lewis
Poppy and I managed to get through Monday's tutoring session without getting distracted. At least I did. She was mostly quiet, nodding along to what I had to say, and agreeing with almost everything I advised her on. When we reached the end of the test paper, and her notebook was filled with loopy notes and labelled diagrams, we packed up.
"Is everything okay?" I asked.
There were a couple of our classmates still at computers, their headphones plugged in as they battled through their respective essays.
"Hmm?" She looked up at me. I hadn't seen her all day, as was expected at school. We ran in different circles and that was okay. We had our scheduled dates to look forward to every Monday.
"Is everything okay?" I repeated.
She looked as though she hadn't slept properly the night before. Her eyes were half closed and dark, despite the two coffees she had bought from the Sixth Form coffee machine in the last hour.
Her blue hair still made me smile. It was neater today, despite the obvious exhaustion written on her face. She had somehow managed an intricate plait down the centre of her scalp and it fell into a spiky pony tail at the back of her head.
"Yeah," she managed to say. She tried to look away, but she knew that she hadn't convinced me. "My mum's just being a total bitch to me."
I frowned. Poppy hadn't told me anything about her family, other than that she had two older sisters who had both graduated universities and had moved out. It had surprised me that we had similar families. She didn't strike me as the youngest child. She was too rebellious, too different.
"What's happened?" I asked, as we stepped outside. I slipped my hand into hers. "Talk to me."
She stayed silent. I guessed she was weighing the pros and cons of spilling the gory details of her family life into the pot of our relationship. If it was relationship. We hadn't really discussed labels yet.
"You know you can tell me anything, right?"
She took a deep breath as though the air was courage. Her chest rose and she emptied her lungs before she started to speak. "It's hard to explain. It's like she looks at me and she just sees disappointment. I've told you about my sisters, Rachel and Tara."
I nodded. She had mentioned them but I didn't know anything about them, other than they had both gone to university.
"They're both super smart and graduated at the top of their classes. And now they're both in really good jobs. Tara's engaged and Rachel's living with her boyfriend in this humongous house. They've just become these super successful people in every aspect of their lives. And then there's me."
"Just because you don't want to go to university doesn't mean you're not going to be successful."
"I have absolutely no idea what I want to do when I leave school. And if the next couple of months aren't going to be stressful enough with these exams that I actually don't care about, my mum's made me get a job."
"Wait, what?" It was as though she had gone from step three to step ten. "Why has she made you get a job?"
She rolled her eyes. "Because I'm an ungrateful little bitch," she said. "And I need to earn my right to live in her house."
I stopped, and because her hand was in mine, she did too.
"She said that to you?"
"It's fine," she said. "I have a job. A place down town needed some extra waitresses for the weekend shifts. It pays weekly so she'll get whatever money she wants."
I frowned but I didn't say anything. I didn't want to get in the middle of whatever was going on at Poppy's house. I hadn't met her parents, nor did I know anything about their relationship to even attempt to intervene.
"I'm here if you need me," I told her, squeezing her hand.
"It's fine," she said, though the tired look on her face said otherwise.
It was already dark. The traffic was creeping by as people waited impatiently to get home.
"How about a movie night?" I suggested. "Tell your mum you're staying at Faye's if you need to. My parents won't mind. We have a spare room."
She looked at me, confused. I wasn't sure whether it was my idea of a Monday night sleepover, or the fact that my parents wouldn't mind a last minute house guest that also happened to be a female.
I had told my parents about Poppy. They knew I was tutoring her, and they knew she was my girlfriend. Well, it was just easier to say she was my girlfriend than to explain to them that we hadn't had that conversation yet. My mum had asked to see a picture of her, and naturally I had gone to her Facebook page and opened Poppy's most recent profile picture. In it, she had long, white blonde hair. They wouldn't recognise the blue girl I was about to bring home to them.
"What?" I asked. She was still staring at me.
"My mum would probably kill me if I stayed out on a Monday night."
"Just say you're studying or something," I said.
She was thinking about it. I didn't want to be the reason she got in trouble, but I couldn't bare the idea of her going home and being miserable all night. At least if we were snuggled watching a movie, I had a chance of cheering her up.
"Fine," she said. "Sure. Thank you."
She pulled her phone out but hesitated.
"Are you sure your parents won't mind?" she asked.
I shook my head. "They're dying to meet you."
While we walked the short distance to my house, Poppy rang her mum. She made up a story about a study group at Faye's house, and then rang Faye to confirm the story in case her mum decided to investigate.
Poppy hesitated as we reached the front door, but I opened it and stepped inside. Both of my parents were sat at the kitchen island, both still in their work clothes. Mum always looked sharp and professional, until she slipped into her pyjamas and sat beneath a blanket on the sofa to watch her nightly soap operas.
Dad was chopping onions and scrapping the finely diced vegetables into a pan. He looked up and smiled.
"Hey kiddo."
It took him another look to notice Poppy creeping up behind me.
"And who do we have here?"
Mum looked up from her phone. Her face lit up. I was finally introducing the two of them.
When I had been with Maisy, the two of them had gotten along great. So much so that they often embarked on shopping trips and days out without me. Countless times I received messages from Maisy telling me she'd be back soon, she was just having dinner with my mum.
I somehow imagined that that wouldn't be the case with Poppy.
"Mum, Dad. This is Poppy."
Mum was already racing towards us, her heels clacking against the hardwood floors.
"It's lovely to finally meet you," Mum said. I saw her taking in the blue chopped hair.
"You too," Poppy said quietly. It was strange seeing her shrink into herself.
Dad waved from his spot behind the chopping board. "I'd shake your hand but I'm covered in garlic," he said.
Poppy smiled. I rolled my eyes.
"Is it okay if Poppy stays over?" I asked. "Spare room," I added quickly. "Obviously."
My parents exchanged a puzzled glanced, before Mum nodded. "Of course. Dinner will be a while though. I hope you like spaghetti bolognese, Poppy!"
"I do. Thank you, Mrs Fletcher."
"Oh please, it's Jan!"
Before Mum could pull Poppy into a hug, I pulled her towards the staircase. "We're gonna watch a movie. Call us when it's ready?"
"Of course," she shouted after us as we started up the stairs. "Oh, and Lewis!"
"Door open, I know!" I shouted back.
Poppy laughed as we turned into my bedroom. If I had of known she would have been coming round tonight I would've cleaned up this morning. Instead, the shorts I had worn to bed last night were strewn on the floor, as were yesterday's boxers and socks. I quickly kicked them under my bed and straightened up my bedding.
"You don't have to clean up," she said, setting her backpack down beside my bed.
I straightened up the desk quickly, before we settled onto the bed. I pulled my laptop over and loaded her favourite film, hoping to at least take her mind off her mum and everything else.
She laughed as I typed in Finding Nemo, but we were soon snuggled into each other. Ten minutes in, just as Nemo was about to go on the field trip to The Drop Off, I felt her breathing change. I looked down and she had fallen asleep.
Kissing the top of her head, I reached over for a blanket. I covered both of us with it, relaxed, and watched the rest of the movie as she dozed for the first time since I assumed was Saturday.