Lovestruck
Penelope swooned as he glanced her way. He didn’t even look at her, but that moment’s glimpse of his perfect face was enough.
Penelope White was completely, 100%, head-over-heels in love with Mark.
She wanted to say that she’d loved him since the moment she laid eyes on him, but that wasn’t entirely true. In fact, they’d known each other for almost a decade before he’d stolen her heart—and, in fact, the heart of all the girls in school.
The exact day, hour, minute and second was burned into her brain. She’d never forget it—how could she? How could one forget the moment they were pierced by Cupid’s arrow, the moment she found her soul mate, her one true love.
It had been a school assembly. In the past, she’d found school assemblies to be a dull affair, a time for announcements she didn’t care about, for sports trophies to be given out, and the achievements of math geeks to be celebrated (for a given value of celebrate, of course).
Going in, she never would guessed that it would be an assembly that would change her life forever.
“And now we have Mark Lindes,” the principal had droned, and Penelope—in a move that still haunted her at night—had rolled her eyes.
She’d rolled her eyes. At the idea of Mark—perfect, beautiful, powerful, fascinating Mark—giving a presentation.
Nowadays, assemblies were one of the absolute highlights of her life. Not only because it reminded her of that moment when Mark had shuffled onto stage, pressed a button on the side of the odd box that he was carrying, and started to speak. But also because these days, school assemblies were only called when Mark wanted to speak to everyone at once.
Mark had such a wonderful speaking voice. She knew that she hadn’t always felt that way. At the start of his speech, she hadn’t found it as smooth, silky and entrancing as she did now. She’d even been playing with her nails as he’d opened his mouth and addressed the entire school—playing with her nails! While Mark spoke! The idea now, of course, was unthinkable.
“You love me,” he’d begun, and his odd choice of words had certainly grabbed her attention. She’d immediately stared at him, and as he paused, the utter truth of what he was saying had begun to sunk in.
She loved him. She loved Mark Lindes. It was so obvious now; she couldn’t understand how she hadn’t seen it before. On some level, she supposed that she loved everyone, but her love for Mark was clear and strong.
Penelope loved Mark. There was no two ways about it. It wasn’t necessarily a romantic love, but her eyes shone as she watched him speak. Sure, he was a nerd, but there was something so lovable about him that she couldn’t even fault him for his poor social skills, his lack of interest in fashion, his awkward gait and inability to keep eye contact for more than a moment.
She loved his weaknesses, just as she loved his strengths.
And then he continued.
“I am the most important thing in your life, and you would do anything to protect me.”
It wasn’t like he was telling her, it was like he was reminding her of things that she already knew. Of course he was the most important thing in her life—hell, he was probably one of the most important things in the world.
She would give her life to protect him. No, more than that—she was a sworn pacifist, but in that moment, she knew that she would kill to protect him.
As soon as Mark finished his sentence, Penelope had glanced around the room, just in case anyone in that room proved a threat to her precious Mark. To her surprise, everyone else was doing the same—clearly his words hadn’t just been a wake-up call to her, but to everyone who heard them.
Several people were standing up and standing by the doors. Penelope only wished that she was stronger, faster—anything that meant she was more capable of protecting Mark. After assessing the room, she decided that nothing in there was causing Mark immediate danger, and she turned her attention back to the podium, keen to hear what else he had to say.
“You will obey my commands immediately and to the best of your ability,” he mumbled, and Penelope nodded. Of course she would—he was the most important thing in her life, and she loved him. “And if you suspect that anything or anyone wishes me harm, your priority is to let me know before dealing with the situation.
“Everyone stand up.”
Before she even consciously registered the order, Penelope was on her feet. She didn’t even have time to question it before Mark continued, and her focus was entirely on the man on the stage.
“Clap.”
Again, she hadn’t even processed the word before her hands were moving, striking each other with a sharp slap—a sound that simultaneously hit her ears from all directions, as everyone else in the room did the same thing.
Almost everyone in the room, anyway. A few seconds later, a number of other claps could be heard, slightly delayed.
On-stage, Mark smiled slightly.
“Everyone, look in the direction that you heard one of those slower claps.”
Penelope knew that one had come from behind her, and so unquestioningly turned in that direction.
“Sit.”
Almost before she knew what was happening, Penelope’s butt was back on the seat, even as her neck almost threatened to break—at no point during the sitting process had she stopped staring in the direction she’d heard the delayed slap of hand on hand, and so now she was twisted in a most unusual position.
She was glad that she had, however—two rows behind her, a scared-looking girl hadn’t sat with the speed of everyone else. It hadn’t taken her long to realize what everyone else was doing, and sit down as quickly as she could, but it was still too slow, and now she felt everyone in the vicinity’s eyes on her.
With a directness that she’d never heard from the normally-shy nerd, Mark gave a simple instruction to the room.
“Seize and subdue those people. Make sure they can’t get away, and…—“
Penelope couldn’t hear the rest of Mark’s words; the room suddenly exploded into action, as more than a dozen of the 300-odd students and teachers in the assembly hall tried desperately to get away from Mark’s new unquestioningly-obedient army.
Fortunately, his instructions were clear, and his supporters were many. Within ten minutes, everyone who could potentially be a threat to Mark had been subdued, tied up and gagged with whatever was on-hand; ties, belts, any clothing that could effectively restrain someone. The threats dealt with, Penelope joined the rest of the hall in turning back towards Mark and hearing what he had to say.
“Good job,” he said, a note of excitement entering his voice, and a wave of pleasure and pride washed over the crowd. Praise from the most important person in your life is always a positive, and Penelope was keen to hear what he had to say next, how else she could help him out.
“Men,” he said, and Penelope relaxed slightly, shifting her attention to the scared, tied-up girl in front of her, making sure she had no way of getting away or threatening Mark.
“You will never be jealous of me, or feel any negative emotions towards me. You are not sexually attracted to me, but see me as your leader, someone you respect and want to serve and impress.
“Women,” he continued, and Penelope listened carefully, as the men took over the job of keeping an eye on their prisoners. “You adore and desire me beyond all reason. You’re completely and totally in love with me—I am the perfect man, the perfect lover. I am perfect.”
Penelope almost recoiled at the force with which her new emotions hit her. He was right, of course—how could he ever be wrong? He was perfect.
Suddenly every schoolyard crush, every pop idol or hot male actor…they all faded away. They were nothing compared to Mark. No one was.
She loved him with every fibre of her body—he was everything she’d ever wanted, everything she’d ever dreamed of. And she was lucky enough—blessed, even—to get to serve him.
Every woman in the world would be envious of her position right now. She was in the room with Mark Lindes, the perfect specimen of humankind. And he was talking to her.
“You crave my touch, but would never seek it without my express permission.”
It was as though every nerve in Penelope’s body lit up at once. She wanted nothing more but to feel his perfect hands against her inferior skin. She knew it would feel better than anything in the world.
But she couldn’t. Not until he wanted it.
“You will never let another man touch you.”
Penelope shifted nervously in her seat. The boy sitting to her right was uncomfortably close to making contact.
“Men, you will never touch one of my women.”
In turn, the male student shifted away as well.
“These new desires, thoughts and emotions will be a secret from anyone who doesn’t feel the same way. Hiding your true feelings is the best way that you can protect me.”
Penelope nodded, her brain already buzzing with thoughts. Fortunately her boyfriend went to this school—god, what had she been thinking? Now that she’d seen perfection, she knew that every other man would fall short, forever. Since he was here, he would understand why they could never again be together.
She momentarily felt sorry for the female teachers who were married, but she quickly shook that thought out of her head. It was their own stupid fault for settling, for committing to someone before Mark chose to reveal his perfect form to them.
The rest of the assembly had been fairly rote—Mark had detailed his plans, his plans to show the rest of the world the truth, the rest of the school. He’d split them up into small teams, and had them brainstorm methods for making sure that everyone who had missed the day’s assembly could be brought into the fold, the easiest way to get everyone’s friends and families into an audience so that he could show them his true self as well.
And then he’d read out a list of female students and teachers who were to serve him personally.
Penelope hadn’t been on the list—a fact which hurt more than being punched in the stomach—but she was happy just to serve him. She hoped that if she was loyal and good, and worked hard to complete Mark’s goals, one day he might look directly at her.
One day, he might invite her to serve him personally, and—if she continued to mold herself to fit his exact type (which, after multiple requests, he had eventually released in pamphlet format) he would give her the invitation into his bed that she so desperately craved.
Until then, she’d continue striving to fulfill his vision of a perfect world. After all, she loved him.