CHAPTER EIGHT
[8]
song: heart of glass by blondie
DAISY WAS SURPRISED SHE HAD SAT THROUGH SIX FOOTBALL GAMES, of course, she was just watching Tommy the whole time— and making sure he wasn't concussing himself every chance he got, everything else didn't make sense. Still.
The Wasps had lost two games, won four. This one being their fourth. Tommy had dragged Daisy along to Andy's after every game, which was fun at first— but now it just felt repetitive.
She sat in between him and Mark, wishing she was at the booth across the diner where Josette, Jen and Kai sat by. She was so desperate she'd even sit with Kai. She tried to include herself in the conversation, she really did, but it was impossible at this point when all they wanted to do was talk about the 'track record' from this season, and the one before, and the one before that. And every time Daisy thinks that they might be changing the topic— it doesn't.
Daisy turns to Tommy. "I'm tired." She says.
"Okay— hold on." Tommy says, barely giving her a nod before continuing his conversation with Mark.
She slumps back in her seat, hiding her annoyance. At times like these she really wished she didn't have to depend on Tommy to drive her everywhere. Her eyes trail off to Jen's booth again, wondering what they were talking about.
Kai leaned against the window next to his seat, headphones on. Kai was wherever Jo was, but neither of them seemed to be enjoying it. It was like she had to babysit him constantly. The only time she really got to see Josette on her own was at school, or when she came over to hang out.
Daisy sits up again. "I'm gonna head home." She says.
Tommy directs his attention to her, for the first time all night. "Why?" He asks.
"I'm tired." She repeats, he apparently really did ignore her when she said it before.
Tommy glances at Mark, then back to Daisy. "Is it okay if Jen gives you a ride? Or something? I'm not ready to go yet." He says awkwardly, gesturing towards his friends
Daisy looked at him with a blank expression. "I'll just fucking walk." She says, fed up. She didn't wait for him to move out of the booth to allow her out too, she just climbed over his lap and stood up.
"Wanna come over after I'm done with work tomorrow?" Tommy shrugs.
Daisy's mouth gaps open at his idiocy. Was he not going to insist that he drove? Was he really going to just let her walk home by herself at ten o'clock at night? "I'll pass." Daisy says, spinning on her heel and storming away from his booth.
"Way to go, Tommy." Mark laughed as Daisy pushed open the door to leave. The cold air hit her and she wrapped her jacket over her shoulders.
She huffed frustratedly as she walked down the dark parking lot. She knew she was being dumb, making choices just to spite him. Choices that could end up getting her killed. But if she got killed by some rando in the middle of the night on her way home— Tommy would think it was his fault for not driving her home and would hold that guilt for the rest of his life.
Daisy shook her head, unsure why her brain always went a weird direction.
"Hey." A female voice says.
Daisy turns, only now noticing the group of girls sat in a convertible, smoking and listening to the music in the parking lot. Daisy squinted to see where the voice came from.
"That's not your jacket." The voice repeats, and Daisy realized it was Carol speaking.
Daisy glanced down at the maroon and yellow varsity jacket Tommy gave her. "Not yours, either." Daisy says back.
The girls in the car exchange a few laughs, as Carol kept her cold expression. Carol wasn't mean out of malice, rather an exaggerated sense of self preservation. Like— if she wasn't mean, then no one would fear her, and she wouldn't get everything she wanted all the time.
"Take it off." A new girl speaks. Daisy looks at her, a blonde girl who sat in the drivers seat.
Daisy scoffs, examining her jacket then looking back to the girl. "Come get it." She starts slowly walking towards the car.
Again, the rest of the girls in the car exchange laughs and whispers, someone lets out a cheer. The blonde girl hops out of her car, not bothering to open the door.
At that moment, Daisy regretted her words a little bit, unsure what she was getting herself into. She was significantly taller than her, and built like She-Ra. "Who do you think you are?" She asks.
As if they all had the same idea in mind, the rest of the girls got out of the car. Daisy swallowed. "Are we doing formal introductions before fights now— or—" Daisy says, narrowing her eyes at the girls.
"I told you to stay away from Tommy." Carol speaks up.
"You did do that." Daisy sighs happily. "But, here we are." She shrugs, a cheeky expression on her face.
"We can't do it here, everyone'll see." A short girl, with the nose the size of a beak, whispers to Carol.
"You're right." Carol says, like she was speaking to Daisy. She keeps her eyes glued on her. "Grab her and take her back there."
Daisy's heart dropped, as she glanced over to they alleyway behind Andy's— there was only one street lamp, and it barely produced any light. But that wasn't the problem. Daisy could fight, she has before— but five against one were not good odds.
As Daisy turned back to face the girls, they had already grabbed onto her arms, pulling her into the dimly lit alleyway. Daisy squirmed, digging her heals into the ground to try and stop.
Daisy dug her nails into someone's arm, who's, She didn't know. But it gave her just enough time to slip out of their grip. She lunged herself forward, only to feel someone grab onto a wad of her hair and yank it back.
Daisy took the momentum of the pull and spun around completely, throwing a punch at whoever had her hair in her hand. The short girl fell to the ground after Daisy's hand collided with her face— maybe she would take the punch as an excuse for a nose job.
Her knuckles burned with pain from the blow, but she didn't have much time to get another hit in before someone punched her right back. Daisy fell so hard to the concrete that her air was completely knocked from her lungs, gasping for breath as her eye throbbed with pain where she'd been hit.
When it comes to a girl fight there's no honour, no code. All that matters is the win and they took nothing for granted. The girls have the exits covered, there's nowhere to run. It was much more delicate than a fight between boys, but that didn't make it any less painful.
As Daisy struggled to stand back up, she soon realized this was to be a short fight. She felt their shoes collide with her stomach, her ribs— then she felt Tommy's jacket being ripped off of her and thrown into the puddle beside her instead.
Daisy let out a pained cough, too weak to do anything. Her dignity might be damaged, but if she continued the fight she'd end up dead. Maybe she wouldn't. She hadn't been close to death before, and she didn't know if this is what it felt like. But it definitely hurt.
"Stop!" Carol shouted, and there were about two delayed kicks to Daisy's body after Carol called the fight to a halt. Daisy watched as Carol's white cheer sneakers approached her body on the ground. "I warned you, didn't I?" She whispers.
Daisy could barely get her words out. "Eat my shit."
Carol immediately stood up, sending another painful kick to Daisy's stomach. Daisy coiled over in pain. Girls were ruthless. It was more of a mind game at this point.
She then heard a collective whispers and gasps. "Go!" One of the girls whispered, and Daisy watched as they ran out the other side of the alley in their matching white sneakers.
Blue and red lights reflected off the puddled dark concrete, and Daisy's eyes shifted to a cop car coming to a quick halt at the end of the alley.
The door swings open, and someone gets out with a flashlight, shining it directly into her bloodied face. "Daisy?!" They say, putting the flashlight back onto their tool belt and rushing into the alley.
"Oh." Daisy spoke too quiet for him to even hear. "Hey George." She swallowed harshly.
George bent down, gently helping her up. Every bone in Daisy's body told her to just sit there in the alley until everything healed, because movement just made it worse.
"What happened?!" George says, in a panicked voice. He reaches for his intercom system and begins calling for an ambulance, but Daisy quickly takes his hand off it.
"I'm fine." She coughs weakly. "Not the first time."
"You need to go to the hospital." George nods, wrapping an arm around her and guiding her out of the alley towards his car.
"I don't even think we have health insurance." Daisy scoffs, wiping her bloodied nose.
At that point, half of the diner had rushed outside to see what was happening, would've been great if that had happened about two minutes sooner, though.
Tommy pushes through a small crowd of people. "Daisy?!" He shouts frantically, rushing towards her with a panicked look on his face.
"Back up, sir." George says, holding a hand out towards him, opening the passenger seat to his cop car for Daisy to get in.
"That's my girlfriend!" Tommy says, trying to get closer.
George gave him a stern look. "And you just let her out in a dark parking lot all by herself?" He spoke. This was the angriest Daisy had ever seen George, he almost scared her. He was genuinely concerned, and afraid for her. Daisy almost felt bad for all the shit she talked about how George was a bad cop— he just hadn't been given the chance to show he was good one.
Tommy looked upset, he breathed heavily, stepping back a bit so George could open the door. "Are you okay?" Tommy asks, worry in his eyes.
Daisy nods, sending him a faint smile. She looked around at everyone watching, everyone whispering amongst themselves. Jen tried approaching the car, but George just told her that Daisy would call her later and to give her some space. Daisy got in the car and rolled down the window so she could talk to Tommy.
"Who did this?" Tommy asks, more angry this time.
Daisy snorts. "No one." She shakes her head, before George makes his way over to the drivers side of the car.
"Was it Carol? And her friends? Jenna?" Tommy asks, breathing heavily. Daisy didn't comment, and that was answer enough. He shook his head, anger filling his eyes as he stepped back from the car.
"I'm fine." Daisy added, sending Tommy a nod. "Just a bruise or two."
Tommy stormed off as George began to drive. As Daisy began to roll up the window, she caught sight of Kai. He stood a distance behind Josette and Jen, keeping eye contact with Daisy as she drove off.
And she could just be way out of it, but she could almost see a hint of concern in his eyes.