I destroyed my room, it looked like a clothes tornado came blowing through. I pulled everything out of my closet and dresser trying to find the perfect outfit. I needed something that looked both nice and casual. Something that didn’t make it look like I was trying way to hard, but also made Hilary think I was smoking hot. Well as smoking hot as I could be.

“Come on, where are you?” I grumbled as I flung clothes everywhere.

“Um… Poppy. Any particular reason why your clothes are avalanching into the hall?” Mom popped her head in.

“No,” I lied and continued to dig.

“Really? No reason at all?”

“Ah-ha! I found it.” I pulled the shirt free.

I had only worn the stupid thing like once. To my cousin’s sweet sixteen. I am not really a dress person, plus her sweet sixteen was very um… different. Less Cinderella, more heavy metal. My cousin is weird.

Anyway! The shirt is all black and has a huge v neck that showed a lot of cleavage, but looked good on my body frame. The sleeves came down to my elbows and were extremely loose and baggy looking. The whole shirt was also covered in intentional holes. Including one large one on the back.

“Why are you looking for that?” my mom made a face.

“Because.” I stood up and dusted myself off.

“Because?”

“Because I feel like it, gosh, why so nosey?” I looked at her.

She narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

“Um, I’m going over to Hilary’s house to work on our art project,” I said.

“I see, Hilary’s house.” She said in her all-knowing mom voice.

“Can you like, go now?” I shooed her away.

“I’m going,” she held up her hands in surrender and walked off.

I grabbed my best pair of booty shorts, I only have like two pairs because the opportunity to wear booty shorts in this house is never present and when it is, it isn’t. Mom always looks at me funny when I do wear them. Well, I wasn’t about to worry about that today.

I quickly changed and then grabbed a zip-up jacket to seem more casual. That way when the time came I could just casually slip the jacket off and let Hilary get a good eyeful of the goods? Is that how this stuff works? Ugh! Why is my brain all scrambled? It’s just Hilary. This so weird.

Wait, what is she tries to kiss me again?

I quickly ran to the bathroom to brush my teeth extra good and rinse with the fiery juices of hell, aka Listerine mouth wash. Then I saw my frizzled and crazy hair. Which prompted me to quickly get the brush and the straightener.

My hair is naturally straight so I don’t really use my hair straightener that much, but when I do my hair looks so much more awesome. At least I think so. Will Hilary like that sort of thing? What if she hates it! Maybe I should wear a hat to hide my hair.

I run back to my room and grab a beanie cap before shoving it on my head and tucking all my hair inside. Okay, now I’m ready. Wait, shoes! I push all my clothes to one side of the room to try and find my shoes. I grab my sneakers and put on some simple white socks that come up to my ankles. Then I put my shoes on. I zip up my jacket and grab my phone.

Now I wait.

Hilary said she would pick me up after softball practice.

Maybe I should clean up while I wait. I quickly start shoving all my clothes back into my dresser and grabbing the hangers off the floor to start putting everything back in my closet. When I am done I make up my bed and then do a once over of my appearance again.

I flinch when the doorbell rings.

“I got it!” I run downstairs racing my mom to the door.

She was in the kitchen cooking dinner.

I swing the door open and there is Hilary with a smile on her face.

“Hey,” I say.

“Hey.” She says back.

We stare at each other for a second.

“Hilary, nice to see you again,” Mom says behind me.

“Oh, nice to see you too Mrs. Bennett.”

“It’s actually Mrs. Cox now. But you can just call me Maxine.” She shakes Hilary’s hand.

“Okay, we are leaving now. Bye, mom.” I push Hilary out the door.

“Be home before midnight! It’s a school night you know.”

“Whatever,” I call back.

She shuts the door.

Hilary is smiling at me and I blush.

“So, uh, you cold?” she indicates to my jacket and beanie.

“Uh, sure…” I say as we get into the car.

She giggles.

Then it hits me, what if I dressed to smoking and her parents think I’m some sort of skank! No! What if they forbid Hilary from ever seeing me again? Can they do that? What if they are like super strict and scary!?

“Butterscotch?” Hillary offers the candy to break the silent tension.

“Uh… no thanks. Got anything else?” No way am I eating butterscotch after I just brushed my teeth.

“Um, I have jolly ranchers? Oh! I stole some mints from the coach's office today.” She giggled before digging around her purse with one hand and driving with the other.

“You steal mints? Scandalous.” I attempt to flirt.

“You didn’t fall my good girl act, did you?” she gives me a devious smirk.

“And what if I did?” I flirt back.

“Well Poppy Bennett, I am just going to have to open your eyes to my bad girl ways.” She offers me the pillow mint.

“It always starts small. One day your stealing mints, the next, robbing banks.” I take the mint form her hand.

She laughs and turns the radio on.

Her laughter puts me at ease. Maybe I’m not so bad at this. I open the candy and pop it in my mouth, she does the same.

“Do you really have a bad girl side?” I raised an eyebrow and started up the conversation again as we stopped at a light.

“Doesn’t everyone?”

“Well if stealing mints is as bad as it gets, I got news for you. Heaven called; they need their top angel back.”

Oh god! Too cheesy, stay calm. She didn’t seem to notice.

“Who says stealing mints is all I’ve done? You did come to my party, remember?”

“So what?”

“So… my parents never knew about that.”

“What!? Wow, now I’m impressed.”

She giggled.

“You are just being introduced to the amazing life of Hilary King, don’t let this surface girl fool you. There is still a lot deeper to go.” She smirked at me.

I felt my cheeks flush.

When we pulled into her house she shut the car and for a second we just sat there as she tapped on the wheel. I crunched down on my mint and stared straight ahead. She did the same. When I looked at her she was looking at me, and we both giggled.

I swallowed down my mint with a large gulp.

I heard her do the same.

Suddenly I was feeling very warm so I took off my hat and unzipped my jacket. Hilary’s eyes raked over my body as I pushed my jacket off. I felt my heart being to race. What was she waiting for? Was she waiting for me to do something? Say something?

“Your hair is all frizzy now.” She giggled before leaning over and running her fingers through it to smooth it down. She was really close.

I leaned into her, our lips just barely touching.

That seemed to be the magic cue before she quickly pressed her lips fully into mine and threw her arms around my neck. I grabbed her by the hips and yanked her tiny frame so that she was sitting on my lap.

I’ve never made out with anyone before. I mean Zoey doesn’t really count because that wasn’t really making out. It was just a couple of kisses. So, all that should say is, I have no freaking clue what I’m doing.

Also, neither does Hilary.

We kissed softly at first, just pressing our lips together. The way our lips fit into each other made a heat run down my spine. Then I decided to get a little more daring, opening my mouth just a bit.

Hilary let out this cute sound, a small soft hum of approval.

We took it slowly. Letting our mouths get properly acquainted. She grabbed the side lever of the chair and pulled it so we fell all the way back. Her legs wrapped around my thigh and her hands pushed under me to run up and down my back. Her fingers digging into my spine.

I just let my hands rest on her hips because I wasn’t really sure what else to do.

I don’t know how long we were at it, days, weeks, years. But I didn’t care. Everything in me just felt so fresh and soft. Like a pillow mint. I was awakened to this whole other world of emotions. It was refreshing to feel something new for once. It gave me chills, in a good kind of way.

She would pull back every few seconds so I could breathe, sometimes I felt like was suffocating, sometimes I felt like I could go on for centuries without a breath of air. My eyes would flutter open and meet Hilary’s eyes. We’d stare at each other for a moment.

A moment for me to take in her flushed face and swollen lips. To see her chest heaving with every breath she took and to really feel her weight on me as if remembering she was sitting on me all over again. Because as soon as her lips touched mine again, I forgot about everything else. I’d close my eyes and let her sweep me away again.

“Okay, okay, okay.” She pulled back with a squeal.

“Hmm?” I opened my eyes again.

She giggled at my face, mid-kiss.

“Let’s take this to my room.” She said.

Only then did I realize how hot and stuffy it had gotten in the car. I put my chair in an upright position and we got out of the car. She grabbed my hand and ran quickly to her house, dragging me behind her.

We walked in and there was her father, pretending he wasn’t just looking out the window by reading a car magazine. Upside down.

“Hey dad, Poppy and I going to work on our project, don’t bother us,” Hilary said before dragging me to the stairs.

Her dad peeked over the magazine at me, giving me the scary protective dad look. I gulped before Hilary dragged me up the stairs.

We ran into the room and she locked the door before pulling me to the bed and pushing me down.

“Hey,” I giggled. “Don’t we have a project to work on?”

“It can wait.” She smiled, “Unless you like want to work on it. Then we can do that. I just thought, I mean I wasn’t trying to—” I cut her off by kissing her.

She sighed in relief and quickly kissed me back.

She grabbed my hands and interlocked our fingers, pushing my hands down to the bed. She decided to get more daring by trailing kisses down my neck. I turned my head and moaned softly.

Then something started licking my face.

“Ew, what tha--” I opened my eyes.

“Sugar! Bad dog.” Hilary pulled back.

I laughed as the little fluffy white dog licked my face excitedly. Hilary grumbled in embarrassment before grabbing her dog and setting it on the ground. But the dog quickly used the steps by the bed to jump back on and once again run to lick my face.

Hilary started laughing as I tried to roll away from the dog.

“I think she likes you,” she said.

“Ugh, my lips touched dog lips, get the disinfectant.” I teased.

“Sugar! You are so embarrassing.” Hilary giggled her face red as a tomato.

I sat up and grab the little white dog. Its tail wagged excitedly and it kept lunging at me, trying to lick me. I swear this dog is perfect. It looks just like one of those dogs on the commercials. Of course, this dog would be as perfect as her owner.

“I am so sorry,” she said before covering her face in embarrassment and squealing into her hands.

“Who’s a cute dog, who’s a good girl, you are.” I cooed at the dog.

It barked and started getting even more excited, jumping out of my hands to lick me some more.

“Hey, you ruined the mood.” I grabbed it and hugged it close.

I glanced up at Hilary and she saw smiling softly at me, a love-struck look on her face. I felt my face heat up and quickly looked back at the dog.

“So, I am pretty sure I need to wash my face now,” I said.

Hilary giggled before moving to kiss my non-slobbery cheek.

“No fair, I can’t kiss you back.” I pouted.

“I know.” She smirked before grabbing Sugar from my arms and then grabbing my hand and leading me to the bathroom so I could wash my face.

Her soap smelled like cinnamon apples. Her towels were so soft and smelled like super sweet-smelling laundry detergent. I took a big whiff.

When I came out of the bathroom I pecked Hilary on the cheek. She giggled.

“Hey I need to take sugar out to use the restroom, I should be fast. You can wait in my room.” She said.

“Sounds good to me. Maybe then we can start working on our project?”

“Fine! But I want more kisses later.” She pouted.

I giggled and walked to her room.

While she was gone I grabbed her sketch pad and flipped through her sketches. God, she’s so talented, I swear the girl must be a cosmic being or something. I closed the book and set it down on her nightstand, that is until I saw a very different sketchbook. Wedged between her bed and nightstand.

I grabbed it and opened it.

I was greeted with my own face.

I looked up and glanced around for Hilary, but she was still gone. So I turned the page. And saw my face again and on the page after that. I quickly flipped through the whole thing until I landed on the last page with was covered in mine and Hilary’s name.

Poppy and Hilary Bennett. Poppy and Hilary King. Poppy King. Hilary Bennett.

What in the hell?

I felt my heart begin to race and my stomach knot together.

I heard her coming up the stairs and flinched, quickly shutting the book and shoving it back in its hiding place.

“Hey, okay I’m ready to be productive now and I pawned the dog off on my parents downstairs.” She closed the door behind her, before locking it.

How long has Hilary liked me?

Has she had a crush on me for two years since we first met?

That’s… weird.

Why didn’t she ever say anything? Why did she wait so long to talk to me? Oh god, suddenly I am not sure about Hilary after all. Everyone has a dark side, has Hilary been watching me for two years?

No! I can’t just jump to conclusions. It’s just a stupid sketchbook. It’s not like she has pictures of me changing or anything. I mean leave it to Hilary to be cliché and scribble our names together on a journal. Nothing to be scared about.

I’m sure it’s all some big misunderstanding.

“You okay?” she walked over to me.

“Huh? Oh yeah, um let’s get to work.” I got up and moved over to the claw machine.

She giggled and ran up behind me, wrapping her arms around me and squealing in excitement. I forced a giggle. Then she let go and ran over to put some music on. Before I could uncover the work she has done so far she once again ran into my arms and kissed me again.

“mmm, work, we need to work,” I said between kisses.

“No work,” she kissed me some more.

“Hilary, I have to be back before midnight. We should at least attempt to do something.”

She pulled back with a pout.

Admittedly it was the cutest thing I had ever seen.

Gah! Why does she have to be so freaking cute? It should be illegal to be this cute.

“Do you… Do you think this is moving too fast?” she said suddenly unsure of herself.

“No! No, no, no. I just, I mean. I’m still new at this and it’s only a matter of time before I make a fool out of myself. I’m saving you honestly.” I held up my hands in surrender.

She giggles.

“So does this mean we are like… official?” I ask.

“Well we have gone on a date already, plus we have another date on Saturday.”

“Wait what date?”

“The arcade?”

“That was a date!?”

She giggles.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I thought it was obvious.” She said before grabbing my face and kissing me again.

My lips moved against hers as Lips of An Angel by Hinder played in the background.

In the end, we didn’t get anything done at all.