Chapter 64

Chapter 33 "What's going on?" I asked Grayson as he stopped my wheelchair and the end of one of the aisles of chairs. "I have no idea," he said as he sat down beside me. "But who cares. It's getting us out of biology." I raised an eyebrow and looked at him. "Don't you need biology to be a veterinarian?" "Well, yeah," Grayson said. "But I can only have enough of your brother before wanting to pull my hair out." I slapped his shoulder. "Don't be mean about my brother." Grayson just gave me a smile as Mrs. Hanks, the teacher in charge of this year's graduation committee walked to the front of the auditorium with a microphone. All the grade twelves were called to the auditorium for a surprise event, something that was going to happen often. Everyone quieted down before Mrs. Hanks started talking in the microphone. "Welcome to the very first surprise senior event," she said. "For this one, we're going to be inviting eight already chosen people up here for a little competition. There's two conditions, however. One, these eight students don't know they're about to be called up here. And two, the eight being called are actually four couples that the graduation committee picked out. So first, we'd like to call up Loni and Jace." Loni was actually one of Belle's ex-friends and Jace was somewhat Devon's friend. They were best friends a couple months ago, but they haven't been that close since Devon went to jail and was released. When Loni and Jace were sitting at one of the four tables on the stage, Mrs.Hanks called up another couple, Leo and Stacy. They were both really sweet people. The next couple called up was Belle and Devon. Grayson snorted. "Ha! They have to go up there!" "I'm guessing you don't want to go up there," I said. "I don't like being in front of crowds," Grayson said. "Since when?" I asked. Grayson didn't reply because Mrs. Hanks began talking again. "And the final couple, the very first one that the committee actually chose, is Grayson and Poppy." "Dammit," Grayson said with a sigh. "Oh, come on, it will be fun," I said. Actually, I didn't even know if it would be fun because I had no idea what we were going to be doing. "Uh huh," Grayson muttered as he stood up and pushed my wheelchair to the final table, which actually already had one chair since I couldn't use one. Grayson parked the wheelchair right beside the chair before sitting down. On the table was a small whiteboard and a dry erase marker. What were we going to be doing? "Alright, so here is the event," Mrs. Hanks said. "This is a competition on these four lovely couples. A series of questions were created and I will be asking all of the couples the question to see which one knows each other the best. When a question is asked, whoever is holding the whiteboard will get twenty seconds to write down what they think is the answer. Okay, for the first question, I want Grayson, Devon, Leo, and Jace to hold the whiteboard." Once all four were doing so, Mrs. Hanks continued. "Here's the question. Who is your girlfriend's best friend?" I silently sighed at this. A week ago, I told Grayson that he surpassed Belle for the best friend status, but I really didn't want Belle knowing. I was surprised Grayson didn't tell her already. "Alright, time is up," Mrs. Hanks said. "We'll start at this end with Grayson and Poppy. Poppy, who is your best friend?" I looked over at Belle. "Sorry," I said before turning back to Mrs. Hanks. "Grayson." "Thanks, Poppy," Belle said sarcastically with an eye roll. "Grayson, what did you write?" Mrs. Hanks asked. Grayson flipped the whiteboard, revealing his name written down. "One point for Poppy and Grayson." There was a screen at the side that was keeping track of the score. Next was Devon and Belle. She actually said Devon was her best friend, and that was what he wrote down. I no longer felt guilty about giving Grayson best friend status. Grayson leaned over as Mrs. Hanks went to Leo and Stacy. "Hey," he said in a whisper. "This is boring." "You find everything boring," I said. Grayson shrugged. "True. Why were we picked first by the committee?" "How should I know?" I asked. "Now shush." The next few questions were fairly easy. All four of us couples got them correct, so we were still tied with five points each. One question, a simple on in my opinion, was where the points started to stagger. "Next question for the boys to write down," Mrs. Hanks said. "Do you have a nickname for your girlfriend? If so, what is it?" After the twenty seconds were up, Mrs. Hanks started with Grayson and I again. "So, Poppy. What do you think Grayson wrote down?" "Yes, he does have a nickname for me," I said. "He has two, really, but the one he mainly uses if Flower." "Grayson?" Mrs. Hanks asked. Grayson turned around the whiteboard. Two words were written on it; yes and then Flower. Mrs. Hanks smiled at that. "Another point for Grayson and Poppy." She then moved on to Belle and Devon. "Belle? What's your answer?" "My answer is no," Belle said. "And Devon, what did you write?" Devon winced as he turned around the whiteboard with two words; yes and babe. "When have you ever called me babe?" Belle asked. "I call you babe all the time," Devon said. "What? No, you don't," Belle said. "He kind of does," I spoke up. Belle looked at me with a sharp glare. "Who's side are you on, best friend?" "The side of truth, best friend," I said. "Alright, moving on," Mrs. Hanks said. The questions started getting a bit harder, like 'What was the name of your significant other's first pet?' or 'Who was your significant other's first kiss?' I hated the latter question since it was asked to Grayson about me. He knew the real answer, but luckily, he wrote his name down instead and I answered his name. There was no way I was going to consider Ben my first kiss. We didn't know how many questions there were so there we were always thinking that we could pull ahead, even if there was one question left. Grayson and I were doing surprisingly well. Not to brag or anything, but we were getting all the questions right, even the difficult ones. Then again, we told each other anything. The next question, I knew it hit Grayson in a sensitive spot. It was for the girls to write and as soon as Mrs. Hanks asked it, I knew what the answer was. "If your boyfriend could change anything in the past, what would it be?" Mrs. Hanks asked. I wrote down the answer, sneaking a look at Grayson. He was looking down and I knew that he could start crying any minute. That was how sensitive the topic was for him. "Grayson, the answer?" Mrs. Hanks asked. "The car crash," Grayson said, his voice just loud enough for Mrs. Hanks to hear. Mrs. Hanks must have realized she hit a soft spot because her face turned into apologetic. "Poppy?" she asked, her voice as quiet as Grayson's. I turned the whiteboard around with the same answer Grayson said. "I'm so sorry about that," Mrs. Hanks said in a low voice for just the two of us to hear. She then spoke louder. "Another point for Grayson and Poppy." When she moved on, I reached for my bag hanging on the handle of my wheelchair. I grabbed a bag of tissues and handed one to Grayson. "Thanks," he muttered. "Look at me, crying in front of all the seniors." "Nobody's really paying attention," I said. "They're watching the others to see if they get the right answer. Are you okay?" "Yeah," he said. "I just hate thinking about that stupid crash. On the bright side, I'm closer to convincing myself that it wasn't my fault." I smiled. "Good." I intertwined my hand in his and rested my head on his shoulder as he rested his head on mine. When Mrs. Hanks finished asking all the couples that question, she faced everyone else. "Well, that was the final question," she said before turning to the board that kept the score. "And the winners, without missing a single question, is Poppy and Grayson." "Damn right," Grayson muttered under his breath as all the seniors applauded. I rolled my eyes at his comment. "Congratulations, you two," Mrs. Hanks said. "Thanks," I said. Grayson looked at Belle and Devon. "You hear that? We won. Because we're better." Belle gave him a fake laugh. "You won't win the next surprise event." "I don't know about that," Grayson said. "I'm probably going to win everything." "You're too competitive," Belle said. "Competitive, no. Awesome, yes," Grayson said. I couldn't help but smile. Yes, sometimes Grayson was arrogant at times, but it was what made him unique. And whenever he was being his arrogant self, it meant that he wasn't thinking about all the things in the past. And that was all I wanted from him.