Tasting Chocolate
By Nor of Kiamo Ko
"In my ivory tower
Life was just a Hostess snack
But now I've tasted chocolate
And I'm never going back!"
-Penny Pingleton, "Without Love"
A/N: I love Hairspray, so I decided to write a fanfic about it… here goes! Keep in mind that this is my first fanfic… I need all the help I can get. Please R&R if you have the time.
Disclaimer: Do I look like Mark O'Donnell, Thomas Meehan, Mark Shaiman, or Scott Wittman to you? (Be careful how you answer that…)
Chapter One:
The "Nicest" Kids in Town
"What's wrong, baby?" Seaweed asked, holding his arm a little tighter around Penny's shoulders.
"Nothing," she sighed. "It's just… why is everyone staring at us?"
The couple was on one of their walks down South Avenue, after Seaweed was through with work (if you could call dancing like there was no tomorrow on national television work). As always, Seaweed's arm was around Penny's shoulders; and, as always, Seaweed was silently shocked by the number of people who were staring unabashedly at them.
"'Cause you're so beautiful, my princess," he said, faking a cheerful tone, as he ceremoniously kissed the top of her head.
"Oh, Seaweed," Penny murmured dreamily. Silently she thought, He's lying… but at least it's a sweet lie.
Just as she had suspected, Seaweed knew exactly why people were staring, and he was now giving a few people who were gawping at his display of affection a look that he hoped said, Yes, we're together. Me and her. Now get over it. The busybodies clamped their mouths shut and went on their way. Feeling satisfied, he nodded and turned to Penny. "Momma wanted you over for dinner tomorrow night. That cool?"
Penny smiled. "I'd like that." He gave her a quick squeeze and they kept walking.
"It's bad enough that we have to dance with them—do we have to date them, too?" A chorus of laughter came from the corner where Amber, Brenda, and Tammy were sitting in History class the next day. Amber shot Penny a contemptuous look from across the room and started laughing even louder. Penny squeezed her pencil so tightly that she wondered why it didn't break.
Tracy looked at Penny, sighed, and one by one started to uncurl her friend's fingers from around the pencil. "Don't strangle it," she started to joke. She immediately turned solemn when Penny shot her a reproachful look. "Sorry. Penny, it's okay. They're not worth it."
Penny sighed. "I know, but it makes me so mad. There's nothing wrong with Seaweed, and I love him. Why should anything else matter?"
Tracy glared at the gaggle of girls in the corner, then stood up and stalked over to them. They stopped laughing the moment Tracy opened her mouth.
"Hello girls," she said, feigning politeness. "I haven't spoken to you in a while." She turned to Tammy. "I see you're still padding." She got down close to her and stage-whispered, "Next time, try to make them a little more even." Tammy turned pink and immediately got up to go to the bathroom.
Then she smiled at Brenda. "How's the baby? Don't worry, I'm sure you'll figure out who her daddy is soon enough." The young mother turned bright red—it was common knowledge that the only reason Tracy had made it onto The Corny Collins Show was that Brenda had taken a nine-month "leave of absence".
Finally, Tracy shot a toothy, entirely false grin at Amber. "And don't worry, hon, there's no shame in being single." Amber's face turned a deep shade of purple. Link, her ex-boyfriend, had left her for Tracy a couple of months ago.
"Nice talking to you all again!" Tracy waved and walked back to her seat. She smiled wickedly at Penny, who giggled.
"That was horrible, Tracy."
"I know, but at least now they won't bother you quite as much." Tracy gave Penny a quick hug. "This is why you keep me around, remember?"
Penny smiled weakly and nodded. She was thankful to have Tracy around to temporarily staunch the flow of torment those girls sent at her, but really she just wished they would stop and realize that skin color really didn't matter. At least she had dinner with Seaweed, Ms. Maybelle, and L'il Inez to look forward to that night.
Later that afternoon, Penny looked on as Seaweed did the Mashed Potato with Brenda. She never really got jealous when she watched him dance with other girls on set; she knew he loved dancing, not dancing with them.
"Roll call!"
"I'm Amber!"
"Brad!"
"Tammy!"
"Stooie!"
"Fender!"
"Brenda!"
"Duane!"
"Sketch!"
"Shelley!"
"Louann!"
"Tracy!"
"Link!"
"And I'm… Seaweed!" All the girls screamed, and he winked at Penny, as though he were saying, "Ain't this funny?"
Penny giggled. Actually, she thought the screaming girls were… well, a scream, especially when they ended up screeching for one of the other girls.
Corny finished the theme song, and introduced the next dance: The Hottie, led by Seaweed and Tracy. Penny applauded and whooped supportively as they went out to the dance floor, followed by all the other dancers.
Finally, Corny closed the show with an ad for Ultra Clutch hairspray, and Seaweed ran off set, scooped Penny up in his arms, and kissed her. She smiled and kissed him back; she loved it when he did sweet things like that. He always tasted a little bit like coffee (she couldn't for the life of her figure out why), and she always felt so safe when they were together that way.
After what seemed like an eternal kiss, he put her down and offered her his arm. "May I have the honor of escorting you to dinner?"
She stepped closer to him and let him put his arm around her shoulders. "Of course you may." She blatantly ignored the glares from the other girls, telling herself they were just jealous…