Two
Though it was her daughter’s first day at a new school, Poppy Jennings was the nervous one. She’d been up since six this morning, fighting it. The form that took for Poppy was a thorough quaffing. She was going to look as close to perfect as she could for the school run. Her hair needed to be on point and her outfit pristine. She didn’t know if she could keep it up ad infinitum, but for now, it was the only way to cope with all the changes. She was going in strong.
She loaded Luna into the BMW for her first day at Northwood (a school she knew well, having attended it from four to eighteen) and travelled the mile there, a walkable distance to be sure. But mornings only worked if they drove. If Poppy attempted to walk Luna to school, Luna would triple the time it took to make the journey. She might graze a knee to what she considered a near-fatal degree, launch an involved rescue for a pavement-stranded worm, or decide she was not actually that keen on going to school today because she wanted to watch Moana three times back-to-back. Some days, it could be all three.
But somehow, Poppy wasn’t nervous about the one thing it turned out she should have been. Because what were the odds she would run into Norah, now with her own five-year-old, at the same school they’d both attended as children? It was an absurd coincidence, too unlikely to consider. Even though life had brought Poppy back here, it seemed impossible she would find Norah back here, too. She’d be somewhere else, wouldn’t she? Doing cool things. Not standing there in sweats, looking life-worn.
But she was here, staring Poppy in the eye with an expression that could only be described as mild horror.
‘Norah!’ Poppy exclaimed. She waited for a response for agonising seconds.
And then Norah said, ‘Do I know you?’
Poppy almost laughed. Norah knew precisely who she was. Her reaction had made that crystal clear. ‘Norah, I think you know...’ she began to say.
Norah then made the most preposterous song and dance of remembrance. She clicked her fingers. ‘Oh, right, it’s Poppy, isn’t it? Sorry, it’s been so long.’
Poppy decided to roll with the ludicrous performance. There was nothing to be gained from calling her out. ‘OK, sure,’ she said evenly.
Susan suddenly jumped in. ‘You two know each other?’
Oh boy, what a question. It created the most terrible pause.
‘We grew up on the same street,’ Poppy eventually managed to say.
Norah shot her an inscrutable look before she turned to Susan. ‘Yeah. We both went here, actually.’
Susan clapped her hands together. ‘And you didn’t know your kids came here together? How funny.’
Poppy thought that was an interesting word choice, seeing as no one appeared close to even cracking a smile right now.
‘It’s mine’s first day,’ Poppy said. ‘We moved recently.’
‘What class?’ Norah asked, her eyebrows knitting together in a familiar expression, even after all this time. She was worried.
‘Miss... Potter?’ Poppy said, unsure if she had the teacher’s name right.
But the sigh that fell from Norah’s lips made it clear she had it bang on. Norah’s child was obviously in the same class, which was not something Norah considered good or even neutral news.
‘Right. Well, I guess I’ll be seeing you around,’ Norah said. She turned and walked off before anyone could stop her.
Susan, who was as dense as plutonium and had missed all the tension completely, went right back to banging on about the Northwood Parents and Teachers’ Association. And if Poppy hadn’t cared much about that before, she gave negative shits about it now.
Poppy was back where she had started, and she’d come back to find the one person in the world she hadn’t expected to see. And the one person that (in the dark recesses of her mind) she’d kind of hoped to see again one day. But not today. Not here. Not now.