Chapter 16
School the next day was, well, interesting. A fight almost broke out and Belle was acting way worse than she had ever been.
Tony dropped me off at school that morning and I was not that happy. I mean, we went to the beach the day before and now, I had to be in school. Boring.
When I walked into the school, Belle marched up to me. "I heard something very interesting," she said.
"That's nice," I said as I attempted to walk pass her.
However, she took a step to the side to block me. "I wasn't finished," Belle snapped, crossing her arms.
"Well I didn't know that I had to stay to listen," I said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to my locker."
I walked passed her, but stopped when Belle said, "You think you can just do whatever you want to whoever you want, don't you?"
I turned towards her. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about Ben," Belle said. "You lied about what happened and got him thrown in jail."
"How many times do I have to tell you that I didn't lie about what happened?" I asked. "And how does this have to do with something you heard?"
"I heard you have a boyfriend," Belle said. "You're probably going to get him thrown in jail as well, whoever he is."
Was Belle being serious? "Are you serious?" I decided to ask. "One, I would never do that and two, my personal life is none of your business."
"Well, it is if you're going to get another person thrown into jail," Belle said.
"You know what? I don't care what you think," I said. "I did not lie about Ben. You're just too blind to see it because he's your brother. You weren't there when it happened. You and I were best friends, Belle. Ben ruined that."
When I walked passed her again, she made no attempt to continue the conversation. I went to my locker.
"Hey Flower," Grayson said suddenly. I turned to face him leaning against his locker.
"I still don't understand why you call me Flower," I said.
Grayson raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? It's quite obvious if you think about it."
I thought about it, but couldn't think of anything.
Grayson sighed. "Poppy is a flower. Your name is Poppy. So you're a flower. My flower."
I smiled. "That's sweet. And a little mushy."
That got Grayson to glare at me. "Mushy? Really?"
"Yes," I said. "I think you're losing your bad boy reputation."
"Well I can't let that happen," Grayson said, placing his hands in his pocket. "I'm going to have to change that."
I furrowed my eyebrows. "What are you going to do?"
Grayson shrugged. "Depends on what mood I'm in. But as for now... .." He leaned down and gave me a quick kiss just as the bell rang. "Damn the bell."
"Fun, now we have gym class," I said sarcastically. "Yay. If we play volleyball, Belle will probably knock me out again."
Grayson put his arm around me as we walked to the gym. "I doubt she would if I threatened her boyfriend," Grayson objected. "She already know I'm physically able to beat the crap out of him."
"Do you do that every time?" I asked. "Threaten to beat up Devon whenever Belle does something to bother you?"
"I may have a reputation but I believe in not hitting girls," Grayson told me. "So instead, I go after her boyfriend."
Grayson and I got to the gym shortly after. I sighed once I realized we were still doing volleyball. I was hoping it was just a one day thing but it turned out we were doing a volleyball unit.
"I hate volleyball," I said as Grayson removed his arm from around me.
Grayson was going to reply but he was interrupted when Belle and Devon walked over to us. "Ready to get knocked out again?" Belle asked with a smirk.
Grayson didn't think that was funny at all. "If you hurt Poppy, I think I'll have to beat up your boyfriend."
"What was that?" Devon asked. He didn't ask that in a mad or angry way. It was more in a way that he figured something out.
... .Oh no.
Devon looked at Belle who still had a smirk on her face. "Babe," Devon said. "I think we found Grayson's weakness."
"I think we did," Belle agreed.
Grayson stepped forward. "Leave Poppy out of this," he said to Devon. "She has nothing to do with it."
"On the contrary," Devon said, "she does. You nearly killed my cousin and you will pay in any way possible. Besides, she got Belle's brother thrown in jail."
"Do you even ask her what happened?" I asked "Or did she just make something up?"
"Belle wouldn't lie to me," Devon said.
I looked at Belle. "Go on," I said. "Tell him how I got Ben thrown in jail."
Belle glared at me. "So long as you tell Grayson."
"Fine," I said. I turned to Grayson. "Grayson, I got Ben thrown into jail because he did something to me and the police was able to verify that my story was true." I turned to Belle, who seemed a bit shocked. Jokes on here since Grayson already knew about it. "There. Your turn"
"What's she talking about?" Devon asked Belle.
"I-I... " Belle stuttered, for once. "She... She's lying!"
"Am I?" I asked. "You do realize that we went to court, right? They only claim someone to be guilty if there's actual evidence. They wouldn't have convicted him guilty if there wasn't any evidence."
Belle's shocked look soon changed to anger. "He did nothing wrong!"
"He hurt me!" I told her. "I had to suffer for months and months because everyone thought that I was the bad guy and that everything was my fault!"
"At least your brother wasn't in jail!" Belle said. "I hadn't seen him for months because of you!"
"It wasn't my fault!" I said. "Ben hurt me!"
"You're lying!" Belle said.
I was going to object, but Grayson pulled me back. "There's no point of arguing," he said, placing a hand on my cheek and wiping a tear I didn't even know I had with his thumb. "It's not worth it."
Devon scoffed. "You don't even care that Poppy made Belle's life horrible?"
Grayson stepped forward. "For what? Telling the cops what Ben did? If she didn't, then Ben probably would have done the same thing to someone else, thinking he got away with it. You need to stop accusing Poppy of doing something without knowing the true story. You can't just assume Poppy is of fault."
Devon glared Grayson. "And you need to stay out of this."
"That's a bit hypocritical, don't you think?" Grayson asked.
"I'm allowed to be involved in my girlfriend's problems," Devon said, crossing his arms.
"So am I," Grayson replied.
Devon seemed confused, but Belle seemed to know exactly what Grayson was talking about. "Wait," Belle said. "Poppy, you actually have a boyfriend?" She snorted and looked at Grayson. "Good luck with that. She's probably going to get you thrown in jail."
"Just shut the hell up Belle!" Grayson said, a bit too loudly. "Stop acting like you're the victim in all of this."
Devon gently pushed Belle behind him before glaring a Grayson. "Don't you dare talk to my girlfriend that way. You have no right to act as if you can talk to whoever you want in whatever way you want."
"At least I am not the boyfriend of a horrible person who is victimizing someone for no reason," Grayson shot back.
That pissed off Devon a bit too much. "What the hell did you just say?!" Devon asked.
"I called your girlfriend horrible," Grayson said. "Deal with it."
"How about you stop attacking my girlfriend?" Devon asked.
"Fine," Grayson said. "I'll just attack you."
I quickly grabbed Grayson's arm before he could physically attack Devon. "Grayson, just stop!"
"I need to give him a piece of my mind!" Grayson said. "Let me go, Flower!"
"No," I said. "Just stop, please!"
"Figures," Devon said. "A girl is strong enough to stop Grayson." He crossed his arms with a smirk on his face.
Grayson stopped trying to pull away. "I can easily escape. I just don't want to hurt her like someone's brother already did!"
"Grayson!" I said. He was talking a bit too loud and anyone could hear what actually happened between Ben and I. "Please stop."
"Why should I stop?" he asked. "Tell me, why the hell should I stop when Belle made your life a complete hell and Devon is being an ass?!"
"I'm an ass?" Devon asked. "Says the one who nearly killed me and had my cousin sent to jail!"
"It was an accident!" Grayson said. "Get over it!"
"Grayson, please," I begged him quietly. He was getting too angry and knowing him, it was only going to lead to a possible fight.
The gym teacher, Mr. Matlin, walked over to the four of us. "Is everything okay?" he asked.
"No, sir," Belle said. "Poppy here is bullying me."
"Are you serious?" I asked. "I didn't say anything to you!"
Belle, however, ignored what I said and turned to the teacher. "Poppy told me that if I come near her again, she's going to hurt me."
"What?!" Grayson and I said at the same time. "No, she's lying!" Grayson said.
"Grayson, I find a hard time believing anything you say," Mr. Matlin said. "Most of the staff does."
"I'm telling the truth," Grayson said. "Poppy never said anything wrong to Belle."
Mr. Matlin sighed. "Okay, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to let this situation go. But if I see any of you arguing like that again, everyone involved will be sent to detention, no matter whose fault it was. Now get into the same teams as last time."