Page 39 of Finding Her
She rolled her eyes and groaned. “Okay, and I think that’s enough meet and greet for today!
“No!” Ivy said quickly. “I mean, Bear, why don’t you sit down and join us?” She asked, indicating the fourth chair at the table.
“Oh, I, um…” I awkwardly tried to reject it, but luckily Poppy jumped in before I had to and said, “No, he’s here with the group. We should let him get back to them.”
“Right.” Ivy squeezed her eyes shut in embarrassment. “Of course, right? That’s why people are at restaurants.”
Zach threw an arm around her shoulder and pulled her into his side, and kissed her on the cheek, like he was trying to reassure her. In some strange way, the movement reminded me a lot of something I would do with Poppy.
“I’ll let you get back,” Poppy said. “Or I can walk you to your table if you?—”
“No,” I said quickly. “I mean, that’s okay. You don’t need to walk all the way back.” Silently, I added,Because I do not want to subject you to the wrath of my father.
Poppy squeezed my hand once more before letting go. “Okay. I’ll see you at school. Oh and Bear? Good job today.”
I was running on a high the whole way back to my table.Good job today—she’d been at the game. And even though I couldn’t prove it, I liked to think she’d been there to watch me.
“Who was that?” Dad asked as I sat back down. “The girl you were standing with?”
He didn’t sound totally angry yet, but he definitely didn’t sound pleased, and I knew that would only get worse if I told him the truth about Poppy. So I just forced a neutral frown and said, “Nobody.”
He raised his eyebrows. “You were with her for quite a while if she’s just a nobody.”
“She’s a girl from school. She’s a little obsessed with hockey, so she wanted to show me off to her friends. Thinks I’m a big star.”
All the other boys at the table carefully avoided looking up, but Claire had a Cheshire Cat grin on her face.
Dad just grinned and said, “Because you are!”
I tried to smile back, but my stomach twisted, because there was no way in the universe that I would ever think of Poppy as being a nobody.
CHAPTER 26
poppy
“I don’t needto bring five pillows, Lilah,” I said, grabbing two of the pillows from my bag and chucking them back onto her bed. “One will be more than enough.”
“You’ll be sleeping on the ground, Poppy!” she exclaimed, her eyes wide like I was heading into some survivalist nightmare. “Youneedpillows.”
“I don’t even sleep with five pillows on my mattress,” I shot back. “I’ll be fine.”
Lilah was acting like this was my first camping trip—or like we hadn’t all done this exact same school trip before. I knew the drill. Sure, it wasn’t glamorous, but I wasn’t about to lug half of Bed Bath & Beyond into the woods for two days.
“I think you should bring some cute clothes,” Saylor chimed in from where she stood at my closet, rifling through my wardrobe like a personal stylist. She pulled out a few shirts that were decidedly not appropriate for a school-sanctioned camping trip and waggled her eyebrows. “You know, since you’ll be alone out there with Bear.”
“No,” I said flatly, pointing to the pile in her arms. “Put them back. Find something better.”
“Oooh, what’s going on in here?” Rachel, a girl from down the hall, poked her head in through my open door.
I’d left the door propped open because it was boiling hot in the dorms, and we needed some kind of cross breeze. But, of course, that meant everyone felt free to wander in and get all up in my business. Normally, I didn’t mind. I liked chatting with people as they passed by. But today? I wasthis closeto slamming the door shut.
“Oh, just packing,” I said with a groan, rubbing my temples. “Don’t mind the disaster zone.”
Rachel stepped all the way inside, crossing her arms as she surveyed my half-packed duffel bag. “Camping trip?”
I blinked, surprised she could tell from the mess of stuff Lilah had insisted I “absolutely needed.” Then again, the flashlight and sleeping bag at the top were kind of a dead giveaway.
When I nodded, Rachel squealed. “Oh my gosh! This is the perfect time for you to win over Levi!”
