𝖋𝖑𝖔𝖜𝖊𝖗 𝖕𝖔𝖜𝖊𝖗 ⋆ 𝕶𝖊𝖛𝖎𝖓 𝖉𝖆𝖞

𝖋𝖔𝖚𝖗𝖙𝖊𝖊𝖓

          She skips her second class. Instead, she barricades herself in her bedroom, the lock on the door firmly pressed shut, and stares at the door until she hears somebody come home. The clicking on the laminate flooring is obviously Allison's heels, and Daisy all but flies out of the room to cling onto the blonde girl.

          "Woah," Allison says after Daisy nearly knocks her over. "What's up? Are you okay?"

 
          Daisy doesn't reply. She doesn't say another word for the rest of the day, except to whisper to Renee that she's going out just after one in the morning. The court beckons her with open arms, and she's the first to arrive at the gym on Tuesday morning when everybody gathers for before-class training. None of the girls snitch on her night time absence to Wymack, which Daisy is grateful for, but it's hard to do circuits as well as she normal does on no sleep and an empty stomach.

 
          Dan is the only one without a class on Tuesday morning so she sits with Daisy in Matt's room, watching a dumb movie that Daisy couldn't care less about.

          "Do you want to talk about it?" Dan asks, but Daisy's quivering bottom lip tells her to ask no more. Daisy doesn't even think about her classes today, because all that's on her mind is that phone call.

          How the fuck did he get her number?

          She decides that she can't be in the suite alone by herself, convinces herself that the loneliness is the real reason she's so anxious. A trip to the library solves her problem for a few minutes at least, until she gets sucked back into her thoughts. Thirty-six hours on no sleep finally gets to her and she falls into a catatonic state in the library, slumped over a desk with her cheek pressed into her textbook. None of the students around her seem to think it's a good idea to disturb, because she wakes up three minutes before afternoon training is scheduled to start and an hour after her afternoon class has finished.

          After training, Renee takes Daisy aside. She speaks no words, only analyses the girl and then sighs. They share a bed tonight, because Renee knows how much Daisy needs to be close to people when she's like this. The two girls rest back-to-back in Renee's bunk, hands gripped tightly together. Renee falls asleep before midnight; Daisy's eyes keep darting around the room for hours before finally catching forty-five minutes of rest just before dawn, her eyes focused hazily on the little pink night light she sleeps with.

          Wednesday is easier. Somebody must have clued Kevin into Daisy's weird state, because he invites her over to watch an old game after training. October and their match against the Ravens is approaching fast, but both of them can see the improvement in the Foxes. Kevin tells her he thinks that they might not get pummelled as hard as he once assumed. Daisy says nothing, just accepts the choc-chip protein bar he hands her and finds a spot on the couch.

          Kevin sees the pen in her hand and her pink notebook in his peripheral, but he doesn't notice that the page is empty until the game is over. He turns to face her, shoves her shoulder when she stares blankly at the black TV screen.

          "What's up with you?"

          She pulls a sour face at him. "What's up with you?"

          "You're being weird-- weirder than normal. Are you high?"

          Her blood boils beneath her. "What, because you're all just waiting for me to relapse, huh? Poor Daisy, the drug addict who we need to tiptoe around because she's one bad day away from doing heroin again--"

          "I didn't fucking say that," he cuts her off with angry eyes and a harsh tone. "I was asking you because I had to rule it out. So what's up with you?"