Chapter 15
On Monday, I was surprisingly excited for school. Since Spring Break was next week, the grade elevens and twelves were heading to the beach all day for a field trip. Normally, I hated anything that had to do with school but since I didn't have to be near anyone, I was excited.
I got to school and immediately had to go on one of the two buses. Luckily, I was one of the first few people to arrive so I sat in the back.
Slowly, everyone else began to arrive. Grayson, being Grayson, showed up just as the bus was about to leave. I instantly looked away, not wanting to look at him. I was still mad that he randomly started ignoring me and didn't help me when I got knocked out in gym class.
We finally began driving to the beach and I couldn't wait to get there. I really needed to relax and since it was Monday morning, it was even better.
When we arrived at the beach, we all piled out of the buses and waited for instructions from Mrs. Goth. "I suppose you're all happy about being at the beach instead of school," she said.
"Yeah, because now I don't have to skip school to come here," Grayson said with a smrk.
"Watch it," Mrs. Goth said. "Or you'll have to stay within view of any staff member." Grayson shrugged in reply. I had to try my hardest not to laugh. Grayson was always so smug and most of the time, it amused me. "That brings me to one of the rules. You don't have to stay within the view of any staff as long as you're not getting into trouble." She was looking at Grayson for the most of it. "And at ten, everyone needs to meet by those picnic tables over there so we can start an assignment." She pointed to the picnic tables where some teachers were setting up a few things while everyone groaned. "That's right. You're not getting off that easily. Now go have fun."
As soon as she said that, I left that area to go for a walk. I didn't eat that much for breakfast so I wanted to get some ice cream or something.
I found an ice cream stand not that far away. The line up wasn't that long, thankfully. I grabbed my wallet out of my backpack while I was waiting. When it was my turn, I ordered a simple chocolate ice cream cone. After I payed, I turned around to walk away. But I bumped into someone tall, which caused my hand to hit my chest, smudging the ice cream I just bought on my shirt. My white shirt.
"Poppy, I am so sorry!" the person I bumped into said. I looked up. Great. It was Grayson.
I just scoffed and walked past Grayson as I made my way to the washroom. I walked in and looked at my shirt in one of the mirrors. Completely ruined.
I grabbed a few paper towels, wet it, and patted the stain on my shirt to get as much off as I could. Unfortunately, the chocolate ice cream on my white short stood out too mich.
I sighed and walked out of the washroom, only to find Grayson standing out there. "What do you want?" I asked.
"Two things," Grayson said. "One." He held out a shirt. "I never go to the beach without an extra shirt."
I hesitated a bit before grabbing it. I'd rather where his shirt than my stained one. "What's number two?" I asked.
"I'll tell you after you change your shirt," Grayson told me, gesturing for me to go back to the washroom.
I went back and want to one of the stalls. After changing shirts, I stuffed my ruined shirt into my bag. Grayson's shirt was huge on me. In fact, it completely covered my shorts so it looked like I was wearing a dress.
I got out of the washroom where Grayson was waiting. "Now what?" I asked.
"We need to talk," Grayson said.
"Really?" I asked. "Well I don't want to talk to you." I walked passed him.
"Flower," Grayson said as he followed me.
That made me stop and turn towards him. "No, you're not allowed to call me Flower anymore."
"Can we please just talk?" Grayson asked.
"How come you suddenly want to talk to me?" I asked. "You ignored me and even watched me get knocked out and you didn't do anything about it. So if you don't want to talk to me, then I don't want to talk to you."
"Poppy, please," Grayson said. "I didn't want to ignore you."
"Yet you did," I said. "I told you what happened with me and Ben, then you completely ignored me afterwards. You promised they would never hurt me again, but you watched as Belle hit me in the head with a volleyball."
"It was stupid, okay?" Grayson said. "I had no other choice."
"For what?" I asked. "To not be friends with me anymore? You could have just said so!"
"That's not it," Grayson told me. "You haven't fully met Dedrick but trust me when I tell you that he's ruthless. He'll do anything to get to me."
"Yes, because ignoring me is totally going to solve your problem," I said sarcastically."
"You don't get it," Grayson said. "You heard what he said to me. He's going to find my weakness and use it against me."
"So you ignored me and watched me get hurt?" I asked. "That doesn't make any sense!"
"Can you just listen to me?!" Grayson asked, raising his voice a bit. "You're not getting it!"
"Then shine some light on me," I said. "Is it because you didn't want to be friends with someone who was assaulted?"
"What? N-"
"I should have guessed it since almost everyone hates me because of it."
"Poppy, just l-"
"I can't believe my only friend after a long time ignored me because of it."
"Are you seri-"
"I wish it never even happened becau-" I was cut off by something I never thought Grayson would do. He cupped my face in his hands and pressed his lips against mine.
He slowly pulled away, but kept his face close to mine. "I did it because you're my weakness," he said.
I didn't say anything. I just thought about what happened. Including Grayson, only two boys had ever kissed me. And Grayson's kiss felt way different from Ben's. I didn't even want to think about Ben's, but Grayson's? It felt.......Right.
"Poppy, please say something," Grayson said.
I didn't answer because honestly, I didn't know what to say. I was Grayson's weakness. How was that possible?
Since I wasn't answering, Grayson decided to talk. "I guess I'll say something. I didn't want to ignore you, but if Devon thinks that you're not important to me, then he and Dedrick won't do anything to you. But ignoring you was hurting you more than I though it would. I like you, okay? I like you so much and I can't stand to see you get hurt."
I still didn't know what to say. Grayson liked me? Actually liked me?
I wanted to say something but I still didn't know what to say. Did I like Grayson as well? The only guy who actually cared about me, would never hurt me, and treated me well?
.......I think I did.
I decided to say something smug since I couldn't think of anything else. "Going soft, are we?"
Grayson immediately glared at me. "Funny."
"Grayson, ignoring me doesn't really make a difference," I decided to tell him. "No matter what, Devon and Belle are going to hurt me because of Ben."
"But Dedrick is much more violent and ruthless than Devon," Grayson said. "You heard what he's going to do. He'll use my weakness against me. He'll hurt you."
"I've been hurt more than can last a lifetime," I told him. "I'm pretty sure I can handle whatever Dedrick throws at me. Just please don't ignore me again. I missed you."
Grayson smiled. "Under one condition. You go out with me."
"That's funny, because I don't remember telling you that I like you as well," I said jokingly.
"That's fine," Grayson said. "I made it clear that I'll ignore you unless you go out with me."
"Is that blackmail?" I asked. "Wow. How nice."
"I still need an answer," Grayson said. He looked at his watch. "And you better hurry. It's ten and we need to meet with everyone else."
I couldn't help but smile, something I haven't done recently. "Well, I like you to so I'll go out with you."
Grayson smiled once again. "Great. Now we should meet with the others. Although, they would probably expect me to be late. So I'm good either way."
"I'm not one to be too late, though," I said.
"Fine, we'll have it your way," Grayson said as he held my hand and led me to the picnic tables.
Everyone else was already waiting there and judging by Mrs. Goth's face, we were late. "The instructions were to be here at ten," she said. "It's past ten."
Grayson shrugged. "I would lie and say we tried being here on time but the truth is we couldn't have cared less."
"He couldn't have cared less," I corrected. "I lost track of time."
"Yes, because you were arguing with me," Grayson said. Mrs. Goth sighed. "Let's just get started on the assignment. Everyone partner up. This assignment will be for two people."
Grayson put his arm around me. "Why hello partner."
"Who said I'm your partner?" I asked.
"Me," Grayson replied simply as Mrs. Goth began handing out a piece of paper and a paper bag to each pair. I took the paper from Mrs. Goth and looked at it with Grayson.
"We need to find these things," I said.
Grayson scoffed at some of the things he saw. "Sedimentary rocks? Metamorphic rocks? What the hell are those?"
"Types of rocks," I said.
"Yeah, but how are we able to find out which is which?" Grayson asked. He bent down and picked up a rock. "How the hell can I tell what type of rock this is?"
I looked at the rock. "Sedimentary," I told him.
Grayson looked at me with furrowed eyebrows. "What?"
"See those holes?" I asked. "That's how I know it's sedimentary."
"Can we just not do this and go swimming or something?" Grayson asked.
"My mom has been mad at my actions lately," I said. "If she finds out that I ignored an assignment, she'll be even more mad."
Grayson sighed but smiled at the same time. "You're cute when you worry about simple things, Flower." He gave me a quick kiss before taking the paper out of my hands. "Alright then. Let's do this stupid thing."
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A/N: Okay, I just really love this part. Not only did Grayson stop ignoring Poppy, he also asked her put. It just makes me happy!