The Black Swan Behind (Beauty of Fire)

73 [Bonus chapter]Roger And Poppy (2)

When Poppy was in grades one to four of elementary school, her mother’s career was on the rise. Therefore, during those four years, Poppy spent more time with the nanny than her own parents. They even moved to an elite housing estate, which was their current house, because of their mother’s high income.

To prevent her daughter from getting bored, or in another sense, as penance for guilt, the mother gave Poppy many private tutors. From there, Poppy finally found her interest in ballet dance. The mother who saw this wanted to support her daughter by enrolling her in various courses, paying very expensive private tutors, and also providing all the luxurious ballet equipment for her daughter.

But all the fantastic facilities that Poppy received from her mother’s money, did not make her social skills develop well. Due to lack of psychological support from both parents and indeed her shy nature made the girl ended up as she was now. Although in the end, the mother had been home quite often when Poppy had entered the fifth grade, but it was too late. Because the girl was already immersed in a problem that she would never tell her parents.

Roger felt very sorry for Poppy. If only he was mature enough to be more sensitive to Poppy’s strange nature, maybe he could help her mentally by comforting her in the first place. But what could he do? Even then, Roger was just an ordinary little boy who only knew playing around. His sense of empathy was still in the developmental stage.

Roger’s presence in Poppy’s life became a light that shone amid a dark day. Even what he was doing now, made her smile at school for the first time. Poppy was overjoyed when Roger chose to spend time with her instead of his popular group of friends.

Even during sports hour where Poppy was usually always alone, there was Roger now who always accompanied and became her partner in playing games. Even though, Roger usually would go to play ball with his male friends. But now, he left it all to accompany Poppy.

Silently, Roger thought about how to keep Poppy from being ostracized again. How could Poppy be accepted in society and lead a normal life? Because, even though Poppy always smiled when Roger was beside her, he knew he couldn’t always be there for Poppy. Because Roger was only a human. He could be sick, could have an accident, or something else. What Roger wanted was... Poppy could stand on her own two feet and see Poppy smile for many reasons, not just for him only.

Roger opened the internet. Found out the reasons of how does a girl have many friends. The first thing that came up was the personality and the second was the looks.

Yes, people tend to be more attracted to an attractive person. That was human nature.

.....

“For point one, it might take a long time to make it happen. Then, I’ll help Poppy with point number two.” Roger thought.

After that, Roger shared his idea with Poppy. He said he would help Poppy to get along with the other kids. He would free her from the shackles of the status of a loser who was always ostracized. At first, Poppy was afraid and unsure. But Roger desperately persuaded her until she finally agreed.

With that, Roger started to help Poppy to change her appearance, which people said was unattractive, although, for Roger, all this time Poppy looked beautiful in his eyes. Never once did Roger think Poppy’s appearance was odd. He always liked the girl just the way she was.

Since Roger was a boy, he was confused about how to dress Poppy right. But he got the idea to buy lots of teen girl fashion magazines and searched things on the internet too. He also accompanied Poppy and her mother to the mall to shop for clothes.

Poppy’s mother was amazed at Roger’s persistence in persuading her daughter. During this time, the mother realized that it seemed that Poppy didn’t really like fashion. The girl kept wearing the t-shirts with boring colours and baggy jeans. Even though her mother tried to dress Poppy, she always refused because she was too shy to dress up. She was afraid that she would be mocked by her classmates if she wore flashy clothes.

Roger never expected that it turned out that Poppy was very gorgeous when she dressed in a girly style. Her long black hair which she always tied up carelessly was now loosened down and curled at the ends. She started wearing skirts, skinny jeans, and dresses with brighter colours. Her glowing fairy skin, clear eyes, and naturally red lips were now finally visible when her hair was cut in a trending style.

Poppy moved shyly in front of a mirror. Roger stared at the reflection of the two of them in it with a warm smile.

“You’re so beautiful, Poppy!” He admired.

Poppy turned to him with flushed cheeks, “Th.. thank you.”

Roger stroked Poppy’s head affectionately, “From now on, you have to be confident, Poppy. You have to remember, no matter what happens, I will always be by your side. I will take care of you.”

Roger’s words made Poppy’s eyes sparkle. She nodded with a warm smile.

***

The two kids looked bored in a cafe that sold very tasty waffles. The waffle with ice cream topping on it, they set as their favourite waffle since the first time they visited the mall.

“Let’s go for a Photo box!” said Roger suddenly, “Your mother is still at the salon, right?”

Poppy glanced at her watch then nodded, “There’s still an hour to go.”

They entered into a Photobox which was in an arcade entertainment arena that was still on the same floor. Roger pulled Poppy’s arm into the small box room covered by a curtain printed with many pictures.

Roger swiped his card into the machine and the Photobox machine started running.

“Get ready..” Roger said stylishly. He glanced at Poppy who just stood stiffly beside him, “You have to make a pose, Poppy. Today is the first day you change your look. We have to immortalize it.”

“O.. okay ..” Poppy replied and made an awkward pose. She’s not used to taking pictures because she felt bad at it.

They took a lot of photos, from when Poppy used to be stiff until she finally looked relaxed to express herself. Of course, she was carried away by the positive aura of the guy beside her.

“This is the last shot, right?” Poppy asked by looking at the screen attached to the Photobox machine.

Roger glanced at Poppy. Then, before the last shot was taken, he quickly put his arm around Poppy’s shoulders and pulled her close to him. He also leaned his cheek on the girl’s head which was only as short as his shoulder and smiled broadly.

“Hahahahahaa.. Look at your face!” Roger laughed when all the photos result were out of the machine.

Poppy pouted seeing her face in the last photo which looked like a fool in shock. She immediately slapped Roger’s arm, “Why are you suddenly hugging me? Look, my face is so ugly.” she scolded.

“No.. It’s beautiful..” Roger teased. Then, he immediately grabbed the last photo and quickly put it in the pocket, “I keep this photo!” he laughed with joy before running away.

“Hey!” Poppy exclaimed. Then, she chuckled in annoyance as she looked back at the photos in her hands. She smiled, “Roger..”

***

The appearance of Poppy with a new style made all the kids flabbergasted. They were not expecting that the girl turned out to be very beautiful and cute when wearing stylish clothes. It looked like Poppy had also changed her bag and shoes. Her long, flowing hair was pinned with a headband to reveal the shape of her sweet little face.

“Crazy! Is that really Poppy Castonia?!” Eric muttered, instantly making her girlfriend look up with a furrowed brow, displeased.

“What’s up with her? She’s just changing the hairstyle. What’s so exciting about it?” Addle asked by folding her arms in front of her chest.

All this time, it was Addle and her five girl friends who had always secretly bullied Poppy. Now, that Poppy had started to get the boys’ attention, they became jealous. Due to this fact, it turned out that Poppy was the most beautiful girl in the class. Moreover, because Roger was always beside Poppy, they couldn’t bother her anymore.

Roger sighed with satisfaction seeing the positive response from his classmates. Now that the path had opened a little, Roger was about to launch the second mission. Although he really wanted to play with the boys in his group, Roger was willing to join the group of girls in his class. Even though it made his relationship with his friends of the boys group begin to stretch.

Once he was able to mingle with the girls, Roger began to invite Poppy inside. He led her to be able to socialize with the others, stood up for her when someone insults her, and helped break the group’s mood that sometimes became awkward because of Poppy’s presence. Until finally, Poppy began to get used to talking with the other friends. Over time, Poppy’s social skills and self-confidence grew rapidly.

When Roger felt that he could let Poppy go a little, he returned to his own group. However, his friends became a bit uncomfortable with Roger who suddenly approached them again.

In the minds of the middle schoolers, that boy was only looking for attention from the girls. And in their hearts, they were also jealous that Roger was so close to Poppy who was now the prettiest girl in the class. Especially Eric, who had a secret crush on Poppy. It was him who provoked the boys in the group to stay away from Roger.

As time goes by, Poppy had more and more friends. Her personality was also slowly changing. From a quiet and always gloomy figure, now she became talk active and always smiled. All the kids were also increasingly aware that Poppy actually had a good nature and was easy to make friends with.

But not everyone was happy with the change. Addle and her friends were secretly envious of Poppy, who was growing in popularity and being loved by the boys. Whereas before, Addle was the prettiest girl and even held the status as the belle of the class. But now, her position had been shifted by Poppy, who had even got the attention from the other classes’ boys. What made Addle hurt more was even Eric, her own boyfriend, also went after Poppy.