Page 6 of Finding Her
“Isn’t it obvious, Poppy?” Lilah asked with a sigh. I just stared at her, waiting for her to elaborate. “He’s never dated anybody ever. Which means whoever the first girl he dates has got to be perfect.”
“And?”
She stared at me. “And... I think it should be you.”
CHAPTER 6
poppy
She’s crazy.My roommate is crazy.
It was the only thought I had for the whole walk to my next class.
Because nobody in their right mind would hear that I was in a class with a popular guy and immediately thinkyou should be the first girl that he ever asks out on a date.
She was ridiculous. Out of her mind. Crazy. The boy and I had only met once, and in that interaction, he’d managed to almost break my nose—not exactly a good start to a relationship.
I was so caught up in my thoughts as I walked into my science class that I almost didn’t notice that the very person I’d wanted to see all day was sitting in the back corner of the room. Though her head was tucked down as she doodled in a notebook, I’d recognize her high ponytail and backpack covered in pins anywhere.
I immediately veered towards her and poked her on the side as I sat down in the free spot. Her head jerked up and she scowled, probably ready to yell at whoever had bothered her, until she realized it was me. Then her face brightened immediately.
See, that was the thing about Saylor. She might have put on a mean face, but she was actually really sweet once you got to know her. She just didn’t like to let everybody into her world.
“Poppy!” She threw one arm around me in a hug. “I didn’t know you were in this class.”
“I didn’t knowyouwere in this class,” I shot back. I pulled my schedule out of my binder and put it on the lab table. She pulled hers out of her bag as well, and we looked over them to see if we had any other classes together. Just one, last period English. It was a far cry from last year when we’d had all the same classes, but I would take anything I could get.
“I already feel like I have so much to tell you,” I said, as I pulled out my notebook and pen. She must have gotten to class early, because all of her stuff was already out and she was busy drawing in the margins of the first page of her notebook.
“Me too,” Saylor sighed. “I can’t believe we haven’t managed to see each other until today.”
We’d both been so busy with moving in that we kept missing each other in the days before classes started. It made me feel worse about not being her roommate this year, even if it hadn’t been my doing. We’d both just assumed we’d continue to be roommates since we’d requested no change, so the news that I was living with Lilah had come as a big shock. The one upside, I supposed, was that she was supposed to have a new girl as a roommate but she’d decided not to come to Hartwell at the last second, so now Saylor had a two-person dorm to herself. She’d offered to let me switch rooms so we could be together after all, but even though I loved living with her, I also didn’t want to offend Lilah. She may have been a little crazy, but she wasn’t wrong that we’d be in each other’s lives from now on.
My phone on the table lit up with a text from Lilah, and a quick glance at it told me that it was her texting me about thisLeviboy again. The name seemed all wrong for him, eventhough I couldn’t really place why. I could have sworn nobody had called him that in the gym class, but then again, I hadn’t been listening all that carefully.
I turned to Saylor. “Do you know who Levi Barrett is?”
She hummed like she was thinking it over and said, “Isn’t that one of the hockey boys?”
I nodded, pretty sure that was what Lilah had said when she was listing off his attributes. Though, it made me question even more why he was in the gym class. If he really was on the hockey team, couldn’t that count as a gym credit if needed?
“Do you know anything about him? He’s in one of my classes and…” I trailed off, not sure how to finish that sentence.And my roommate is obsessed with him? My roommate thinks we’re destined to fall in love?
Saylor pressed her lips together and shook her head. “Sorry, I don’t.”
I couldn’t say I was surprised. If anything, it was more surprising that she knew he was on the hockey team. She tended to keep to herself and didn’t care much about any sport other than horseback riding. In fact, from what I’d seen, she actively disliked hockey. So if she, of all people, recognized him, then he probably had to be really popular enough to get into her small bubble.
Our teacher chose that moment to come in and start his spiel about lab safety. I’d heard the same speech a dozen times before, so I tuned him out, tapping my fingers against my textbook. I wondered what Levi was up to right now, then wondered why I even cared. I guess I just felt a little guilty about leaving in the dust at the nurse’s office like I had, but I hadn’t wanted him to feel like he had to come in with me or anything. And when I’d come back out a couple minutes later, he was already gone, so clearly he’d rushed off immediately.
I thought of Lilah’s words again.I think it should be you. If any of what happened between Levi and I was supposed to be a great love story, then I didn’t want love at all.
By the time I arrived at my gym class the next day, I was starting to feel a little guilty about ditching Levi at the nurse’s office. I was sure he didn’t really want to hang around and wait for me, but I also could have at least said thank you for walking me. Sure, he had hit me in the face with a dodgeball, but he’d apologized and said it wasn’t his intention to hit me. He’d been perfectly polite and I’d been rude in return.
So when I walked into the gym and saw him standing alone by the wall, I decided I would give us another shot at a good first impression. I walked up to him, ignoring how he looked like he wanted to fade right into the wall, and said, “Hi! I’m Poppy.”
I wasn’t really expecting him to jump for joy or anything, but I figured he would at least introduce himself or ask if I was okay after yesterday’s incident. Instead, he just stared at me, a small frown on his face, like he couldn’t believe I was talking to him. Did he not recognize me? It had only been a day and I didn’t think my face wasthatforgettable. No, he had to remember me—and he was just choosing to ignore me for some reason.
Good thing I didn’t give up easily.
