Chapter 3
Even though I went to bed early last night, I woke up with a throbbing headache. Mom wouldn't even let me stay home. She told me that missing a day of school because of a headache can result in serious consequences. In my opinion, she was overreacting. I could easily catch up after staying home one day. But she wouldn't listen to a single word I had to say. So, I had to suck it up and go to school.
By the time it was lunch, my headache was a lot worse, especially since I sat behind Belle and her friends in my English class and they spent the whole period blabbing away.
As I was putting my books in my locker, the six people decided to pester me again. I always dealt with it, hoping they would get bored and move on. That was never the case.
"How was detention yesterday?" Devon asked.
I didn't answer. I was not in the mood for them to pester me. Having a headache this bad would probably cause me to snap at them, which would make Belle's story about me 'ruining her life' more believable.
"What's wrong?" Belle asked in a fake sympathetic tone. "Cat got your tongue?"
"I'm just not in the mood to talk," I muttered.
"Why?" Devon asked. "You feeling guilty for ruining Belle's life?"
I wasn't able to contain myself. "I am not ruining her life!" I snapped before I could stop myself. I rubbed my head and sighed, hoping nobody was watching the conversation.
"No wonder nobody likes you," Devon said. "You're so temperamental." His diss resulted in high fives amongst the six of them.
"Just leave," I said, closing my locker.
"Leave?" Belle asked. "You expect me to leave you alone after what you did?!"
"I did nothing!" I repeated for what felt like the hundredth time. "What happened wasn't my fault!" Great, my yelling was causing my headache to get worse. There was no way I was going to be able to concentrate in the rest of my classes.
"I'll believe that once pigs fly," Belle scoffed.
"I don't care what you believe," I said. "I am seriously not in the mood for all of you to pester me. Go bother someone else."
"And what if we don't?" Devon asked, taking a threatening step closer to me.
"You'll regret it," a voice behind me said in a cold tone. I turned to see Grayson. Him always showing up while I was being pestered was a miracle. My headache was still getting worse and having Grayson here to tell Devon off made me feel a lot better. The headache wasn't gone, but I felt relieved.
Devon immediately glared his dagger-like eyes at Grayson. "How many times do I have to tell you to stay out of it?"
Grayson stepped between me and Devon. "I don't know. The same amount of times I have to tell you to leave her alone."
"You're not all that, Grayson," Belle said as if it was an insult.
However, Grayson didn't take it as one. "Thank you, Captain Obvious. I really appreciate the feedback. Now why don't you do me a favor and leave? Or I could beat up your boyfriend. Your choice."
Devon scoffed, though I saw a hint of fear in his eyes. "You really think you could beat me up? I'd like to see you try."
"Is that a challenge?" Grayson asked, taking a step towards his enemy.
"Let's just go," Belle muttered, pulling Devon's arm. She must have thought Grayson would have pummeled Devon.
Devon gave Grayson a sharp glare before the six of them left. Finally. I was free from their stupid and pointless pestering.
"Thanks," I said to Grayson. "It's nice to have someone to have my back."
Grayson shrugged as I rubbed my forehead after receiving a sudden sharp pain. "You okay?" he asked.
"Not really, no," I said honestly. "I have this massive headache, but my mom wouldn't let me stay home. And the stress of school plus Belle and Devon is making it worse."
"Then let's cut class," he said simply.
I raised an eyebrow. "Cut class? I don't know... ."
"I know this quiet café near the beach," he said. "It will help your stress level go down."
"My mom will kill me if she finds out," I told him. Biology is the last class and that was one of the main classes I needed to become a doctor. If she found out I skipped that class, I'd most likely be grounded or dead.
Grayson shrugged. "Then don't let her find out."
"Doesn't the school call if someone misses a class?" I asked.
"Yeah," Grayson said. "But the school doesn't start calling parents until around four, so when you're home, be by the phone and get ready to impersonate your mom."
"I still don't know... "
Grayson sighed. "Stop over thinking things, Flower. I do this all the time and I've only been caught once or twice."
"Alright, fine," I said.
Grayson smiled. "Great. Let's go." He lead me outside of the school and towards his car. I honestly felt a bit nervous skipping school since I had never done it before. What if Mom found out? What if I ran into my parents or Tony? What if...
Grayson snapped his fingers in front of my face, pulling me out of my thoughts. "Flower, stop over thinking."
"I wasn't over thinking," I lied as we got into his car.
"Remember when Mr. Pierce said that you're not the best liar a few days ago?" Grayson asked. I nodded. "He wasn't lying."
Grayson started up his car and pulled out of the school grounds. "I haven't skipped before, so don't blame me for being nervous."
"But if you over think too much, you're headache could get worse," Grayson pointed out.
I sighed and leaned back against the seat, knowing he was right. I decided to just relax, clear my mind, and enjoy the thirty minute drive to the beach.
"Grayson," I said after a few minutes if silence. "Why are you being nice to me?"
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Belle convinced everyone at school to turn against me," I said. "So why not you?"
Grayson shrugged like he usually did. "It might be the fact that Devon is taking Belle's side and I hate agreeing with him. Or maybe because I know something happened between you and Belle and it won't be fair to assume Belle's side of the story is true."
I frowned at the memories suddenly rushing through my head. My headache was starting to worsen at the memories, so I began rubbing my temples in attempt to soothe the pain.
"Is the headache getting worse?" Grayson asked.
"Yeah," I said. Stupid memories... Stupid Belle... Stupid Ben... "The stress of having Belle around is making it horrible. I can't say exactly what happened, but I will say that she blames me for it."
"When did this thing happen?" Grayson asked.
I didn't mind him asking. As long as I didn't have to talk about the specific incident, I was fine. "In July. During summer vacation." I started rubbing my forehead again as the memories came back. "I need these memories gone. I tried everything, even a psychologist. Nothing worked."
Grayson raised an eyebrow. "A psychologist? Wow. What happened must be pretty bad."
"Yeah," I said quietly. "It was."
Nobody said anything after. It took a few more minutes before Grayson parked by a café near the beach. Less than half a dozen cars were parked there, giving me some hope that I'd be able to have some peace and quiet.
Grayson and I walked into the café. I immediately fell in love with the delicious aroma filling the air. It was a mix between freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and brownies as if they were fresh out of the oven. I had to try my best not to drool.
While looking at the menu board behind the cash register, Grayson turned to me. "So Flower. What do you want? My treat."
"You sure?" I asked.
He nodded. "Yeah."
I ordered a chocolate chip cookie -mainly because of the smell- and a latte while Grayson just ordered coffee. Sitting down in the café was definitely helping my headache go down. I knew it wouldn't completely leave, but not having a massive headache put me in a better mood.
Grayson must have noticed because he asked me, "Feeling better?"
I nodded. "A bit. I guess having a break from school was all I needed."
"See?" Grayson said. "I told you."
"Well thanks for taking me away from the school," I said. "I haven't hung out with a friend since Belle turned everyone against me."
"So you two were friends?" Grayson asked.
I nodded. "Yeah. Best friends. Almost sisters. We had been since kindergarten. But now, she hates me... ."
"If you want, I can beat up Devon for you," Grayson said.
I furrowed my eyebrows. "We were talking about Belle..."
"I know that," Grayson said. "But I don't hit girls and since Devon is her boyfriend and a complete ass, it's the next best thing."
"Yeah, I doubt that would fix everything," I said. "Besides, nobody knows exactly what happened. Not even Devon. He just thinks I did something wrong because his stupid girlfriend said I did."
Grayson shrugged. "Suit yourself. I'd probably beat him up sooner or later anyway."
The bell above the door dinged, signaling someone walking in. I just thought it was a normal customer. I was so wrong.
"Poppy?"
Chapter 4 "Poppy?" Oh, I was in so much trouble. Tony just had to be in the exact same café I was in when I was supposed to be in school. Out of all the cafés in Florida... "Hey, Tony," I said nervously as he walked over to the table Grayson and I were sitting out. "What are you doing here?" "I could ask you the same thing," Tony said. "Aren't you supposed to be in school?" I sighed. "Yeah, but Mom wouldn't let me stay home when I have this awful headache and Belle was tormenting me again and I was just feeling really stressed." "So you decided to skip school?" Tony asked. "Sorry," I muttered. "Why are you apologizing?" Tony asked. "I skipped school a few times when I wasn't feeling well. Besides, I know how stressful Belle can be with the situation." I nodded, agreeing completely. Belle was a painful person to deal with ever since the incident happened. "You won't tell Mom or Dad, will you?" Tony shook his head. "I'll do you one more and call the school
Chapter 5 Apparently, my severe headache was because I was getting the flu. After Grayson dropped me off at home, I started feeling really sick just minutes afterwards. That stayed that way even the next morning. "Poppy, you need to get up!" Mom said as she stood by the door. I groaned dramatically, feeling really horrible. "Just leave me to die!" Mom sighed. "Poppy, you're not dying. You need to get to school." "But Mom!" I whined. "I don't feel good!" "You're perfectly able to go to school," Mom said. "If you don't get up now, you're going to be in serious trouble." I wished Dad never left for work yet because he definitely wouldn't have let me go to school when I was feeling like crap. I hadn't missed a single day of school before, besides yesterday when I skipped, because Mom believed that unless I was in the hospital, I should be in school if I ever wanted an education. I tried telling her that one day every now and then wouldn't affect my mark. Seeing as
Chapter 6 Mom must have cancelled her meeting with her clients because when Grayson dropped me off, her car was parked in the driveway. I was still feeling very sick and hearing her yell at me was not going to make it better. "Thanks for the ride," I said to Grayson as I got out of the car. "No problem," Grayson said. "I'll see you tomorrow, Flower." He drove off as I walked in my house, preparing myself for Mom's yelling. She was waiting for me at the front door. "I can't believe you skipped school, Poppy!" she said in a loud tone. "You need to be there every day if you want to be a doctor!" But I don't, I thought. "I'm sorry, Mom. I really wasn't feeling good. Even if I went, it would have felt like I wasn't there because I wouldn't have been able to concentrate." Mom shook her head. "I don't want to hear your excuse, Poppy. I am very disappointed that you skipped school, even more so since you were with Grayson. Didn't I tell you he's a troublemaker?" "All the
Chapter 7"What are you wearing?" Mom asked as I came down the stairs. I came home from school about an hour ago and immediately got changed into a very comfortable outfit; baggy sweats and a loose fitting t-shirt. My hair was in a messy bun.I looked down at my outfit with furrowed eyebrows. "Why? What's wrong with it?""You look like you just got out of bed," Mom told me. "Need I remind you that we are having guests over today?"I nodded. "Yes, I know. But I don't think they'll care what I wear. I mean, I am friends with one of them."Mom sighed. She was always so high maintenance, always wanting to have her family look their best. I didn't understand why we had to dress nicely for Grayson's family."Poppy," Mom began, but she got cut off when someone knocked on the front door. Good thing too, because I was not going to get changed.Mom opened the front door, welcoming them into our home yet again. Grayson entered the house before Graeme, thankfully, and walked over to me. "Hey, Flo
Chapter 8 As soon as my Biology teacher, Mr. Franklin -who was also the vice principal- told us we'd be going to the biology lab, I knew we were going to dissect something. Fantastic. Grayson was in my biology class so I could actually pair up with someone to dissect whatever we were going to. Normally, I went by myself since everyone hated me and I didn't talk to Grayson then, and it was horrible. I had to do everything by myself and I nearly vomited a few times. While our class was walking to the biology lab, Grayson and I walked beside each other. "About what you said to me yesterday," I said. "Is it true?" Grayson sighed. "Yeah. I heard him talking to his friend on the phone about it before we got to your house. He said something along the lines of 'Grayson has a new friend. I'm going to try to get her parents approval.'" He sighed. "Sometimes I think he dates my friends just to bug me." "That's horrible," I said. "But there's a four year difference between me and G
Chapter 9 School was unbelievably boring for me. Not only was my only friend suspended for a week, but Mr. Franklin decided to give me detention for the incident yesterday because he felt as if being kicked out of class wasn't punishment enough. So here I was, in detention with most of the football team and cheerleaders. I had no idea what they did to get detention, but I did not want to know. "Looks like we have a full house here," Mr. Pierce said as he was, once again, the teacher in charge of detention. "There hasn't been one of these for a while. Just in case some of you don't know, the rules to detention are simple. No talking and no texting. If I catch any of you doing either, you will be here tomorrow. Understood?" Everyone nodded. "Good." I had nothing to do in detention. I finished all my work in class and I had no upcoming tests. I was even more bored because of it. I was sitting at the back of the class so I could easily see Devon glare at me. I didn't glare
Chapter 10 A week later, I knew something was going on with Devon, Belle, and their friends. Grayson was back at school and they seemed to be everywhere Grayson was. At lunch, wherever Grayson and I ate, they were there too. After school, Grayson offered to give me a ride home. Since I was ungrounded, I had my cell phone back and I was able to call Mom to let her know. Usually, I had to use the phone in the office which took forever because there was always a huge line up. I hadn't seen Ben since the time at the beach, thankfully. I was also so worried about seeing him again. "Grayson," I said as he drove out of the parking lot. "Do you notice something weird going on with Devon and Belle?" "Kind of," Grayson said. "It is my first day back after my suspension so I have no idea if they were acting like that when I was gone." "Trust me, they weren't," I said. "It's kind of creeping me out." Grayson looked in his review mirror. "Speaking of creeping..." I turned a
Chapter 11Grayson After dropping Poppy at her house, I drove straight to mine. I was not in the mood to do anything after what happened. Poppy found out about what happened two years ago and I did not want her knowing quite yet. Then there was what she told me. She was assaulted by Belle's brother and was blamed for it. I swear, if I ever see that Ben's face again, I was going to personally send him to the hospital. "Grayson, there you are," Dad said when I walked inside. "Your sister called. She doesn't know your cell number and she wants to talk to you." I nodded as I went upstairs to my room for some privacy. Honestly, I loved talking to my sister, Gale. She was twenty-two and was in university. She was always there to support me, especially since Dad always looked down at me. I dialed Gale's number and held my cell phone up to my ear. "Hello?" she answered shortly after. "Gale, hi," I said. Gale squealed. "Grayson! I haven't talked to you in so long! So, how'