Chapter 8

Benjamin

 I woke up to my alarm and I groaned. I hated Mondays. Mondays shouldn't exist. But the first thought that I had was about her. After a whole week of talking to Poppy she wouldn't talk about herself, where she came from, why she moved, nothing. 

 And god, that made me want to know her! I like her. The first girl I've actually liked since Angel and she just thought of me as a friend. 

 Argh! I don't have time for this, I have to decide what book I was going to read today... and then I saw my homework sitting on my desk. 

 Incomplete. 

 S**t, I had been so caught up on thinking of Poppy that I forgot to do my homework. No one has ever made me do that. I was writing furiously something about Napoleon for history and my dad actually looked up from his newspaper to look at me. I don't blame him. I've never had this happen before. 

 Dad is an biologist who works in the community doing weird stuff that's complicated to explain. We don't talk much since Mom died. She was killed in car crash and we don't like to talk about it. 

 Without a word, I got in my car and left for school. 

 Like last week, I saw Poppy walking along the road towards school. I slowed down and unlocked the door for her to get in. Just like all of last week, she got in. She was smiling, her pretty lips curving upwards... jeeze, Benjamin, can you be a little more lovesick?

 "What has you so happy this morning?" I asked. 

 She turned her dazzling smile on me and I had to blink and remind myself that she was real. "I have fixed a part of my house." She said excitedly. "I thought it to be damaged beyond repair, but it is now fixed."

 Her smug smile had me chuckling. As we were going down the road, I turned the radio on to fill the silence. I nodded my head and tapped my fingers to the beat. I could feel her stare at me and then she looked at the stereo in curiosity. She was always like that. It was as if she had lived under a rock and didn't know anything about human life. But she was just a sheltered girl.

 I pulled up at the school and we both got out. As we were walking towards the building, I gathered up my courage. "Where do our live anyways? Maybe I could drive you home."

 I could feel her tense up beside me and I cursed to myself. Danm, why was she so cautious about herself? Why wouldn't she tell me these simple things?

 "My house... is in the woods." She said slowly, trying to find her words. "It would be difficult for you to locate it, so you don't need to take me home. I enjoy the walk back. It's surprisingly relaxing."

 I couldn't help it. I looked at her funny. She was just so... unworldly. I liked the way she spoke, different from others. I really needed to stop thinking that I have a chance with her. She made it clear the first time that we were just friends. 

 When I opened my mouth to comment, I slammed into a wall of a person. I stumbled, which made Poppy stumble, which made us both fall to parking lot asphalt. I looked up and holy hell, it seemed like Bruce was back at school.

 I scrambled to get up as he turned to glare at me and Poppy just slowly stood up. I saw her frowning and staring at her hands and I realized she had scraped them when we had fallen. 

 "Got a problem with me, nerd?" He said in a deep voice.

 Oh s**t.