((thank u all for the reviews! since the marking period is ending at school soon, chapters wont be nearly as frequent as they are now, just a heads up. chapter six will be out on nov. 1st! lmk what you think of this chapter! warning: a butt load of information is coming up in this chapter!))

Chapter Five

The ride was awkward, to say the least. Daisy could tell that Stiles had questions, and the heavy air only made her uncomfortable. "Okay," she sighed, "I know you have questions. Ask them."

Stiles looked at her from the corner of his eye, watching as she pulled one shoe off and slipped her foot into the uncomfortable looking dancing slipper, wrapping the ribbon in criss-cross formation up and around her calf.

"So..you live alone?"

"Emancipated. My parents thought I was old enough to live on my own." My parents didn't want me anymore so they kicked me out.

He cleared his throat. "Who was the guy? I mean.. In the pictures."

Her fingers froze around the light weight ribbon. She took a deep breath and leaned her head on the rest behind her.

"Private First Class, Javier Daniels. My brother; he died in the line of duty."

"The girl? She your sister?"

"Yeah." Was the only answer Stiles received.

He didn't ask anything after that.

When they pulled into the side lot next to the dance studio, Daisy had just finished putting her hair up into a bun and inserted multiple bobby pins to keep all the loose strands into place.

With a sigh, she clicked her seat belt and let it retract from her chest. Turning to Stiles, she smiled sheepishly. "Thank you so much for the ride. I'm really sorry about this. We can tackle this project some other time, okay?"

She turned to open the door, but Stiles stopped her with a hand to her arm. "Will you need a ride home? Because I can totally do that, you know, if you need one."

Daisy shook her head. "No, it's fine. I'll only be here for one or two classes. I can walk," hesitating she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his cheek, "thank you, again, Stiles." And she booked out of there.

It's safe to say she was there for more than one or two classes.

It was dark when she finally left the studio. Janina had called her around six, saying she couldn't find any other instructors and asked Daisy to stay until closing.

It looked like it would storm soon, the dancer noted as she walked along the side of the road, pulling her sweater closer to her body, practically hugging herself. Lightning flashed far away, closer to the edge of town.

As she passed the little gas station, only a few minutes away from the studio, she noticed something strange. From across the street, she could make out her new friend, Allison, pumping gas. Daisy smiled and lifted her hand to wave and call out.

"Hey, Allis-" Her blood ran cold when the lights turned off all around the other and she made a move to run across the street but something made her freeze on the spot.

Her friend was moving around her car now, obviously looking for something. And then suddenly someone jumped out and shoved a sack over her face.

Daisy jerked, taking a few steps forward, then bursting into a run. "Oh, my God. Allison!" The figure pushed said teen into the back of a car, and then turned around. "Stop, what the hell are you doing! Let her go!" But the car drove off, and Daisy finally tore her eyes away from it and looked up at the man.

She took a step back, he was familiar. Allison pointed him out once, through the window of their last period class just hours before.

It was her father?

He gave her a charming, rather scary smile that made her shudder. "Don't worry about her. It's just a family tradition. She'll be fine."

"But- you just..wh-what but..?" Daisy stuttered out. The man, Mr. Argent, pulled something from the back of his jeans and pushed it into the teens hand and turned.

"Go home," he said. "Allison will see you at school tomorrow." And then was gone.

Daisy looked down at her hand, and saw two $100 bills. She felt slightly sick, taking the money with her, but rent and bills had to be paid.

With shaking steps, she ran home. That night, she called Allison practically 30 times and sent her just as many texts; she got no reply.

The next day at school, Daisy didn't see Allison until she came up to her locker. The dancer moved in immediately. "Oh, my God you're okay." She breathed, giving the other a hug. Allison froze before returning the embrace half-heartedly.

"Uhh, of course I am? Why wouldn't I be?"

Daisy pulled back, confused. "I-I saw you at the gas station... you-you got pushed into a car and I got really scared and I tried to-to help and th-this guy he gave me money and told me to go home. I tried to call you!"

Allison stared at her with wide eyes, lips parted in surprise, before laughing slightly, hands on Daisy's arms. "Calm down!" She laughed, "I'm okay! It was just a family thing. A joke. I swear. Just- don't tell Scott or Stiles about it, okay? I don't think they would be very understanding."

The dancer nodded, slightly dazed. That guy, Allison's father (?), was seriously telling the truth? The older sighed and closed her locker. "C'mon. Lets go to class."

At lunch, Daisy went straight to the table she sat at the day before, only after nodding hello to her friend from ROTC, Boyd. Scott was already there, eating lunch. She sat down across from him and gave him a smile, pulling out her homework assigned to her already from that day. She noticed Stiles stopping at Boyd's table and sitting and she furrowed her eyebrows. Scott gave her a confused look and she nodded in Stiles' direction. "What's he doing at Boyd's table?"

Scott shrugged. "Probably trying to get something from him, I think." He gave her a look. "You know Boyd?"

Daisy nodded absently, looking back down at her open text book and began writing. "Yeah, we're in ROTC together. We're friends."

Stiles sat down next to her suddenly and she jumped. "Got em," he said. "Pick you up after work and we'll head straight to the rink, cool? Oh, hey Daisy. You get home okay?"

Daisy waved him off with a flick of her hand, not bothering to look up from her books. "Yeah, I stayed until closing though. Didn't get home until Eight or Nine." She scrunched her nose at the half finished chemistry question, giving up on it and slamming the books shut, pushing them into her bag, and instead pulling out a bottle of water.

She stood. "Sorry, gotta run. I'm needed elsewhere." By elsewhere, she meant in the guidance office, where she would be going to her appointment with Morell to discuss her issues.

"Wait," Stiles said, causing her to stop packing her things and look over to the boy. "We're going to the ice rink after school, us, Allison, and Lydia. You want to come?"

Daisy could see Scott shaking his head at Stiles from the corner of her eyes and her lips twitched up into a smile. "Sorry," she said sincerely, "I have to work. It's date night, so I have an adult salsa class. I'll be there until practically 11. Seriously. I have to go, sorry." She turned and rushed off, not hearing either of their responses.

The dancer tapped Boyd on the head as she passed behind him, causing him to turn and glare affectionately toward her. On her first day of ROTC in Beacon Hills, Boyd had taken her under his wing, so he was sort of a big brother figure to her.

She stepped over his foot, which had shot out to trip her, and then froze when the doors of the cafeteria swung open. She blinked, once, twice, three times and holy shit. That's Erica.

"Erica?" Daisy mumbled, and said blonde gave her a look, as if she heard the dancer's words. The smaller girl gave the blonde a once over, nodding slightly in approval. She looked good, more confident than the day before. Good for her. As she passed the blonde, she rested a hand on her elbow and smiled at her. "You look great, Erica. Break some hearts." She told the epileptic.

Erica gave her a genuine smile, so much more real than the smirk that was there before it, and they both walked separate ways. Daisy could feel eyes rest on her as she walked out of the lunch room, practically as many as Erica had.

"So, Daisy," Morell, began, sitting behind her desk all but five minutes after Erica made her grand entrance. "Can you tell me, in your own words, why you're here?"

Daisy was sitting in the chair across from her, twirling her hair between her fingers. Clearing her throat, she bit her lip and looked anywhere but at the guidance councilor. "Well.. My step-father is crazy. He, um, felt that it was necessary for us to learn how to live on our own. He kicked me out after I turned 16," When I could become emancipated and he wouldn't ever have to look at me again. "I took my savings, put a lease on an apartment here, and left as soon as I could."

"Us? Has he done this before?"

"Yes... My brother. He left when I was seven, I didn't hear of him until I was 12, my little sister was 11. He died in the line of duty."

Morell was nodding, writing in the file with Daisy's name and terrible picture. "Do you feel guilty, leaving your sister?"

Daisy flinched at the assumption. "No. Santana killed herself when she was 13. She was, um, born deaf. My step-father hated it, treated her like trash because she couldn't be perfect. When I got the letter, saying Javi was dead, I didn't tell her for almost a year. I was scared to. I thought she would go crazy, because he was the only person we both trusted. When she found out, she told me she hated me... And a year later she was dead."

"This must have been difficult for you," Daisy laughed at that, and the dead, wet sounding bark made her realize she had been crying. It was more than difficult; it was her fault that her sister was dead. "Do you blame yourself? For her death?"

Daisy only nodded, Morell nodding back, writing more in the file. Putting the pen down, the dark skinned woman folded her hands on top of the papers, staring down at the dancer.

"Why did you and your sister only trust your older brother? What about your mother?"

Daisy looked up, finally, from her lap and made eye contact with the other. "Mama was useless. She drank too much to realize what Bill was doing to us. And when she was actually sober, and tried to help, Bill only threatened her. Saying he would beat her if she tried to interfere again. Eventually she stopped trying."

Morell handed her a tissue from the box on her desk, and Daisy reluctantly took it, wiping at her wet cheeks. The white cloth came back smeared black with makeup and the dancer groaned. "Great." She didn't even realize that she had been crying.

The teacher smiled at her, reaching over the wooden surface and sitting her hand on Daisy's.

"Thank you, for saying all of this during our first meeting. It usually takes three or four before someone starts opening up. It's nice to know that you trust me."

Daisy smiled back, weakly.

"You can stay here to compose yourself, or you could call someone to pick you up?" The adult suggested. "You opened up a lot of things that were obviously bottled up. You are in no condition to continue classes."

The dancer nodded. "I could call my boss. She'll pick me up."

"Oh, where do you work?" Morell asked, slipping into a less professional tone, trying to make small talk as she gathered her notes and straightened them into a neat pile.

"Janina's School of Dance. I'm an instructor there. Do you know it?" The last question was added in curiosity when something similar to recognition passed in the elders eyes.

"Yes, actually. My sister owns it. She told me about you, I just didn't realize you were that young protégé she spoke so highly of."

Wait. What.

"She's your.. sister? Holy sh-crap. Sorry. I just- wow." Morell laughed. "I mean, that's so weird! You barely look anything alike."

It was true, Janina had darker skin, big, curly hair, and softer features than the teacher, Daisy noted as she pulled her cellphone out and pressed the first speed-dial button.

"That is true, she's much older than me, and my brother, though. She's more like a mom than anything." Also true. Janina had such a strong motherly instinct. Even Daisy considered the dance instructor as a mother figure.

"Hello?" Her boss answered after the third ring or so.

"Hey, Ms. J. Could you do me a favor?" Daisy ran her fingers through her hair, biting her lip.

"Mm, of course, Child. I'm not busy. What is it? Aren't you supposed to be in school right now?"

Daisy gave another wet laugh. "Yeah. That's the thing, I am at school. Can you, um, can you come get me? I- I just- I really need to get out of here. " The dancer looked down at her lap, squeezing her eyes shut when she felt the burn of new tears threatening to flow.

The answer was practically immediate.

"I'll be there in five. It was Marin, wasn't it? That girl needs to know her boundaries, Lord knows. I should give her a piece of my mind."

Daisy smiled at that. "Thank you."

An exasperated sigh, sounding almost fond came from the speaker. "Don't thank me, this is nothing, Child. I'll be there soon."

The dancer hit the 'End Call' button and slipped her phone back into her bag, before wiping her cheeks again. Clearing her throat, she looked up at the expecting teacher. "She's coming, but, uh, she may or may not be calling you sometime today to lecture you ab-"

Morell jumped slightly and pulled a cellphone out of her pocket, looking at the screen and smiling, before facing the vibrating phone to Daisy to show her who was calling. 'Janina' was on the top of the screen in big, white letters with her phone number underneath.

"May, seems to be the right answer. I'll go take this. You can step out to the receptionist and let them know I've sent you home. Next week will be our next meeting?" As the counselor said this, she wrote out a small slip and gave it to the younger.

Daisy nodded, taking the note, standing and pulling her bag up so it was slung over her shoulder. "Yes, okay. Um, thank you, ." She mumbled out, rushing to the door and opening it. As she was stepping out she heard an 'Any time!' called from the room. The dancer made eye contact with the girl sitting outside of the office, offering a small smile, which she got in return, before scurrying to the desk near the door.

The scary red head was there still, and gave Daisy a rather deathly glare when the younger walked up to her. "M-Ms. Morell excused me from classes for the rest of the day. I have someone coming to pick me up." The dancer gave the woman the slip, twisting the end of her skirt between her thumb and forefinger. As the receptionist began to write out a release form, Daisy looked at the desk in front of her, eyes falling on the name tag that sat to the side.

V. Argent

Daisy remembered what happened the night before and shivered slightly. Whatever kind of family nights they had, she certainly didn't want to ever take part. "Oh, are you related to Allison?" The red head looked up from the paper momentarily, smiling at the mention of the teen.

"She's my daughter. Are you friends?"

Daisy nodded, "Yes. She is very welcoming." didn't reply, just gave the sheet of paper to Daisy and turned back to her computer. The teen folded the paper and pushed it into her bag, nodding again at the girl next to Morells office and pushing out of the Main Office, walking to the front entrance of the school where Janina was probably waiting. Lunch hadn't ended yet, but there were a few wanderers around the halls that gave her curious looks as she walked passed.

Like she predicted, Janina's blue Impala was parked outside the front of the school, sitting idle. Daisy rushed up to the passenger side, opening the door and practically throwing herself in to the car.

Janina glanced at her once, then started the car back up and peeled out of the parking lot.

They sat silent, for a few minutes, until the eldest let out a sigh. "Marin said your appointment went very well. That you're making progress."

Daisy nodded and turned away from the window. "Yeah... I, um, talked about Javi... And Santana."

Of course Janina knew of the younger's past life. She had to, because Daisy would not have been hired so young unless the woman knew why such a young girl was looking for work, protégé or no.

The woman looked at Daisy again, this time smiling softly. "That's wonderful, Child," Janina changed her tone, so it was lighter, more casual, moving one hand around in the air as she talked, "Don't even think for one minute that you're coming into work today, missy. I'm taking you home and you're going to stay there."

"But it-"

"No buts. This is final. You're taking a mental health day. Relax."

Daisy sighed, nodding as she turned back to the window.