Coquelicot (On hold... kind of)

Chapter two - When bumped into

"I don't get why you can't just like it." I whisper to Hunter from the back of the classroom.

She rolls her eyes. "I can't just try to kill myself, you know."

I sigh. "Oh Hunter. You're missing out! Why can't you eat it and just have a stomach ache like Marcus?"

She flinches at the mention of her ex's name. "Shut your mouth." She says, then turns the board, attempting to pay attention.

I sigh again, leaning back in my chair. I should probably pay attention more, but why pay attention when you can whisper to your friends at the back of the room? Kidding. Mrs. Weasel- I mean Mrs. Whistle turns to us, coughing. "Now class. I need you to write a poem that should be at least two stanzas long using a unique word you find in the dictionary." a chorus of groans erupt, mine included.

"Can I use the word dumb?" A kid near the window asks.

She sighs. "No. I said a unique word found in a dictionary, not a word that describes yourself."

The class laughs and the boy lowers into his seat, though he knows she's just joking. She gives us a few minutes to look around for a unique word and I take the opportunity to text Estelle to ask her what she chose. No reply. "Hunterrrr. Hunter." I poke her as she tries to ignore me, flipping the pages of her dictionary. But, knowing her, she probably already has tons of weird words filed into her head. Like 'Trepidation' and 'Consternation' which mean something like fear, if I can remember correctly from the assignment we had last year.

She finally gets tired of my poking. "What do you want?" She huffs.

"What word did you pick?"

"Nunya."

"Nunya who na?" I tilt my head to the side.

"Nunya business." She murmurs, turning back to the thick book in her hands.

I give an exasperated sigh. "Not fair Hunter, not fair. You're always so mean to me." I whine.

"And you're always so annoying."

"Thanks." I mutter. I look to the clock. We only have five minutes left and I really need to find a word now, because if not, I know I'll just end up getting distracted and procrastinate until this assignment is due. I know my A- can't change into a B, or my dad would throw a fit.

I scroll and scroll, skipping weird words. Egg? EGG?? What kind of unique word is egg? I'm pretty sure everyone knows what an egg is by now, even all the vegans, with the "World Record Egg" beating Kylie. Two minutes pass by, and I'm close to giving up when I remember a poem my mother wrote once about poppies, one I have memorized by heart. I decide I'll do a color then, since that would be sort of easy. I'm no Shakespear, after all.

Smaragdine? No that sounds like a weird old town village name. Glaucous? Reminds me of the word gluteus maximus, dunno why. Wenge? Sounds like an insult. Then, I come across a familiar, but unfamiliar word. I have no idea why I recognize it. Coquelicot. This is the one.

Coquelicot ( /ˈkoʊklɪkoʊ/ KOHK-li-koh) a shade of red, similar to one of a poppy flower.

It reads. Hm. Poppy is my middle name.

"Koh-Que-Lih-cot" I mutter to myself, completely disregarding the correct pronunciation printed in front of me. I like it better pronounced this way. Kok-li-koh sounds weird.

I relax back into my chair, happy that I found a word. I almost fall asleep but the bell sounds, signaling second period. Hunter and I walk out together, thought it's obvious that she's super annoyed with me at the moment. I nudge her. "Sorry Hunty." I say.

"Oh please no. Don't ever call me that again." She hisses. Oops. I don't think my apology worked.

"Alright Hunter I'm so deeply concerned that I have bothered you. Please accept my apology." I say with a slight chuckle.

She pushes my shoulder. "I'm so done with you." She groans before turning the corner to her next class. I'm about to head over to mine when I'm met with a wall- Or so that's what they think. My books fall to the ground, papers scattering everywhere.

"Oh no. I'm so sorry."

"Shoot"

We both say.

I don't bother to look up, it's probably one of the "popular" jocks that knock me over for the fun of it. I scramble to pick up my stuff, huffing at the people stepping on my papers. I read over to grab another, when a foot steps on it, leaving a very obvious mark. "Nooo." I furrow my brows as I realize it was my unique word paper. I'm never gonna remember the word, even though I had just seen that paper a few minutes ago- I have bad memory okay.

The person who bumped into me surprisingly leans down to help, taking the word paper and brushing the dirt off. I look up at him, taking in his features. He doesn't seem like someone I've seen, though his eyes remind me of someone. He looks up from the ground and stares back at me, taking me in as well. "Do I know you?" I whisper, trapped in his gaze.

"No." He says, he then reads over the paper, which I'm assuming is my word paper. "Coquelicot?" He says, pronouncing the word with precision.

"Do you know it?" I question.

"It's part of my mother's name." He fumbles with the paper again, picking some more up.

"Oh." I say. "Koh-Que-Lih-cot" I pronounce it my way.

"That's not how you say it." He says, turning back at me.

I stare him straight in the eyes. "I know."

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