𓈊 A Poppy By Any Other Name

ACT XLIII

Trigger warning for mention of suicide, mention of sa, mention of death, and suicidal ideation. Stay safe <3

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As the next week passed, Lizzie and Scott were finally both back in school. Scott had convinced Mr. Harding and Ms. Gold to let him rejoin drama club, just so long as he agreed to stay after to clean up after each practice.

Jimmy opened the door to the theatre, only to be grabbed by the wrist and pulled aggressively inside the room by Grian. "Wha-"

"You know how to play guitar, right?" Grian asked.

Jimmy blinked. "Uh, yeah... Why?

As soon as he said that, Grian seemed to pull a whole guitar out of thin air and handed it to Jimmy. "Good, do you know any love songs?"

"I- love songs?" Jimmy asked incredulously and he took a look at the instrument in his arms.

There was a sigh behind them and Jimmy turned to see Mr. Harding standing there, almost looking embarrassed. "Listen, you kids don't need to-"

"Here, Timmy," Grian interrupted, shoving his phone in Jimmy's face. On the screen were tabs to a song called All of Me by John Legend. "Can you play this?"

Jimmy squinted at the small, cracked screen. "If you give me a minute to practice it, yeah," he said. "But why do I need to-"

"Good, good." Grian started to push Jimmy toward a music stand and put his phone on the stand so Jimmy could read it. "Hurry up, Ms. Gold is gonna be here soon."

Mr. Harding sighed again. "Boys, I appreciate the effort, but I can-"

Grian held up a hand to shush the teacher. "Every proposal needs a romantic atmosphere, Mr. Harding," he said matter-of-factly. "Just relax."

The drama teacher snorted. "Alright, alright," he surrendered with a soft smile; something that was nothing less than strange to see on his usually hard face.

Grinning proudly, Grian turned back to Jimmy. "Are you ready?"

"I need a tuner," Jimmy answered. "This thing is really out of tune."

Grian let out a loud, obnoxious groan. "Of course!" he said dramatically, making Joel snicker from the stage, where he was helping set up props. "Does anybody have a tuner?"

Scott looked up from one of the pews. "I have a tuner app on my phone," he offered.

"Give it!" Grian held out his hand and Scott took a second to realize he wanted his phone before handing it to him. "Thank you." He then shoved Scott's phone at Jimmy. "Tune it."

Jimmy started with the low E string, finding it was so sharp the tuner read that it was an F. "Damn, who used this guitar last?" he murmured as he turned the tuning peg. The rest of the strings were pretty much the same way, being so sharp that the tuner read them as the next note higher. "There we go," he said when he finished tuning the first string.

"So are you ready now?" Grian asked eagerly.

"Pretty much."

Grian smiled brightly then walked away. It was almost funny how excited he was about this. "I'm gonna go keep watch for Ms. Gold," he said, waving at Mr. Harding and Jimmy.

"So, you're proposing to Ms. Gold?" Scott said teasingly, leaning over the pew in front of him. He snickered when Mr. Harding blushed.

"Well, I was going to do it after opening night," Mr. Harding explained, "but Grian found out about it and convinced me to do it now." He sighed. "I just hope she says yes."