“What’s the matter Poppy?” Mom asks as I stare at my reflection and slowly brush my hair out.

“I’m going on a date,” I turn to face her.

“Yay?” she gave me a confused look.

“A double date,” I go on.

“Not yay? Help me out here.”

“With Zoey and Hailey.”

“Now I’m completely lost.”

“Mom, I know I should let it go and let Zoey handle her own problems but I just got a really bad feeling about Hailey. A lot of bells and red flags are going off.”

“Hmm.”

“Wes told me not to intervene considering how well that went last time but I don’t want Zoey to get hurt again. Plus she really likes Hailey.”

“What does Hilary think?” Mom asks.

“Hilary hated Hailey until this week when she pretended to be Hailey’s friend just to get Hailey to ask Zoey out so Zoey won’t hate her anymore.”

“Oh to have a mind of a teenager. Sometimes I really wonder about you kid,” she ruffles my hair.

“What do I do? Zoey is barely talking to me again, and if I tell her not to trust Hailey, she’ll hate me again. But if I don’t do anything at all, Hailey will break her heart. Help me!” I shake her by the shoulders.

“Let me ask you this, why did it blow up in your face the first time?”

“Well, I lied to Zoey and told her I was trying to get Hilary to like her which ended badly because then I fell for Hilary. Then it turns out Hilary was lying to Zoey too and only pretended to be her friend and Zoey basically wanted to actually murder us.”

“So, here is my advice, don’t lie. Tell her straight up. Give her a warning, be honest with your concerns and let her handle it from there. Don’t go behind her back. Do you think that’s something Zoey would respond positively to?”

“I don’t know, it’s Zoey.” I sigh.

“Just do your best to be a good friend and everything will work out. Don’t stress about it. Just finished getting ready and go enjoy your date. This is your first date with Hilary since you two made up after all.”

I take a calming breath and look back at my reflection. Mom pats my head before walking off.

I get a text from Hilary saying she’s on her way so I pick up the pace and finish getting ready. Zoey beats her here, running up the stairs to my room as I slipped my shoes on.

“Hey,” she rubbed her hands on her pants nervously.

“Good, you’re here, there is something I want to tell you before the date.” I stand up.

“What?”

“Look, don’t take this the wrong way but I think you should be cautious before getting too close to Hailey.”

“Why?” she instantly gets defensive.

“Hear me out, Hailey has already shown me she’s super suspicious and a liar. She was blabbing her mouth to me that she and Hilary were best friends, but when I asked Hilary, Hilary says they never even hang out. That Hailey is obsessed with her or something. Don’t you think it’s creepy that she looks and acts almost exactly like Hilary?”

“No, she doesn’t.”

“Hilary wears lavender contacts, Hailey wears lavender contacts. Hilary has a white car, Hailey has a white car. Hilary had a party at her house, one week later Hailey has a party? Just be careful Zoey, I am getting major creeper vibes. I’m not saying not to give her a chance, I’m just saying be cautious. This girl is suspicious”

“Why do you always have to ruin everything for me?” she said halfheartedly.

I sigh in relief that she isn’t really mad.

“I’m your best friend, it’s my job to look out for you,” I say.

“Well stop,” she frowns.

The doorbell rings letting me know Hilary is here. I hear mom let her in and give myself a once over before putting on a smile and going to meet her. She runs into my arms and hugs me with a squeal.

“Ugh, will this ever not be painful?” I ask.

“Nope.” She giggles.

“Hi, Hilary!” Georgia walked up to her.

“Hi Georgia, hmm, looks like you got something there.” She reaches behind my sister's ear and pulls out a gumball. “How did this get there!?” Hilary says.

“Wow!” Georgia snatches it from her and instantly shoves it in her mouth.

“You have no idea what you’ve done.” I shake my head.

“It will be our secret, high five,” Hilary says to Georgia.

They high five before Georgia runs back upstairs to her room.

“Stop giving my sister sugar before bed please,” I peck Hilary on the lips.

“Never,” she gives me another kiss.

I giggle.

Zoey clears her throat above us, we quickly break apart.

“Ready to go?” Hilary asks her.

“Yes, come on or we’ll be late.” Zoey walks downstairs and past us.

We pile into Hilary’s car and sit in awkward silence as Hilary turns the radio on.

“Butterscotch?” Hilary offers.

“Sure, Zoey?” I take one.

“Ew no.”

“Um, gumball?” I ask looking into Hilary’s purse.

“What else you got?”

“Jolly ranchers, Hubba bubba bubble gum, mints, and a Twizzler. Babe, you have a problem.” I look up at Hilary.

“Leave me alone,” she stuck her tongue out.

“I’ll take the Twizzler.”

I hand it to her.

She unwraps it and takes an aggressive bite out of it.

The rest of the car ride is silent as we drive to the restaurant. We decide on this Korean BBQ restaurant. Hailey is already waiting for us, she’s really overly nice and hugs all of us before we go and sit down.

I sit next to Hilary and Zoey sits next to Hailey. Hailey and I are across from each other.

“So, this is nice.” I break the ice.

“I know right, so cute, all of us together,” Hailey says.

“Yeah.” Hilary smiles.

“Yep,” Zoey adds.

I cringe.

The waiter comes and hands us the menu and takes our drink order.

“Selfie time!” Hailey announces as soon as the waiter leaves.

We all huddle together and I do my best not to give my I’ve just been kidnapped face. I swear I see Hilary’s eye twitch.

“Where do you get your hair done; it’s so cute.” Hailey touches Zoey’s hair.

“Oh, thank you.” Zoey blushes. “I do it myself.”

“You have to show me.”

My phone vibrates with a new text while Hailey is busy gushing over Zoey. I ignore it until Hilary stomps on my foot. I cringe and try not to react, I look at her and she is giving me bug eyes. So I look at my phone, a new text from her.

‘She’s so fake. She’s only agreed to this because I said I’d be here too. She’s so annoying.’ Hilary said.

‘I knew she was fishy,’ I send back.

Hilary nods.

I knew it, I knew she didn’t like Zoey. She’s a user! Ugh. Well, as long as we can get through this date, then everything should be fine. I mean it’s not like you can completely fall in love with someone over one date, right?

I glance at Zoey and she is all smiles and her cheeks are rosy, she can’t take her eyes off of Hailey.

I’m doomed.

The waiter brings out our drinks and takes our food order before leaving again.

“So Hailey, what are your hobbies?” I say.

“Oh! I love, love, love to play the harp.”

“You play the harp?” Zoey says.

“Yes, it’s like the piano, but ten times harder.”

Hilary narrows her eyes at her.

“Anything else?” I ask.

“I’m really into art, especially using unique mediums like sand or ripped-up paper. It’s so fun. I also play tennis, and I’m into theater as well.”

“I like theater,” Zoey says.

She so does not.

Zoey’s only hobby is riding her bike around everywhere and being negative all the time.

“I’m going to be trying out for the school play, you should come watch my audition.”

“Okay, sounds fun.” Zoey smiles.

“Theaters okay,” Hilary says offhandedly.

We all look at her.

“What? I said it was okay, I mean I like it but if I had to pick between a theater show or going to the movies, I’d pick the movies.”

“I don’t know I feel like Theater gets a bad rap, it’s so underrated,” I say.

“Exactly! See Poppy, we are basically like best friends already.” Hailey says.

I wouldn’t go that far.  

“Yeah, so underrated,” Zoey says, as she nervously pushes her hair back.

“Three against one,” Hailey says to Hilary smugly.

I watch Hilary's death grip her chopsticks.

“So what’s your favorite candy?” I ask Hailey since Zoey is too busy being a nervous mess to ask anything.

“Candy?”

“Yeah, mine is anything fruity and gummy, Hilary likes Butterscotch, Zoey likes bubble gum, what do you like?”

“Okay, I know it’s weird but I totally love licorice and Twizzlers. Most people think it’s nasty, but I like it.” She shrugs.

“I just ate a Twizzler on my way up here,” Zoey says.

“What!? No way, you should have saved me some.” Hailey pouts.

“I will next time,” Zoey bumps shoulders with her.

She laughs obnoxiously loud.  

Our food gets here and we set it on the grill to start cooking. That’s when I spill ponzu sauce on me.

“Shoot,” I sigh.

“Awe, it’s okay,” Hilary assures me.

“I’m going to go wash it off.” I stand up.

“I have this stain pen in my purse, here I’ll come with.” Hailey offers.

“Thanks.”

Zoey eyes me but says nothing.

So I walk to the bathroom with Hailey. I turn the water on and grab some paper towels.

“Don’t scrub, dab,” Hailey comes to help me.

“It’s ruined, I’ll add it to the pile of shirts I can never wear again,” I sigh as she dabs away.

“I can save it.”

“Can I ask you something?” I say as she gets her stain pen out.

“Hmm?”

“Do you really like Zoey? Because she really likes you.”

“She’s cute,” she says nonchalantly.

“As in puppy dog cute or potential second date cute?” I ask.

“You’re cute too.” She adds.

“Puppy dog cute?”

She says nothing.

“Why did you agree to this?” I ask.

“Agree to what?”

“A date with Zoey.”

“It’s a double date, with Hilary.”

“But you’re here with Zoey.” I correct her.

“It’s like we are all here together.”

I pull away from her and go back to fixing my own shirt.

“I just want us all to be friends.” She walks closer to me.

“Zoey wants to be more than friends with you,” I say.

She shrugs.

“Are you just copying everything Hilary does?” I ask outright.

“No, I don’t copy. I make better.” She says.

“That’s really creepy, you shouldn’t d—” she cuts me off by kissing me.

“Mmm!?” I push her off. “What the fu—” she kisses me again.

I try to push her off but she pins me to the wall.

So I stamp on her foot and bite her lip, causing her to yelp and jerk back. I run for the door and back out into the restaurant.

“Let’s go we’re leaving,” I say as I rush to the table.

“What why?” Zoey asks.

I pull out my card and wave the waiter over to pay.

“Poppy, Poppy you are overreacting.” Hailey walks out after me.

“Get your stuff,” I say to Hilary.

She doesn’t have to be told twice.

“What happened?” Zoey asks.

“Poppy, come on you know it was better.”

I slap her hard across the face. The whole restaurant goes silent.

“You stay the hell away from me and my friends!” I shout at her.

Zoey blinks at me in surprise.

“What happened?” Hilary demands.

The waiter quickly brings the check and I pay, fighting back tears in my eyes.

“What did you do to her!?” Hilary gets in Hailey’s face.

“Nothing she didn’t want.”

“You okay?” Zoey asks me.

“She attacked me in the restroom! Kissed me and basically assaulted me.” I say.

“What!?” Zoey and Hilary say at the same time.

“It wasn’t even like that, you wanted it.” She says.

I sign the check and storm the hell out of there.

As soon as I’m outside I cover my mouth to hold in a sob. I knew it, I knew something was not right with her. She’s a freaking sociopath! I should have listened to my gut feeling. The crazy thing is she doesn’t even like me, she only wants me because Hilary likes me. What a freaking freak!

“I’ve had it up to here with you!” Hilary snaps as they follow me outside. “I try to be nice to you. I try to give you the benefit of doubt but you are obsessed with me!” Hilary shouts at Hailey.

Hailey shrinks back.

“I’m not your best friend! We don’t do everything together, we never talk, ever! Stop telling everyone we do! Stop copying everything I do, stop trying to steal my life, and just learn to live your own!”

Hailey sobs and runs away to her car.

Hilary deflates a bit; I’ve never seen her get angry before.

“Let’s just go,” Zoey says with tears in her eyes.

“Zoey I’m sorry I didn’t—” I move to comfort her but she slaps my hand away.

Ruined. Everything is all twisted up and ruined. This double date turned out to be a double disaster.