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song: national anthem by lana del rey
"WHAT'D YOU DO THIS WEEKEND?" Tommy asks, from the drivers seat of his car as he began the route toward Wayward high.
Daisy swallowed and thought for a second before she spoke. "Oh, just hung out with some friends." She says. She wasn't lying to him completely, but she didn't feel comfortable telling him that Kai Parker snuck her out downtown to a secret underground club. It's not something she should feel bad about, nothing happened. But she couldn't help feeling like she'd done something wrong. "What about you?" Daisy asks.
Tommy shrugs. "Same." He nods.
She slumps back in her seat, wondering when he was going to bring up their last conversation.
"Daisy, I—" He began.
Shit.
"I kind of feel like we're not in the same place— in our relationship— right now." He says.
It was a smart move, trapping her in a moving vehicle so there were no awkward attempts to escape this conversation. She clenched her jaw, watching the road as she thought.
Of course she liked Tommy. He was cute, and nice, and good to her. She was only an eighteen year old girl, who had really no idea how to deal with relationships. There was such a stigma that all girls in high school had to have serious relationships, and lose their virginities— but they were never taught how to handle these things, just expected.
Daisy spoke without processing her words. "I want to take things— slower." She said.
Tommy glanced at her and back to the road. "How slow?"
She shrugged and let out a quiet scoff. "I don't know we've only been dating for three months. I'm not there yet."
"So you don't like me?" Tommy says, a hint of annoyance in his voice.
Daisy looked at him with narrowed eyebrows. "I never said that."
"You're just not—" He searched for words. "You're very distant lately."
She sat back in her seat and sighed. "I do like you." She said. "And I want to be with you."
Was she telling the truth? She couldn't tell. She didn't know what she was doing. She didn't know what she was saying. At times like these, she wished her and her mother were close so she could talk to her about these things. Was what happened with Kai in the woods— was that cheating? She hadn't even thought about it, but the thought of him kissing her had just popped in her head. She wasn't a cheater—
"I want to be with you too."
She swallowed harshly. Her and Tommy were on a break, and what happened with her and Kai— was just a fluke. It wasn't anything. No one knew. Kai wouldn't tell anyone. But that wasn't the problem, Daisy knew what happened and Daisy knew how she felt about it.
—
As soon as the teacher finished giving the lesson for today, Daisy got up and went to the bathroom, for no other reason that she'd been sitting still for one minute too long and needed a change of scenery.
She shoved her hands in her jacket pockets, as her boots clunked against the floor of the hallway. Daisy lazily leaned onto the girl's bathroom door to push it open, walking into the light pink tiled room.
Her eyes trailed up to see Carol, Elizabeth Pope, and Grace Gilbert all sat in the bathroom smoking. One by one, they turn to face Daisy— their conversation falling silent.
Daisy waves the smoke from her face. "Open a window." She says, walking forward towards the mirrors, standing in front of the sink that was farthest from the one Carol was sat atop of.
"Hi Daisy." Carol says, in the most over dramatic, over obnoxious mocking tone she could muster.
"Hi Carol." Daisy says, in the same tone, leaning her back against the sink to face everyone. Elizabeth and Grace exchanges knowing glances, before turning back to Daisy.
"Are you going to Mark's Halloween party this weekend?" Carol asks, blowing smoke out of her mouth.
Daisy examines Carol's outfit. A navy and black plaid blazer with a matching skirt, and a red turtleneck under it. If Carol wasn't such a bitch, Daisy might've complimented her style, but she didn't need her ego bigger than it already was. Daisy frowns. "Are we not going trick or treating again this year?" She spoke sarcastically.
Carol scoffs, plucking the cigarette from her mouth and glancing at her two friends before turning back to Daisy. "I wouldn't be caught dead seen with you." She says.
God, everything she said felt like it was a line from a movie that she'd rehearsed ten times before bed. "Really? 'Cause it seems like you just can't get enough of me." Daisy sighs, turning around to face the mirror, fixing her smudged black eyeshadow with her fingers.
"Who do you think you are?" Elizabeth spoke up.
Daisy glances in the mirror at the short red head, who didn't act confident enough to pull off those words. "Shit." Daisy huffs. "You guys really have a lot of nerve talking to people like this. Like what next? You guys gonna beat me up again?" She turns back around to face them. "We all know what happened last time you did that."
Carol hops off the sink, her eyebrows stitched together in disgust. "Are you saying you're gonna kill us next?" She cocks her head to the side.
Daisy clenched her jaw. "I didn't kill her."
Carol steps closer to her, "Really?" Carol says. "We used to be friends— Daisy Hendrix. I know what you're capable of."
Her heart drops, and she glances up at Elizabeth and Grace, who shared a confused expression. She turns back to Carol. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Well I have the fucking scars to remind you." Carol says, pulling her sleeve up to reveal a scarred over small gash in her upper bicep.
Daisy swallowed harshly. "I was nine."
"But you were old enough to realize that stabbing someone with a pair of scissors when they stole your crayons don't equal out." Carol got closer to her face, narrowing her eyes.
Daisy shook her head quickly, feeling flustered. "I got help— I— my family we—"
"Apparently it didn't work." Carol snarled.
Daisy stepped back, realizing that she was only feeding the fire. "Bad karma." She spoke, not even processing the fact that the words came out of her mouth. She looked up to see Carol visibly confused by her random comment, and she took it as a means to leave.
Daisy left the bathroom, stumbling out into the hall and letting out a breath she didn't even realize she was holding. Even Daisy had forgotten most of the incidents she caused as a child, she was conditioned to forget them. Years and years of therapy had forced her to completely separate those memories from her current self, and she was foolish enough to believe that everyone else had forgotten too.
a/n sorry for the filler chapter shit's going down soon 🥳
