Flowers and Pop Rocks

31

tw: brief mention of an eating disorder

p o p p y

It didn't take long for Blake and I to go back to how we used to be. He'd been back to school for a week after his suspension, and people finally stopped staring.

"Are you and Nixon dating?"

The question caught me off-guard. I'll admit, it was pretty obvious Blake and I were close, but I never thought anyone would question if we were dating or not.

"No..." I answered Caleb's question. Honestly, if Blake and I were really dating, it would be far more obvious. "Why?"

"Just wanted to know," he told me. "Everyone's wondering."

"They should ask Blake instead of staring at him while he passes them in the hallways," I commented, taking my notebook out of my bag and opening it on an empty page to prepare for class.

I thought the conversation ended there, but he said one last thing that really struck a nerve.

"That guy really isn't good for you. He's a bad influence."

He muttered it under his breath, thinking I wouldn't hear him, but I did.

"I know he may not be the nicest to you, but I think he deserves some respect at least. He did apologize, and you never did. He told me what happened, and you're not completely innocent yourself. What you said was pretty out of pocket."

The look on his face showed it all. He was pissed. "And what makes you think he told you the truth? He's just painting me in a bad light. He was the one who hit me."

"If there's one thing about Blake people know, it's that he's incredibly honest. He says something if he wants you to know, and he stays silent if he doesn't. So I'm pretty sure what he told me was true," I shot back. "Honestly, you're a lot more like him than you think."

I wasn't going to let him trash Blake like that. Yeah, the guy did something wrong, but it was commendable that he put in the effort to look for Caleb and actually apologize sincerely.

When he told me he'd make things right, he really was serious.

I could hear a little bit of his laughter from my seat. He was at the back of the classroom with a few of his friends. Summer was there too among others.

They looked to be having a lot of fun, just joking around. Meanwhile, here I was having to defend someone I cared about from someone I saw as a friend. I was starting to think that these two boys liked to stress me out.

"Poppy, I—"

"Just stop talking. You're only going to make it worse, and I don't want to have to lose a friend," I cut him off.

Luckily, he had no time to protest because Ms. Walter started the class. It was a long and boring one, as always, but at least it got my mind off the things Caleb said.

And to think it was only the first period.

I didn't waste any time getting out of the classroom after Ms. Walter ended the class. I just wanted to get through with the day. I didn't want to be such a Grinch when the holidays were so close.

"You good, Flower?" Blake bumped my shoulder lightly, sitting down beside me in his usual spot. "You look like you're thinking about a lot of things."

"Yeah, I'm okay," I mumbled, not looking at him.

He narrowed his eyes slowly. "You're still thinking a lot. Do we have a quiz today? Is that why you look so concentrated?"

I couldn't help but laugh a little. "No, Finley, there's no quiz today. Either way, you should know if we have a test."