Chapter 17After school on Friday, my family and Grayson's family were going to have yet another family dinner, but this time, we were going to a fancy restaurant.Mom expected me to dress up. I didn't really want to, but I was too tired to object. So, Mom grabbed a simple black dress out of my closet and handed it to me."First impressions are important," Mom told me.I raised an eyebrow. "First impression? Mom, we've had dinner with them many times." Not to mention one of them is my boyfriend.My family didn't exactly know about Grayson and I. I did tell Tony but made him promise to not tell Mom and Dad. Dad would just be worried because of what happened with Ben and Mom didn't really like Grayson."Yes, but Gary's daughter will be there since she's on spring break," Mom said before leaving my bedroom. I wanted to ask her what that had to do with anything, but I decided to just leave it and get changed. After I was changed into the dress, I went down the stairs where the rest of my
Chapter 18Grayson"Grayson," Dad snapped as he marched into the living room. He snatched theTV remote out of my hand and turned off the TV. "You are not allowed to watch TV.""What, why?" I asked.Dad narrowed his eyes at me. "First, we are having very important guests come over soon. And secondly, you took off yesterday doing the family dinner. It was worse when we already ordered the food and nobody could eat it."I crossed my arms and leaned back. "So?""Grayson, you need to stop acting like this," Dad said. "Not everything can go your way."Tell me about it. Breaking up with Poppy was stupid to say the least, but I couldn't seem to get it to her how much harm Dedrick can do to a person. She already got hurt by Belle's stupid brother and I didn't want Poppy to go through that again. What Ben did, Dedrick has done many times, especially to the girlfriends of his enemies. I couldn't put Poppy through that."You honestly think I try getting my way?" I asked. "What about Graeme? He g
Chapter 19Lying in bed has never made me feel so depressed. I loved being lazy but not when I was so sad.Someone knocked on my door, but I was not in the mood to talk to anyone. "Go away!" I muttered into my pillow.They didn't listen. Whoever was at my door walked into my room and sat on the edge of my bed. "Poppy, do you want to talk?" Mom asked me."No," I muttered. "I want to cry instead."Mom sighed. "Why did Grayson break up with you?""Why do you care?" I asked. "You hate him anyway.""That's not true Poppy," Mom said. "I didn't approve of him, but seeing you cry over him made me see that he means something to you and that's all I want. For you to be happy."That got me to sit up. I rubbed my eyes and Mom handed me a tissue. "Thanks," I said quietly."Now why don't you tell me what happened?" Mom asked.I wiped away my tears. "I don't even know what happened. He dropped me off and said we need to break up. I really like him, Mom. He's the only one who didn't treat me like an
Chapter 20"A party?" I asked Dad, hoping I heard wrong. It had been three days since Grayson and I broke up and I was still not in the mood to go out anywhere. Just yesterday, Tony tried getting me to go grocery shopping with him, but I refused. "I don't want to go to a party...""I know you're still upset," Dad said in a sympathetic tone. "I thought Grayson was good for you. But my boss is expecting my whole family to be there. And that includes my daughter.""Can't you just tell your boss that your daughter can't make it?" I asked. "She's suffering from heartbreakitis."Dad chuckled and shook his head. "I'm a doctor, Poppy. That's not a real thing.""Like you would know," I muttered. I then gave him big, pouty eyes. "Please don't make me go.""You have to," Dad said. "And a lot of my coworkers have kids your age. They'll be a teen lounge set up. You're going, and you'll be pleasant."I sighed, not even bothering to argue with him. It seemed important for him, so I guess I had to go
Chapter 21Spring Break was over and I had to go back to school. I spent most of my Spring Break in my bedroom either sleeping, watching movies, or crying. I never thought that I would ever cry over a guy before, but there I was. I never liked anyone as much as Grayson before. Sure, he was the bad boy of my school, but he was very sweet towards me. I never had someone treat me the way he had been treating me.Tony ended up finding a new apartment to move into, so I was back to being the only kid in my house. I missed him, obviously, because he was my older brother.At school on Monday, my period one teacher announced that there was going to be a party for the juniors and seniors. How fun. I had enough of these stupid parties, especially because Mom found out about it and insisted that I go. I didn't want to, but I had no choice.The party was on Friday and was going to be held at the same banquet hall where Dad's work party was held the week before. That, I didn't mind because after I
Chapter 22GraysonI felt so stupid. Poppy was nearly assaulted last night and if Belle didn't see it, who knows what could have happened? And I felt guilty. I broke up with Poppy to protect her, but now I realized that the best way to protect her was by being with her. If we were still together last night, I wouldn't have let Poppy be alone so in a way, it was my fault. I was trying to protect her from Dedrick but the real threat to her was Ben."Grayson," Mom said. Our family was having an early dinner together, something I didn't want. Mom and Ginny were still at our house, even though it had been a week. "You barely touched your food. Are you okay?""Why should you care?" I asked. "You left, remember?""Grayson," Dad snapped.Mom sighed. "I get that you're mad...""Mad?" I repeated. "Being mad is understating it. Really understating it."The phone in the kitchen rang, giving Dad an excuse to stand up from the table and mutter something about me being a brat."Hello?" Dad answered
Chapter 23I had a lot of trouble sleeping last night. My mind just wouldn't shut off. It kept replaying many of the evens that happened and how I was almost assaulted again.Like before, I stayed in my room almost all day. That was until Mom told me that Grayson's family was coming over for dinner yet again, including his mom and his sister. So instead of staying in my pajamas, I had to get changed. I still never told my parents or Tony what happened, and I didn't know if I was going to.Mom called me downstairs, telling me that the Princes were here. I slowly got out of bed and went downstairs. As soon as I was downstairs, Grayson pulled me in a sudden hug -I didn't hesitate to hug him back, though."How are you?" he asked in a low voice."Tired," I replied, my voice as low. "I can't sleep." I hugged Grayson even tighter, feeling more comfortable than I had ever felt. I needed the comfort. Grayson didn't seem to mind how tight I was hugging him considering he kept hugging me."Poppy
Chapter 24For the past week, my parents were treating me like some vulnerable little girl that couldn't take care of herself. They wouldn't let me go out anywhere and one of them had to be home with me at all times. And that was exactly why I didn't want them knowing about what happened.Even though Grayson told my parents so I could have both of them there for me, I hated the way they were treating me. I even tried telling them a few times to leave it alone because Ben didn't actually do anything, but they refused.At school, Belle hadn't shown up at all. I was, honestly, a bit worried about her. She found out that Ben was lying the whole time and she threw away our friendship for no reason. I wanted to talk to her but I didn't know what to say. But I did miss having her as my best friend, even if she acted really horrible to me at school and made everyone hate me. I couldn't blame her. She was trusting her brother.The school day finally ended and it was now the weekend. I was plan