Just a Small Town Girl

My name is Penelope Vaughn. I am 5'4 with an athletic build. I have long auburn hair that falls to my waist. Blue eyes with a golden ring in the middle and plump pink lips. Some say I have a natural beauty without trying, but I don't see it.  I am a normal teenage girl from a small town in Wisconsin, or so I thought. Three months before my 18th birthday my parents were killed in a car accident leaving me alone in this world. I was sitting at the kitchen table the morning after their funeral. I had just spent a whole day hugging people I didn't know and listening to them tell me how sorry they were for my loss. I was exhausted and heart broken. I heard a knock on the door. On the other side of the door stood a short pudgy man who looked to be about 50 years old. He wore a ill fitting suit and you could see the wrinkles by his eyes showing his age. "Good morning young lady" said the man "are you Penelope?" After clearing my throat and hesitating, I replied "yes." The man handed me a chest. It was dark purple with gold accents. "This is for you young lady" the man said after handing it to me and turning to leave. "Excuse me!" I shouted after realizing I had no idea who this man was. "Who are you?" I asked. "My name is Alf" the man stated "just think of me as a friend" he gave me an empathetic smile then he hopped in his beat up chevy truck and took off. I admired the chest for a while trying to talk myself into opening it. Running my fingers over the gold details. "It is now or never" I said out loud even though I was alone and slid the lock. Inside was a note: Dearest Penelope, If you have this, we are probably dead. We want you to know before you read the rest of this letter that we love you more than anything! When you were just a baby we were asked to raise you as our own child as your real parents were running for their lives. You see, your mother and father are special, and so are you. Your parents were our closest friends, so we picked up and moved to Wisconsin to keep you safe. On your 18th birthday, you will find out just how special you are. You need to track them down. You can find them in a little village in California called Moonstar. Go there now and ask for Andrew and Lilliann. They will tell you everything. Please know we would not have kept this from you if it wasn't life and death. We love you our sweet Nel. XOXO Mom and Dad P.S. please give them a chance to explain. With tears running down my face, realizing my whole life is a lie, I looked at the rest of the contents. Inside was a baby blanket. It was lavender with my initials embroidered on the corner. There was a necklace that had a wolf howling at the moon with some strange crystal. There also a debit card with a note telling me that there is 15 million dollars in this bank account in my name. I gasped... shocked that my parents had that much money hidden from me. I plopped down on the couch looking at my surroundings. My whole life was a lie. I had no idea who I was. My parents weren't my parents. I didn't know what to do. I started to cry again. I must have fallen asleep because I awoke several hours later to my phone ringing. It was my best friend Novalea. Nova was a beautiful girl with curly blond hair that came to the middle of her back. She stood 5 foot even and was petite. She had brown eyes and her signature red lips.  "Hello" I said with a raspy voice. "Pen!" Novalea shouted, sounding worried"where have you been? I have been trying to reach you all day!" I looked at the clock to see it was now 8pm. We were supposed to hang out today and I slept through it! I knew I had to tell her everything. She was my best friend for as long as I can remember. She will know what to do.. I hope.  "Nova, can you come over? I really need to talk" my voice cracked and the tears started again. "On my way" she said and within 5 minutes she was bursting through the door and wrapped me in her arms. "What's going on Pen?" She asked.  "Buckle up" I said "this s**t is about to get wild!" We sat on the couch and I told her everything. I showed her the chest and everything inside.  The thing I love about Nova is that she doesn't look at me like an injured puppy. She tells me what I need to hear, whether I like it or not. She pulled out her phone and started looking for something on the internet.  "What are you looking for?" I asked but she just kept typing and scrolling away.  "There!" She exclaimed "all done!" "What is done exactly?" I asked  "The way I see it is you have 2 choices. We can stay here, and live our lives however we want pretending that none of this happened OR we can go to California and figure out who or what my best friend is." She says calmly "I will be right here by your side no matter what you choose to do, but I think you owe it to yourself to at least talk to this Andrew and Lilliann and see what they have to say" "There has to be a reason they didn't want me right? What makes you think they will have changed their minds just because I'm now alone?" I asked with fear in my voice. "Penelope, you listen to me... You are my best friend. You will never be alone. I am never leaving you!" Nova said with conviction "I know you, and I know that you will never forgive yourself if you do not get answers. Besides, we have exactly 3 months before you turn 18 and you need to know what is going to change on that day. Even if they don't want you, which they would be crazy for, they owe you an explanation." "You want me to just go to California and find these people and say hey I'm your daughter?" I laughed "sure, no problem. That wont be awkward at all" I sat and thought about what they would look like, what makes me special and what would happen if I didn't go... "Fine," I sighed " let's go on an adventure." "Eeeeekkk!" Nova squealed " I'm so glad you said that, we leave at 6 am. Better go pack!" She gave me a tight hug and left to go pack. We will have to hit the road by 2:30am to make it to O'hare on time.  I closed the door, took one last look at the chest, grabbed the debit card and placed it in my wallet. Guess I better go pack, tomorrow is the start of my new life and I retreated to my bedroom. "What does one wear when meeting the parents they didn't know they had?" I pondered flipping through my closet.  I decided on a long black maci dress with a floral pattern and gladiator sandals. At least I will be comfortable! Then a packed some tank tops and shorts and my low top chuck taylors. Threw in my toiletries and decided if I needed anything else, I would just buy it. I glanced at the time on my phone. It was 11pm. Just enough time for a quick nap before Nova got back.  ******** 3 hours later, Nova was back.  "You all set?" She asked, looking at me with excitement.  "As ready as I will ever be" I responded with zero confidence I threw my bag in the back seat and we set off on our 3 hour drive to Chicago.  In about 8 hours, my life would be changed forever.