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Poppy

“YOU DON’T THINK he’ll bring her, right?” My cousin Ashleigh whispered as we made our way through Deacon Faris’s house.

It was crowded, but the Rixon Raiders had won 20 - 13. So everyone was amped up and ready to party.

Including me.

“Who?” I frowned back at her as we fought through the crush to find the rest of our friends.

“Penelope.”

“I thought you and Ezra weren’t—”

“We’re not,” she rushed out. “But Jesus, Poppy. I don’t want to see him with her. Maybe this was a bad idea.” She hesitated.

Ashleigh was kind of involved with our friend Ezra. He was Aaron’s foster brother, and Aaron was my… friend.

One of my best friends.

I grabbed her arm gently and pulled her over to a quiet spot. “Sorry. I’m doing it again, aren’t I?” I gave her a soft smile.

“Doing what?”

“Being insensitive,” I said. “I don’t mean to be. I’m just… I’m nervous.” So nervous my heart was beating wildly in my chest.

“Nervous?” she asked. “But why?”

“Because I like Aaron, Leigh,” I admitted. It was a relief to tell someone—to finally confess what I’d always kept so close to my heart. “I really freaking like him and I’m tired of pretending I don’t.

And when he picked me up outside the stadium and spun me around, I felt it.”

Every time Aaron looked at me, it felt… it felt like I was soaring. But it was weird. We’d been friends for a long time. Our entire lives actually. I was in the same grade with him and his twin sister Sofia, and the three of us were inseparable.

At least, we used to be. Since the beginning of senior year things had been different.

“You know he feels the same, Poppy,” Leigh said. “You have nothing to worry about.”

“Don’t I? He’s so determined to make it this year. To do right by the team and Coach and the entire town. I’m not sure I fit into his plans.”

Aaron’s popularity had soared this year thanks to being named captain of the team, leaving me and Sofia behind in the dust. But it was okay. I was so proud of him, we both were. Besides, nothing could come between a bond like ours. Not even football.

Ashleigh reached for my hair and tucked it behind my ear. “Well, you’ll never know if you don’t ask him.”

“You’re right. Oh my God, you’re right. Come on.” I grabbed her hand, my stomach fluttering with excitement. “Let’s go and party like it’s senior year.”

But the second we walked out of the French doors and into Deacon’s yard, I froze. “N-no.” My heart tumbled in my chest, plummeting to the ground, splattering all over the Farises’ patio.

No, he wouldn’t.

He wouldn’t.

But there he was. Aaron Bennet, the boy who consumed my thoughts, sitting in a garden chair with Zara Willis, Rixon High’s head cheerleader straddling his lap. Her arms draped around his shoulders and her pouty mouth pressed on his.

“I think I’m going to puke.” I turned and ran back toward the house.

“Pop—”

But I kept running.

I needed to get away. Far, far away where I could puke my broken bloody heart up without everyone watching.

Stumbling into the house, I pushed people out of the way as I hurried down the hall in search of the bathroom.

He was kissing her.

Zara.

The one girl I despised more than anything.

Why?

Why would he ever do that?

Because he doesn’t feel the same. The words clanged through me as I reached the bathroom just in time to crash through the door and drop to my knees, dry heaving into the bowl.

Years.

I’d waited years to finally confess to Aaron how I felt… Only to find him kissing another girl.

Poppy

THE MUSIC FLOWED through me as I inhaled a deep breath. There wasn’t room to overthink things in a tumbling routine. You had to hit the floor hard and have complete faith in your abilities. I knew these moves like the back of my hand. They were muscle memory, as easy as breathing. Or at least, that was the hope.

Pumping my legs, I pushed off and sprinted down the mat. Round off into a handspring, into another handspring, finishing with a back somersault tuck.

As easy as breathing.

The air whipped around me, my muscles pinging with exertion as my body cut through the air with utter precision, thanks to years of training, of pushing my body harder and faster and beyond its limits.

Adrenaline saturated my veins, and when I landed, the mat an immovable force beneath me, I smiled.

Tumbling never got old. Not for me at least. It was my favorite part of being a gymnast. Defying gravity and making my body bend to my will.

I loved it.

“Good, Poppy.” Coach Yardley smiled. “Your lines were tight, just watch your landing. We need

it to stick.”

I nodded, pushing the stray hairs out of my face. So maybe there had been a slight wobble in my ankles. But I’d work on it until it was perfect. I always did.

“Okay, we’re done for the day,” she said. “Get out of here.”

Competition season didn’t officially start until November, but like any good athlete, I liked to stay in shape, and Coach Yardley was more than willing to let us practice now the semester was in full swing.

I headed to the locker room and changed out of my leotard. I planned to grab a shower at home later before the party. Ashleigh turned nineteen today, and her boyfriend Ezra’s family were hosting a barbecue.

They were best friends with my parents and Ashleigh’s parents. I guess you could call us one big family: my family, the Fords; my cousin’s family, the Chases; and Ezra’s family, the Bennets.