A/N: So I decided to rework this story a tad while I brainstormed for the next chapter of TGDR. I fixed a few things and added some new stuff as well, so I hope you enjoy it!

Run Away, Love

Written by Amputation

She sat in the train station in some random Texas town, alone and wordlessly cursing her stupid life. Mom had yelled at her again, telling—no, ordering her to give Dad another chance. No! She couldn't! Especially not this time! She supposed he was a good man or whatever, but she was tired of that disappointment he always had on his face. It made her feel insignificant and, well, lame. What kid wants to feel that way, she often wondered to herself. Today, though, it was all she could think about. Glancing at the meager backpack by her feet, she let out a sigh as her thoughts drifted to why she'd just up and left her house in Omaha.

Dad's disappointment. Ever since she started growing boobs and getting looks from boys, he'd been disappointed. But the icing on the cake was her grades. Sure, she wasn't great in school, but that didn't mean he had to yell and be all angry with her! She was fifteen for crying out loud and it's not like she was gonna' go off to college super soon! Well, that's not exactly the truth, 'cause it's not like she's bad in school, but she was popular. She couldn't be smart and popular! That just didn't happen. She had to give up her love for history in order to keep her friends.

There was no other life aside from school-driven social life. She needed to keep them close 'cause without all her friends around her, she was nothing. She just felt like she needed to be loved, accepted by her friends to make up for Dad's disapproval at home. Nebraska was a ginormous place, but her town was pretty small. To have friends at school and outside school was probably the one thing that would keep a young person known. If they were lost, word would go around the schoolyard and on the so-called 'blacklist' you'd go. No one would talk to you, insults would be thrown around—to your face and behind your back—, and pain like nothing else would take you over. She'd seen it happen.

Not that she wanted the poor girl to suffer like that, but she had no choice! Based on her social standing in school especially, she couldn't do anything. After all, by unspoken rules, no one was to approach her or be nice to her. Penny really, really struggled with it. She wanted to comfort the blacklisted girl and tell her it'd all be okay, and that she'd be her friend forever and ever. The girl, Jackie, had committed suicide two months after her blacklisting. It had really scared Penny. It made her wonder if she should have done something, and question if the isolation could actually make her want to kill herself. She shivered suddenly despite the warm, Texas air, hanging her head as she sat on the bench by the tracks, that single, beat up backpack resting at her feet.

She was actually pretty smart, so why the hell was she fighting with her family? Eventually, she wanted to be an archeologist but her friends were going to be actors and actresses in Hollywood. They all wanted her to go with them and to California after college and get famous. It was a constant pressure on her, and they all said the same things like it couldn't be as hard as schooling, or why don't you want to come with us? She groaned, ripping her purple hair tie out and allowing her wavy, golden locks to fall around her head, obscuring her view of the world around her.

"Fuck this!" she growled.

"Perhaps that is not the appropriate response."

The slightly-cracked male voice shocked her out of her thoughts and she wondered who was talking to her.

She lifted her head to gaze at him and intelligently, she replied, "Huh?"

"You said 'fuck this.' Would it not be better to approach the issue at hand with a clear strategy rather than simply forfeiting without any sort of struggle?"

Penny blinked at the young boy sitting to her left on the bench. His light brown hair was relatively short, but shaggy. His eyes were a blue that seemed way too extreme and—what's the word?—wise for a kid his age. His skin was shockingly pale, but clear without any acne scars or breakouts that she so desperately tried to cover up. She frowned.

"Oh, really? And how the hell would you try to solve my problems? Which are none of your business, really."

He stared at her and she could almost see gears grinding inside his brain. Not so good with words, she guessed. Either that or he wasn't too good at talking in general.

"I'm aware you claim your problems are none of my business, but what is the root of your issues, if you do not mind my asking?"

She huffed, "Fine, since you asked so nice. I ran away from home 'cause I'm sick of my dad treating me like I'm nothing, like some big failure. It's not my fault I can't do well in school!"

"You ran away?"

She threw her arms in the air, "Of course I did! What else am I supposed to do?"

He stared at her with those crazy blue eyes, "Discuss your intellectual difficulties and find help to improve your grades, I would assume."

"No, you don't get it! Ugh! I'm actually really good in school, but I can't be 'cause I'm popular, you know? I'll lose my friends and my friends are everything!"

"Why would you hinder your intellectual ventures merely for superficial companionship? I myself find it unnecessary."

That made Penny pause and she glanced at him with an expression of curiosity. He didn't seem so upset by that fact, "You don't have any friends?"

"I," he paused, fidgeting slightly, "prefer not to use that word. "Colleagues" is far more appropriate in any case."

She wrinkled her nose at him, "You talk weird for a kid."

"I suppose I do. I do not approve of slang."

Penny snorted, blowing a piece of her choppy bangs from her face. She glared down at her Ked-clad feet, "Where I come from, you'd be ignored with the way you're spoutin' off."

"That is acceptable. I work better alone."

Penny gave him a once over and just then realized he was actually pretty cute for a weirdo. The Superman shirt kinda' added to his cuteness. She smiled, "How old are you?"

He replied automatically, "Sixteen."

"Damn, you're a year above me. Will I get all mature and stuff when I'm sixteen too?" she asked, jokingly.

His response was serious, as was his expression, "Perhaps you will if you become studious and dedicated to your work. I do not have many companions in my league for those reasons as many teenagers find it hard to do as I have done."

"Huh. Didn't think of it like that."

He gave her a sidelong glance, "Where are you from?"

"Nebraska."

He looked genuinely shocked, "Nebraska? You are very far from home! Should you not call your family?"

"I—I guess I should. It's been a while," she nibbled her lower lip, suddenly worried about her family back home. Were they really scared?

He nodded, "I would certainly advise that you do so."

Penny stood, leaving the cute boy on the bench and walking across the platform to the lone payphone a bit of a way off, right by the ticket booth. She deposited the needed quarters through the pay slot and dialed. Her breath caught in her throat as it rang.

"Hello?"

She gasped; her voice strained with the threat of tears, "Mom?"

"Penny! Oh, thank Heavens you're alright!"

"Yeah, look I'm—I'm coming home. I'm really sorry to make you worry—"

"I'm very upset with you, young lady! But, I'm very happy you're coming home."

Penny smiled, her eyes welling with unshed tears up, "Can I—Can I talk to dad?"

"Sure! Hold on, sweetie! WYATT! Pen's on the phone!"

She held her breath as she heard her dad's heavy footfalls echo over their crappy connection.

"D-Dad?"

That rough voice of his soothed her worries, "Penny. I'm so glad you're okay."

"Yeah. Me too. I just wanna' say I'm sorry," she whispered as the tears finally fell.

"I am too, sweetie. Come home, okay?"

She smiled, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand to dry them, "Okay."

The payphone beeped to signal her paid time was up, and she told her dad she was gonna' buy another ticket back to Omaha before her connection was cut. Hanging up the phone with a much lighter heart and a smile on her face, she walked back over to her bench and the cute boy, who was looking up at her with interested eyes he so desperately tried to hide.

"They're real happy I called. Thanks for the suggestion."

He nodded to her, his expression solemn and it made her wonder if he ever smiled, "It is for the best that you do not run away; it worries those who care for you."

She nodded back, fully in agreement. When she got back home, she was gonna' set her priorities straight and focus on her schoolwork a bit more to make her Dad happy again. A bell suddenly rang overhead to signal the train going back to the Midwest had arrived. She stood from the bench and pulled on her backpack before turning around and facing the boy who'd been sitting with her.

She looked down at her shoes shyly, "Hey, look, thanks a lot. I really appreciate it."

"Do not trouble yourself with thanks" he replied, dismissing the gratitude although his eyes told her he appreciated it regardless.

She smiled, wanting to repay him. Since she only had enough money for a ticket back, she decided a more unconventional thank you could work. Quickly, she bent at the waist to lean down and give him a chaste kiss. She pulled back from him, blushing as she stared at his stunned expression.

"Thanks again. See you, Superman!" she laughed happily and ran off, leaving her cute Superman shocked on the bench. She was unaware that she had just given Sheldon Cooper his first kiss.

A/N: And so I ask that you please review and let me know your thoughts! Thanks for reading!