many more parties there were being discussed in places unaccessible to Penn. He thought there might be at least two dozen parties. For such a small town one would think that Penn could just go to at least one or two of them.

That would be the rational impression. Thinking in numbers. 24 parties was plenty for the amount of kids in his school. And yet when it came to status and social, it wasn't a mere numbers game was it. The parties weren't for kids like Penn. If he were to show up he wouldn't know what to do. The other guests would wonder why he was there at all.

After passing into the lighter shade of floor in the north wing his steps relaxed. There were no more talks of parties and who would be going with who to the dance. And which restaurants people would be eating before the dance. And whether they would be taking a limo.

In the quiet of the north wing, there were the kind of chatter Penn actually enjoyed. Nervous kids talking about a show or a band they liked. Kids making plans to watch movies and eat snacks at someone's house. It was true that Penn wished he belonged with the loud crowds of the kids at parties. But not belonging with them never hurt his heart.

But when he heard the soft chatter of movie plans, and discussions about music and film amongst the quiet north hall, he felt his heart and stomach sink a little. Did this mean he actually wanted to belong with these kids rather than the other more popular ones? Probably. Unfortunately he belonged to neither.

Penn still went straight to his class even with three minutes remaining until the bell. However once walking in the north wing he slowed down. Listened intently to the chatter. Once in the classroom he would replay some of the chatter in his head. After the bell rung, he'd spend the first ten minutes of class imagining what it would feel like to be a part of one of those small circles of friends.