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It was really irritating, actually.
Poppy had headed back to the main hall, holding a rose delicately in her hands. But everywhere she went, she could hear them. Girls. 17 to 19 year olds, even some 22 year olds, all of them talking about Harry. About the hot, young, handsome, rich bachelor, with green eyes, and who would take over the business. And it irritated Poppy, that these girls were just talking about him so blatantly, imagining themselves in relationships with him, and they barely knew him.
She arrived in the hall, all dressed in white, and noticed that the crowd was beginning to form there. She spotted Jerome and Mara, holding hands, they looked slightly tense but she couldn't imagine why. And she wasn't about to head over. Poppy was no third wheel. Harry stepped onto the stage, and stood in front of the podium. Poppy stood beside a group of girls, who were about two or three years older than her. All dressed in beautiful, rich gowns, with diamonds and crystals hanging from their necks and necks and ears.
"Oh my god!" One of them cooed "Look at him! Oh, he's even more handsome than I remember,"
"Yum. Do you think he's single?"
"He was the last time I was here. But he can't still be single, can he? I mean he goes to a public school, someone has to have snatched him up!"
Harry raised his wine glass, and tapped it expertly in front of the microphone, the loud chime rang through, and he easily claimed everyone's attention. All the eyes were on him. He cleared his throat "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Harry Osborne, the will-be new face, and future owner, of Osborne Enterprises," an applause echoed around him, and he half smiled. Poppy smiled when he did, as a reflex, but her smile quickly dropped when she heard the girls
"Oh my god!" the tall one with blonde hair crooned "Look at that smile!"
"The smile?" The other one groaned "Listen to that smooth voice. Oh, I could listen to him talk all day,"
"He looks nice." The shorter one said, she was about Poppy's height, but was about two or three years older than her "In his eyes, you can see it. He's a nice person. And that's really rare, especially from someone so rich."
"Shut up Megan." The tall one snapped "He's speaking again." Poppy instinctively edged closer to this Megan, feeling calmed by someone who was trying to look past the shallower things. Everyone was enthralled, as Harry continued.
"Now, I know many of your have lost faith in Osborne Enterprises." His eyes glistened with truth "I know many of you have lost faith in our worth ethic, in our profits. But most importantly, I know that many of you, have lost faith in my father," he allowed his voice to break, just the right amount. "And that's what gets to me. My father, Mr Norman Osborne, built this business up from when it was just a small arms dealership. He gave everything to this! His life! His determination! He made this the third largest military provider in the country! But what astounds me, my fathers most brilliant quality, is his loyalty." He scanned the crowd, lingering on the familiar faces, his father, Bertrum, Jerome, Mara, Poppy. "Even when things were bleak, my father never ever turned his back, instead, he gave everything he had. His own money, loaned against his own house. And because of that, we get more and more successful. You turn you backs on the Osborne business, but we have never turned our backs on you. Never!" His voice became slightly venomous, and he reeled it back, smiling slightly. A few financial investors dropped their heads in shame, the rest watched in awe "One of the qualities, I've gotten from my father, is that loyalty, and excellent work ethic, and brilliant ideas. Of how to modernise our business and keep it at the top. Unfortunately, I also inherited his lack of humour, so," the audience chuckled and Poppy beamed. "All I can say is, only two things about Osborne Enterprises will change. The names on your pay checks, from N Osborne, to H Osborne. And that those pay-checks, will do nothing but increase."
"Excuse me! E-Excuse me!" Came a voice from the audience. Harry frowned, peering into the crowd of posh and well dressed people, to see a press reporter. He groaned internally, they weren't meant to be able to get in.
"Yes Sir?" He asked, trying to play it cool
"Um, l-last year, Osborne Enterprises, the wonderful place with a great work ethic, fired 9,000 of it's employees, and 100 of those fired then proceeded with suicide attempts, h-how do you explain that?"
Harry stiffened, and turned instinctively to his father. Who stood, frozen unsure what to do. So Harry thought on his feet, just like Jerome had taught him. "Quite simply, there was a spy. We knew in which particular sector and there was no way we would allow a foreign company into our business to reveal secrets. We have confidentiality, what we do is specialise. We equip our nations warriors, and our enemies should never have access to those weapons. We waste no time in securing our secrets." The guests applauded loudly, and the press reporter sighed "Does that answer your question?" Harry stepped off the stage, and his father hugged him tightly, and the classical music started again. Financial investors and bankers, and bosses with connections to the military all started gathering around Mr Osborne, offering him their deals and praise.
Harry took a glass of wine, and headed through the crowd to Poppy. "Hey," he smiled, taking a sip, slightly flustered "How was that?"
"It was amazing, Harry," Poppy laughed.
"Harry," said the tall blonde girl, in a very tight and low cut dress, made of the finest silks "Woah. The last time I saw you, you were a tiny little thing," she smiled seductively but Harry didn't understand it.
"Natasha," Harry smiled, finishing his wine in a gulp, and quickly pouring himself some more. "Good to see you, uh Poppy, this is Natasha, she's an old family friend,"
"And who's this?" Natasha asked, pointing at Poppy, she was trying to seem interested, but she was smiling tightly. She just wanted to get Harry alone.
"This is my girlfriend," Harry smiled proudly, wrapping his arms around her. Natasha and her friends all immediately glared daggers at her, though Harry was oblivious to it. But it didn't stop the red head, who was suddenly right beside Harry, with a finger in his hair, curling around the strands.
"Your speech was really good Harry," she murmured into his ear in a hushed whisper "You handled the press so well, I bet your dad is really proud,"
"Yeah," Harry nodded "I should go find him, actually, nice to see you...Amy, isn't it?"
"You remembered." She giggled. Harry smiled, and headed off. The tall girls glared at Poppy, before stalking off.
"Is he nice?" asked the girl her height. Poppy turned to Megan, and blushed
"Yeah, surprisingly nice."
"Good," Megan nodded "I'm glad to know they're not all like them," she motioned to the tall girls. "So, what does your father do?"
"He doesn't work." Poppy sighed, and technically it was the truth.
"And your mother?"
"She's an accountant." Poppy noticed Megan's stare "No, I'm not rich."
"Oh." Megan shook her head "That's not a bad thing, I guess...you know, but everyone thought Harry would end up marrying someone as rich as he was. We feared he'd kinda rule the world It's good, I'm happy for you. He's certainly not bad to look at." Poppy laughed. She liked Megan, this short girl. She didn't quite fit in, and Poppy liked that.
"You're right there,"
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"Can you believe it?" the tall girl sneered "That thing...oh my god! She wasn't even that pretty! I bought this stupid dress and he's dating someone! Not to mention the fact that they're as ugly as-"
"Don't worry Shannon," another girl soothed "I mean, he must only be with her cuz she's smart or something, right? I mean you are totally so much prettier than her it's not serious, you know he'd rather have you in a heartbeat."
"God. Just add her to our enemies list. What was he dumb name? A flower or something?"
"I think it was Lilly?"
"Good. God, she was super annoying, of course Megan was the only one to talk to her. If she and Harry end up together, I will be so angry. I might not even go to the wedding or something. She was ugly, and fat, and dumb and annoying."
And of course none of those things were true, but Poppy couldn't stand hearing them, especially about herself, to people she had only just met. And just because she was dating Harry. And it hurt her heart, she blinked back tears, and headed for the stair case, her white dress swishing about her knees. She bumped into Harry, who smiled at her, staggering slightly. His tie was loose, and the top buttons of his shirt undone. Hair ruffled, and a half empty wine glass in his hands. "Hey beautiful," he whispered
Poppy shook her head "Harry, do you know that there are girls everywhere who want you?"
Harry frowned "Want what?"
"You!" She groaned "And they're all so horrible and-"
"Harry!" a girl appeared beside him, her hands draped over Harry's shoulders "Come on, you promised you'd show us how the lights around the fountains work," she cooed into his ears. She shot a smug glance at Poppy who could barley contain the waterworks. Harry nodded, murmuring something.
"Sorry Poppy," he whispered, he looked as though he were about to sleep "I have to uh..." he jutted his fingers in the opposite direction "Catch you after yeah? I wanna dance with you," and she pulled him away. He turned back twice, but the girl had a good grip, and he was too out of it to put up much of a fight. Also, he had promised.
And it was all too much for Poppy. She raced upstairs, and chose a room out of a thousand. It was a guest bedroom, and she sat on the bed, and cried.
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She didn't know how long she was crying for, and there were times when she forgot why she was crying. But she needed to simply look about where she was, and she remembered, and started crying all over again. A relationship with Harry, this was going to be hard. This was going to be so hard.
"Poppy," came a whisper. Poppy looked up, wiping her tears harshly to see Jerome. He looked slightly dishevelled, but his eyes were rimmed red. "I've been looking everywhere for you, what's wrong?"
"Nothing," she sniffed "Girls just being awful girls." She frowned at him "What's wrong with you?" another tear dripped from her eye and with annoyance she wiped it away with a manicured hand.
"Mara dumped me." He whispered, shaking his head "I don't know. I confronted her, I knew there was something going on at home she wasn't telling me about and I...damn, I pushed it," he rubbed his own eyes. "Let's get out of here, before they notice." He pulled her up and the siblings hugged.
"Are relationships always this hard, Jerome?" She whispered. He chuckled into her ear
"At least you're still in a relationship. And yeah, something else to know about Harry, he does like his wine. He can normally hold it quite well. Today's he's just...just flat out gone with it. Good for him though, the speech was great." He led Poppy through the mansion, deliberately not answering her question, and she was amazed her brother knew it as well as he did. He must have been here a lot with Harry, they were heading for the back.
"The girls, Jerome, so many of them, they wanna be with him. It's...it's so weird. They only want him for his money, and his looks-"
"People are like that," he murmured, kissing her forehead "Poppy," he half smiled "We of all people should know that there are guys in this world, who will do anything for money." She nodded with a sigh, and the two Clarkes went home. Sad, and uncertain. With only each other.
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