The first thing that Poppy did when she got into her house, was go straight upstairs to her room, where her kitten had been waiting for those long two days.
"Aurora! My beautiful living creature!" she said, half-running over to the small, fluffy, gray munchkin cat, with her bright blue eyes. "You must be so hungry. Gosh, I have missed your beautiful fluffiness..."
The kitten meowed in response, which caused Poppy to giggle girlishly at the animal and put her down before feeding her. Gross, Poppy thought as she gave the cat the nasty, wet, fishy food. She herself didn't eat meat, but she thought that it was necessary for her cat to have a normal, healthy diet, as did her Aunt Jenna who had bought the cat for her in the first place. Aurora had been a gift to help take her mind off of her parents' death, and she had certainly done the trick. Of course it had only been a month ago or so that she had gotten her, which meant that she had lived without her parents for a while before her cat, but she was still extremely grateful. Before her, she had only Netflix and school to keep her busy, the latter being incredibly boring, but necessary. She had drowned herself in her studies and cheer leading.
After Aurora was all fed and taken care of, Poppy got up and went downstairs again to see if anyone was home. The first person she saw when she entered the kitchen was Jenna, which Poppy was thankful for. She wasn't quite sure yet if she was ready to face Elena right now. Elena wasn't exactly a topic she wanted to think about at the moment, so Poppy pushed all thoughts of her sister to the back of her mind and ran over to hug her aunt.
"Aunt Jenna!" she squealed into her aunt {okay, more like friend}.
Poppy was met, however, with a very confused aunt. "Whoa, Poppy. Why are you so huggy?" she said, but she still smiled at her weird niece. "I mean, I know I'm great, but you couldn't have missed me that much. It's been two days."
The blonde frowned for a moment, not understanding, but then she remembered. Aunt Jenna didn't know. Annoying Elena must have covered for Annoying Elijah. Poppy fixed her expression so it didn't seem surprised, and instead showed her normal, sarcastic face.
"Oh, ya know. Spending even one night without you is absolute torture for me, both emotionally, and physically. You can only imagine what it was like for two. I stayed up for hours last night, just thinking about getting back home to you so that we could watch that episode of Pretty Little Liars that we missed this week..." Poppy said with a small smirk playing on her face.
Jenna's eyes lit up from that small comment. "Yes! We have to watch that, like, right now. Poppy, you get the popcorn and chocolate, I will start it," she said, moving from where she was standing in the kitchen right away to the living room.
Poppy laughed to herself at her aunt's enthusiasm. It was times like these that she remembered how young her aunt was. She was only 25, yet she still had to act responsible enough to take care of three teenagers; when Poppy first heard this, she was half excited, half surprised. Jenna had always been like another sister... Only one that she didn't fight with as much, who liked to watch Supernatural and fangirl about how freaking hot the Winchester brothers are, along with the beautiful angel who was Castiel. She couldn't do that with Elena. That strange girl didn't like Supernatural. Such a weirdo.
Back to her point, however, Jenna barely had anything to worry about other than getting through college and getting a good, well-rounded job. Now she had three {well, four if you counted the cat} mouths to feed, plus her own. Poppy couldn't imagine the huge change in her life that Jenna had to make to be there for them, which was why she spent as much time with her aunt as possible, trying to make up for all of the experiences she was losing from knitting together their make-shift family.
By the time she was done with all of her thoughts, the popcorn was done, and she was sitting on the couch, ready to watch Pretty Little Liars {AKA: That Dramatic Show That Includes Hanna Eating Non-Stop And Making Funny Remarks Every 5 Seconds... And Then All The Other Stuff}. She and Jenna gasped along with the four girls as they went along the track of finding out who 'A' was. Poppy had to admit, this episode was especially surprising. She was sure that Jenna agreed.
"Oh my god, I needed some more drama in my life." Poppy said with a smile, as she shoved another handful of popcorn in her mouth.
"Yep, I know how you feel. I've been going through withdrawals." Jenna said with the same look on her face. "I don't think I can wait until next Tuesday..."
"Same he-"
Poppy was cut off by the door opening. She got up immediately, somehow knowing that it was her sister who had come in.
Sure enough, when she turned the corner, Poppy found her twin. She didn't wait for even a second, to run and tackle her sister with a hug.
"'Lena! Oh my gosh! You have no clue what I've been through these last two days. I'll have to tell you later. Elijah told me everything." she said it all so fast that Elena could hardly keep track.
"Whoa, whoa. Slow down, Poppy." Elena said, peeling her twin off of her body. She whispered the next part. "Jenna doesn't know. You have to be quiet. Let's go upstairs."
"Okay." Poppy said. "Sorry, Jenna! Sister talk is happening. You aren't invited!" she yelled before she closed Elena's door behind her.
Elena rolled her eyes at her sister. Although she had been gone with a psychopath, it didn't seem to change her personality very much. That wasn't exactly the only thing she was worrying about, however...
Right when they got into the room, Poppy made her sister sit down on Elena's bed so that she could be given a proper 'talking to' as they would say it back in... whenever. Poppy prepared her speech, while Elena was preparing to get yelled at, and told some words that she knew she deserved.
"Elena Marie Gilbert!" Poppy said, her eyes blazing with anger. She noticed her sister's grimace, but she ignored the guilt that was swelling inside of her. This pansycake was lyingto her for who even knewhow long! That was all she had to think, to let out all of her emotions through several non-thought-out words.
"How dare you keep something so big from me! And also, you left me behind? While your boyfriend-brothers went and rode you out into the sunset?" Poppy said, walking closer to her sister with every word. In all honesty, Elena was surprised that her sister had been so... blunt. She definitely didn't expect her to actually hit such a sore subject, right on point, in such a casual way that would make her wince even five years in the future.
"Listen, Poppy. It was for-"
"What? My own good?" Poppy cut her off. "How longexactly have you kept this from me? And does everyone else know, except for Jenna? Whydid you keep this from me? I mean, if you had just told me, instead of me having to find out from a freaking dead guy pulling out a stake in his heart, maybe I wouldn't have been so incrediblyangry right now. But it seems as if that isn't the case. And I had to spend two days with a freaking Original vampire. Hell, apparently, I've been spending time with vampires for who knows how long. I deserve answers, 'Lena. You can't keep things like this from me."
Poppy felt refreshed after her small rant to her sister. It definitely felt good to let out all of those emotions. Elena, however, felt quite the opposite. While her sister was feeling light and content inside, Elena felt as if a huge weight was put to her chest. Suddenly, she couldn't breathe as well as she could before.
She had been trying to protect her. That was all that she ever wanted from all of this. Instead, her sister was kidnapped, not having a clue what was happening, by one of the most dangerous creatures to had ever existed. And it was all her fault that she had even beenkidnapped in the first place. As the list goes on, Elena just felt worse and worse from keeping this secret from her and Jenna. All that she ever wanted was for them to be safe, but it was basically impossible in the small town of Mystic Falls.
"Poppy, hear me out, okay?" Elena said, looking at her sister. Poppy stubbornly crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows, but allowed Elena to continue. "I didn't know when, or how to tell you. Everything happened so suddenly, and before I even knew it, I was stuck in the middle of all this drama, and... I just didn't want you or Jenna or Jeremy to get caught in the middle of it. Unfortunately, though, Jeremy found out about a year ago... When he found out, so many terrible things happened to him. We agreed that we didn't want you to get hurt, so we have just sort of been... keeping it from you since then."
While she didn't want to admit it, Elena did have a point. It would sort of be an awkward thing to randomly bring up in a conversation, and Poppy probably would have freaked out, or spilled the beans to one of her friends outside of the Scooby-Gang. She also had to admit to herself that the expression on Elena's face was nothing if not sincere, so there was no way she was lying about the troubles she had been through. Maybe it was time for her to just forgive, but not forget... That would be the mature thing to do, at least. Of course mature wasn't always her style, however... Decisions, decisions.
"Elena, I will – for the moment – forgive you. However, our relationship will never be how it was before." Poppy said, sighing and looking at her sister. "We used to be able to trust each other with anything, but now... You liedto me. For a very long time, about a very serious thing. It will take me a while to actually get used to trusting you again. So, this means that you and your little Scooby-Gang will have to include me in all of your plans, or else I will actually hold a grudge on you, Jeremy, and Damon. Not Stefan, though, because Stefan is great. I mean, how is this even a decision you have to make? Weirdo..."
With that, Poppy left the room before Elena could say anything else, and went to her own bedroom. She closed the door behind her, leaned on it and sighed, closing her eyes. That was a very confrontational conversation, which she wasn't used to in this family. Normally, she would only yell an eighth of what she actually felt, and think about how it could have gone differently later. As she thought about it, though, she made a very good argument for being put out on the spot like that...
"Miss Gilbert, it seems as if you are very bad at holding a grudge."
Poppy's eyes flew open at the sound of the stupid thousand-year-old's comment. How the heck did she not even notice he was in here?!
She saw him leaning casually against her desk that held all of her homework that she had yet to do. The sight of him almost made her groan in frustration. Why the heck couldn't he just leave her alone for a day?
"Look, dude, did you miss me or something? It literally hasn't been 5 hours yet... Why are you even here?" Poppy asked him, her nose wrinkling, just thinking about having to have another conversation with him. On the other hand, he wasa sight for sore eyes... A sight that she had seen just a couple hours ago.
"Poppy, I do not enjoy speaking with you, just as much as you dislike speaking with me. Jonas, however, felt an unknown power in your necklace earlier, and is now curious. Frankly, I am as well interested in what else it may possibly hold." Elijah said, all the while walking towards Poppy. They were now almost nose to nose, which disgusted Poppy in some ways, but also turned her on in others. She had to admit it, this guy was hot. This didn't seem to change the fact that he was trying to steal her necklace, however. Asshole.
"What? No way! I have had this necklace for, like, ever. The only time I've ever taken it off was earlier today, when you made me. And you are notgoing to make me take it off again." Poppy said, crossing her arms and glaring up at the vampire.
Elijah rolled his eyes. Poppy clearly still did not understand that he could take her life in less than a thousandth of a second. However, it was evident that she would not give up, so he decided to go the easy way. Just take it from her neck.
When he tried to use the clasp, however, it burned his hand, with an even worse sensation than vervain. Yes, something was definitely happening with this strange object...
Poppy felt triumphant when he pulled his hand away, and smirked at him. It was funny to see him in pain, even if it was a very rare thing to happen. Stupid vampire...
"Yes! I don't even know what the heck hurt you, or how it did, but I'm just going to enjoy this while it lasts..." she said, now attempting to do a happy dance.
"Poppy, take off your necklace." Elijah said, now feeling exasperated, and a little bit annoyed with the strange teenage girl in front of him. She stopped dancing and glared up at him.
"Now, why the hell would I do that? I mean, you have been nothing but annoying and an inconvenience since I met you. You were the one who kidnapped me, remember? Do you think I'm just going to go around giving you favors?"
Elijah must have expected her to say this, because the next thing she knew, she felt something pulling hard on her neck.
"Ow! Shit, that really hurts!" she said, feeling her skin start to give in. "ELIJAH! Stop before you freaking draw blood! You can't take it off, okay? Get over it!"
Elijah nearly growled in frustration. What was different about this girl? What was the importance of this necklace, and why couldn't he take it off? It should have at least snapped under his pull...
"Listen, maybe if you asked nicelyI would give it to you, dammit." Poppy spit out, glaring at him. "However, it seems as if that was not the case. So good luck finding out what my necklace is, Eli."
At this remark, Elijah could hardly contain his temper, which was strange for him, considering how he was always the most reasonable of his siblings. It seemed as if, however, this small blonde human brought out the worst in him. And it was beginning to make him angrier than he would normally bother.
Another thing that was troubling him, was why this girl was so attached to her necklace in the first place. When he had asked to take it from her earlier, Poppy acted as if he were asking to kill her sister. What was her sentiment towards this {maybe not-so} mundane object? Of course he knew that her deceased father had given her the necklace as a gift, which could cause some need to keep in contact with the necklace, but the way she looked at him when he asked, was... unusual. Even for this unpredictable teenage girl.
"Poppy!" Elena's voice rang from just outside the room.
Poppy glared at Elijah, in a way that clearly showed that she was asking him to leave. Elijah, however, had learned to enjoy pushing this girl's buttons.
This being said, he found it to be a good idea to answer the door for Poppy, so she wouldn't have to go through the trouble of answering it herself. Well, that was at least his own twisted way of thinking about it...
"Elena. Nice to meet with you again..." he said, in his classy way.
The blonde walked up behind him and pushed him out of the doorway {well, she pushed him a little, and he chose to actually allow her to do something that she wanted and moved out of the way for her} to see her sister properly.
When she could, Poppy saw Elena gasping for breath in an incredibly dramatic way, which she found to be unnecessary, but whatever... As she was thinking about how weird her sister was being, Elena was backing up into the wall in their hallway, putting as much distance between the Original and herself, which wasn't very hard to do, because he had moved himself back to the other side of the room after Poppy had pushed him aside.
"Elena! Sorry about the douche-y vampire who is currently in my bedroom. I mean, if I got to make my own decisions, he would probably be shipped out to the galaxy of Andromeda, just so that I wouldn't have to ever see him again." Poppy said, the last part clearly pointed towards the thousand-year-old who was searching through her things.
"Dammit! Elijah, could you leave or something? Elena's having a freaking panic attack. And stop looking through my things. You're acting like an immature teenager, not a freaking Original."
Elijah sighed. He did realize that his actions were beginning to look like Kol's, much to his dismay... While this did annoy him, it did make him remember his purpose for being in Mystic Falls in the first place. He had to remember about the true importance of this small town, and what was surly going to take place in the next few weeks.
Turning his mind back to the current situation, Elijah put down one of Poppy's school journals and walked back over to the door in his swagger-like way, placing his hands in his pockets.
"Poppy, meet me at the Grill later tonight. We still do have things to discuss. Until then, stay out of trouble and don't get killed." he said before vamp-running out of the room, with his normal Elijah classiness.
Once he was gone, it was as if a weight had been lifted off of both girls' shoulders. One, because she didn't have anything to fear that was standing 10 feet away from her. The other, because she couldn't handle being around such an annoying, yet stunningly attractive man for long periods of time.
"Wow..." Elena said, looking over at Poppy, who was also a bit disoriented. "You're so... casual with him. It's like he's just another annoying boy who's chasing you around at school or something."
Poppy shrugged at that comment. "Well, I guess you get used to having a thousand-year-old standing in front of you after a couple days. But honestly, I don't really care about that. Especially when I've apparently been hanging out with all of my vampire and witch friends for how long, exactly?"
The brunette sighed. Of course she had to bring it up again... "It's been about a year. Ever since junior year when Stefan and Damon came into town. That's when Bonnie found out she was a witch, and then a little while later, Care became a vampire."
The last piece of news was clearly unknown information to Poppy, because her eyes widened and she pulled Elena with her to her window seat.
"Um... I guess we still have a lot to talk about." Poppy said, looking her sister in the eyes as they both got comfortable in their seat.
"Spill."
Hopefully you guys enjoyed that chapter. There was still some Elijah-Time in there, and there will be some as well in the next chapter. I think next chapter is where I will make their friendship-ish-thing start, because I sorta want to get this show on the road, if you know what I mean.
I really hope that you enjoy reading Poppy's character and personality. Honestly, the hardest part about writing this is figuring out the titles of the chapters…
So that's that! Please review, and say what you enjoyed about this chapter, or what you disliked, because I am more than able to change my writing to make it better! This story has gotten so much feedback through favorites and follows, which I'm so happy with, so thank you to everyone who has done that!
Until next time!
~Alissa
