Julip. Poppy knew the name. Mainly because Luna often came home with gleeful tails of how Julip liked to piss all over the bathroom floor for the sheer sport of it. His dad was clearly in for a long one about his behaviour.

‘Are you OK to wait?’ Mrs Baur asked.

Poppy had left Luna with a neighbour from two doors down, Cherry. She’d babysat Poppy as a kid, so she knew the woman was capable, if getting up there in years now. She was already helping out with Saturdays, but Poppy didn’t want to take the piss.

‘I can hang on a bit, sure,’ she assured Mrs Bauer, though. What else could she say?

‘Great. Sure it won’t be long.’

A set of parents rounded the corner, but she didn’t know them. She’d been back a few months now but was still treading water, socially. ‘Oh, hello, are you waiting?’ the woman asked. ‘We thought we were late.’

‘It’s running a bit long,’ Poppy explained.

‘Oh, umm... We couldn’t jump the queue, could we?’ the woman asked. ‘It’s just, his dad’s got the kids, and he’s a bit... We need to get back as quick as we can.’

‘He’s fine,’ the woman’s husband assured her, placing a hand on her arm.

‘He let them watch The Exorcist!’ she muttered to him angrily.

‘He thought it would be OK because it’s about a kid. I think he forgot all the possession stuff,’ he said defensively.

‘Josh is still having nightmares about pea soup. He’s completely scarred,’ the woman hissed at him.

‘You can go in front of me,’ Poppy said. She didn’t want the woman to come home to a viewing of The Shining.

The woman was relief itself. ‘Bless you. Are you Luna’s mum?’

‘Yeah,’ Poppy smiled. ‘And yours is...’  

‘Drew.’

Poppy didn’t know Drew from a hole in the wall. ‘Ah. Yes. Of course,’ she said.

‘Hey, maybe Luna would like to come to Drew’s birthday on Sunday?’ the woman asked.

‘Oh!’ Poppy exclaimed, surprised and delighted. ‘Yeah, I think Luna would like that.’

It was Luna’s first invite since they’d moved. It was a relief to get it. Luna had been absolutely up to her neck in kids’ parties where they used to live. The party silence recently had been slightly unnerving.

‘Great, are you in the class WhatsApp?’ Drew's mum asked.

Poppy smiled. ‘No, actually.’

She’d liked not being on it. The last one had never stopped. She’d had to mute the bloody thing almost every day.

‘Give me your number, I’ll add you,’ the woman said, getting her phone out. Poppy reluctantly recited it. It wasn’t a minute later that Poppy’s phone started lighting up like a pinball machine. Poppy did not outwardly react, but if she could have, it would have been the biggest groan.

A man came out of the classroom looking a bit haggard, no doubt the infamous Julip’s originator. He was fiddling in his pocket, pulling out a vape in readiness for getting out of the building. Poppy wasn’t without pity for him.

Mrs Bauer’s top half made a reappearance out of the door again. ‘Hi, we’re ready.’

‘Umm, I’m gonna let Drew’s parents jump in front if that’s OK?’ Poppy asked.

‘Sure,’ Mrs Bauer said, gesturing to them.

They scuttled in, and the mum, whose name Poppy hadn’t gotten and probably would never get, gave her a whispered, ‘Thanks.’

Poppy fidgeted in the seat, starting to feel a bit numb. But her back straightened when Norah appeared around the corner. Of course, she thought.

‘Hey,’ Norah said with a thin smile. ‘They running late?’

‘Later than you think. I’ve just let some people in front of me.’

Norah sighed and lowered herself carefully onto a tiny blue chair across from Poppy.

‘Who was the lagger? Was it Julip’s dad?’ Norah asked.

‘How did you know?’

Norah raised an eyebrow. ‘You simply cannot stop that boy pissing everywhere. I think he was a fountain in a previous life.’

Poppy smiled. ‘It’s a long-running problem, then?’

‘He peed on my bed once,’ Norah remarked.

‘What?’ Poppy exclaimed, louder than she meant to.

‘Yeah. Freddie had a party, and I guess he snuck off to mark his territory. I had to throw the duvet away.’ She shook her head.

‘Christ,’ Poppy said, unable not to laugh.

Norah didn’t exactly laugh with her, but her mouth did go up at the corner. It was a familiar expression. The quiet mirth of Norah Cauldwell. It was nice to see it.

It was also nice that she wasn’t treating Poppy like something on the bottom of her shoe anymore. Poppy wasn’t counting any chickens, but it seemed that Norah had relaxed around her to an extent. Or at least, she’d accepted Poppy’s continued existence in her world.

For Poppy, that was a big move forward. If it could stop being, at a bare minimum, completely fucking hideous every time they saw each other, that would be a load off for Poppy. She could only see now, as it was easing off, how much it had been wearing her down.

‘Mrs-Miss Jennings?’ Mrs Baur announced, and Poppy gave Norah a nod. Norah nodded back. It was a small gesture, but it meant a lot to Poppy.

She headed in, wanting to know how her daughter was settling in. It was all good news. For a second, she felt like she wasn’t completely fucking up. It was a nice change of pace.

Twenty Years Ago

Poppy rolled the big bin out to the front of the house for collection and went inside. She washed her hands in the kitchen sink while her mother unloaded the dishwasher.

But when she finished drying her hands, she realised her mother wasn’t unloading; she was staring at her, arms crossed. ‘OK, to hell with it. Spill.’

‘What?’