The Brainrot Corner

Teaching was Penny’s passion. It was the reason she was able to yank herself out of her bed at 7 a.m. every weekday. The only reason she had to get out of bed at all, really.

Her class was small, only two children residing within the suffocating lines of Pelican town. Those children were Penny’s entire world. She poured hours of her own time in ensuring her students were having a truly fulfilling education; one of the perks that came along with not being a part of any big public school was her ability to control every aspect of the curriculum.

She found herself particularly excited for this day, a bright smile resting on her face as she gazed in the mirror, pinning her hair up in her usual loose bun.

As she stepped into the main room of the house, she couldn’t help but smile when she saw her mom slowly getting ready for work. Such a small thing for Pam making a world of difference within her own confidence

Pam noticed her daughter’s prideful stare and responded with one of confusion.

“There somethin on my face?” She asked, pulling out a hand mirror to reinspect her makeup.

Penny shook her head, “Nope, today is just good.” She replied sweetly.

She moved to the small kitchenette, packing a picnic basket with everything she’d need to teach today. Books on fables and poetry were carefully swaddled in her soft, plaid picnic blanket as well as papers, pencils and crayons.

She reached up into the top cabinet of the kitchenette, pulling down the loaf of bagged bread she bought the night prior, pouting when she noticed it had been opened.

“Mom, I told you not to use this bread.” Penny complained.

Pam rolled her eyes, taking a bite from the peanut butter and jelly she made.

“It was all we had!” Pam protested, “if you don’t want me eating your little school lunches then maybe buy food for us as well? Not like the kiddos are gonna eat all that anyways.”

Penny sighed, placing the loaf in the basket, “That’s not-“ she sighed, there wasn’t any winning this fight, “you didn’t use too much of the peanut butter and jelly, did you?” She asked, moving to the fridge to pull out the grape jelly bought fresh from the farmer.

“You callin me fat?” Pam replied aggressively.

Another sigh from Penny as she pulled the peanut butter from the cabinet, placing that and the jelly into her basket.

“No mom, have a good day.” She answered, not waiting for Pam’s response.

With that, she exited the trailer and started proudly moving towards Vincent’s house to pick him up for school.

On her way, she met eyes with the farmer. They had been working hard gathering building materials recently. She couldn’t help but notice an excited look in their eyes anytime they saw her or her mother. This day was no exception, they gave her an over the top wave hello, and she responded with her own sweet, yet concealed wave before they darted off toward Yoba knows where.

The weather was warmer than expected, as she moved toward the stone paths of the town, she fished around in her pocket, wondering if she had enough gold to treat the kids to a pop or an ice cream later. She frowned in defeat when she could only pull out 2 gold. As much as she loved her job, it paid nothing. On her walks to pick up the kids, she’d often fantasize about having enough money for new books, new supplies and sometimes even a whole schoolhouse, but with her unpaid job taking up all her time, it wasn’t likely to happen soon.

She walked up to Vincent’s home, giving the door a knock before stepping back.

Penny was surprised when, after a few moments, it wasn’t Mrs. Jodie at the door with a sleepy Vincent by her side. Instead, she was met by the sleepy gaze of Sam with an ecstatic Vincent by his side.

Penny’s gaze instantly fell to the floor as bashfulness took over her usually cheery morning demeanor.

“Oh! G- good morning, Sam! Sorry if I woke you up…” she mumbled.

Sam shook his head, yawning, “Nah, it wasn’t you, it was this little dude.” He replied, placing a hand on top of Vincent's head.

Vincent nodded, “I was really super excited about my paper!! I got Sam to write one too! He can read it out today in class right?” He asked hopefully.

To say Penny was caught off guard was an understatement. Was Sam awake because of school?!

With that being said, there was no way Penny was going to kill Vincent’s excitement, so she gave a hesitant nod.

“Of course…the more the merrier! May I have your assignments then uh…students?” She requested, holding out her hand.

Vincent happily put his paper in her hand before looking at Sam, who appeared to be on another planet mentally.

“Wha-? Oh shit- fuck- sorry- shit- fuck-“ he paused, “I left my paper in my room.” He finally explained, tiredly shuffling to his room.

Penny laughed quietly at the outburst before he returned, a sheet of lined paper in hand.

“Here ya go, teach!” He said, handing over the paper.

She slipped the papers into her basket, leading the brothers towards Marnie’s ranch.

“Alrighty! Now we just need to fetch Jas and…”

Penny was interrupted by the sound of Jas’s adorable giggly squeal, approaching closer and closer. It appeared she didn’t have to go that far at all, Penny squinted her eyes to see the unmistakable silhouette of Shane. As he got closer, she noticed how he was walking Jas down the path, occasionally scooping her up and swiftly lifting her up in the air, then dipping her upside down before letting her back onto her feet.

Penny adored the few times she saw Shane spending time with Jas, she always looked so happy, he always looked so relaxed— as if caring for Jas was second nature for him.

His kind expression quickly went back an icy glare when Jas ran up to meet the group. Penny found herself tensing up when she realized Shane wasn’t waving goodbye to her, or turning to leave, instead he continued to approach, lumbering toward the group with an exhausted expression.

“Miss Penny! Miss Penny! I did my report and had so much fun I got Shane to do one too!”

Penny thought she was shocked when she was asked if Sam could attend class, but Shane?! She truly thought Jas was joking until Shane pulled a folded up piece of paper from his hoodie pocket, reluctantly handing it to Penny just as Jas did.

“Okay Jas, I did it, have a good day.” Shane attempted to shamble off, much to Penny’s quiet relief. Jas was quick to grab him by the hand, dragging him back.

“Noooooo!! Miss Penny is gonna read them! You gotta stay for her reading them!” She looked to Penny, “he can stay for that, right?”

Before she could answer, Vincent nodded his head and pointed to his brother, “Yeah! Yeah! Sam is doin it too, so mister Shane can definitely stay!”

They both looked to Penny for approval, Penny simply looked terrified.

“O- only if Mister Shane wants to!” She answered.

They both looked to Shane for approval, Shane cannot resist Jas’s pleading face.

He grumbled out a quiet “fine.” Before pulling a flask from his hoodie’s inner pocket, taking a swig.

Penny smiled the best she could as she lead her growing pack to their usual place in the woods, trying her best to convince herself that Shane didn’t actually dislike her, he just had resting bitch face.

She failed the entire way.

She grew more nervous as the five of them traveled down the dirt path. Making sandwiches in a silly way for two little kids was one thing, but now she found herself with an audience containing a bored barely-an-adult and a grumbly 32 year-old who was probably already tipsy.

Penny truly found herself at her limit with a group of four, so needless to say, when she saw Abigail, Maru and Sebastian waiting under her usual tree, she nearly perished.

Maru was the first to notice her best friend, holding up a sheet of paper and waving.

“Hey!! Good morning, professor!!” She called.

Abigail also looked in Penny’s direction, jostling Sebastian, who was sitting against the tree and snoring softly.

“I told you not to stay up so late, Seb, you knew we were doing this.” She scolded, helping him up into a standing position.

“I still don’t remember agreeing to this.” Sebastian replied curtly.

Both Sebastian and Abigail had papers in their hands. All three of them shoved their papers toward Penny when she approached.

“What…are you guys doing here?” She asked as sweetly as she could through a clenched smile.

Sam laughed seeing Penny’s reaction.

“Sorry, Pen! After Vincent got me to write the paper, I managed to convince Abby to do one!”

Abigail nodded, “And I got Seb to join in!”

Penny looked to Maru with a face that pleaded for back up.

“You seemed so excited about this one, I had to participate!” Maru added, “I can play back-up professor if need be though!”

Penny was visibly shaking as she took the final three’s reports.

“Thank you.” She whimpered.

With help from Maru, she got her picnic blanket laid out flat under the tree. The seven “students” did their best to sit in a tight circle on the soft blanket, most of them focused on Penny.

As she pulled out the ingredients, she looked to Maru for support. Maru gave her an encouraging thumbs up in response.

That alone being enough to convince her, she focused on her attentive crowd.

“Okay…uh…class? This lesson was to teach the kids the importance of details in something like directions or recipes, so the assignment…as you know— was to write out instructions on how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich!”

She received a response of dead silence, only making her nerves increase. She draws a shaky breath as she mixes up the papers, looking at the one that appeared on top. Thankfully, it was one of the kid’s papers first.

“Okay! Th- this is How to make a PB&J by Vincent!”

Vincent (who previously had himself and Sam distracted by a bug) perks up when he hears his name, plopping down on Sam’s lap and listening excitedly.

She smiles when she sees Vincent’s excitement. Seeing the kids so happy to learn reminded her of the excitement she felt this morning. As long as she focused on the kiddos, she knew she could do this. She begins to recite Vincent’s paper.

“This is how you make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.” She begins.

“First off, you take some peanut butter and put it on the bread.”

Penny nods, muttering a little “okay” as she opens the jar of peanut butter and scoops out her best approximation of “some” in her hand and smears it on the bag of bread.

This sends a small wave of chuckles through the group as Vincent dramatically grabs his head, laughing.

“No! No! Miss Penny! That’s not what I meant!” He exclaims through laughter.

Penny chuckles and shrugs, wiping the peanut butter off her hands. At this point, it was clicking in everyone's heads what this assignment was. There was a range of reactions from excitement like the kid’s to terror, which seemed to completely overtake Shane’s cold expression.

Penny continues on.

“Then, you take some jelly and put it on the bread! And that’s how you make a PB&J!”

She smears some jelly on the bag of bread the same way she did the peanut butter and presents Vincent’s “PB&J” to the group.

She noticed that she now had everyone’s entertained expressions focused on her. A few of them even had their hands raised, beckoning for Penny to read theirs next. Except for Shane, he was actively shrinking back in the group.

Much to the older man’s dismay, he was next in the pile.

“We’re going in order of the paper stack, if that’s alright with you guys. So next issss Shane!”

He gave her an anxious look.

“N-no Penny, I was drunk when I wrote mine- you don’t have to-“

Sam cuts him off, “Ohhhh yes you do! C’mon! Let’s hear it!!”

She didn’t really need the encouragement to read it, but she appreciated it.

Shane wrote his out like a list, Penny read it as such.

“PB&J: by Shane. 1: get two slices of bread.”

Penny pulls two slices of bread from the bag and places them down.

“2: put peanut butter on the bread.”

She scoops out some peanut butter and spreads it along both sides of each piece of bread. Everyone giggled and laughed, except Shane, who still seemed embarrassed.

“3: do the same with jelly, close that…b-word up then smash that….effer into your mouth.” she corrects the swear word and glances up at Shane as she smears a fistful of jelly onto both sides of the other slice of bread, closing the messy sandwhich.

“Ah- Penny wait- you don’t gotta-“ Shane tries to say, Penny doesn’t listen.

She smashes the sandwich against her mouth, causing the small crowd to laugh as Shane shrinks back.

She puts the squashed sandwich down, shaking the access jelly off her hands, wiping away the sticky remnants.

“Shane,” she begins, “I worry that you’ve never actually eaten a sandwich before.”

This only makes the group laugh more as Shane grumbles something inaudibly. He starts to get up, ready to leave now that he’s been sufficiently embarrassed. That is, until Jas grabs his hand and looks up at him with big puppy dog eyes.

“Don’t you wanna stay and hear my paper…?” She asks softly.

Shane looks up, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance before plopping back down onto the blanket, much to Jas’ happiness.

Penny continues on the stack.

“Okay, next is Seb-“

Before she can continue, Sam gasps aloud, hopping up from his spot and snatching the paper from Penny’s hand. Penny looked at him with surprise as he looked over his shoulder at her.

“Can I do this one?” He asks, pointing at Sebastian’s paper.

“Oh god..” Sebastian mumbles quietly.

Penny looks past Sam over to Maru, Maru shrugs.

“O-okay, Sam.” She says, too anxious to say no, and honestly, what harm could it do?

Penny readjusts to sit next to Sam as he plops down in front of the ingredients. He clears his throat, looking at the paper.

“How to make a sandwich. By Sebastian.” He looks at Sebastian, who was watching but had yet to really react.

“To make a pb&j, you’ll want to start by grabbing a couple slices of bread.” Sam looks at the bag of bread and rips it open from the top, getting peanut butter on his hands and the now exposed bread. He hears Sebastian groan, though he looks more entertained than annoyed. Sam smiles at him.

“Never said which slices I had to grab!” He clarifies his actions.

Penny and Maru exchange a glance, Maru points to Sam as if asking if she needed help stopping him. Penny shakes her head no, this was fine. She convinced herself Sam wouldn’t do too much damage.

Sam continues, “ideally, you’d toast the bread, but I assume these will be read somewhere where toasting can’t happen-“ Sam cuts himself off.

“Hold on, we can make this work!”

He goes fishing in his pockets, feeling around for something.

Sebastian is about to protest before Sam pulls a lighter out of his pocket, singing out the tune that plays in Zelda when you open up a treasure chest.

Penny laughs as she watches Sam run the fire along the bottom of each slice, toasting it slightly, but he quickly grows bored and drops the lighter beside him.

“Okay cool, anyways-“ he says, looking at Sebastian’s paper.

“Wait, is that my light?” Sebastian asks, eyeing the lighter in the grass.

Abigail shushes him, “Worry about that later, I wanna see how he fucks up your sandwich.” She says with a grin.

Sebastian rolls his eyes and leans back, waiting for his dumbass friend to continue.

“Thank you, Abigail For Silencing the delinquent speaking during class!” Sam says before he continues.

“Skipping the toasting step, get some peanut butter on your knife and spread it on the bread, do the same with the jelly.”

Sam hums, grabbing the knife and humming a chipper as he scoops up a handful of peanut butter and uses it to heavily coat the knife, doing the same with the jelly as he places the newfound mess onto a slice of bread, smearing the mixture across its surface.

He picks up the paper again, smearing peanut butter all over it as a result.

“Finally, put your two Slices of bread together and eat!”

Penny sat nervously but quietly when Sam smeared condiments all over the knife, even if it was a butter knife, he wasn’t teaching the kids the best habits by handling the blade so carelessly. She couldn’t do the same when she sees him bringing the knife sandwich to his mouth.

She quickly reaches out, frantically squeaking out “No’s” in unison with Maru. Shane also picked up on what was happening and leaned over, shooting his arm out in front of the two kids to block their innocent eyes from what could have been a terribly dangerous And grotesque scene.

Sam lowers the sandwich in confusion as Penny gently places a hand on his shoulder.

“Let’s….not risk swallowing a knife in front of the children, Sam.” She suggests in a soft and anxious squeak.

Sam looks back at the crowd of terrified faces, and the <i>terrifying</i> expression Shane had on his face that basically read as “I would have killed you before the knife had a chance.”

Sam nods, pulling the knife from the bread and cleaning it off for Penny.

“Okaaaaay, I’m sorry.” He says, placing the knife down and returning to his seat.

Despite the chaos, everyone still seemed to be in good spirits, which relieved Penny quite a bit.

The other papers go just as well, the entire group laughed along as strange and odd interpretations of the remaining papers resulted in equally silly and inedible sandwiches.

Though Jas’ paper hadn’t come up yet, which seemed to visibly deflate her the longer she had to wait.

There were only two slices of bread left, Maru and Jas’ papers were left. Penny looks to Maru, Maru smiles and nods, giving her the go ahead to read Jas’ last. As sad as Jas seemed, her expression instantly lit up when she heard her name. She looks to Shane happily, tugging at his jacket sleeve.

“It’s my turn!” She exclaims happily.

Penny reads the paper allowed, but she couldn’t help but admire all the cute drawings on the paper, as Jas had really formatted it to look like a cute page in a recipe book.

“Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich Recipe, by Jas!” Penny reads out sweetly.

“For ingredients, you will need the following: 2 slices of bread, white or wheat is recommended but you can use any kind you’d like, even the yucky cinnamon kind Auntie has in the house for Shane!”

The group shared a giggle at the comment, Shame looked down at Jas with a smile.

“You don’t like my cinnamon raisin bread?” Shame asks in a gentle and playful tone.

Jas giggled and shakes her head no.

“It tastes so weird!” She replies, sticking her tongue out.

Penny laughs at the adorable exchange.

“Well, luckily, we have wheat for the demonstration!” She says, placing two slices down.

“For this recipe,” Penny continues, “You will also need about a tablespoon of Peanut butter and a tablespoon of jelly! You can use more, though more peanut butter may create a choking hazard.” She looks at Jas, “Good til, Jas~” she compliments.

“For materials, you will need a butter knife and, optionally, a toaster! You should use both with parental supervision!” She reads out.

Penny looks over and can’t help but notice how proud he looked of Jas. It was absolutely adorable to see.

“Instructions: Using the knife, take out about a tablespoon of peanut butter from the jar, spread it on one side of the, optionally toasted, bread evenly across one face. Place the bread down with the peanut butter facing up.” Penny does just as she’s instructed, Jas has a hopeful expression that she wrote her recipe well enough to create an actually edible sandwich.

“Next, after cleaning your knife, use it to spread a tablespoon of jelly on one face of the second piece of bread, placing that slice down with the jelly facing up.”

The group gives Jas little praises, cheering her writing as the sandwich is created. They were all hoping for this to work just as much as she was.

“To combine, place the two slices of bread together, with the peanut butter and jelly sides facing each other. As an optional step, you can use the knife to cut away the yucky crusts and cut the sandwich into cute triangles that are far easier to eat.”

Penny shrugs and nods, taking the time to do the last two steps as well.

“I don’t like the crusts either.” She says, taking a bite out of one of the corners.

The group claps for Jas, Penny had never seen her happier. Jas hid away against Shane shyly, but her giggles could still be heard, and smile could still be seen.

Sebastian, Abigail and Sam were also hyping up Vincent, who didn’t seem the least bit upset that his sandwich wasn’t as good, because it made his big brother laugh.

Maru goes up to Penny, helping her clean up the mess.

“I’m proud of you for letting this happen. Isn’t it nice?” Maru says to Penny with a smile, looking back at the group as they happily talk amongst each other. The kid’s, Penny’s entire world, seemed so happy to have their family by their side, laughing along and having fun with the activity.

Penny was looking at the group too, a happy smile on her face as love for this small mismatched group bonded over the love they shared for each other and those kids. She nods at Maru’s statement.