I’m a sucker for a pretty girl with an attitude. And Poppy Wylder always has an attitude when it comes to me.
As my twin sister’s best friend, she’s always been annoyed by me. I get it. She’s my opposite in almost every way. I’m an idiot; she’s the smartest person I know. She’s serious about school and spends most of her free time studying, even when we were young kids. That’s why she and Anna are best friends. Anna’s the same way.
I could always tell that just being around me drove Poppy nuts. I don’t take anything seriously, and I’m always joking around. She’s not like that at all.
But I like that about her. I like that my charm doesn’t seem to work on her, like it does with other women.
She doesn’t care that I’m a hockey star. She never has.
I like that she doesn’t fall all over herself trying to get my attention, unlike the puck bunnies that surround me. It sets off the competitiveness that’s stitched into my DNA as a hockey player. I love a challenge. And Poppy Wylder is the biggest challenge I’ve ever encountered.
I can’t ignore the way my stomach flips when I think about her. I’ve had a crush on her ever since she became friends with my sister in middle school. I even tried to ask her out to prom in high school.
I think back to the spectacular failure of my prom-posal. How I asked her to go to prom in the middle of the crowded lunchroom. How she stared at me with that wide-eyed gaze, like I had sprouted two heads. How she looked confused and weirded out at once.
How, in that moment, I felt so awkward and nervous that I started laughing. How heartbroken I felt when she didn’t say a word to me…making it obvious just how repulsed she was by me.
That excitement dies down when I think about that memory, and a disappointed feeling swoops through me instead.
She’s the one girl I can’t have but always wanted.
And now, I can’t even get her to tutor me.
“Wait, why do you need a tutor?” Blake asks, pulling me back into the moment.
“Because I’m failing, and if I don’t get my grades up, I’m going to get kicked off the team.”
I get up and throw my apple core in the trash in the kitchen before sitting back down on the couch.
Blake’s brow lifts. “Damn. Really?”
I let out a heavy sigh and tug a hand through my hair. “Yeah. I’m failing my Research and Composition class. And I’ve got two Ds. One in College Algebra and one in Media Criticism.”
I explain how my adviser reported me to Coach Sawyer and the stern talking-to I got after practice.
“Why don’t you have your sister tutor you? She’s really smart, just like Poppy,” Travis says.
“Because we’d kill each other.”
I love my twin sister, but we’re not good at working together. When she’d try to help me with my homework growing up, we’dalways end up bickering. When I tried to teach her how to drive stick shift in high school, we didn’t make it ten minutes before shouting at each other. And we have a standing rule to never, ever assemble furniture together. That always ends in disaster.
“Yeah, I guess I forgot how much you guys fight when you have to work together,” Travis says. “Just go to the Writing Center. They have tons of tutors there who can help you.”
I huff out a breath. “That’s my plan. I’m heading there first thing tomorrow morning.”
My teammates are quiet for a long moment.
“You’ll find a tutor to help you get your grades up in no time,” Blake says.
I nod despite the anxiety zooming through me. Because even if I find a good tutor, what if they can’t help me? What if I can’t get my grades up, and I get kicked off the team, and I lose the one thing that matters most to me? What if I lose the one shot I have at my biggest dream, playing pro hockey?
My stomach churns with dread. For the rest of the night, I try to ignore it, but I can’t shake the feeling that I’m about to lose hockey forever…and I can’t blame anyone but myself.
Chapter 4
Poppy
Ifreeze when I see the unread message in my inbox.
