THE DEAL
seven | ❝you're not mad at me?❞
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Not most people knew exactly how Carl and Poppy's friendship had begun, for they were completely different from one another- some would even say opposite.
Funny enough, they met at school, a place that neither were quite fond of.
It all started with a box of sixty-four crayons. One of those really big ones, with a built in sharpener.
The kindergarten class was having a Secret-Santa celebration for Christmas, and it was the day of exchange.
Six year old Carl was forced to look up from his coloring when a package wrapped in candy cane paper was placed on his desk.
He looked up and saw a small girl with big green eyes. She wore a cute smile as she intertwined her hands behind her back.
"Merry Christmas, Carl," she said simply, before trotting back to her own table, making her small pigtails bounce.
Curious, and very intrigued, Carl grabbed the package and pulled at the candy cane paper, until it was all gone.
His eyes went wide when he saw the large box of crayons. To a kindergartener, that smelly box filled with sticks of colored wax was gold- and gold was something Carl had never had before.
As he admired the box, his gaze shifted to the girl, and it occurred to him that he didn't even know her name.
He quickly took the wrapping paper and smiled once he found what he was looking for, unwrinkling the tag so that he could read it clearly.
Merry Christmas from your Secret Santa!
To: Carl
From: Poppy
That was a story that Carl thought about a lot when he was feeling stressed or upset, for some reason, it made him smile.
Maybe it was the fact that that tiny little bubbly girl who happened to be his Secret Santa in kindergarten was now his best friend, or maybe it was the fact that he still had the large box of crayons stashed in his room, he didn't know what it was, he just loved that memory, it was his go to happy thought.
Unfortunately for Poppy, she had grown so stressed from the pressure of her parents, that she could never even have the chance to think of a happy memory.
She was currently sitting on one of the stools in Patsy's, alone.
She had just finished another one of her stupid piano lessons that she was just not good at, and of course her parents gave her an ear full about it.
She looked out the window carelessly and her gaze fell upon Carl talking to Dominique across the street.
It made her frown. She felt annoyed that the plan was already working so efficiently for Carl, but not at all for her.
"You alright, Poppy?" Lip asked as he threw the rag he had just finished cleaning the counter with over her shoulder.
"I'm fine," she answered quietly, not feeling in the slightest way up for talking to anyone.
"Nothing Carl did, right? 'Cause if he did something stupid to you, I'll kick his ass."
Poppy gave a small chuckle before shaking her head. "No, Carl didn't do anything. But, thanks, Lip."
The older boy smiled at her and nodded. "I really like you two together, I think you bring out the best in him, and I wouldn't want him screwing that up."
She stayed silent after that and Lip seemed to have gotten the hint that she didn't want to converse, so he went back to washing the dishes.
So, she just sat there mopping, so upset that she didn't even notice when Carl walked in.
"Hey, Popsicle," he greeted as he went and sat next to her.
"Hey," she muttered.
He scrunched his eyebrows at her response. "Are you alright? What happened? Get another B?"
Poppy rolled her eyes and hopped off her seat. "I want to be alone, Carl."
She grabbed her bag from the counter and walked out of the diner.
Carl, being Carl, of course followed her, jogging to catch up with her. "Hey, wait- just tell me what's wrong," he tried to reason.
"Nothing's wrong, Carl, like I said, I want to be alone," Poppy sighed, slowly, yet surely, losing her patience.
"That's bullshit and you know it. You never want to be alone, just talk to me, tell me what's wrong."
Poppy came to an abrupt stop, making him nearly bump into her, and gave him a glare. "Right now, you're what's wrong, okay? I'm telling you that I want to be alone, and you're just not listening! I'm tired of everyone not listening! I just- I don't think this stupid plan is working, Carl! I- I don't think I wanna do it anymore."
To say Carl was shocked was an understatement. He could only stand there with his mouth agape.
Before she could walk away again, he recomposed himself and quickly grabbed onto her arm.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold on- where is all this coming from? The plan will work! Maybe slowly, but it definitely will!" He told her.
"For you it will, you're already getting somewhere with Dominique again- but, for me? My parents still treat me like I'm nothing- they still don't see how hard I work, or, or how much effort I put into the things they want me to learn, even if I hate it! I don't think that'll ever change," Poppy was just so fed up and upset, she felt her eyes begin to water but she turned away before any tears fell.
"Poppy... just talk to me."
Poppy shook her head and wiped away her stray tears.
"I'm done with this stupid deal."
And with that, she walked away.
And this time, Carl didn't follow.
•••
Poppy sighed as she rubbed her face with her hands.
A few hours had passed since her little blow up, and she felt absolutely awful for yelling at Carl.
She was just so overwhelmed, he was just the one who happened to be there at her breaking point.
Feeling like she a thousand percent owed him an apology, she found herself walking to his house.
She had never grown scared of the South Side, she'd been going there ever since she was six years old.
Sure, it wasn't the classiest, or cleanest, but it was where she had the best memories, because it was where she would always go to hang out with Carl.
She walked up the steps of the Gallagher's front porch and took a breath before she knocked.
"Poppy!" Fiona greeted happily.
"Hi, Fiona," Poppy smiled at her.
"Come in, Carl's in his room, he told us that you guys are together now," Fiona grinned as she led Poppy into the house that she knew all too well, "I'm really happy for you two. It was about time! Between us, I didn't really like Dominique."
"Neither did I," Ian's voice chimed in as the Poppy and Fiona entered the living room, where the other four Gallagher kids were.
"Same. She was annoying," Debbie agreed.
Poppy chuckled awkwardly, feeling bad for keeping what she knew from them.
"Yeah, well... I'm gonna go and talk to Carl, I'll see you guys later," she told them before going up the stairs and into the boy's room.
She came face to face with the door and suddenly felt oddly nervous.
Well, maybe not nervous, just worried that Carl was angry.
Hesitantly, she gave the door a small knock and patiently waited for a response.
"It's open."
And so Poppy slowly turned the doorknob and peeked her head inside the room, seeing Carl laying on his bed, eyes glued to his phone.
"Hey," she breathed out.
Hearing her voice, Carl's gaze flew up and he was standing in an instant.
"Are you okay?" He asked her.
To say Poppy was surprised was an understatement. She had expected Carl to be angry- or at least annoyed, but he didn't seem to be, in fact, he seemed to be concerned.
"I'm fine," she told him cautiously, "you're- you're not mad at me?"
Carl scrunched his eyebrows and stared at the smaller girl. Why would he be mad? He chuckled slightly. "No, I'm not."
"W-why not? I was a bitch. I'm so sorry, Carl. I'm just stressed," Poppy sighed.
"Look, I know you, whenever you're upset or mad, you push everyone away. But, the thing is, with me, no matter how many times you try to, I'm always gonna be here for you. We may not be really dating, but right now- and always, for that matter, your happiness is one of my main priorities," he went to her and put his hands on her shoulders, making her look at him, "you're my best friend. I love you, Popsicle," Carl told her, completely meaning it.
Poppy looked at him with a heartfelt smile before wrapping her arms around his neck, feeling him instantly hug back.
"I love you too, Carl. And, I really am sorry about how I blew up on you," Poppy apologized as she pulled away from their hug.
"What was it about? Is everything okay?"
She shook her head. "It's stupid."
"It's clearly not if it has you this upset," Carl pointed out as he sat back on his bed. He pat the spot next to him, telling her to sit with him.
Poppy looked at him for a second before nodding slightly and going to take a seat by him. "Alright... well, it's just that, remember the piano lessons my parents signed me up for?"
"Mhm," Carl nodded, getting an idea to where this was going.
"It's just- I suck at playing the piano. Like, I'm actually awful, I don't think there's anything I'm worse at than playing the piano," she blurted, making Carl smile amusingly.
"You? Not good at something? Outrageous."
"Shut it," she playfully rolled her eyes, "anyway, you know them, they're very relentless, they were just stressing me out a lot about not being good at it."
"It's hard to be good at something you hate, Popsicle."
"I know," Poppy pursed her lips, taking a seat next to him on his bed.
"And about breaking the deal off-"
"Oh, that- it's just that, with my parents being so... my parents, with the whole piano thing, it just didn't seem like my end of the deal was working for me. So, seeing you with Dominique- it kind of made me feel angry that it was working way more with you, while not at all with me."
Suddenly, Carl bursted out laughing.
Poppy turned to him, slightly startled, raised his eyebrows at him.
"You alright, Buddy?" She asked.
"Popsicle," Carl said as he stopped laughing, "you wanna know what Dominique and I were talking about?"
"What?" Poppy asked, quite confused.
"She was going on and on about how much of a cute couple you and I are."
Then, it was Poppy's turn to begin laughing. Carl soon joined in and they both ended up laughing hysterically at something that should not be that funny.
"I'm in idiot," Poppy shook her head as the laughing died down.
Carl shook his head and grabbed her hand.
"Let's go downstairs and make my family happy at the fake fact that we're dating."
i actually don't really like this chapter at all, but i definitely owe you guys an update, sorry it's so awful