"Here! Here's water." Poppy said, re-entering the car.
"Thanks." I said, and drank half the water in the bottle.
We continued our journey, and soon we were at the gates of the mansion.
The car honked, and the gates opened.
Once again, I beheld the beauty of the house, the first time I saw it was at night, and it was still beautiful, but seeing everything in the daylight made me study it properly.
I saw the swimming pool, the lawn, and the fleet of cars that stood arranged beautiful like they were for sale.
The Entrance hall was lined with golden chandeliers, brackets with little green and red lights in them…
The main sitting room was spacious, with white sofas centered round a highly polished, and expensive mahogany table.
" We'll be in the mini living room." one of his friends with white hair said.
They opened a door, and I saw a smaller, cozy living room with brown sofas, a standing fan, a large TV screen and a large center table, with flowers on it.
Pictures in frames on the wall and more brackets with lights in them, the room was painted brown. And its cozy feeling was completed with a fire place.
Poppy entered and I followed her.
Turned out the room was warm and cozy, just as it looked.
She took off her bag. It went North, her shoes went South, her socks East, her coat and scarf West, and aww, Freddie was picking them up for her.
It reminded me of Mera and Val.
He took her things up the stairs…
" Now follow me with the little rabbit, at least take off your bag and boots." she said, as I stood there standing.
"Okay."
I took off my bag, put it carefully on a sofa, went to the entrance of the mini living room and removed my boots.
I climbed the stairs and at the top, I ran into Freddie and looked at him.
He stared at me for a while, then took off my head warmer.
"Isn't it hot?" He said and went down the stairs.
I smiled, and walked faster down the long hall with many doors before I caught up with Poppy.
"I thought you guys were four."
"Yeah, Lucy, and Sheila are staying at that house back in your neighborhood, they don't like it much here because of Mom and Dad." she said, whispering her last three words.
"Oh."
" I go there sometimes on weekends, but most times, I stay here because of him, and he stays because of mommy."
"I don't understand."
"When mommy's sad, she goes to Freddie and when Freddie's bored, he comes to me."
"Oh… how come you've all got brown hair, and he black?"
"He took mom's hair while we took dad's hair. Freddie's all mummy, the hair the eyes, the charm…
"My mum is a great flirt, she knows how to work guys out, we're guessing Freddie took it from her, you should meet her."
"Oh I don't really like meeting people's parents." I said, and she laughed.
"My mum's nice, who knows? She might try to pair you up with Freddie."
"Are you serious?"
"I'm dead serious"
MAYBE I SHOULD MEET HER.
"Wow."
"That reminds me." She said, held my hand and drew me closer. "Do you like Freddie?"
"No." I said without thinking.
Why does it feel like I'm lying when I know I'm not?
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm dead sure." I said confidently.
"Why?"
"Well, because he… I've got a crush." I said slowly, as the lie came up.
"Woah, who's that?"
"It's… it's Pe... Mi… Sa... ah! His name is… Ed! Yeah, his name is Ed."
"Nice."
Did I know that Ed looks a lot like it came from Fred?
"Yeah." I said.
We got to her room, which was painted in pink.
It seemed like she loved Pink. The bed, shelves, wall, doors, chair, desk, and most of the shoes were pink.
She sat on her bed…
"Okay, now put the rabbit down… Let's see, my old biology note." she said, and went out the door.
I looked at the rabbit.
"Hey there, what should I name you? Hmm, carrots? How about Carrie, yeah, it's okay? I just hope you're a female… hang on, you must be hungry, and I bet you'll want some carrots." I said, then Poppy came back in.
"Hey Poppy! I don't think this rabbit has eaten a thing."
"And that could be true." She said, and put her head round the door.
"Freddie! Please, I'm on my knees! Can you, and your friends, get carrots? Food!?"
"No!" Freddie replied, and Poppy slammed the door hard.
"Seems like we'll have to get it ourselves. Aren't you hot? In those socks?"
"We're going out now, aren't we?"
"Oh that's true."
We went down the stairs, and saw Freddie with two of his friends sitting on the sofa, while the one with the white hair stood in front of them clearing his throat, smiling.
"Hey, quit with the smiles and start." one with brown hair said.
"Let me introduce you to these crooks, the one with the white hair is Shawn… isn't he cute?" She said all of a sudden, and I shook.
"Yeah, yeah."
"The brown haired guy is Hudley, the one with red hair is Liam, and that naughty one with the black hair is Freddie." She said, and I gave a little laugh.
"Practice on Poppy." Freddie said, and Shawn came towards us.
"So, I hear you're good at Math. Mind helping me out? We could do it over dinner, since I don't like eating on an empty stomach." he said, and Poppy kicked him.
"Oww!"
"Poppy! He's just…!" Hudley was saying.
"Who's the girl you're trying to play?" She asked.
"We're not playing anybody, we're genuinely interested in her." Freddie said.
"And who's the girl?" Poppy asked.
"Oh, so you'd run off and say 'Hey my brother's about to play you, watch out for him.'" Hudley said in a girly voice and the four of them laughed while I tried not to smile.
"The day she did that, I felt like bundling her, and throwing her out into the streets." Freddie said, and they laughed harder while I watched him.
"I'm going to do something stupid if you don't…"
"It's just Calby Waters, so shut up and find a place to sit." Freddie snapped.
"Ooh! Calby waters." Poppy repeated.
That was the goat that wanted my bracelet.
"Yes, and we really like her, we're not playing her." He added.
"Freddie, why on earth will you play somebody!"
"I'm not playing her!"
"Then tell me you like her!" She said, and he put his face in his hands in frustration.
"You wanted to buy rabbit food, you don't need to pay, I'll buy it for you. What else?" He asked, then looked at her.
"Want some sushi?" Hudley asked.
"I could sing you songs." Shawn said.
"I'll carry your bag to school." Liam offered.
"No." Poppy said firmly.
"Gosh." Liam exclaimed softly, and I saw the boys do some weird stuff with their eyes while Poppy wasn't looking, and the next moment, Shawn stared at Poppy until she noticed.
"What did I do?" Poppy asked alarmingly.
"Sorry… I'm just an emotional guy. But, can you really not tell Calby anything? I really like her, she's cool, quiet, and innocent. If you tell her stuff like I want to play her, she'll never come near me." Shawn said softly.
"Freddie wants…"
"I'm in love with her Poppy, just her smile makes me happy, and I really wished that she was the one here for that biology stuff." he said, looked at me and continued.
"She doesn't even trust me already, so if you go and complicate things more, I'll never get to know how it feels to be someone she loves." he said.
THIS WAS A LIE.
Poppy didn't even care to look at the three boys who were laughing, and using pillows to cover up.
"Okay, okay, okay, but you guys should ask Freddie to buy me the rabbit food, and Pris, what would you like to eat?"
"Uh me… yeah… just maybe barbecue, and a burger." I said.
"Thanks Pop." Freddie said, and when Poppy bent in front of the fridge to take water, all of them exchanged smiles.
Freddie caught me staring, and winked with a smile.
A wink that meant -You got -our -scope.
But that wink made me feel like I was doing a handstand… everything was turning upside down.
When the boys left, I took off my socks and put them in my Bag.
<<<
Nothing special happened again… Poppy and I had spent the whole day feeding the rabbit, and now I'm in my room eating the burger they bought and going over my day.
I slept, and the next morning, I wore sneakers, jean trousers, a white top with a brown jacket that had fluffy white collars and cuffs.
I let my hair down only to discover my favorite head warmer was gone.
The purple that Freddie had taken off my head the previous day.
I smiled with the thought that it was with him and went to school.
After class, we had dance practice, which was stress.
During break after another stressful dance practice, I went to the CKH with Calby behind me talking to her friends.
I know she was going there to monitor me, but duh, I only wanted my head warmer back.
I saw Freddie, and his friends, and walked up to him.
He was wearing a yellow face cap with a yellow sweatshirt and white joggers.
Wow, he looked cool in that outfit, not to mention his sneakers that seemed to be out of this world.
"My head warmer."
"Your… Oh."
He dipped his hands into his pockets, and brought out my head warmer, shining 'purpily.'
Then he stood up.
"I washed it, so I'll wear it." he said, and started to walk away.
"No, I'm cold… my head is cold." I said.
He looked at me and laughed.
"What did you just say? Your head is cold?"
"Yeah."
"This is pretty, it's the type of thing that catches my eye." He said holding up my head warmer.
"I just said my head is cold." I repeated.
Then, he took off his yellow cap and placed it on my head, facing it sideways.
Thereafter, he put on my purple head warmer, then turned me around and gently pushed me towards the door.
That was when I realized the numerous eyes that were on me.
I went straight to the toilet, and looked at myself in the mirror.
I liked what I saw.
That was me with Freddie Goldstein's cap faced to the side.
I smiled.
I came out of the toilet and walked a few feet when I saw Peter, looking fabulous in a cream and brown woolen sweatshirt.
Everything on the right was cream and everything on the left was brown, and he had a chocolate brown scarf wrapped round his neck with a navy-blue and white head warmer on his head, to match with his blue and white sneakers.
And his cream joggers with white stripes at the sides looked like what Chris would stay up the whole night for, thinking about how to purchase it.
He was with a girl who looked pretty.
Well, if he didn't see me, I was just going to pass him by… that was it because if I called him to greet him, the girl could think I was trying to steal him.
But before I could walk past him, he looked at me…
"Hi Peter" I said, and felt surprised at the tone of my voice, it sounded high and girly.
"Hey" He said in his own smooth tone.
As I walked past him, I caught the nice scent of his perfume and raced out of the long high school hall.
I felt like seeing mike, to tell him all about Freddie and the cap. I smiled, and looked back, hoping it would be Mike since I heard someone's running footsteps, but it was Peter.
"Hey."
"Hey" he replied.
"I didn't see you around for a while, have you been around?" I said as we walked into the field.
"I traveled."
"Traveled? The academic session is still going on."
"Academic session." he repeated.
"You do know school's essential, right?"
"Yeah." He replied with a smile.
I felt the urge to ask him about the girl, and who she was, but it felt weird to ask.
"Isn't that Freddie's cap?"
"Yeah, how do you know?"
"It's got his initials on it." he said, pointing.
"Let me see." I said a little too fast while removing the cap and then saw it at the side.
AFG.
It was stitched on it in Gold.
"What's it?" I asked.
" Alexander Freddie Goldstein" he replied, and I smiled.
I was wearing a cap with Freddie's initials designed on it.
"You like him, don't you?"
"NO, why?"
"Every girl does, and you're starting to look a lot like them."
" NO, I'm not… I'll go straight, and give this back to him then."
"Nah, never mind. Wear it, it looks pretty on you." he said, and used his hands to smoothen my hair then he put the cap on it, facing it backwards, and I blushed, then he laughed.
"Why laughing?" I asked.
"I think I missed the way you look when you blush. It's really a sight." he said.
"Oh, don't start."
"Let's get something to eat or drink, should we?"
"Yeah I could do with something hot… it's cold."
"Coffee." He said.
"Exactly, you're on point."
We walked into 'All Drinks' and lined up to get drinks.
As he queued, I used the opportunity, when he wasn't looking, to stare at him.
His skin looked more tanned and fresher. His Afro cut was higher and looked oilier.
I stared at his eyes, and noticed his eyelashes were really long and dark. His looked pink and soft, and my eyes lingered on them for a while.
You understand when you're staring at someone, and you just can't seem to stop?
His head turned, and I was just too slow and too suspicious to turn away like I wasn't staring.
"Coffee and what?" He asked gently.
"Wh…what's she g…got?"
"Fries, burgers, pastries, pretzels, cakes…"
"Cakes, with lots of cream on them and icing sugar too."
"Alright." he said, and after a while he came back with a tray full of cakes, and two cups of brimming coffee.
I took a bite of the cake, and hmm, it was marvelous.
"By the way, who was that girl?" I asked, trying to sound casual after stuffing my mouth full with cake.
With my mouth still full, I sipped the hot coffee, which burnt my lips.
"Ow!" I exclaimed, and he smiled.
"Be careful with it…"
"I will."
"She's just a classmate, my partner for knitting."
"You guys are knitting?"
"Yeah… don't know why Miss Anne gave us such a silly thing for a project… she said the team with the most and prettiest knitted things gets the highest marks."
"Wow, so can you two knit it all, alone?"
"We're three, there's another girl who doesn't know how to knit, so Tricia, the girl you saw me with, is going to teach us how to knit."
"I could help you guys out, I love knitting, and I won't mind having something extra to do."
"Really? Meet me during closing hours, I'll give you half of all the knitting wool we've got." He said, and I laughed.
"What exactly should I knit?"
"Anything… anything pretty, anything cute." He said, staring at me, and I knew he was indirectly calling me pretty and cute.
I smiled.
"I heard you guys are doing a biology project, with animals."
"Yeah, they're sick animals, and we're supposed to nurse them back to health, then give a report on how we did it, so we're using the freshmen as our guide."
"It's not stressful. Is it?"
"It's actually okay, I didn't get a scary or creepy animal, one of my friends got a lizard who stares at her all day!" I said, and started to laugh while he smiled.
"Is she pretty?"
"Very."
"I'd like to meet her."
DONG
My smile faded.
"Sure, I could hook you guys up."
"What's wrong with your tone?" He asked, smirking.
"My tone? Nothing's wrong with it, but it's okay, she likes handsome guys." I said, regaining my cool.
If he wants to date only pretty girls, duh, I've got Freddie… sorry, I didn't mean that. I mean I've got Mike yeah, Drake and Chris, Yep.
"That's nice, is she like you?"
"Hmm I'd say we're opposites, she likes flashy stuff, and I like cute stuff, she's let's say the angel. I'm the baby… yeah."
"Turn around." he said, and I did.
I saw Freddie and his friends sitting a few tables away, they were laughing about something, he was wearing my purple head warmer and was talking rapidly to his friends.
My heart skipped a beat and I stared longer than I should have before turning away.
"Why did you tell me to turn around?"
"So you could do what you just did, and so I could see what I just saw."
"Wh… what did you just see? He's a handsome guy, that's all. Who doesn't stare at handsome guys?"
"Is that why you were staring at me earlier?"
"Uh… I… hmm, have you tasted this vanilla coated cake? It's heavenly." I said, he laughed and took a vanilla coated cake.
"Pris!" Someone called. That was Whitney's voice.
"Oh, hey."
"You wouldn't believe Maine's calling us for more practice."
"What?" I asked, slumped on the chair and kicked my legs.
"Aww, your eyes are glistening." Peter said, with a smile.
"Oh, don't tease me, you'd cry if all you did all day was dance. My feet hurt, so does my back, we practice day and night just for Christmas, sheesh!" I said and sluggishly stood up, took my coffee and downed it all since it was already warm.
Then, I took two cakes and pushed them into my mouth.
I left, and looked around to see Freddie once more before I left.
I saw all four of them staring at me, and was so shocked I took out the two cakes from my mouth, and hurriedly walked up to Whitney.
When we were out, I put the cakes back in my mouth and chewed.
Yeah, that was disgusting, but they're that delicious.
<<<
"We're behind on dancing! And a dancer needs passion to dance, you can't all just show up looking like you haven't eaten in three days!
"Hey you there remove that ponytail, we're gonna dance with our hair down… with nothing in our way, remove that hair bow please…
"Calby, get that cross bag off, and Jasmine, can I ask why you wore heels to school? And to dancing class?" Maine asked in a horrible temper.
"They're low."
"But they can't dance the way sneakers do, even the dumbest dance in the world doesn't use heels… Priscilla, get that jacket off… Whitney, those earrings are too big, take 'em off."
I took off my jacket, everyone was taking something… Maine was really cranky.
"Hit it Britney."
The Christmas music started blaring through the speakers, and we danced.
"Can't you bend? You're not an oldie, lady!" Maine shouted at calby.
I twirled, split, and we all started to twerk still on our splits, then got back up, flipped our hair left, and right, jumped and… and… and… and… my mind was somewhere else.
Somewhere black, somewhere green, somewhere with white teeth smiling, somewhere with a banana yellow cap with initials on it, somewhere with a pretty boy's smile… somewhere with Freddi....
" Priscilla!" Maine shouted
"Aaaah! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!! I'm sorry!!!" I said in shock, making everyone turn to stare at me.
I bet they thought I was crazy.