𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐋! [𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐋 𝐆𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐆𝐇𝐄𝐑]

BREAK UPS AND REPORT CARDS

Poppy's smile fell.

"Care to explain? You studied for that exam for weeks- and still you only scored a ninety-one? That's hardly an A," her mother scoffed, as if it were the greatest sin of all.

"It was a really hard test, mom," Poppy swallowed, "it covered conversions, and dimensional analysis, and scientific notation-"

"We don't want your excuses, Poppy. We want you to work hard. Do you not care about your education?"

"Of course I do, but-"

"No buts, it seems to me like you don't care about your education, you don't study enough," her father shook his head disapprovingly.

"Oh, and let's not forget that Nancy called," Poppy flinched at the mention of her piano teacher, "she said she sees no progress in your piano skills. Now that's just absurd, Poppy! You go twice a week!"

Poppy looked down at her still full plate as her vision blurred. "I'm sorry," she gulped, "I really try, I swear I do."

"It doesn't look like it."

Poppy closed her eyes and gripped her fork tightly. "May I be excused? I have a history test in a few days and I really want to get a good grade."

"Not just a good grade, Poppy, the best grade," her mother told her sternly, "yes, you can go."

Poppy wasted no time. She got up and practically ran to her room.

She let herself fall onto her bed and stared at the ceiling as tears flowed down her face.

She let out a quiet sob as she reached for her phone.

She saw she had a text message from Carl.

i'm coming over, have your window open

10 minutes ago

She quickly tried to text back saying it wasn't a good time, but she jumped out of her skin when she heard a knock on her window.

She turned and sure enough, there was Carl Gallagher.

Sighing, she went and opened the window, turning instantly.

"You won't believe what freaking happened today," Carl muttered as he hopped in her room. Poppy took a seat on her bed and looked at the floor, seeing as her tears hit it.

"Literally out of nowhere Dominique just- are you okay?" He instantly stopped himself from talking about his girlfriend- ex girlfriend, when he saw his friend crying.

He slowly went and took a seat next to her.

"What's wrong?"

She sniffled loudly and quickly wiped her tears before shaking her head.

"Nothing," she swallowed as her vision blurred again, "I just didn't meet my parents expectations. Again."

Carl sighed and shook his head. "Screw 'em. If they can't see how smart you are, they must actually be stupid."

Poppy shook her head before attempting to stop crying again (and failing). "It doesn't matter. Just- what were you saying about Dominique?"

Carl felt himself get brought down again.

"She dumped me."

Poppy raised her eyebrows in shock. "She what?"

"She was seeing some guy behind my back. She said that she wanted to find happiness," he scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"I thought you guys were in love," Poppy sniffled.

"I thought so, too."

Carl shook his head, tired of feeling upset. "I'm sure she still loves me. She's probably just confused or something."

He turned and saw Poppy looking at him intently. He sighed.

"We don't have to talk about this right now. We can talk about your parents," he suggested, knowing the girl never talked about them.

Poppy instantly shook her head. "No, it's fine. I'm okay," she turned her gaze to her tv, "wanna watch The Walking Dead?"

Carl opened his mouth to protest about the parent talk, but closed it, deciding it was for the best. "Yeah, let's do that."

They scooted around her huge bed, finding comfortable positions.

Carl laid his head on Poppy's lap, and she grabbed a blanket and threw it over them.

"I can't believe you aren't wearing a jacket, Gallagher. It's freezing," she sighed disapprovingly.

"I'm fine, Popsicle," he reassured with a chuckle.

"You're reckless, that's what you are."

"For not wearing a jacket?"

She was going to go into further detail, but she knew it'd end up with them having an argument, so she simply brushed it off and turned the tv on, putting the gruesome show on.

"Never mind. Let's just watch your dumb show."

"You're gonna love it."

"I don't love dumb things."

"You love me."

ok but i just watched the episode where carl and dom break up (soz if spoilers) and goddamn compared to the show, i made her so nice in this. like she was so mean and such a bitch in the show when she left carl omg

don't get offended, please, it's just my opinion (:

please let me know what you guys think of the story so far!

love you guys!