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“Bye girls, see y’all later!!” Holly shouted, leaving Poppy’s pod. The other girls said their goodbyes and left, Val was one foot out the door until… “Hey Val, can I tell you something?” Val turned her head over her shoulder. “What’s up?” The pink troll walked over. “Thank you.” She smiled, confusing the rocker. “Well, for last night of course!” Poppy spoke calmly, grabbing her hand. “I really had no clue you didn’t like sharing about yourself, yet you stayed anyway, and I really appreciate that.” She pulled Val in for a hug, she cringed. “Yeah, no problem popsqueak.” She pushed her away. “If you ever need to talk, or when you’re ready to, I’m open to hear!” She smiled, showing her gap teeth. Val swallowed, stuttering. “I’ll let you know.” She smized, turning back around.
She walked back to Rock Hollow, glad to finally be gone from that stupid, preppy sleepover. God, she couldn’t believe she even wanted to go in the first place when she knows she hates talking about herself. Feelings are for the weak, it makes you soft and mushy. Why did Poppy even want her to go? Of all people! What did Val have that Poppy thought was so cool? As she walked, she thought about what she said to Poppy. God why did she even think of talking? Why did she stop when Poppy called her name? Why did she open up? Even if it was a little, she still told her something personal. She made herself vulnerable. She made herself a walking target to Poppy and all she did was… understand. She didn’t force Val to come back, she told her that the risk is ‘worth it.’ She listened… she genuinely, sincerely listened… no one has done that before. No one has ever listened to Val when she spoke, they would always laugh in her face…
WHICH IS WHAT POPPY SHOULD'VE DONE! Not… LISTENING! “Stupid,” Val thought. “Poppy is so stupid, God I hate her.” Val was close to her home and she kept thinking about how stupid Poppy was. She hated her, she actually hated her. She hated her stupid face, with her stupid, whiny voice, and her stupid, dumb clothes, and her stupid cute laugh, along with her stupid, pretty hair, and here stupid soft, gently hands, and her IDIOTIC smile with her stupid, cute gap tooth and her… stupid care for people who don’t… deserve it. Val screamed ferociously. “Val?” A blue rocker called her name. “You ok, man?”
“YES! I'M FINE! WHY WOULD I BE?!” She gave a face to the troll, she slammed the door to her room. The rocker banged her on the door. God she couldn’t stand Poppy. Someone so perfect enough to care about someone like her. Val pulled her pigtails, groaning. Why is she suddenly thinking of Poppy like this??? She hated her. She loved her. She hated her. She loved her. She was so envious of her enthusiasm. She walked over to her couch, belly flopping on. She decided to get some rest, hoping to get her thoughts in order.
Laughter, pure sweet laughter is heard. “Oh Val!” Poppy kissed Val’s cheek, two of them cuddling together. Val giggled softly, gently squeezing Poppy’s hands. Poppy whispered into Val’s ear. “I hope you know how proud I am that you were created.” Val looked at her confused. “You saw all their hatred and you unlearned it. That’s courage, Val.” Poppy cupped her cheek, Val had tears in her eyes. “You’re so much happier today. I love you, Val.” Poppy kissed her lips. “I love you too, Poppy.”
Val woke up, shocked. “EWWWW!” was the only thing that came out her mouth. What in God's name was she even thinking?! It’s not normal. Especially her thinking of Poppy. That’s not normal to think of your best friend with. Why would she even think that? She hated thinking that. She hated her, but she loved her. Poppy was so kind to her and it’s so dumb. Val moaned, getting up to find her guitar. She’ll just write to distract herself, that’s what always helps her! Once she found her guitar, sighed and sat down. She cleared her throat and lightly strummed.
“Lacy, oh Lacy, skin like puff pastry. Aren’t you the sweetest thing on this side of hell?” Val sang out, that’s good. “Dear Angel Lacy, eyes white as daisies. Did I ever tell you that I’m not doing well?” She kept singing, not really knowing what she’s saying, but enjoying her quick improv. She closed her eyes, to get into it more. “Ooh I care, I care, I care. Like perfume that you wear, I linger all the time. Watching, hidden in plain sight, and ooh I try, I try, I try, but it takes over my life.” No matter what she did, it all came back to a certain pink troll. “I see you everywhere, sweetest torture one could bare~” She stopped strumming for a minute, she was infuriated. She scrunched her face, letting out a frustrated sigh. As she continued, this is what she said…
“Smart, sexy Lacy, I’m losing it lately. I feel your compliments like bullets on skin.” While this was calming her a little, it still annoyed her how she was her only thought. Why? Why her of all trolls? She felt absolutely pathetic. She shouldn’t be singing about another girl. How stupid. She just couldn't stop. “Dazzling starlet, Bardot reenact. Well aren’t you the greatest thing to ever exist?” All these words were twisting her thoughts. “Ooh I care, I care, I care, like ribbons in your hair, my stomachs all in knots. You got the one thing that I want.” Poppy has her people, people who love her, no matter what. Poppy has gotten support from everyone. She’s the queen after all, everyone supports the queen. No matter what big announcement she would have to make about her life, everyone would support her, it’s so sickening. Poppy was so sickening to her.
As Val kept singing, she started to get a tad emotional. She felt her throat heating up. “And ooh I try, I try, I try, try to rationalize, people are people but,” she sniffed “it’s like you’re made of Angel dust~” She closed her eyes and started using her head voice, something she doesn’t do often. It was rough, she never really trained her voice that well for songs that require high notes. It just sounds screalty. She kept singing, her “oohs” kept turning into “ahhs” with every note. She was trying not to tear up. As she sang her finale “ooh,” she went silent. The room, the guitar, everything. She didn’t play anything else, she just sat and pondered. She sniffed, then continued with her shaky voice.
“Lacy, oh Lacy, it’s like you're out to get me, you poison every little thing that I do. Lacy, oh Lacy, I just loathe you lately, and I despise my jealous eyes and how hard they fell for you. Yeah, I despise my rotten mind and how much it worships you…”
As Val strummed her finale chord, a tear ran down her face. She swallowed, whipping her tears. She looked at her fingertips and the reflection. She looked down at her guitar and sighed. “God what did I do?” She couldn’t believe what she wrote. She got up, trying to remember what she sang. She got a piece of paper and wrote it down. After she wrote down the words, she left her room and went back to ‘Pop Village.’ Finally arriving at her pod, Val turned her note into a paper airplane, and threw it in Poppy’s window. Val quickly ran far from her house, trying to blend in with the background.
Poppy was just doing some cleaning, blasting music and dancing around. She finally saw the note, it landed in her glowmato patch. She turned down the radio and read. An “aww” escaped her mouth as she read. She folded it up, putting it in a drawer. “I think you're cool too, Val.” She thought to herself.