Page 33 of Finding Her
bear
After failingto get Poppy to hate me on the one-mile run, I decided that I needed to up my game to make her complain about me before the camping trip. At this point, I was even worried about getting out of gym class altogether. Sure, it was awful to be here, but I was managing. I thought the girls and I were beginning to have a good understanding between us, in that I wouldn’t bother them if they didn’t bother me. And I did need the credit, after all. But going out into the wilderness with the likes of Poppy and Mia? That would probably do me in.
So, on Monday morning, I was ready. I was determined.
And then Poppy walked in wearingthoseshorts and I suddenly forgot my own name.
She walked in with her head high and her hands on her hips, ignoring the way that everyone turned to stare at her as she walked by them. Half of me wanted to yell at them to all stop looking. The other half of me couldn’t stop staring at her myself.
Not that I cared what she was doing. It was just hard not to notice when she strolled in like she owned the place, wearing shorts that could barely be considered more than underwear.
“Morning, partner!” She said as she came up to me. I blinked at her. I considered replying until I realized I wasn’t even sureshe’d asked me a question to answer. Had she asked how I was? To be safe, I just grunted back. That was more normal for me, anyway.
When Mrs. Dixon announced that we be playing badminton today and said for one partner to come get the supplies, Poppy immediately went skipping off, unfortunately giving me the perfect view of the back of her shorts, which was impossible not to stare at—who bedazzled the back of their shorts anyway? And if they had to, why would they bedazzlecutie?
I watched as she chatted with Mrs. Dixon as she grabbed two rackets and a birdie for us. I was sure that Mrs. Dixon was asking her to change. There was no way those shorts were dress code compliant, right? And she could so easily send her back up to the dorms to get a new pair of shorts to wear.
But she didn’t. Poppy came back and we started playing badminton, without a word from Mrs. Dixon about finding new clothes. Though, after the fifth time that I hit myself in the face with my badminton racket, she seemed to take sympathy on us as she called me and Poppy over—and I walked straight into the net instead of ducking under it.
Yeah, it was probably best for everyone’s safety that I wasn’t in the gym in this state.
“I need some supplies from the other athletic building,” Mrs. Dixon told us as we walked over. “Would you two mind getting them? You probably know the way around that building better than anyone else here, Bear.”
Anything to get out of this class.
I immediately took the key and the list she was holding out to me, but then glanced at Poppy. It wouldn’t be any better walking around with than watching her in here.
“I don’t mind going by myself,” I said. “So Poppy doesn’t have to miss class too.”
“There’s plenty to carry, so it will be easier if you both go. Besides, Poppy won’t have anyone to play badminton with if you’re gone.”
“But—“
“Go on,” she said. “You need to hurry if you’ll be back before the end of the period.”
We were only fifteen minutes into the class, so I really didn’t see that being a problem, but as a birdie hit me in the head and I heard Mia loudly yell “Whoops!” I decided it would be best for me to get out of there.
I turned on my heel and walked out, leaving Poppy to catch up with me. I figured as long as I was a step ahead of her, that at least I couldn’t just be staring at her legs the whole time. Poppy bounced alongside me as we walked out of the gym and into the cool autumn air.
“Aren’t you cold in those shorts?” I asked, even though it was only thirty seconds to the other building, where it would be warm inside as well. “I really don’t mind going by myself if?—”
“I’m not cold,” Poppy said. She pressed up beside me, tucking her chin by my arm. “What’s on the list?”
“Nothing interesting,” I muttered. I held the paper toward her so she could see it without clinging onto my arm, though strangely, I didn’t mind when she didn’t let go. Whenever Claire tried to grab me like this, I usually wanted to wrestle her off immediately.
“Looks like volleyball is our next unit based on this,” she said. I held open the door to the building so she could walk inside and she sighed in relief as she stepped into the warm air. I knew she’d been cold. “That means it will probably be a short volleyball unit, thank goodness. I suck at it.”
“How do you know it’ll be short?” I asked. Since Poppy didn’t know her way around this building as well as I did—since it wasthe one with the ice rink in it—I started leading the way down the hall where I knew the supply closets were.
“Because of the camping trip, of course. We leave next week and then we’ll start a new unit when we get back.” Her voice took on a teasing tone as she asked, “What, did you already forget about it?”
Of course I hadn’t forgotten about it. It was all that had been on my mind for over a week now. But it was coming up a lot sooner than I thought it would. I guess I’d assumed that once we were almost at the end of September, like we were, that I’d already be out of this class or close to it. I hated to admit that we were almost twenty-percent of the way through the semester and I was no closer to getting out of here than I had been on the first day.
Just as we reached the end of the hall where we’d have to turn, I heard a voice echoing from the spot where we were headed, and I frowned. There was no reason anyone should have been down this way right now. What were the chances that other students happened to be sent to get gym class supplies at the exact same time as us?
The voice was high-pitched and coming closer to us. Poppy and I both came to a stop just before the turn and shared a glance. I guess she didn’t want to have a run-in with somebody, either.
The voice was becoming clearer now, which meant she had to be getting close, and my entire body tensed. I couldn’t make out what she was saying, but I knew that voice anywhere. And if she saw me and Poppy together, there was no way this wouldn’t turn lethal. Acting on instinct, I grabbed Poppy’s arm and pulled her into a nearby closet, closing the door as quickly but softly as I could behind us.
