Death of the Perfect Girl

11- The Good Person

          Poppy walked into the hallway and looked around. Fisher was about to walk up some stairs. She started speeding after him then she started slowing down. What was she doing going after him like that? She couldn't even sit still around him, let alone be alone with him. She took a deep breath. Life was too short to let her nervousness get the best of her.

She quickly ran after him and started running up the steps.

Fisher was about to bend the corner, up another set.

"Fisher," Poppy said stopping on the bottom step.

He looked down at her and sighed. "Why are you following me?" He asked her softly, tilting his head.

"You were right," Poppy frowned in embarrassment. "I'm a hypocrite."

He furrowed his brows at her. Then he folded his arms.

"But I didn't befriend you out of pity."

"Then why did you? Because that seems like your thing and a lot of people seem to pity me these days."

"Well, I see no reason to." Poppy walked up the stairs. She stood in front of Fisher. "I was...scared to talk to you after you helped me out. To be honest, I never really noticed you till then. You were just the hall monitor who took classes with me."

"So...," Fisher tucked his hands in his pockets,"you never thought I was weird?"

"No," Poppy shook her head. "In fact, I just thought that you were one of the good kids that Principal Turner was in love with."

Fisher chuckled. "I helped you last year. What made you talk to me all of sudden?"

Poppy sighed. "Jenna. She thought I should do what I wanted to for once and not let fear get the best of me."

"Why are you afraid of me?"

Poppy looked into Fisher's eyes. "Because you're a nice person. And I'm afraid that I can't compete with that."

"Compete? Poppy-"

"I don't like feeling guilty. I don't like feeling bad. That's why I hang out with Liam and Jenna and try to be as nice to everyone as I can. I felt horrible when I laughed at Jenna because deep down I knew what I was doing was wrong but once Liam joined in I thought it was okay. It wasn't. And I know that now because of you. And I want to be better-"

"Then stop doing things because you care what others think."

Poppy held her breath.

The bell rang.

"I have a class," Fisher was about to walk away.

"We have art class together," Poppy reminded him.

He rolled his eyes a little.

Poppy noticed and her heart broke. "Look," she looked down," it's obvious that you don't like me. So, I won't prevent you from going about your day. I just...really like you and I thought that this would help you see that I want," Poppy lifted her head to see that Fisher was gone,"to change."

Poppy felt her knees go weak. Embarrassed and broken hearted tears stung her eyes. She had a lot of admiration for Fisher and she had liked him for a while. And now that she had finally admitted what she felt, he didn't seem to like her at all. She had never had her heart broken this way before and now she knew what it was like.

Mr. Pearce walked out of his classroom and walked past her, filling up his bottle with water from the water fountain. As he was walking back, he noticed Poppy wiping her cheeks. "Poppy? Are you okay?"

Poppy looked at him. All she could think about was him probably being a predator. Even if he wasn't she had to be cautious. "I'm fine," she blurted out running down the stairs.

She ran past Sadie and Mason. They quickly turned back, Mason filling up with concern.

"What's her problem?" Sadie asked as if she cared.

Mason slowly shrugged, following her up the stairs. He looked back down the stairs with a frown.