It was Wednesday, December 5th, and all hell broke loose. It began with a text from Gina, and quickly spiraled into an onslaught of anxiety and anger.
By the time Winter got to school, students were buzzing with the freshly-acquired gossip, so much so that she was sure the promotional banner for the Winter Formal must have been altered to broadcast the news: Fletcher Roy cheated on Daisy Wu.
Winter sprinted as fast as her legs would allow, darting through the pockets of students crowding the halls. When she got to Daisy's locker, she was met by an anxious-looking Gina.
"Where is she?" Winter asked through her pants.
Gina shook her head and shrugged.
"What the hell happened?" Winter pressed.
"No idea. I found out just when I texted you." Gina pulled her phone out and tried calling Daisy.
After a painful minute of ringing and redialing, she dropped it. "Ignoring calls," she muttered angrily. Winter watched as she clutched her phone, and one of her manicured nails popped off from the pressure. She didn't even notice.
Gina stomped away and Winter picked up her nail before scurrying behind and handing it to her.
"Oh, thanks," she said automatically. She pocketed it. "God! I'm pissed. Wait until I get my hands on that-"
As providence would have it, Fletcher rounded the corner in that moment. His eyes were wide and animalistic, as if he felt instantly that he were mere prey to Gina's protective instincts riling her forward.
She propelled from her spot and shoved him. "You!" she screamed indignantly.
Winter held her back while she continued berating him. This seemed to bring Gina down from her outburst quickly, as she suddenly stopped her assault and exhaled in one slow, measured breath.
"You're not even worth it," she mumbled, pulling out of Winter's hold and jogging off to go find the rest of the group. Winter hung back only for a moment to assess the damage--not that anything but Fletcher's pride was harmed. Then she chased after Gina.
By the time everyone congregated in the atrium, Louis was red in the face and hunched over at a table.
"Where's Daze?" Joe asked urgently. The panic on his face was infectious, and Winter felt her anxiety puddling suddenly.
She shared a look with Luke that said everything that needed to be said, then answered Joe. "We haven't seen her. She's not checking her messages or picking up, either. Can you guys get her at all?"
Luke shook his head and leaned back against the table-top. "We tried. Not responding. She probably wants to be alone."
"Daisy never wants to be alone. At least, she hasn't before," Gina seethed, clutching her head and bowing down over the table. She and Louis were a matching set now.
Suddenly, everyone's phone went off. There was a moment's pause before they all scrambled to check their notifications. It was from the group chat.
Dazzzed: I'm fine guys. Just staying home td. Dont really want to talk so just dont worry for now
(v)Gina: You're obvs not ok tho. This is seriously fucked and we're not gonna leave you alone at a time like this, we're coming.
And with just that exchange the whole group mounted up, shrugging back into their coats and slinging their bags over their shoulders to go raid Daisy's home.
On their way out through the atrium, Amy stopped Joe and whispered something indistinct to him. Too caught up in the momentum of going to see their friend in need, the group moved past them without a second thought. Only Luke looked back in question, and Joe helplessly watched after them as they left without him.
Murdoch and Rick passed by on the way into the school just as the warning bell rang out. They made eye contact with Winter but seemingly knew better than to question the situation at hand. Winter briefly wondered if even they had caught wind of Liberty High's latest headliner. She forgot the thought as soon as she crowded in with the remainder of the group into Luke's car.
Daisy lived in a small townhouse not three blocks from the school, so the drive over was negligible. They poured out of the car in waves as soon as they hit the driveway, Winter and Gina being the first to reach the door and knock on it. Louis monitored his phone for Daisy's responses--which consisted largely of 'I'm fine' and 'go away.'
After persistence amounting to twenty whole minutes, Daisy finally let them in--"them" being only Gina and Daisy. Winter looked over her shoulder at Louis and Luke as the door was being shut to mouth a small sorry, but neither Luke nor Louis cared as long as Daisy was taken care of. They were fine waiting in the car. They were already skipping school anyway.
Daisy was a vision of a maiden's heartbreak. Her eyes were puffy and red, a color which stretched down to the base of her nose, which glistened from a mix of tears and snot. Her shoulders were hunched and her clothes were in a state of disarray from all her restlessness.
Gina had gone in there fully intending to make Daisy cast away any lingering affection for Fletcher, even if she had to beat it out of her. But when she laid eyes on the sorry sight before her, all she could do was hug her.
"God, Daze, what happened?" she mumbled into her hair, rocking back and forth.
Daisy sobbed and Winter rubbed her shoulder soothingly while they continued to rock back and forth on her welcome mat. Eventually, Daisy took them to her room.
Part of Winter couldn't help but note her surroundings, the simply-furnished home, the large TV set in the living room, a small Buddhist shrine set on another side of the room, the posters that littered Daisy's bedroom, the crumpled tissues all over the floor; the absence of everyone but Daisy, who'd probably faked sick while her parents went to work so she could cry her eyes out as quietly and unobtrusively as possible.
She really felt for her as she sniffled and huffed through her explanation.
It all occurred on the Saturday before Winter's birthday. The lacrosse team was hosting a party, and it was supposed to be like any other party Daisy decided not to attend. Fletcher was to go with his friends, have a good time, and lazily text her drunken goodnight messages before passing out peacefully.
Her worries had started with the fact that such goodnight messages were notably not sent. It eventually escaladed into a fight--the first fight she ever had with Fletcher, at that--to an admission of guilt. The admission, however, did not come from Fletcher.
It instead came in the form of his ex-girlfriend, Alison Dennis, who had gotten ahold of Daisy's number for the express purpose of confessing what had happened behind closed doors that night.
Winter briefly recalled the image of Allison on Evie's red velvet chaise, her long, dark limbs hung around Evie elegantly. It was a hard image to put her and Fletcher together, who had looked so insignificant and cowardly just an hour earlier.
Gina's rage washed over her like a stormy tide, coming in waves of cresting fury and calming bitterness. Despite her best intentions, she only managed to fan the flames of betrayal in Daisy's heart, which was getting to the point of bursting as she stuttered over her thoughts and feelings.
Sensing this, Winter finally broke her silence. "We know," she said. She rested a hand on Daisy's shoulder. "We know, Daze," she repeated. "You don't have to say it if you don't want to. You can take a break." She pulled her into a hug.
Daisy returned it and began crying all over again. Once her tears dried for the third time that day, she prompted, "How would you know?"
"I've been there--here, right where you are." Gina gave Winter a sympathetic look when their eyes met over Daisy's trembling shoulder.
Daisy pulled away from her to meet Winter's eyes. "You have?"
Winter nodded sadly, and a cloak of consolation fell upon Daisy's shoulders, seemingly steadying them. "With my ex."
"What happened?" Daisy asked, sitting up and cuddling into Gina, who came closer to listen. Winter recounted it to them.
"Honestly, a lot of it was the exact same as you. A longtime crush finally realized, a first love where you feel so... just high off of belonging with someone, even just a bit. So you push the pieces together and tie a happy ribbon around it and it's great, but it doesn't hold, Daze. It doesn't hold." She brushed a tear from Daisy's cheek.
"His name was Elijah, and he ended up cheating on me with my best friend, Casey. We were all part of this big group or friends, so it really felt like it came out of nowhere--like I was the only one who failed to notice something that was right in front of me the whole time." Winter paused and closed her eyes. "She came clean to me first, told me that she loved him, and then he followed not soon after." Winter shrugged, then brought a knee up to rest her chin on. "So I know a bit about what you're feeling, Daze. I know how inadequate you feel, and all the stupid questions going through your head like 'what's wrong with me?' and 'what does she have that I don't?'"
Daisy's eyes watered.
"But don't even start with that. It has nothing to do with you or Alison. It has entirely everything to do with Fletcher, and no matter how amazing and wonderful you are, there will always be people who are too blinded by your brilliance to appreciate it. Fletcher's just another brick in the wall." She smiled softly at her friend, who began her fourth cry of the day.
Gina pulled her in closer and quietly cried into her hair, and it took everything in Winter to hold back her own tears. She wanted Daisy to see that she would be okay; she wanted her to see that the tears would dry for good.
"What did you do?" Daisy asked, her head still burrowed into Gina's chest, hands clutching at the fabric of her blanket wrapped around them.
"Nothing," Winter answered solemnly. The girls looked up at her. "And I regret it. I convinced myself that, because we had this whole group, I couldn't do anything and risk getting others involved. I couldn't risk other people's friendships, and I certainly didn't have the courage to risk my own. So, I pretended like nothing happened. Elijah and I quietly broke up, and he and Casey started dating just as quietly.
"But I know now having reflected on everything that I would have done nothing even if the group wasn't a factor. I probably still to this day would do nothing and regret it," she admitted despite the pain it caused her. "But I also know that I have to do better, and it might be selfish of me for inserting my past and my feelings into your situation, but I want to help you so you don't regret it like I do, Daze.
"You can't change what you've been given. It's a hard truth, it's painful, and it's downright unfair, but it's what you get. The only thing you can do now is deal with what you've been dealt. So do something, Daze. Whatever it is, just do something so you can work through this with as few regrets as possible, and we'll be here to support you."
Gina smiled at Winter and nodded. "We're in your corner, Daze," she added, hugging the girl closer into her side and motioning Winter over to join them.
They huddled into the comfort of the blanket and each other's arms, and Daisy cried over Fletcher for the fifth and final time.
***
Oopsie a little drama. Can't live with it, can't live without it.
See ya next week!