❝The ignorant are ignorant of their ignorance.❞
~Peter Baskerville
• • •
The big game was on Saturday, and that meant I had to work extra hard to get back on Cassandra's good side in order to land myself a front row spot. Being short, I was usually placed in the front by default, so I wasn't used to working my way up the rows. Now, I had to prove myself worthy.
"Daisy!" Will called out, rushing to give me a hug. I gave him a quick peck on the cheek and an apologetic smile. Not today, Daisy. You have the big game coming up, I reminded myself.
"I have to go," I said hurriedly, pointing towards my locker. He looked hurt. "Do you need help with that?" he asked, motioning towards my duffel bag, which held my cheer uniform.
"Aw, I'm sorry, Will, but I can't be late," I said, turning on my heel. "I'll meet you for lunch, though," I added as an afterthought, not bothering to hear his response in fear of wanting to stay back with him. I needed to win that front row spot. I needed to.
"Daisy, hi!" I heard a voice chirp from beside my locker. Ugh, what was it with everyone wanting Cassandra to hate me?
I turned to see Thea, Ted's sister. I was surprised to find her there, because as far as I knew, her locker wasn't anywhere near mine. The fact that we'd never talked before was an additional obscure observation.
"Um, hey!" I said cheerily, trying my best to mask my puzzlement. She smiled at me eagerly, and I raised my eyebrow. I was very tempted to ask her what she wanted and why she was staring at me so oddly, but I didn't want to be rude.
"Can I help you with something?" I asked awkwardly, when I realised she had no plans on making a move. I think she finally took that as her cue to leave. "Uhh, no, I just wanted to tell you you looked nice today," she said, and I gave her a confused smile. "Oh, um. Thanks!" Awk-ward.
I decided to push it past me, thinking solely about the upcoming game. Everything else was second priority that week. Except Will. Okay, no. Will too. I had to be in the front row.
I opened my locker, and was instantly filled with a sense of dread. There, staring back at me, was yet another letter. Of course, me thinking that they'd disappeared was too good to be true. Rumours didn't just die out. This one was definitely about Will. Something about how I was going to break his heart, or how he'd dump me when he found out I was a slut. I didn't have it in me to care any longer.
I tore open the envelope and pulled out the letter to be faced with the exact same handwriting yet again. Something kept nagging at me to just throw away the letter and forget it ever came, but another part of me was dying to know its contents.
Dear Daisy,
I know this is going to sound crazy, but please-
Thea walked towards me, concern filling her eyes. I too felt pretty nervous about the outcome. "Do you think this is going to work?" I asked, suddenly doubting myself.
She stared at, confused, as if mulling over my words. "Thea?" I called, snapping her back into the present. Her head jolted up, and her brows furrowed in concentration.
"Positive," she said meekly.
"And if anything goes wrong?" I asked.
"I....I don't know," she said, growing worried.
"We blame it on Ted," I said, and then laughed at my own joke. This only seemed to bother Thea more. I decided to ignore her worrisome expression, choosing instead to face the task at hand.
"Here's to love," I said confidently, then slipped the piece of paper into my own locker.
Thea promised that she'd steer me away from my locker until and unless I was Daisy, so that no other alter would find the letter before she did. But something told me it would be a Daisy Day the next day. My mind did that sometimes. When I wished too hard for something to happen with one of the splits, my mind granted it. I could only hope now that Daisy would feel the same way about Dad and Liz that I did.
"Holly?" Thea asked, disbelievingly.
"Yeah?" I asked, placing a hand on her shoulder. Was she feeling okay? She looked awfully pale.
Okay, wait, since when did I start caring about how Thea felt?
"Ava!" Thea sighed in relief.
"Ava?" I asked, confused. I turned around to find my best friend sharing a look with Thea.
"What did you do?" Ava asked, her voice going cold.
"We wrote a letter to Daisy about Dad and Liz," I supplied, trying to ease the mood. Why did Ava look so agitated? Why were there so many people at school at this time of evening? I didn't know that this many people were in clubs. Wow, I really needed to start taking up some extracurriculars too, then.
"Thea, she was Daisy this morning. What happened?" Ava stage whispered. I threw them both a frustrated glare.
"It's about time you guys stop talking about me as if I'm not here," I said. Thea put her face in her hands. "What the hell is happening?" she asked, groaning.
"I should be asking you that!" Ava asked, raising her voice.
"First the diary, now this? When will you learn to stop messing with Holly?" Ava asked, sizing up Thea with her eyes. Thea looked like she wanted to argue, as well as burst out crying at the same time.
"That was not my fault! Veronica dragged me into it!" she said, matching Ava's tone.
I looked back and forth between the two of them, not understanding a thing they were talking about. As much as I wanted to know, I didn't want to know, because I knew it was a risk to my memory. I couldn't get to know too much, as it could potentially destroy my mind.
"Look, I was just trying to help," Thea said in a pleading tone. Ava didn't show her any mercy.
"It was a trigger," she whispered, more to herself than Thea. "That's it. The handwriting on the letter was a trigger for her to change back into Holly," she said, and in her excitement, she was starting to resemble Julia.
"Oh my God," Thea whispered, taking in the news with a shocked expression on her face. Ava nodded. "But won't she remember all of this?" Thea asked, glancing towards me.
I let out an exasperated sigh. "I'm still right here!"
Ava shook her head. "The alters never remember small triggers. As long as we get her back to Daisy now, she won't remember this incident."
"And how do we do that?" Thea asked, then realisation hit her. "Okay, I'm unbelievably stupid," she said, then made a grab for my bag. She pulled out a notebook I didn't know I owned, and flipped to a random page that was covered in excessively curly handwrit-
"Drag her to the field right away and hand her over to Cassandra. Don't ever try to do something like this again." I heard Ava speak from beside me, making me forget all about the letter in her hand.
I couldn't remember what had happened in the past few minutes. Was the letter so bad that it made me black out? Did I fall sick? Why was Thea talking to me again? I thought she already complimented me enough today.
I was about to turn and follow Thea, when Ava let out a gasp.
"It's the same handwriting....."
. . .