On the long list of things I try to avoid at all costs, waking up early to get dressed to sit out in the sun and watch a sports game is certainly at the top. For many reasons, ranging from I hate the sun, I hate sports, I hate people, but most of all I hate waking up early when I don’t have to. But these are the sacrifices one must make when trying to be a good girlfriend.

That’s weird to say.

Girlfriend.

Hillary King is my girlfriend.

Though I guess no one would know it by looking at us. I mean after Wednesday I thought she would be all over me any chance she got, especially at school. But she was pretty much her usual Hilary self. The only thing that changed was that she would sneak in cheek kisses more often or give me a peck or two at work.

So I guess no one knows if we are really together or not.

Which is good for me, I don’t want Zoey catching wind of this. I mean the girl hates me enough already without hearing this. Now that I think about it, I haven’t seen Zoey since the meltdown. Part of me is relieved that she is purposely avoiding me, the other part…

“Since when do you actually like sports?” Mom asks as she sees me put on my go Bulldogs hat.

“And since when do you like them enough to go to a game?” Lashawn adds.

“Hilary plays on the softball team; I’m just going to show my support. Geez, lay off.” I complain as I tighten my shoelaces.

“Oh, Hilary,” mom says in her knowing mom voice.

I feel my cheeks heat up.

I see Georgia giggle from where she sat at the kitchen bar eating cereal.

“What?” I snap at them when they all stare at me silently.

“Nothing,” mom says too quickly.

“Maybe we can come with,” Lashawn volunteers.

“I want to go!” Georgia quickly shot out of her chair.

“No!” I say.

“Why not? It sounds fun,” mom adds.

“B-Because…” I can’t think of any reason.

“Is there something you want to tell us?” mom asks.

“Just hurry up and get dressed so we can go already,” I push her up the stairs.

She laughs.

“Yay! We’re going with Poppy!” Georgia runs up the stairs.

I groan and sit at the bar, finishing my sister’s cereal.

When we get to the stadium, I can see Hilary dressed out in her uniform warming up. I smile at her and wave, she drops her bat and runs over to me. Before I can stop her she tackles me in a hug, nearly knocking me over if Lashawn hadn’t caught us.

“You came,” she squealed.

“I said I would,” I point out.

“Yeah but I know you are very selective on how you use your free time,” she teases.

“Well, you should feel honored.” I tease back.

“Thank you, oh great poppy.”

We both giggle.

“Hello Hilary, hope you don’t mind we tagged along,” Mom says.

“Of course not! The more the better. Be sure to cheer loud for us okay.”

“I will!” Georgia says enthusiastically.

“Oh, I know you will,” Hilary playfully pinches her cheek.

Georgia giggles and swats her hand away.

“Well, we better find our seat. Good luck out there,” Lashawn says.

“Thanks,” Hilary smiles.

I look at my family expectantly and mom seems to catch the hint because she quickly ushers everyone away, leaving me with Hilary.

“Sorry about them, they are so lame,” I say.

“No way, they are awesome. Just like you,” she taps me on the nose.

I feel my cheeks heat up and smile.

“We still on for after the game?” she asks.

I nod.

“Good, I’ll be sure to win this one for you.”

“Just give it your best effort and don’t hurt yourself,” I playfully jab her in the side.

She giggles.

We stare at each other for a moment, I want to kiss her but I also know that a lot of people are watching. Including our classmates, Hilary’s friends, and my family. If we kissed now, everyone would know.

“Can I… kiss you here?” Hilary asks softly.

I’m a bit surprised she even asked.

“I just, I know you just came out and all that. I don’t want to pressure you into anything if you’re not ready.” She finishes.

“No! I mean, it doesn’t bother me.”

“It doesn’t?” her eyes light up.

I feel my heart skip a beat and nod like a dummy.

A wide smile stretches across her face before she pulls me in close and kisses me in front of everyone.

“I knew it!” I hear my mom say somewhere in the background.

I groan, but Hilary giggles and deepens the kiss.

“Hey King, you can suck face with your girlfriend after we win!” One of her teammates calls.

We pull back, and admittedly I feel winded. Kissing her like that, in front of everyone. Now they all know. Everyone knows that Poppy Bennett is dating Hilary King.

She stares at me with that dreamy star stuck look again. I smile back at her.

“I got to go,” she says.

“That you do.”

“Cheer for me, okay?”

“Count on it.”

“And you better stay the whole game.”

“Cross my heart.”

We just smile at each other again.

“Poppy and Hilary sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g.” I hear Georgia sing behind me.

I am so going to kill that brat.

“Well while you play ball, I’m going to murder my sister,” I say.

“Be nice to her,” she chastises me.

I pout.

She giggles before pecking me on the lips one last time then pulling back and running back into the diamond. I find myself smiling after her before snapping out of it and turning to face my mom. She is giving me her all-knowing mom smirk. I sigh.

“So,” mom tries to sound casual.

“Okay! Yes, we are dating.” I cave in.

“I knew it,” she says proudly.

“We support you all the way Poppy,” LaShawn adds.

“Yeah she’s way better than Zoey,” Georgia says.

“Can we just not talk about it?” I pout.

“Okay, okay, everyone let’s leave Poppy alone,” Mom shakes me by the shoulders.

“How about ball game snacks?” Lashawn changes the subject.

“I want popcorn!” Georgia takes off towards the concession stand.

Lashawn jogs after her.

I look at me mom, she smiles at me and pats my head. I feel my face heat up and avoid her gaze. She just laughs and drags me by the arm to the concession stands. Why is my family so ugh!

One thing I didn’t count on was the instant popularity. Everyone knows who Hilary King is. Everyone loves her. She’s super popular. I mean she just had an awesome party at her house and is on the softball team. No duh, she’s uber-popular. It took the whole walk to the concession stand before the whole ball field and everyone in the stands heard about it.

It took three seconds after that before my new status kicked in.

Everyone was staring at me. You see everyone knows Hilary king, Only like two people know who the heck Poppy Bennett is, and one of them hates my guts right now. I could feel the eyes, hear the whispers. I thought it was about to get very awkward and tense with the Hilary worshipers secretly plotting to attack me, instead.

“Oh, you’re Hilary’s girlfriend, right?” The concession stand worker asked.

She’s in my grade and part of this club that works all the sports game concession stands.

“Yeah… why?” I eye her.

“That is so awesome. I’m Jayla. I’m in Hilary’s English class. She is so nice, I swear the girl is a god sent. She got me an A on our project. She’s just so amazing. Lucky you.”

“Thank you?” I said cautiously.

“Anyway, will that be all?” she indicated to all the snacks we ordered.

“Yes,” mom said.

“Cool, well, have a nice day!”

“Wait don’t we have to pay?” I asked.

“You already did,” she winked at me.

“Oh no, really it’s okay,” Mom says.

“No really, you’re Hilary’s girlfriend. She’d kill me if she knew I didn’t give you the royal treatment.”

“Uh… okay?” I look at my mom.

She shrugs.

“Enjoy the game, if you need anything else don’t hesitate to ask!” She called as we walked away.

“Well okay then, who knew Poppy dating Hilary had its perks.” Lashawn smiled.

“Weird,” I commented.

“Don’t question it,” Mom said.

Georgia ran up the stairs to our seats. Mom and Lashawn quickly walked behind her. I turn to the field and wave at Hilary before I begin to walk up the steps. Hilary waved at me and blew me a kiss. I pretended to catch it. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

“Hey poppy,” a guy said as I walked up the steps.

“Uh, hi,” I said before continuing to walk.

I had no idea who he was.

“Hey Poppy!” someone waved at me.

I waved back.

“Poppy!” another person waved at me.

I waved back before quickly running to my seat before things could get weirder.

“You know those people?” mom asked.

“No,” I said.

“Maybe they’re Hilary’s friends,” Georgia said.

“Maybe,” I shrugged.

I always had this idea in my head that once people found out that me, some random nobody had stolen away their precious Hilary King that people would be coming for me with pitchforks and torches. Instead, they welcomed me. Which was weird. To be honest, I kind of like it.

Free food, people actually talking to me, and I got a super cute girlfriend out of it. What could be better than that? I’ll wait.

I don’t know anything about any type of sport. Which was slightly embarrassing as I cheered and everyone else let out a giant awe. Apparently, that ball was a foul ball. Whatever that is. I was really confused. Like what was an inning, or a double play? I didn’t know when to cheer and not to cheer. I am pretty sure I looked like a complete idiot.

The game ended in a win, at least I’m 80% sure. I told my family that Hilary and I were going to hang out after the game and not to wait up for me. After much heckling, they left me alone. I stood around by the concessions stands to wait for Hilary to get showered and changed.

“Hey, Poppy right?” some girl walked up to me.

“Uh, yes?”

“You don’t sound sure,” she giggled.

She was almost like a Hilary clone. It was creeping me out. She must have done everything in her power to look like Hilary, even got lavender contacts. The only problem is she is much taller than Hilary and has a more manly looking face. Wide Jaw, big pointed nose. Other than that, the similarities were uncanny.

“I am, but it really just depends on who’s asking,” I shrug.

She busted out laughing, a loud, over the top laugh. I forced my own nervous laughter just so it wouldn’t be awkward. It was still awkward.

“You are so funny,” she said.

“Uh, thanks…”

“I’m Hailey by the way. I’m like Hilary’s right-hand gal. We do almost everything together.” She said.

“Really because she never mentioned you,” I muttered.

“What was that?”

“I said nice to meet you,” I force a smile.

“Awe thanks, anyway there’s going to be a party tonight at my place. You should come, you and Hilary.”

“Oh, uh okay. Thanks. I’ll see what she says.”

“Awe that’s so cute, you two are like conjoined at the hip. If she doesn’t go you won’t.”

“I never said that,”

“It’s cute, really. Most couples suck at communication. It’s why I dumped my ex-boyfriend. But then again having to get permission for every little thing can be taxing.”

“I’m not getting permission, I’m just—”

“Hey!” Hilary ran up, saving me from the nightmare fuel called Hailey.

“Hilary! Hey!”

“Oh, hi Hailey,” Hilary gave her a cautious look before clinging to me.

“I was just telling Poppy about my party tonight, you are welcome to come.”

“I’ll think about it,” Hilary forced a smile.

“Right, well anyway, have fun you two.” Then just like that, she finally left.

“Yeesh, who was that?” I ask.

“Hailey Queen, she’s so annoying. All she does is copy everything I do. She tells everyone that we are best friends or something. She’s more like my arch-rival.”

I actually laughed.

“What?” she pouts.

“I actually thought that you really did love everyone. You are always so nice, I mean you having an arch-rival is kind of hilarious. I didn’t think you thought anyone was annoying.”

“Hey, I was raised that if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. Besides, I told you, there is still a lot more to me than you know.” She winked.

“I bet. The more is see the more I like,” God did those words really just come out of my mouth! Argh! Why am I so bad at this?

She giggled.

“Sorry, that sounded corny,” laughed nervously.

“I liked it, it was cute. E for effort.”

“I hate that you are better than me at everything,” I pout.

“Better get used to it,” she teased before kissing me.

I smiled into the kiss and felt all gooey inside. Something about this girl makes my insides all warm and gooey. The girl is impossible to hate or get rid of. She's like Carmel stuck in my teeth. Sure, it’s annoying, but it’s also really sweet and tastes really good. Now that I’ve had a taste of Hilary King, I think I might keep coming back for more.

“So, ready for our date?” she pulled back.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,”

“Good, then let’s go. I have a surprise for you.” She grabbed my hand and interlocked our fingers before pulling me along.

“Surprise?”

“You’ll see,” she giggled before breaking off into a run.

Forcing me to keep up with her.