Page 2 of Keeper
I roll my eyes. “Just because you prats don’t know how to have platonic relationships with women doesn’t mean I don’t.” I get back to work on the remaining boxes.
Poppy has always just been Poppy. Despite what Camden and Tanner think, we never crossed that line of friendship and that has a lot to do with them. When I was little, I watched them break countless girls’ hearts. Every time I started to get used to one of their girlfriends, they disappeared, never to be seen again. Then of course, I watched our dad mourn the death of our mum for years. It was brutal. So I learned that caring for someone romantically eventually meant losing them. And fuck me, I want to avoid that like the plague.
Poppy is too good of a friend for me to ever risk losing her. Truthfully, she’s the only real friend I have who isn’t family or teammates. When she up and moved away to Germany, I was gutted. We were best friends with plans to live in London and take the city by storm. Her with her infectious personality, me with my footy skills. It killed me when she said she was leaving, and I wasn’t even in love with her. Imagine how bad it would have been if I had loved her.
After she left, I threw myself into football and did everything I could to shift my position from reserve keeper to first. I was consumed with ending that inferiority I felt in my life. It worked, too. Not long after her departure, my football career started taking off.
But all those experiences are why I keep the circle of people whom I truly care about small. Caring about too many people increases the chance of suffering that gut-aching loss.
Now, Poppy is back. Sure it’s been six years since I’ve laid eyes on her. We also didn’t part on the best of terms, but we’ve gradually started emailing and texting more over the years. Phone calls occasionally. We’ve been slowly getting back to Booker and Poppy, which is good because it’s always felt completely mental that we haven’t seen each other in all this time. I suppose I could have visited her in Germany, but she was so closed off about her life over there, I could tell she didn’t want me to. Even her timing when she came home for Christmas seemed intentional because I always happened to be playing elsewhere. It felt like the Great Wall of China was separating us instead of a two-hour plane ride. I hated it.
I’m practically vibrating from the anticipation of wrapping my arms around her again. In the flesh. My best mate. She’s coming back at the perfect time, too. My family is rapidly changing all around me, making me feel unsteady. I’ve never been good with change, so I’m chuffed to bits to have my best friend by my side again.
I still remember the exact day I met her. It was such a tense time for my family. Dad was emotionally AWOL after Mum died. Vi was merely a kid herself and trying to take care of everyone. Gareth was a moody sod. We were all so alone in that house and, being the youngest, I felt like no one ever heard me.
When I look back, I realise it was Poppy that helped me find my voice, even if it was because she asked me to sing with her every single day.
7 Years Old
“I hate you, Tanner! I hate you!” I scream as I run out the back gate of our garden and into the woods behind our house. My big sister, Vi, is screaming for me to come back. The way her voice sounds makes my chest hurt, but I don’t stop. I can’t stop. I want to run until I disappear from the whole world.
After I run for a long time, the pain from my bloody nose starts to make me cough, so I stop and rest. I sit on a large tree I find that’s tipped over. I wipe my nose off with my sleeve. It hurts so much that my eyes water, but I’m not crying. I’m too mad to cry.
Tanner always makes me be the goalie. Then he waits until Vi’s not looking to kick the ball at me as hard as he can. I hate him! One day, I’m going to be as big as Tanner and Camden, and I’m going to stop all their stupid balls from getting in the net so they never score a goal ever again. Then they won’t be able to cheer like stupid monkeys.
“Stupid bloody Tanner,” I grind through my teeth.
“Bloody better describes that crud on your face.”
I jump up to my feet when I see a girl I know from school standing in front of me with a black dog next to her.
“What are you doing here?” I moan, out of breath from my run. I look all around to make sure no one else is here with her. If there are more girls from my class here, I’m going to kill Tanner.
“I could ask you the same thing.” She crosses her bony arms and wrinkles her nose at me. She’s dressed in a bright yellow sundress that’s covered in mud, and her long blonde hair is dirty and full of sticks and tangles. “You’re sitting on my stage.” She points to the tipped over tree.
“I’m not sitting anywhere.” I look behind me.
“Well, you were sitting on my singing stage.” She reaches down to pet her dog. “Me and Pink were getting ready to perform our third act of the day, but I had to take a piddle break.”
“What are you talking about? Who’s Pink?”
She rolls her eyes. “My dog. Duh.”
I look down at the black dog. “Your dog is black.”
Her eyes pop out of her head. Then she kneels down to cover the dog’s ears. He licks her cheek when she whispers loud enough for me to hear, “He doesn’t need to know that!”
I frown and start to walk away because this girl is weird.
“You’re in my class,” she says with a scratchy voice. I roll my eyes and keep walking. “We’re also neighbours,” she adds, and I stop to look at her again. “My house is on the other side of this park. Your house is right there.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
She shrugs. “We could be mates.”
“But you’re a girl.”
She squeals and quickly covers her own ears. “You’re spoiling all the best secrets today!”
