The Black Swan Behind (Beauty of Fire)

74 Roger And Poppy (3)

Out of jealousy, Addle planned to frame Poppy. When the school hour was over, she and her group hid in the school backyard until the school was almost empty. Sure enough, when they returned to the class, the room was empty and dark. Even in the school corridor, there was no one to be seen.

Then, they went inside and scribbled on Eric’s desk with mocking and insults. They didn’t forget to draw the dirty pictures on it with a big marker. After the action, they put the marker under Poppy’s desk drawer.

The next day, the class was in an uproar because Eric went into a rage after finding his desk had been scribbled on.

“Who did it?!” Growled Eric who was the leader of the class. Everyone was silent because they did not know who did it.

Poppy and Roger arrived at the class with confused faces because of the commotion Eric was making. As usual, Roger and Poppy very often come to school and go home together because their house was in the same housing estate.

“What’s happened?” Roger asked the friend sitting next to his desk.

“Someone scribbled on Eric’s desk. But the culprit won’t admit it.” He answered in a whisper.

“Calm down, Eric. We’ll find out who did it,” Said Addle by trying to calm her boyfriend. “Whoever did this, must be a weirdo! I don’t know what the purpose was.. but, they certainly want to make a fuss with you,” she continued with a face full of prejudice.

Poppy sat in her chair and took off her backpack with her eyes still fixed on the commotion at the front-row table with a puzzled look on her face. Slowly, the other students began to arrive, until the class was getting crowded. Just like the others, Edna had just arrived too. She was the girl sitting in front of Poppy, and was Addle’s best friend.

.....

Edna stepped into her chair and smiled at Poppy, “Good morning,” she greeted politely as usual. Yes, Addle and her group also started being nice to Poppy after she became popular.

“Good morning too, Edna.” Poppy said kindly.

Edna sat in her chair and pretended to be looking for something in her backpack. Then, she took out a notebook, but it fell to the floor. Edna briefly glanced at Poppy’s desk before she descended to the floor to pick up the book. Then, when she was about to stand up..

BUGH!!

“Owww!” Edna screamed while holding her shoulder, “Ouch.. I’m sorry Poppy. I wrong moved my leg.” she explained, still holding Poppy’s table which was halfway fall due to being pushed by her body.

Poppy smiled with both hands also holding her desk, “It’s okay, Edna. Luckily, it falls this way, so, I still could hold it up.”

Edna’s loud scream had caught the attention of all the class members who were gathered in front. Several boys rushed to Poppy’s desk to take advantage of the situation and pretended to help her, “Poppy.. are you okay?”

Poppy shook her head with a smile, “I’m fine, really. The desk isn’t heavy, anyway.”

“Looks like there’s been a lot of commotion this morning,” Roger chuckles. Of course, he was the first to arrive beside Poppy. The boy helped lift her fallen desk.

“Thanks, guys. I’m really all right,” Poppy said with a gentle smile, made Edna secretly look at her in disgust for always giving the boys a cheap smile.

“Wow.. You have a green marker that big? It’s funny, isn’t it.. I often look for markers like that, but it’s really hard to find.” Edna said by pointing at Poppy’s lap.

Everyone stared at the long object that Edna meant. At first, they did not notice anything strange. But slowly, they began to frown.

Poppy took the big marker from above her lap with a confused face, “It’s not mine,”

“Not yours? But it’s in your lap.” Answered one of the girls standing beside her.

Addle came to the back row before glancing at Edna for a moment with a meaningful stare, “What’s going on, guys?”, But then, she acted surprised to see the marker Poppy was holding and roughly grabbed it, “This is yours?” she asked accusingly.

Poppy shook her head, “I don’t know why that thing could suddenly be in my lap. Looks like it fell from my desk drawer.” she thought.

Addle didn’t answer. She just turned around and walked over to Eric’s table. Then, she opened the marker cover and scribbled a line on the surface of the table. The result was, the line that she made looked exactly the same as the other scribbles.

Eric looked at it with an angry face. He looked at Addle who was looking at him meaningfully, then turned to the back table, where Poppy was sitting. Then with rough steps, he approached Poppy who immediately gave a scared face.

“Did you do it?!” asked the guy fiercely.

Poppy shook her head hastily and explained, somewhat stuttering, that she didn’t recognize the marker. She kept denying that she was the one scribbling on Eric’s desk.

“To be honest, I actually feel that Poppy is annoyed with you, Eric. You always approach her aggressively. If I were Poppy, I would probably be annoyed too. So.. if Poppy takes her frustrations out on your desk, I think it’s only natural.” Said Edna suddenly.

Eric immediately turned to the bespectacled girl with rekindled anger, “What did you say?! How dare you say that?!”

The other boys and as well Addle immediately restrained Eric’s body.

“What are you talking about, Edna?! I didn’t know you could be that annoying?!” Addle scolded her.

“Addle it wasn’t me...”

“I just wanted to defend Poppy. I, who had been sitting in front of Poppy all this time, felt sorry for her who was always bothered by Eric. I also realized that Poppy actually felt uncomfortable and was already done with it. Maybe, Poppy didn’t dare to express it directly. Because of that! As a friend, I want to help her to speak up.” Edna explained by cutting off Poppy’s words.

“But I really wasn’t the one...”

“Never mind, Poppy. You don’t have to deny it anymore. OK! I’m trying to understand that somehow you’re annoyed by Eric, even though I’m sure he never really intended to get close to you because he already has me as his girlfriend.” Addle cut Poppy’s words. Then, she put an annoyed expression on her face and continued, “But, you don’t have to speak it in such a crazy way! You really insulted Eric. Your writing is also very hurtful. Don’t you have a heart? Don’t you have any sense? It seems that you’re still as weird as ever. I thought you’d changed?!”

Roger looked at the whole classmate who seemed to be intrigued by Addle’s words. They started whispering to each other by looking accusingly at Poppy. Poppy looked like she was about to cry and her head lowered again. Her hands were clenched into fists in her laps and her body was shaking.

“I did it.” Said Roger suddenly. Then, all the kids turned to look at him.

Addle and Edna looked at each other in surprise. Didn’t expect Roger to suddenly admit to being the culprit.

“W.. what are you saying, Roger? Why would you even do that?” Addle asked with an awkward face, frightened that her plan would fail.

Roger paused with a deep breath. He gulped hard before speaking again, “I’m annoyed with Eric because he influenced the other guys to stay away from me.” Roger looked at Eric with an accusing face, “I know you’ve been badmouthing me to all the guys behind my back all this time. You know what? That kind of act is the work of a loser. Therefore, I repay you in almost the same way!”

“Then, why is the marker on Poppy?” Asked one of the boys, “Or.. don’t say you’re the one...” he pointed at Roger with disbelief.

Roger clenched his jaw and nodded, “I hid the marker in Poppy’s desk drawer. I thought, since you all liked her, you’d forgive her if you found out. But it turns out... you guys are that evil.”

“We’re evil? You’re the evil one, you idiot!” One of the guys growled.

Poppy looked at Roger with wide eyes in disbelief, while Roger did not dare to look back at Poppy at all. He just put on an annoying look, as if he was proud of what he had done.

“You dare call me a loser?! You are a real loser here!” Suddenly, a fist flew to Roger’s cheek. A punch from Eric made his blue-eyed old friend fall to the side and crash into the chair.

Roger sat up as holding his aching cheek. He looked at all his friends who surrounded him with a disgusted look. In all his life, Roger had never seen such a look from anyone else.

***

Several days had passed since the incident. Now, all the students in the class ostracized Roger. But for Poppy, she was still surrounded by friends who had apologized to her because they had accused her at that time. But Roger didn’t mind. The important thing was that Poppy was no longer trapped in the shackles that ensnared her before.

Now, Poppy could smile. Even though it wasn’t Roger anymore who made that smile.

“Bye Poppy!”

Poppy waved her friends back with a big smile. Then, she stepped back out of the school quiet gate.

“Poppy,”

The girl turned to the familiar voice calling her. Her face instantly turned stiff, “Ro.. roger..”

The guy looked around to make sure no one was watching them. He walked over to Poppy who was standing stiffly. Then, he handed her a shiny pink box with a sky blue ribbon, “I’m sorry for didn’t come to your birthday party yesterday.” he said.

Poppy looked at the gift with a surprised face, then looked up at Roger who was still giving her a faint smile. In that smile.. implied sadness.