“It’s good to see you, Poppy. Breakfast is on the house.”
“Oh, no, no, we can’t.”
“You can, and you’ll enjoy it,” he says with a wink and a laugh. “Brave girl like you deserves nothing less.”
That is all he, or anyone else, says throughout our entire visit.
It’s almost... normal.
“So...” Harley announces, although not loudly enough for anyone else to hear. “She’s banging Zayn.”
Ruby’s chin drops but a smile tugs at her lips. “I know.”
Harley turns her narrowed stare on our best friend. “You know,” she seethes. “You knew and you didn’t tell me?”
“Not my story to tell, Har.” Ruby looks at me and winks.
“But... but…. Ugh, I still can’t believe it.”
“You should, you walked in on the evidence,” I deadpan.
“You did not?” Ruby screeches, earning a few curious looks from the other diners around us.
Harley drops her head into her hands. “I did,” she mutters. “And I’m afraid I’m never going to unsee it.”
“At least Zayn’s got a banging body. It could have been worse, it could have been your parents,” Ruby helpfully points out.
Harley’s head pops up, her eyes wide. “Well, yeah, that would have been a shock seeing as they can’t stand to be in the same room as each other these days. Speaking of...” She turns her eyes to me. “You coming for your first visit to the Creek?”
“Uh...”
“Don’t tell me you don’t know it’s Zayn’s eighteenth.”
“Of course I know,” I argue. It’s been three years since he turned my world upside down in that damn closet, I’ve never forgotten the date. “It had just slipped my mind with everything.”
Harley’s face drops slightly but thankfully she doesn’t say anything.
“Okay, so we need to go and see Dad before the party so you can come, yeah? I know he’ll want to meet you.”
“Uh...”
“You’re coming,” she states as Bill brings over three giant plates of breakfast for us.
I can see the questions on the very tip of Ruby’s tongue, the entire time we sit there, but she doesn’t ask. I assume she knows most of what happened yesterday through Harley anyway. Instead, we just hang out, talk about school and all the gossip, that doesn’t involve me, that I’ve missed while we stuff our faces with Bill’s epic breakfast.
“So are you coming back tomorrow?” Ruby asks when we walk out of the diner and come to a stop at the railing to look out over to the ocean beyond.
My stomach knots at the thought of walking back down those hallways where the ghost used to be who haunted me.
Memories from yesterday, the feeling of him letting go and knowing that while Jake and Zayn were pulling me to safety that he was falling to his death threaten to consume me, but I manage to swallow it down and push the image aside.
“Uh... I don’t know. I need to talk to Jada, see what she’s organized.”
“Well, I hope you’re back,” she says, pulling me into a hug. “It’s not the same without you.”
Zayn’s car isn’t in the driveway when we get back.
“Looks like I get you to myself for a little while.”
“Is this really weird for you?” I ask as we walk to the house.
“It’s not normal.”
“Nothing is normal anymore, Har.”
“I’m just worried I’m going to lose you,” she says, coming to a stop at the front door.
“Har, I live in your house. You’re not going to lose me.”
“But you’re going to spend all your time with him.”
“I’m not, I promise. You’re still my best friend, Har-Har. Your brother is not going to change that.”
I pull her in for a hug and hold her tight.
“If he so much as hurts a hair on your head then I’ll kill him. You know that, right?”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
Eventually, we pull apart, both a little emotional, and step inside.
“Girls, how was breakfast?” Jada asks.
“Amazing. Just what the doctor ordered,” Harley says, bouncing into the room.
“Poppy, can we talk?” Jada asks, flicking her eyes over to her daughter. “It’s okay. Harley can stay.”
“O-okay.” I take a seat beside Jada while Harley makes us all coffee.
“I’ve spoken to Principal Hartmann, he’s happy for you to return whenever you’re ready.” I nod. The concern in her eyes is telling me that she wants to say more about me returning to school. “I’ve also lined up some appointments for you.”
“Appointments?” I ask, narrowing my eyes. I swear, if she starts talking about birth control, I’m going to want the ground to swallow me up.
Thankfully, I think, she goes down a different route.
“I’ve managed to squeeze you in with the best counselor I know.”
“A counselor?”
“Yeah. I know you think everything is okay, but Poppy, you’ve just been through something huge. You can put on a brave face all you want, sweetheart, but I’m afraid that you’re not dealing with everything that’s happened.”
I open my mouth to argue, but I soon realize that I don’t really have one because she’s right.
“Also, I think it’s time we had a conversation about my son, don’t you?”
“And that’s my cue to leave,” Harley announces, leaving me with her mother to have the most awkward conversation of my life.
37
Zayn
Poppy’s body trembles in my hold. We all tried to tell her that she didn’t need to do this yet, but she was adamant she wanted life to go back to normal—whatever normal is now—as soon as possible.
After a week of sitting at home and attending the counseling sessions that Mom organized for her, she was determined that this was happening.
Mom, Harley, and I are worried, but we could hardly lock her up in the house and refuse to let her out today. We’ve just got to trust that she knows what she’s doing and that she’s ready for this.
“It’s not too late to change your mind,” I say as we walk toward the benches where the team and the squad are gathered.
She turns to look up at me and despite the fear, I can feel it racing through her, her face is full of determination.
“No, I’m doing this. I’m not sitting at home wondering what they’re all saying about me any longer. I’m facing it head-on.”
I smile down at her, my chest aching with everything I feel for her. She’s so strong. What she’s been through over the past few weeks would break a weaker person, but she’s standing tall with her head held high.
As we get closer, both Harley and Ruby smile over at us. Harley wanted to bring Poppy to school like they used to, but I point-blank refused, much to her irritation.
One by one, everyone starts to notice our approach. Shock covers most of their faces. Poppy was probably the last person they were expecting to see back at school today, let alone pressed against my side like she is.