Poppy Rose Sencen was your average 16 year old, her life seemed to be going ever so perfect that is until he left. Fast forward to 2 years later and Poppy's life right now is a mess. All her hope in life is gone.
Rhysand Jax Connor wasn't thinking s...
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-Present-
I watched as she walked out of the class to her next class with a scowl. As much as I wanted to pull her into a hug for everything I had done and for not being able to help her. I stopped myself knowing she hates me now.
But the scowl on her face was lowkey cute. I smiled at her and walked out the class smiling. That is until I remembered what that guy was doing to her. It disgusted me to see her being talked to like that and no one doing anything about it.
As I headed to my next class with Rowan since he was going to the class next to mine. I asked him who he was. Rowan's face turned into one of hatred and disgust as he explained it to me. "He's her ex, the toxic one I was talking about. He wouldn't let her hangout with any of us, constantly tried changing her and was toxic to her. Eventually, we all found out he's been cheating on her and she ended their relationship. Now he's been tormenting her to take him back by slut-shaming her, spreading rumours about her and so on. She acts like it doesn't affect her but it does."
My face scrunched up in anger. She doesn't deserve to be treated like that, not after the fact that most of the people in her life are toxic to her. It's depressing that she went through so much. I wasn't even there for it all. It broke my heart as Rowan said that she'd cry herself to sleep multiple times and come to school looking in an equally bad state. "She pushed everyone away. Even Aria at a point " he continued before bidding me goodbye as he walked into his class and I walked into mine.
Eventually class started and I had to pay attention since it was AP physics, my favourite. It got over quite soon when I heard the bell ring signalling the next period.
I walked into English Lit and I saw Aria sitting in the end. Although I missed Poppy the most when I left, I did miss Aria. We both had a love for literature and would spend hours on end annoying Poppy while talking about literature. Her eyes shifted to me as she gave me a small sign of recognition.
I know, it's not the same as forgiveness, but I do know that we'd have our friendship back together soon. I asked if I could sit next to her since I didn't know anyone else and after a slight hesitation, she agreed. The first thing I told Aria was that I'm sorry and what I did was pathetic, jerkish and honestly no one should do it and I understand if you want to hate me.
Her eyes went into a daze of anger, relief and sadness as she said, "I don't hate you, Rhys. I just hate the fact that when you made a selfish choice of leaving without telling me or the others. I watched the aftermath unfold and I had to deal with it on all sides. Poppy was a mess. She wouldn't talk to me, do anything, and just waste everything she ever had. Rowan was a mess too; he lost his best friend as well. I tried so hard to help both of them while dealing with the fact that I lost you as well, and I had to deal with watching the people closest to me wasting and ruining their lives. I can't hate you or blame you kiddo, I just wished you had made smarter choices or asked me for help." Aria's words always have a way of hitting you in the worst way possible cause they're the exact truth.
I had realised the depth of my selfish choice when her eyes shadowed so much of exhaustion. I had only been scared of what Poppy had been through, now that I think about it Aria too had it hard. I gave her a massive apology and promised her a vanilla milkshake later as forgiveness and she forgave me. It took time but by the end of the class, our friendship seemed to be as perfect as it was.
The bell rang finally for lunch as I walked out with Aria and Rowan to the cafe when Popcorn walked in. She smiled when she saw Aria and Rowan talking but then froze as she saw me. It was a punch to my gut when her smile dropped at the sight of me. She glared at me and sat next to Aria.
She refused to acknowledge me or my presence as she talked to Rowan, Aria and the 2 new girls who I later learnt were Amyra and Madison. Apparently the rest 4 were out of town for a few weeks. Everyone in the cafeteria was stunned for some reason. I heard whispers running around, "Poppy's sitting with people other than Aria.", "Didn't you know that they all were friends before?", "Who's the new guy?". I was confused over why they were stunned that Poppy sat with us when I remembered she pushed everyone away. She was smiling now as she was talking.
Her smiles are perfect. She's got dimples on both cheeks and when she smiles wide her eyes close a little. Little rays of sunshine, I used to call them that. Her eyes wandered over to mine as her smile changed into a scowl just for a second before going back to pretending like I didn't exist. It hurt me hard when she called me a stranger. No Rhys and especially not Rhy. No matter how much she smiled, I saw right through them. With the exhaustion and depression in her eyes and face, she looks so much thinner than she did which I'm only assuming is her loss of appetite now.
She's drank at least 3 coffee's by now I'm sure. I smiled sadly at her as I finished my lunch and got over with the rest of my day. The last bell of the day rang as we all headed out and circled up telling our goodbyes for the day. She waved everyone goodbye as she came to me. Out of habit, I suppose she said "Bye, Rhy" with a pause. My heart fluttered with hope at the fact that she finally used that nickname of hers for me when she added, "Sorry, Rhysand."
