CHAPTER TWO
[2]
song: head over heals by tears for fears
SLOWLY AND RELUCTANTLY, Daisy uncovered her face from under her blanket. She blinks, closes her eyes, and blinks again. Streaks of sunlight penetrate the window and blind her. She sits up, drags her feet off the bed, and rubs her knuckles into her eyes. And she took a deep breath. That deep breath you take every time your alarm wakes you up for school, and you have to sit there and think— really?
Her eyes grazed over the posters that tried their best to cover the light pink floral wallpaper that lined her bedroom. She got up and brushed her teeth, and combed her hair, and piled on her eyeliner and dark eyeshadow, taking about five minutes in between each step to groan and think of an excuse to get out of having to go.
She puts her big black fringe jacket on over her Thompson Twins shirt that Jen got her for Christmas last year. After buttoning up her black denim skirt and pulling up her thin ripped tights, she shoves her small feet into the huge combat boots she'd bought at the mall.
Daisy heads down the stairs after swinging her back over her shoulder, the amount of jewelry around her neck making a jingling noise as she takes each step.
"Oh, what are you wearing?" Susan spoke disappointedly, sitting at the kitchen table with her legs crossed.
Daisy couldn't even make it to the bottom of the stairs before being ridiculed. "Can I take the car?" Daisy ignores her mother, raising her eyebrows. She begins to put a new tape in her walkman as she waits for a response.
"No, I'm taking it to work." Susan says, taking a drink from her coffee cup.
"Mom, I'm a senior and I ride a bike everywhere." Daisy says embarrassedly.
"Why don't you see if that Parker girl can drive? Maybe she can take you." Susan shrugs. "Not the boy though. He seems like a punk."
"You think everyone's a punk." Daisy shakes her eyes. "I'll just take the damn bike." She rolls her eyes, putting her headphones on, and turning to walk out the door.
"Daisy?" Susan spoke.
Daisy turned around. "Hm?" She raised her eyebrows.
"You shouldn't do your makeup like that." Susan sighs. "Love you!"
Daisy lets out a deep groan as she swings the front door open and charges out on the porch. The autumn breeze tousled Daisy's hair and pinked her cheeks. The warmth that had been in the wind just last week had either evaporated into the sky or leached into the earth. It gave life to the long grass at the side of the road, still yellowing from the high August sun.
She clicks the play button on her walkman before getting on her bike. Her hair whipped back as she let her feet off the pedals of her bike. She flew down the hill that left her neighborhood, the newly fallen leaves dispersing as she drove over them.
Her heart jumped at the sound of a loud siren coming from right behind her. She slammed her foot back, stopping her bike in her tracks as she ripped her headphones off her head and turned around.
A cop car came to a slow behind her, and George— Susan's boyfriend— peaked his head out the window. "Ha!" He chuckled.
Daisy tried to hide her annoyance. She cleared her throat before speaking. "Hi." She nodded towards him.
"Scared ya, didn't I?" George smiled proudly. He was a little too dorky to be a cop. Or at least that's how Daisy viewed him. "You were going a bit fast though—"
"I have places to be." Daisy responds, trying to move the conversation along. A black Jeep Wagoneer pulled up from behind George's parked car. Daisy glances at it and back to George.
At first he didn't get the message. Then he glances behind him in his mirror. "Oh." He waved at the driver. "Have a good first day, Daisy. I'll see you at dinner!" He spoke before driving off. Daisy began to put her headphones back over her dark hair.
"Speeding on a bike?" A familiar voice says in a mocking tone.
Daisy looks up from fidgeting with her walkman to see Kai hanging out the drivers seat window of the Jeep. He squinted an eye as he looked at her, as the morning sun hung right above her head.
"Leave her alone, Kai." A girl, who shared very similar features with Kai, spoke embarrassedly.
"You gotta lot of nerve." Daisy says as she puts her headphones back on her head, then resting her hands on the handles of her bike.
Kai scoffed, glancing at who Daisy assumed was his twin sister Josette, then turning back to Daisy. "Do you want a ride?" He asked, not in an empathetic tone— more in a tone of 'my sister's making me be nice.'
"I'll pass." Daisy responds, not letting him get another word in, before she pushes down on her bike pedals and moving forward past his car.
The sound of a revving engine filled her ears over her music, as Kai sped past her and flew down the road toward the school, leaves flying up around her face.
"Asshole." She muttered to herself, as she subconsciously sped up toward Wayward.
The school hallway stank. The odour of the stale urine curled from under the restroom doors, depressingly mixed with deodorant and body odour in equal measure. Daisy kept her her head down and pushed her way through the sea of despondent faces. She scoffed as she walked under the banner: "The child in pursuit of knowledge, not knowledge in pursuit of the child."
The first day of tedium rammed down their throats with the keen sting of stress— always the tests, always the reporting, always the reminders of the consequences of failure.
Laughter sounds along the halls, joined with excited conversations and shouts. Model worthy girls perch on the tables like exotic birds gossiping and giggling, a football flies above their heads between two jocks in varsity jackets parading their toned muscles.
"Daisy!" She hears a voice shout from behind her.
Daisy takes her headphones off and rests them on her shoulders as she turns around to see Jennifer rushing towards her, pushing her way through the oblivious groups of teens who didn't realize that they were standing in the middle of a hallway, where people were trying to walk.
Daisy smiles widely as Jennifer joins her. "I like your outfit." Jennifer remarks, as the two walk side by side down the rest of the hall.
"Thanks." Daisy shrugged, smiling faintly.
Jen and Daisy have been best friends since sixth grade. Jen always stuck up for Daisy in front of others, even when she knew she was wrong. Then privately she'd let her know what she really thought and how she should have behaved differently, who she should apologize to, and how to avoid repeating the mistake. Daisy listened to Jen— because Jen listened Daisy.
"Guess who asked me where you were as soon as I walked into school earlier." Jennifer nudged Daisy's shoulder. Daisy raises an eyebrow toward her. "Tommy."
"Tommy Joseph?" Daisy's eyes widened a bit.
"Mhm." Jen nodded happily.
"He was probably like— mocking me or something." Daisy shook her head, trying not to act impressed.
"He wasn't." Jen pulled Daisy's arm a bit.
Daisy rolled her eyes, hiding her smile. "Whatever."
"Let me see your schedule." Jen says, grabbing it from Daisy's hands and reading over it. "I'll see you in third period." She gave Daisy a quick smile, handing her schedule back, and spinning off to her first class.
Daisy scoffed a bit, impressed with the amount of energy she has so early in the morning. Daisy glanced at her schedule again before heading off to Honors Biology.
She took her seat at the empty lab table in the back of the classroom just as the bell rang. Relieved as she wasn't forced to sit at the front— where she felt all eyes were on her— she sits her backpack down beside her on the floor.
The teacher walked into the room like she was expecting perfect order. She had the look of one who had woken up one spring morning to find that their youth had passed by before they had had any fun. "I'm Mrs. Wallace." She spoke. Daisy immediately knew what kind of teacher she was.
Mrs. Wallace probably peaked in high school, and became a teacher so she could feel like the big dog on campus again— except this time she was the one making the rules.
She turned around to begin writing on the chalkboard, but stopped as the door swung open loudly— making everyone's head turned toward the door.
Kai walked in and Daisy immediately scoffed. A bit louder than she intended, because he those heads were turned to her. Carol Lawrence sat a few tables in front of her— and her gaze lingered longer than everyones.
Carol looked Daisy up and down with the most obvious disgusted face. Daisy lazily flipped her off and the girl turned back around annoyedly.
"Late on the first day?" Mrs. Wallace raised her eyebrows toward Kai.
"By like— three seconds." Kai shrugged.
Mrs. Wallace looked taken back. "What's your name?" She asked, in an offended tone.
"Kai." He responds.
"Kai what?"
"Kai Parker."
"Well— Kai Parker— I don't like it when students talk back to me." Mrs. Wallace said unhappily, Kai looked unfazed. She turned to examine the classroom. "Why don't you go take that seat in the back?" She spoke to him like he was an idiot.
When Daisy realized Mrs. Wallace was pointing towards her, her eyes practically rolled back into her head. Kai's eyes stayed glued on Daisy as he made his way to the back.
She crossed her arms and watched Mrs. Wallace continue to write on the board, trying to act unbothered by him. He sat down beside her and leaned back in his chair. She felt his strong gaze on him and turned to see him looking at her.
"What?" She whispered annoyedly.
Kai had a slight smirk on his face. "There's a leaf in your hair."
Daisy quickly reached up and ran her hands over her dark hair, pulling the small dead leaf from the tangles. She turns away embarrassedly, and Kai's gaze lifts off her and focuses back on the board.