Chapter 62

Chapter 31 "Let's make a trade," Grayson said. "My chocolate cake for your fries." I looked at my tray of food, then at Grayson's. "Hmm... I kind of want that cake, but I know how much you want the fries, so I'm very tempted to decline your offer." Grayson gave me a fake pout. "Come on, babe. There was only one plate of fries left and you said you wanted it, so I gave it to you." "I only said it because I knew you wanted it," I teased, taking a fry off my plate and popping it in my mouth. Grayson scowled as he began eating the caeser salad on his plate. He loved his fries and I loved bugging him. "Am I the only one confused by their relationship?" Devon asked. "You'll get used to it," Belle said with an eye roll, patting his shoulder. Thalia suddenly walked up to us. "Can I sit here?" she asked. The table was for four and since I was sitting at the end in my wheelchair, there was an extra spot. "There's nowhere else to sit." "So long as you don't dump soda on me," Devon said coolly. I didn't really want Thalia sitting with us since when I first came to school after I was in the hospital, she gave me the worse smirk ever. Thalia sat down in the last empty spot, beside Grayson. He didn't even look at her as he continued eating his salad. "Grayson," Belle said. "Can you pass me a napkin?" She gestured to the pile of napkins sitting between his food and Thalia's. Grayson glared at Belle and ignored her question. Someone was in a cranky mood today. Thalia passed Belle a napkin. Belle accepted it, but didn't even thank her. She was still mad at her for the whole Devon thing. After Grayson stabbed his salad for the third time, I sighed and handed him my fries. "Here," I said. "Now give me the chocolate cake." Grayson actually cracked a smile as he took my fries and handed me the cake. "Thank you, Flower." He leaned over and planted a sweet kiss on my lips. "Gross," Belle said, added with a fake gag. "Can you two not kiss in front of me? Thank you." "Oh, does it bother you?" Grayson asked, turning to look at Belle. She nodded, which made Grayson smirk. "Then you might want to look away." He pressed his lips repeatedly on mine, probably just to bug Belle. I pulled away from Grayson, knowing Tony was going to show up any minute. "Three, two, one..." Tony walked up to us. "Grayson, how many times do I have to tell you? Stop kissing my sister in public." "Have I ever told you how impeccable your timing is?" I asked sarcastically. Tony gave me a smile. "I try my best. So, no more kissing my sister." "Bite me, Tony," I said. "I don't like your attitude," Tony said. "I don't like you bossing me around," I shot back. "Flower, don't argue with your brother," Grayson said. "Thank you, Grayson," Tony said. "Besides," Grayson continued. "He can't stop us at home. He doesn't live with us." Tony sighed and shook his head. "You can do whatever you want at home. But at school, no PDA." He walked away with an irritated look on his face, something he did often at school. "See?" Belle asked. "You shouldn't be kissing in school." "Just yesterday, you and Devon were making out in front of my locker," I pointed out. Belle looked away and started eating her lunch, ignoring what I just said. Point, Poppy. "So, Poppy," Thalia spoke up. "Why are you in a wheelchair?" "Doesn't matter," I muttered. She was probably going to give me a stupid smirk again. Grayson reached for my hand and held it, knowing I was starting to get a bit agitated with Thalia. I knew all she asked was a simple question, but I couldn't get the smirk she gave me out of my head. "Are you okay?" she asked. "Nope," I said. "It's kind of hard to accept what I'm going through when someone gives me an amused smile in biology." "You must have been hallucinating," Thalia said, denying what she did. "I don't hallucinate," I said. "Thalia, do me a favor?" Grayson asked. She gave him a smile, nodding her head. "Don't talk to Poppy, alright?" "I was just..." "No, you always use that excuse," Grayson said. "You weren't just doing anything. You keep being a jerk to her, even though she's the sweetest, most kind person you will ever meet and I am sick of the attitude you keep giving her. Every day, I'm telling you to stop acting the way you do, but you don't stop. What will it take for you to stop being a bitch?" Thalia clenched her jaw. "I am not a bitch." "No?" Grayson asked. "Then tell me. Why did you go after Devon when Belle told you she was planning on getting back together with him? Why did you steal my antidepressants and assume Poppy is giving me drugs? More importantly, why do you act like Poppy ruined your life? Name one bad thing she ever did to you." Thalia couldn't name anything, so she got up with her tray and went to another part of the cafeteria. "Well..." Belle said slowly. "That was... interesting." "Wait," Devon said. "Your antidepressants?" Grayson sighed. "Yeah. Depressed. Don't tell anyone. Please." "I won't," Devon said. When school ended, Grayson and I went to our lockers to get our homework before heading outside. Belle was standing outside with her arms crossed. "This is the fifth day in a row my parents are later," Belle said. "And I don't have my car anymore because my parents took it away since I won't get along with my brother." "Why not get Devon to drop you off?" I asked. "Football practice," Belle said. "And honestly, I don't want to sit in another practice. I love him and everything, but nothing can make me..." "Belle!" a voice called from the parking lot. The three of us looked over, only to see the one person I couldn't stand seeing. The one person who scared the living crap out of me. Ben. "Great," Belle muttered as Ben walked towards his sister. "My stupid brother is here." "Mom wanted me to pick you up," Ben said. Belle crossed her arms over her chest. "I'd rather take the bus." Ben sighed. "Come on, Belle. Don't make this harder than it already has to be." "Well, we should probably get going," Grayson said. "Poppy and I have somewhere to be." I looked up at him. "We do?" "I didn't tell you?" Grayson asked. "Oh, well. You're getting a surprise, then." "Poppy, is that you?" Ben asked me. "I almost didn't recognize you. There's something different about you, isn't there?" He flashed me a smirk that I looked away from as Grayson started pushing me to his car. I was surprise Grayson was keeping his cool and not snapping at Ben. Grayson wouldn't tell me the supposed place we had to be. He would just tell me to wait like a normal person. We pulled into the parking lot of the nearby park. "The park?" I asked. "Why?" "Because," Grayson said, reaching in the backseat and pulling out a picnic basket. "We are going on a picnic with Elliot and Laughlin." Elliot was Grayson's cousin and Laughlin was her boyfriend. We got along great with the two. "Where did you get the picnic basket from?" I asked. "I didn't see you bring it in the morning." Grayson gave me a smile as he got out of the car. "I may have left second period because I was bored and didn't feel like going to gym class." "Really?" I asked. "You cut class so you could get a picnic basket?" "I brought white macadamia nut cookies," Grayson said. "Well, then, the picnic can't go to waste," I said, smiling at the fact Grayson brought my favorite cookies. When I was in my wheelchair, Grayson handed me the picnic basket to carry. He followed the path down the park until we spotted Elliot and Laughlin. They were standing under a tree, Laughlin having his arms wrapped around his girlfriend. I loved seeing the two of them together. They were so in love. Grayson stopped right beside them, and they didn't even notice. They were too busy hugging. "So," Grayson said, resting his elbows on the handles of my wheelchair. Elliot and Laughlin finally ended their hug and looked at us. "I brought the food." "It took you long enough to get here," Elliot said. "Sorry," Grayson said sarcastically. "I should have gone faster when I was helping my girlfriend in and out of the car." "Grayson told us what happened," Elliot said, looking at me. "How are you feeling?" "Better, I guess," I said. "It's still hard, but like Grayson keeps saying, it's only temporary." That still didn't stop me from worrying. "Let's start eating," Grayson said. "I'm actually quite starving." Grayson took the picnic basket from me, opening it up and setting it on the ground. Grayson placed food on a plate and handed it to me. I thanked him before I started eating. While we were eating, we talked about basically everything. Grayson was extremely close with his cousin, so we actually spent quite a lot of time together since he was also close with Laughlin and I was close with Elliot. When we were finished eating, Elliot stood beside me as we watched our boyfriends nearby attempt to box. Well, Grayson was attempting. Laughlin actually knew how to. "How's Grayson doing?" Elliot asked me. "You know, with his depression." "Better," I said. "I think everything that's going on right now is sort of distracting him from his depression. He's acting like he did before he was diagnosed." Elliot smiled. "It's good seeing him act like himself again. Kind of like Laughlin. He was very temperamental before, but now he's actually quite calm. I hadn't heard him yell in months." Grayson suddenly grabbed his wrist and, like he always did when he hurt it, swore like crazy. "Grayson!" I called. "Watch your language!" Grayson gave me an annoyed look. "Yes, Mom. God, it hurts!" "Sorry," Laughlin said. "I shouldn't have agreed to show you how to box right now." "He shouldn't have asked," Elliot pointed out. "I didn't know it was going to hurt!" Grayson objected. "Are you kidding me?" I asked. "You hurt your wrist just by playing video games. You thought boxing wasn't going to hurt you?" Grayson didn't even answer. "I think I need to ice this." "I should be heading home anyway," Laughlin said. "Munro is probably annoying the hell out of my grandfather." "Bye!" I called as Elliot and Laughlin left the park. "Great," Grayson muttered. "They're leaving me with the clean up." I rolled my eyes. "It won't take that long." I was right. He was finished under a minute. When Grayson and I got home, he immediately grabbed some ice from the freezer. I guessed driving back home made it worse. "Flower, I have a question," Grayson said. "Do you... do you blame me for your condition?" I furrowed my eyebrows. "What are you talking about?" "Well, I was the one who crashed the car," Grayson said. "If I was only paying attention..." "Grayson," I interrupted. "I don't blame you at all. We were arguing, that's all. Why? Are you blaming yourself?" Grayson sighed. "Kind of. I have trouble sleeping at night, to be honest. I keep thinking about what I could have done to avoid it and what I could have done so you wouldn't be paralyzed." "It's not your fault," I said. "This whole time, I haven't once blamed you. I never thought that it was your fault. It wasn't, okay?" "Yeah, okay," Grayson said. "I just really needed to hear that."