"Are you sure you wanna go through with this?", Lucy's look of uncertainty and dissatisfaction increased as she leaned on the nearest piece of furniture.

"You know how well it went last time."

Augustus nodded and sighed, "I told you, this time is going to be different. I just wanna talk to her, get a real apology in before I graduate. I left her a note. If she comes, it'll be on her terms. If she doesn't, I'll get the hint." He remembered leaving a note in Daisy's locker on Monday afternoon, hoping she'd have time to get to her locker despite her likely various extra curricular activities before lunchtime on Friday came around.

"And I encouraged her to bring someone else if it made her feel more safe and comfortable too, I'm not taking any chances in screwing up this time." With that, he felt confident that Lucy would feel convinced in allowing him to do this, and that it was in fact a good idea on his part. He grabbed his backpack and headed downstairs to grab a quick breakfast (oh, how he loved Lucy's Mom's cooking…) before reaching for the front door.

"Augustus!", he quickly turned around to see Lucy at the top of the stairs, a look of understanding and slight wistfulness, "...make sure it goes well. You can do this." She offered a quick smile and a thumbs up, as he reciprocated before dashing toward school, too anxious to wait for the day ahead.

The day felt painfully slow, and despite his large improvement in grades and attendance as of late, Augustus couldn't help but ignore the lectures and dote on the clock in each period. What if she was too scared of him? Did she see him the same as her friends did? Was he just a creep, and would this be totally futile? What if she never wanted to speak to or see him again, even around Lucy and their friends?

He shook his head and instead began to scribble anxious doodles and notes on how to start the conversation. He'd gone over it so many times in his head, but there was no way of knowing how it would go, as it'd been so long since he had a genuine conversation with Daisy. It made him sad. Ignoring the feelings he still had for her, he truly missed their lunchtime chats: the stories he'd tell her, the way she'd react, her clever responses, her laugh, her smile… And then he felt terrible, recalling how he threw their friendship away, attempting to manipulate such a smart girl, and kiss her against her wishes.

"That IS too far."

The noticeable discomfort in her expression and voice that day kept him up sometimes. At the time he thought he'd be saving Daisy from Alejandro and Toby, should they decide to keep their promise of revenge against her friend group. But he was making the situation more complicated and instead lost someone he had considered close. His last attempt at an apology was nothing more than a fumble, probably leaving Daisy feeling more concerned than she was prior to it.

*BRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING*

The bell pulled him from deep thought, as he rushed through the crowd of other students to reach his locker. He dropped off most of his things, and grabbed a book, glancing at the small picture of Daisy he had in there. 'Oh, shit', he thought, as an anxious blush rose on his cheeks. This situation was real and happening now.

He rushed to the spot he mentioned on the note: "On the hill outside."

...'where we used to talk', he thought. He sat down, his back facing the school building, a couple yards away. He nervously began to flip the pages of the book he brought. He was glad he did, as it kept him at least falsely preoccupied in the meantime, prior to the time he mentioned meeting: 12:05pm.


Daisy's daily routine had been the same since she started high school: getting up and straightening her curls, getting to school early, and working on whatever was at the top of her to-do list for that day. As she walked through the empty halls on Monday morning, she mentally recited her day to herself: 'go over notes for calculus, start that history paper, and more test prep, cheerlead–' as she was about to finish the thought, a small paper fell out of her locker.

She didn't immediately recognize the handwriting on the note that fell, but nearly dropped her books when she realized who it was from.

"Daisy,

I know you're super busy, but I'd really like to have a chance to talk to you on Friday during lunch if you'd be up for it.

Please bring along a friend if you'd feel more comfortable. Please only come if you want to and would be comfortable. I hope I'll see you there, but I understand if you would rather not.

I'll be on the hill outside.

Augustus"

A flurry of emotions passed through her, and she didn't quite know how to react. Things were absolutely fine when she was around Augustus and Lucy, as well as other mutual friends. But she hadn't been alone with Augustus since that time at the gym during cheer practice…..and before then, at the carnival. She didn't need to look at herself in the mirror to feel a frown on her face. Not one of anger or disgust, but one of true disappointment and slight heartache.

The rest of the day felt like it moved quickly, the thought of the note never too far from her mind. During her free moments she found herself making a mental pros and cons list.

'Should I go? No one had really ever paid that much attention to the things I had to say before I started talking to him…..'

'He USED me and manipulated me! I liked him and then he really scared me at the carnival….'

"Yo, Daize, you okay?"

Paulo's voice stopped her mid thought, and she realized she hadn't been eating her lunch.

"Oh! I uhh….just thinking about the upcoming calculus quiz! Better to be properly prepared, y'know?"

Her frazzled tone and lack of books on the lunch table made it obvious to him that it wasn't the only thing on her mind. He was glad there was always another topic at the lunch table along with background noise at the cafeteria to drown out the conversation that would ensue.

"Alright Daisy, we both know that's not it. So, what's goin' on?", he leaned an arm on the top of his chair as he faced her directly.

A slight blush appeared on her face and she pulled the note from her pink backpack and handed it to him, looking away.

She expected a judgy remark toward her, but was surprised by what she got instead.

"...If this creep is still bothering you, I can do something about it if you want me to, Daisy." She noticed his fist forming around the note, while his brow furrowed. She hadn't seen him that genuinely mad or concerned in a long time.

She reached for his arm gently, "...well…..would it be so bad if I went?"

"WHAT?! You're not seriously considering this….are you? Daisy, what if he tries to hurt you aga–" Paulo's rant was stopped in its tracks as Daisy's serious tone stopped him.

"H-he didn't end up doing anything, I mean— He tried kissing me….Abbey stopped him. I'm not happy about it, it still makes me really sad and angry to think about. But…something tells me this might lead to some closure, at least. We used to be close at some point."

She paused for a bit, quickly remembering those days before midterms on the hill, chatting it up with Augustus. "You and I have changed a lot this year, what if no one ever gave us the chance to change? Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to at least see what he has to say to me…"

After a long pause, Paulo took a deep breath in and again surprised her, crossing his arms with his response. "Alright, but I'm coming with. He said to bring a friend, and you're not going alone. Just tell me when and where, I'll be there if you decide to go through with it, Daisy."

He could see her expression light up, and swore he saw a glimmer in her eyes.

"That's so mature and sweet of you Paulo!"


After a while, Augustus glanced at his watch, and he could feel his heart drop to his stomach. 12:10pm. If Daisy really wanted to attend something, it was very unlike her to be late. She must not have wanted to come. 'This was a stupid idea, why would she ever agree to come talk to me, much less even want to see m—'

"Augustus?", his thoughts were interrupted by Daisy's voice, as he quickly turned to face her standing form with a large blush across his face. He clumsily rose to his feet.

"Hi! I'm uhh…g-glad you could come." His hand automatically reached behind him to scratch and fluff the back of his hair, as he anxiously avoided eye contact as he spoke.

"Yeah, thanks…" she offered a gentle, albeit awkward smile. As her voice reshifted his line of sight, he could see Paulo leaning against the school building in the background, arms crossed, shooting him a death glare from all the way over there, before facing away.

"Sorry about being late, I asked Paulo to come with me, since you mentioned it in your note. I thought it was a great idea for him to come along! He wasn't a fan of the idea….but then I told him I was going to come, and he said he wouldn't let me come alone, hehe", her gentle laugh and smile was reassuring and Augustus breathed a sigh of relief. "So! What did you want to talk about?"

He knew they didn't have all day, but getting right to the point was still a bit jarring. "Oh! I uh, you see, last time, in the gym, what I said and did wasn't right and—" he stopped himself in his tracks once he realized she was tilting her head, a slight amount of worry present. He wasn't even looking at her!

After a long pause and deep breath, a more serious, but still soft expression on his face, he looked at her directly,

"Daisy, I wanted to apologize to you. How I treated you wasn't right. Even if I thought I was doing you a favor, trying to "save you" and "help you" be your "best you"...I was just doing myself a favor, and a crap one at that." His face softened even more, and he had Daisy's full attention, her mouth in a small pouty 'o' shape as she listened intently.

"You already are your best you. I was an asshole for pushing your boundaries, and I'm really sorry, Daisy. I really appreciate you taking the time to get to know me….before everything happened. I hadn't had the chance to really be myself for a long time until I got to talk to you. I miss those times we'd just chat at lunch, and I'm sorry I messed it all up. I really liked getting to know you, and I appreciate that you were my friend then. I just wanted to let you know. You don't have to be friends with me now, or even talk to me anymore if you don't wa–"

"Augustus." Her firm, but calm voice cut him off. 'Oh jeez, did I screw it up again? Fu–'

"Thank you." Daisy had a smile across her face– one he hadn't seen in what seemed like so long, and tears welling up in the corner of her eyes. She quickly noticed his look of concern and wiped her tears, offering up her hands toward him.

He cautiously reached out, and let her hold his hands, sighing happily in relief once she did. Daisy's gentle voice tipped into a light playful tone, "Y'know, I felt the same way about talking to you, I could be me in a way that other people hadn't really let me be….but you did really mess up at the carnival, I really liked you!" After a slightly awkward giggle, she took a deep breath and started again "I accept your apology, and I'm really glad you reached out. I'd like for things to be like they were when we'd just chat on this hill. No weird ulterior motives, just friends. How does that sound?"

Augustus could tell that he was smiling in a way that had been rare for him to, he felt a relief in knowing the situation wasn't something that would go on unfinished and unfixed. "That sounds really wonderful, Daisy."

As the quiet tone left off, before there was time for things to become awkward, she jumped to an excited tone almost immediately after the silence.

"And I'd be more than happy to help you catch up on any studying! Oh, and starting to look at colleges you'd wanna apply to!", a large smile graced her face as she held his hand, leading him toward Paulo, and the school building.

'Same old Daisy', he thought with a warm feeling, as he followed her in turn, then jolted a bit at the mention of Paulo. She immediately sensed this, and made eye contact with Paulo himself as they walked closer to him.

"Don't worry, I'll let Paulo know you're nice! It might take him some warming up, but you both have changed a lot and I'm sure you can be friends too!"

Paulo raised an eyebrow, but after a quick up-and-down, recognized the situation had gone well—especially considering Daisy's and Augustus' smile, as well as her leading role in their walking. He sighed before beginning his playful banter,

"So, he's gonna join the lunch table now? As long as he's not another MIKE…."

"Paulo! Be nice!"

"Whaaaat? David'll be happy to see him at least!" he offered as he playfully shrugged and they continued their chat before heading back inside, to join the rest of the group for the remainder of lunch.

Augustus smiled as he passed by Lucy (currently chatting with Sue and Amaya) in the cafeteria, exchanging another thumbs up and smile with her before being sat at the table with Daisy's friends.

Who was to say? Meeting Daisy and the whole ordeal could've led to making a couple more friends than he'd thought.