Death of the Perfect Girl

46- The Guy Crush

Charlie sat in the Poetry club staring at Poppy and Fisher. They sat two rows in front of him. Poppy kept looking at Fisher and blushing and he would smile back but when she turned away, his smile would fade to a frown. He was hiding something. That wasn't good for Poppy.

Poppy never paid attention to Charlie, but he knew her well. Mason would often talk about her, telling him every little detail that she had told him in confidence. He knew she was unhappy. And he related.

The guilt of what his brother had done had pushed him to pay more attention to her.

Their teacher sat down after writing on the board. "As you guys may remember," she smiled at them," I've told you that there will be a project that will earn you credit for participation, since many of you have only joined this club to have it on your report card. Looking at you Charlie."

Everyone looked at him and laughed. He shook his head and smiled.

"I've decided that we will be doing it in a week. So, I will be assigning partners today." She stood with a hat in her hand. "There are sixteen students in this club. I have eight names in this hat. The names in this hat are from the third and last row. Those in the first two rows will pass it down and pick a name. After you've seen the name of the person you're working with, you should find them and choose a topic for the poem you're working on." She handed a student the hat.

The hat passed down the row, then it got to the second row. Poppy took a name out of the hat, then she handed it to Fisher.

He picked a paper and quickly opened it, not too fond of team work. He furrowed his brows. "Charlie?"

Poppy looked at his paper. "That's Mason's step brother."

"The guy that looks like a school shooter?"

"No. Come on. That's stereotypical. He's just... goth."

"Exactly...," Fisher turned to the back row. His eyes met Charlie's.

Charlie furrowed his brows. Then he sighed when he caught on. He was Fisher's partner.

Fisher looked at Poppy. "I hope you're okay with your partner."

Poppy smiled and nodded. "She's quiet. She won't tease me."

"Well, I wish you luck. I know I'll probably need it."

"He's not as bad as you think. Trust me," Poppy stood up.

Fisher looked at Charlie again. He gave him a slight smile.

Charlie looked away.

Fisher sighed then he stood and walked over to him with his notebook in his hand. "You're my partner."

"I think I figured that out by how much you've been staring at me," Charlie smirked at him.

Fisher smirked back.

The girl beside Charlie stood with her partner and Fisher sat in her seat.

"So...," Fisher opened his notebook," I guess we're working together."

Charlie furrowed his brows. "Not good at small talk?"

Fisher shook his head. "Nope."

"Me either. So, I'm just gonna say what's on my mind right now. Okay?"

Fisher squinted at him, then he chuckled. "I'm guessing it has nothing to do with our poem."

"You guessed right. Congrats. What's up with you and Poppy?"

Fisher sat straight. "What do you mean? We're dating-"

"Are you going to break up with her or-"