𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐋! [𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐋 𝐆𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐆𝐇𝐄𝐑]

TUTORING AND SURPRISES

THE DEAL
eight | ❝You know, it's starting to feel like you all love my girlfriend more than you love me.❞

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         "So, you're absolutely sure that you can't come over after school?" Carl asked Poppy for about the tenth time.

Poppy shook her head and chuckled at him.

He was walking her to her last class, they were holding hands because they had to take advantage of every public moment in which they were together to make it seem like they were a couple. It didn't matter that there were only about five students still in the halls.

"Just as sure as I was the last nine times you asked me, Carl," she told him, "I'm tutoring after school."

"Just skip it today! Those kids can go a day without you, Genius Girl," he told her as they came to a stop in front of Poppy's classroom.

"I can't just skip a tutoring session, Carl! Even if I could, I don't want to, I love tutoring. You should come with me! It's so much fun!" Poppy gushed, doing that cute thing she does when she's overly excited. She grins so big that her dimples sink into her cheeks deeply and a small laugh lingers in her voice. Carl loves it when she does that.

"Only you would find tutoring fun, Popsicle," Carl chuckled and rolled his eyes.

He gave a small sigh and an amused smile before giving her a peck on the lips.

"I gotta get to class, I'll see later," with that, Carl began walking away.

"At least consider coming to tutor with me!" Poppy called out before going into her classroom.

She couldn't hide the smile on her face as she made her way to her seat next to Cristina.

•••

"Popsicle, wait up!"

Poppy turned, already knowing who it was before even having to see.

"Did you change your mind about coming to tutor with me?" Poppy asked as Carl caught up to her and they began to walk to the library together.

"Actually, I did. I figured I could go with you to this and then we'd go to my house together," he explained.

"Sure," Poppy nodded.

"So, who exactly are you tutoring?" Carl asked as he opened the door to the library and let Poppy enter first. It had become a habit.

"His names Owen. He's incredibly intelligent, but he suffers from ADHD, so after seeing how much he was struggling to keep up in class, his teacher reached out to me and asked if I could give him extra help after school," Poppy explained.

"And you actually agreed?"

"Carl!" Poppy laughed lightly. "I love tutoring, you might even like it too. Owen is awesome, I love him so much."

Carl scrunched his eyebrows. "Do you now?"

"He's a sweetheart."

"Hmm," Carl hummed in response.

Poppy led him to a table near the back of the library, where a little boy with brown hair and matching light brown eyes was sitting.