Page 36 of Five Summers

Startled, I jump, causing the kernels to scatter all over me and onto the floor. Through the window, I spot his insanely handsome face bursting into fits of laughter.

“Fucking asshole,” I mumble, getting up from the couch. I head over to the window.

“I’m sorry,” he yells out, bursting into laughter again. “But you should have seen that. It was fucking hilarious.”

Once I'm there, I pull down the blind, blocking his view.

“Come on, Poppy. Open the fucking door,” he says, banging on the window.

As he keeps knocking, I go around the room and pull down the blinds of the other windows, so he can't see inside.

“I’m sorry, Princess. I didn't mean to freak you out. Please open the door. I have something important to share.” He knocks once more.

“Xander, just go home,” I call out from behind the blinds of the window he’s tapping on. “I’m not in the mood to talk to you.”

There's a brief pause before he yells out.

“Why not?”

I don't wanna see you, that's why.

“Is it because of what happened last night?”

“Just go home Xander, I’m not in the mood.”

He knocks again, urging me to answer. “Poppy, come on. Open the door. We can talk about it. You know you want to.”

“Just go away, Xander,” I mutter as I retreat to the lounge. I bend down and pick up all the popcorn on the floor, then tidy up the couch, throwing the spilled popcorn back into the now empty bowl.

Once I’ve cleaned up, I notice the knocking on the window has stopped.

I move over to the kitchen and throw the popcorn into the trash. Once I turn off the TV, I head to my bedroom. Entertaining myself, I play the keyboard before deciding to call it a night.

School the next day is the absolute worst. From the second I walked through the gate, Jade and Savannah were all over me, tormenting me about my weight. And on top of everything, my blue pen leaked. No need to stress, you say. But it leaked everywhere, and it was a mess. I had to use the bathroom to wash my hands and when I saw myself in the mirror, I almost passed out. My lips were freaking blue. It looked like I had just sucked Papa Smurf off.

While I'm desperately trying to remove the blue ink from my lips, the bell rings stating it's time for class. Feeling a little bummed, I reluctantly give up on trying to make it look better. This will have to do. I scrubbed so much that my lips are now swollen, making them look even bigger. Big blue lips. What the hell am I gonna do now?

When I finally make it to the classroom, I inwardly groan because I'm the last one to show up. All I fucking need is some attention when I'm trying to keep things low-key.

I drop my head and make a beeline for my usual seat, hoping to fly under the radar.

When I pass by Jade, she looks up and catches sight of me. Her eyes widen with delight, and her laughter fills the air, like a signal to let everyone else in on it. “Holy shit, what happened to you, fatty?”

Glancing up, I take in the sea of faces, their mocking laughter filling the air. As I look around the room, my gaze settles on Xander, who sits at the back of the room. Amongst the laughter of others, his face remains devoid of amusement, focused solely on me.

I ignore him and the people staring, and head to my seat. Savannah spins around in her seat to give me a quick look.

“Wow, you're even more uglier than before,” she smirks, reveling in her comment, her eyes seeking validation from the room.

“Well, I'm pretty sure you could wipe away ninety percent of your face with a Kleenex,” I add, maintaining eye contact with her while casually placing my bag on the floor next to my desk.

My response totally works because she gets up, slams her hands on my desk, and leans in to intimidate me.

“Sit down, Savannah,” the teacher yells from the front of the room.

She lets out a breath of frustration, flips her hair, and locks eyes with me as she sits back in her chair.

Just as we're in the middle of our staring battle, my phone pings. I wonder what the hell my mom wants now, since she's the only one who has my number. But I refuse to look away from Savannah, gotta stay strong and show the bully they didn't win.

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