“That we’re fucking? Probably not a bad cover, you know. Certainly would explain why you sneak off to see me all the time.”
“I do not sneak off to see you!” she protested, appalled. “You pull me away from my friends, not the other way around!”
“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” he grinned, knowing Poppy was seconds away from punching him in the face. Then he said, “There’s a pair of denim shorts in the top drawer over there that’ll fit you.”
“Why would you have a pair of shorts that fit me?”
He shrugged. “After we made our deal I ordered some stuff online. Patrick brought it over a week or so ago. It’s not like I can expect you to wear the same two weeks’ worth of clothes for the rest of your life.”
It was somehow both a horrendous and a thoughtful gesture. Ignoring the disgusted shiver that ran down her spine, Poppy riffled through the drawer. She scanned across the other clothes inside that Dorian had clearly intended for her to use until she found the denim shorts in question, pulling them on as quickly as possible before making a beeline for the door.
Dorian rushed off his bed immediately as Poppy opened it. “Wait, you’re heading out now?”
“You really think I want to hang around here any longer?”
“Probably not. Are you going to behave yourself?”
Poppy rolled her eyes. “If by that you’re asking if I’ll eat and be more careful around your friends then yes, I suppose I have to.”
Dorian seemed visibly relieved. “Good. And don’t flirt with Nate too much. You’ll only break his heart.”
Poppy slammed the door in his face.
GREGORY FRASER
Andrew
Nobody was happier than Andrew when Poppy finally woke up three days after she’d fainted. He supposed that Nate or Rachelle could give him a proverbial run for his money, but Andrew still liked to think he was the happiest.
Or perhaps relieved was more appropriate.
Poppy was wearing a large, grey t-shirt Andrew didn’t recognise. He wondered if it was Dorian’s, and whether it was part of a social interaction he shouldn’t ask about. But he wanted to know; he wanted to know so badly it hurt.
Just what was going on with Poppy and Dorian?
Why had the facility manager put her into his own bedroom to rest? If sleep was all she needed then her own room would have been just fine. Better, even. Poppy would’ve had her friends around to look after her. But Dorian had said it was too loud in the east wing and what Poppy needed was peace and quiet. Andrew did agree with this; he almost asked if he could move over to the west wing, too, for the same reason.
But something told him Dorian would deny his request.
“Afternoon, sleeping beauty!” Nate called out happily as soon as he spied Poppy. He was playing Monopoly with Andrew, Rich and Robin Fraser, whom Andrew didn’t know all that well. To be honest he didn’t know why they were playing Monopoly in the first place – nobody seemed to like it very much – and their game was quickly abandoned once Poppy came and sat down beside them.
“Hey, guys,” she said bashfully, picking up the little, silver dog from the Monopoly board and twiddling it between her thumbs. “Miss me?”
“Tonnes.”
Andrew nodded sagely in agreement. Poppy laughed at the expression on his face.
“Andrew, I’m fine. I just needed to sleep.”
Nate scoffed at the comment. “That was a lot of sleep, Morph.”
“How’s your arm, Poppy?” Robin asked politely. Poppy held up her bandaged arm and stared at it as if she only just remembered it existed. She wiggled her fingers enthusiastically.
“Much better. It was probably a bad idea to use it so soon after hurting myself; clearly my body didn’t like me very much for putting so much strain on it.”
“You seriously have had the worst bout of luck, King,” Rich laughed. “It’s almost like karma’s come round to bite you in the ass for not following a single safety protocol in your entire life.”
“Hilarious.”
Nate looked put out when Poppy stood up from the sofa. He tried to grab hold of her wrist but Poppy pulled her arm to her chest before he could.
He frowned. “You sure you’re okay, Morph? I’m not gonna lie, you scared the shit out of me in the cave.”
“I’m fine, trust me. I just hadn’t had much of an appetite. I shouldn’t have gone bouldering on an empty stomach; it’s my own fault. I swear I’ll take better care of myself. Starting by throwing myself in the shower. I feel disgusting having slept for so long.”
Nate looked surprised. “But you smell like…eucalyptus?”
“Tea tree,” Andrew corrected as he stood up to follow Poppy back to the east wing. He sniffed the air by Poppy’s head. “Definitely tea tree. My mum buys tea tree shampoo for me. She says it smells so much better than all those…”
The other men chuckled at Andrew’s overly long explanation on why he knew Poppy smelled like tea tree, though Poppy herself seemed to have flinched at Andrew’s observation. She walked away without another word, which confused Nate. He made to get up and follow her but Rich pulled him back down.
“Give her some space,” he muttered. “Come on, she just woke up.”
Though Rich’s comment could also have applied to Andrew he followed Poppy regardless.
“Craig Hunt was scouted when you were asleep,” he told her.
Poppy’s face seemed to grow white, though it was hard to tell considering how pale she was these days. “Is that so?” she murmured.
“Yes. I don’t like that he got picked but I’m glad he’s gone.”
“You didn’t like him?”
“No.”
“And why is that?”
Andrew didn’t want to tell Poppy about what Craig had said to him. To do so would involve him telling her how he felt about her, and Andrew didn’t know if he could do that.
“He wasn’t very nice,” he ended up saying, which wasn’t a lie.
Poppy laughed bitterly. “I guess he wasn’t. At least he’s out of your hair then, Andrew.”
“Out of my hair?”
“You know, he’s gone. He can’t bother you.” She picked a loose thread out of Andrew’s shirt, put it on her head and then ran a hand through her hair until it fell out. “He’s out of your hair.”
He snorted at Poppy’s demonstration. She always explained phrases Andrew didn’t understand as literally as possible. “I get it now. Thanks. Have you been scouted, Poppy?”
“Oh god no. I’ve been an uneven mess for weeks! Who’d want me working for them?”
Andrew didn’t understand. He’d been stealing looks at the class register Poppy kept on her phone whenever he could. He felt guilty about it, since it involved him unlocking her phone when she wasn’t around. He hadn’t meant to find out the password on the device (especially because it was the PIN for her debit card…something else Andrew accidentally found out) but now that he knew it he couldn’t help but check out her list every few days.
Everyone she had crossed off, except herself, had disappeared. Andrew had thought it was to do with who got scouted but that didn’t explain why Ross Bridges’ name was crossed off. It also didn’t explain the names that were highlighted – including his own. But the other names that were highlighted were good people. Nice people.
Other than Poppy, the names who were crossed off were not good people. Andrew would know; Ross, Angelica and especially Craig were particularly nasty to him.
If Poppy’s name wasn’t crossed off, Andrew would have easily concluded that she was marking off who she wanted gone, whilst highlighting who she wanted to stay.
If that were the case, Andrew had some suggestions for her.
“Do you know Megan Lo, the third year economics student?”
Poppy stared at him as they reached her bedroom door. She waved Andrew in with her; he sat on the chair in the corner and watched as she rummaged through her luggage for new clothes.
“Bit of a subject chang
e. Of course I know Megan.”
“Did you know she scammed a website into giving her loads of free clothes?”
“How do you know that, Andrew?”
“I heard her talking to Angelica about it on the bus.”
“She got away with it? Ah, I could so do with going for a swim. Wanna join, Andrew?”
He nodded. “I’ll go get changed. She got away with it. She’s planning on doing it again.”
Poppy said nothing. She was staring at the t-shirt she was wearing with a blank expression. Then she peeled the garment off right in front of Andrew.
He spluttered in shock. “Um, I’m going to – I’ll go get changed!”
She giggled. “Andrew, there’s barely a difference between a bra and a bikini. No need to get so embarrassed.”
Even though what Poppy said was logical, Andrew didn’t agree with it. Or, at least, his body didn’t agree with it. He rushed out of Poppy’s bedroom and into his own, getting changed into his swimming trunks whilst desperately trying not to think of the girl he was crazy about wearing only a bra and a tiny pair of denim shorts.
He beat her to the pool. He swam a couple of lengths before taking a deep breath and sinking to the bottom, holding his knees to his chest in order to calm his racing heart. A few seconds later, a splash at the other end of the pool alerted him to the fact that Poppy had joined him.
Once she located Andrew she swam over and sat on the bottom of the pool with him, holding her hands out until he took them. Andrew had no idea what was going on, but when he looked at Poppy’s eyes through the chlorinated water it almost looked like she was crying.
He wanted to comfort her.
He didn’t know how.
After about a minute of squeezing each others’ hands and wide-eyed staring the two of them resurfaced, though Andrew could have stayed underwater for much longer than that. He followed Poppy when she swam over to the edge of the pool where it overlooked the loch. She closed her eyes and raised her head to the sun, sighing contentedly as if she hadn’t felt its rays on her face in days.
Andrew supposed she hadn’t.
“Did you really just faint in the caves because of hunger?” he asked quietly, after glancing around to make sure nobody was within earshot. But most of the club was on a hike; Nate, Rich and Robin had only hung back to keep Andrew company, since he hadn’t wanted to leave in case Poppy woke up.
Poppy smiled at him; Andrew thought it looked rather sad. “That’s exactly what happened, Andrew. Don’t worry about me. It’s like you said two weeks ago – I’m an adult. It’s time I acted like one…starting with making sure I actually feed myself.”
“Did you know Greg’s sister has leukaemia?”
“Andrew, I swear, what the hell is all this about? I never had you pegged for a gossip. First Megan, now Greg Fraser…”
“I’m not a gossip,” he protested. “I just listen.”
Poppy was quiet for a moment. “I didn’t know about his sister.”
“I think it’s why he’s working so hard to get scouted, so he can get together some money for her. His family want to go overseas for some experimental treatment.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“I just think it would be nice if people who actually deserved to get a break got it,” he replied honestly. “Instead of Angelica or Ross or Craig, I mean.”
Poppy’s eyes narrowed. “Ross wasn’t scouted. Dorian kicked him out.”
He flinched. “Oh yeah…I forgot.”
“You never forget anything.”
“I do so.”
“Only when you want to avoid an awkward topic of conversation.”
She looked like she was going to press the matter further, but then Poppy dunked her head beneath the surface of the pool and shot back up, flipping her long hair back like the mermaid in The Little Mermaid. Andrew liked that film.
“I guess I can relate to wanting to avoid awkward topics of conversation,” she eventually replied. Glancing at Andrew, she added, “I always have your back, you know. You can talk to me about anything.”
“Am I allowed to have your back?”
Poppy pretended to think about this for a moment, then grinned. “You better have my back, Andrew. You saying you haven’t until now?”
She made a wave in the water with her arm, sending it splashing into Andrew. He held up his hands intending to avoid it, but before he knew it he had splashed her back and was laughing louder than he had in weeks.
“Oh my – Poppy! When did you wake up?!”
Rachelle ran up to the edge of the infinity pool, having just returned from the hike most of the club was on. Casey squealed in delight when she saw her, before expertly diving into the pool – clothes and all.
“Just what I wanted after all that walking! It’s roasting today. Oh hi there, Poppy. Didn’t know you were still alive.”
“Bitch.”
Casey stuck out her tongue as she pulled off her top and shorts, leaving her in her underwear. When Rachelle started pulling off her clothes to join them, Nate, Rich and Robin came out of the social area and watched the scene in disbelief.
“No fair, Andrew,” Nate pouted as he wrenched off his t-shirt just as the other two followed suit. “You abandon us and end up in the pool with three lovely, barely-dressed ladies?”
“I call a conspiracy,” Rich laughed as they bombed into the pool.
What’s in the air today that’s making everyone take their clothes off? Andrew thought in confusion. Under normal circumstances he would have been completely overwhelmed by this turn of events, not least because he had been frozen to the spot the moment Casey started stripping off her top. But now that Poppy was awake and back with the group Andrew found that he could tolerate the noisy crowd.
The group continued to splash and dive and wrestle with each other beneath the surface of the water, the air filled with the sounds of laughter and screams and incessant chatter.
Everyone was having fun like they always had done before.
And Dorian was nowhere in sight.
INTERLUDE III
When Megan was informed by Dorian Kapros that she had been scouted she couldn’t help but be surprised. Sure, she was a pretty decent rock climber, and she’d performed better than usual in the caves, but there were many people in the club that she’d have though would be picked over her. Still, she wasn’t going to complain.
Like most people in the club, Megan had never been to the first floor of the west wing before, so she had no reason to suspect that the room she was brought into was anything but normal.
Then the door was locked behind her and she took in the sight of the people already inside.
“An-Angelica?” she whispered, her brain struggling to register the sight of her friend lying despondent on a bed. More than that – Angelica was missing her eyes. She spared a glance for the man sitting on the floor, staring blankly at the wall. He didn’t seem to be missing anything. “Craig?”
“Megan?” Angelica babbled uncertainly as she gazed sightlessly around the room. “Megan, is that you?”
“Yes! What’s going –”
Angelica choked on a sob. “Not you, too!”
Craig opened his mouth as if he was going to say something but nothing came out. He had lost his tongue and all his perfect, white teeth.
Megan felt a prick on the side of her neck and a hazy cloud of unconsciousness took over.
The scream she had held in her throat was never released.
FRANCIS GREENE
Fred
“Casey, are you reading?”
“Even I enjoy a book now and again, Rachelle.”
“No, it’s impossible. I refuse to believe it. What’re you reading?”
Casey’s cheeks reddened slightly. “I’m not telling you. Go back to talking about whatever you were talking about.”
Rachelle looked at Casey protectively clutching her Kindle with an expression that very much suggested she’d find out what the book was
sooner rather than later.
“Worst date, Rachelle,” Nate urged. “Come on, spit it out. Just because your last ex is currently in the room with us doesn’t mean you can’t tell us.”
“Oh, I have no doubt her worst date was with Frederick,” Poppy drawled, throwing a pointed look at Fred in the process.
Now that Poppy was awake things finally seemed to be getting back to normal again. The club felt very much like it had done for the past year, even with some of the members having left already. But that’s what struck Fred as unusual and unsettling.
It was too normal.
He gave Poppy the finger. “The only bad dates Rachelle and I had were ones you interrupted, King.”
She held a hand to her heart in mock horror. “Me? Mess up your dates? Never.”
To Fred’s left, Andrew choked on a laugh. It somehow pissed Fred off more to know that Andrew found Poppy’s interfering funny, rather than disapproving of it. He kicked him gently. “Never had you down as a co-conspirator, Forbes.”
Andrew inched away to prevent Fred from kicking him again. “I was not.”
“What, so Poppy merely regaled you with her exploits, instead?”
“Yes.”
“Of fucking course.”
“We’re getting off-topic!” Nate cut in.
“Oh, what’s the topic?”
The entire group turned at the sound of the voice; it was Patrick.
Casey looked up from her Kindle, a dazzling smile playing across her lips as she allowed the man to sidle up beside her on the sofa. “Hey there, Patrick.”
“Hey there, beautiful. What’re you reading?”
“That’s what I want to know!”
“Shush, Rachelle,” Nate scolded. “Patrick, we’re talking about worst dates. Rachelle’s dodging the question because hers was probably with Fred.”
Patrick raised his eyebrows. “The two of you went out?”
“For nearly two years!” Casey exclaimed. “Poppy got in the way, of course.”
“I didn’t really.”
Fred scowled at her. Of course Poppy would never take responsibility for the strain she’d put on her best friend’s relationship. It would be so very un-Poppy to do so.
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