Page 48 of Second Verse

Luna groaned but did it anyway, and they were on the big trampoline, springing like they could reach the sun.

Norah and Poppy dropped off the cards and presents on the gift table and turned to watch the children. Norah realised she felt some sort of contentment for a change. And then Poppy asked if she wanted a coffee, and she was even happier.

Twenty Years Ago

It had been four weeks, and it wasn’t any better.

Norah couldn’t seem to get out of this pit of misery she was in. Though Norah was no stranger to misery, this romantic rejection was an entirely fresh kind of pain.

Whatever she could have said about losing her dad, it wasn’t like this. No one had said, ‘You don’t deserve a dad because you’re a total fucking loser, and we’re repossessing him.’

Terrible as it was, there was nothing malicious or vindictive about the way she lost her dad. His death from a tumour was impersonal. Though it had felt cruel, it was only in that ‘The universe is a chaotic bitch that doesn’t a give a shit about anyone’ kind of way.

But this wasdeeplypersonal. An attack at the core of her. She had shown just about every part of herself to Poppy, inside and out. And the response was, ‘You don’t hold my interest. Go away.’

Norah wished with her whole heart that Poppy could know how this felt. She wanted to hurt Poppy so badly, to make her know this agony. But she simply didn’t have that kind of power over her. That was the whole problem. Poppy didn’t care.

Norah did the only thing she could do. She worked. Her situation made the graphic novel take a hell of a turn. Dark moments filled the pages. She poured her resentment and anguish into every panel. The girl with the fresh superpowerswas getting ever more bitter. She’d tried to help people, but it never turned out well, and it seemed like all she could do was accidentally hurt them. She was beginning to conclude that the only use for her super strength was to punish. She’d picked someone for retribution, a bully who had hurt her friend.

Despite this outlet, Norah’s wounds remained raw. She didn’t sleep well, and when she did, she dreamt of Poppy. In the dreams, Poppy was always laughing at her.

Just when she thought she was drowning completely, her phone buzzed one evening. She hesitated, heart racing as she finally unlocked her phone.

I'm sorry. Can we talk?Poppy asked.

Norah stared at the screen, her fingers trembling as her mind reeled with the possibilities.

Maybe it was all a mistake? Maybe Poppy was coming back to her? Maybe the love Norah felt was returned?

It didn’t take long for Norah to throw that fantasy out. She was a realist. Poppy had used her. To still cling to hope now was pathetic. She hated the instinct in herself.

Before she could weaken, she had to do something to make it impossible. She had to burn the bridge of any kind of chance for Poppy to come back into her life. Poppy was probably just hoping that enough time had passed that she could say, ‘Hey, let’s be friends again now, yeah?’

Fuck that.

No, she texted back. And then she added another message.Don’t contact me again.

It hurt like hell to press send. But there was no other way. That word was her only power in all this. What could she do but use it?

Twenty

Now

Poppy and Norah stood side by side with their coffees, watching the kids go bananas on a huge sunken pirate ship jutting out of a ginormous sandpit.

Poppy was still dealing with the surrealness of the situation. She hoped it would pass soon. It had simply seemed so impossible that she’d ever get another chance to be in Norah’s life that she hadn’t even liked to hope. But they were moving past the past. Poppy couldn’t ask for more.

‘Freddie’s nose is running like a tap,’ Norah muttered to herself.

‘Probably a touch of hay fever around all the, ya know, actual hay,’ Poppy reassured her.

‘I hope so. He’s not fun with a cold. He gets very morose,’ Norah mused.

‘Morose?’

‘Yeah, he starts making plans for his own funeral. “Mummy, if I don’t wake up tomorrow, don’t give my toys away. Just put them all over me. I can sleep with them forever.” That’s a verbatim quote. Gave me the shivers.’

‘Very ancient Egyptian of him,’ Poppy smiled. ‘Luna goes full diva when she’s sick. Demanding only the finest snacks, the best made-up games, movies that don’t exist.’

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