I stood in front of my mirror and chewed on my lip. It was the first day of Senior year, my last first day of public school ever. I was kind of nervous, I wanted to look nice but not because of school. Normally I would just throw my brown hair into a ponytail, put on some jeans and a t-shirt then go to school but yesterday Cole had asked me to hang out with him after school. I [I]really[I/] wanted him to like me and judging from past girlfriends, he liked girls who actually put effort into their appearance.
I began to tear through my closet again hoping I would find something before John came to get me. He had texted me about fifteen minutes ago saying he was getting us breakfast and then he would be here. I didn't know where he was getting us food from so I didn't know how long he would take but I wanted to be finished by the time he arrived. If John saw me worrying about what to wear he would probably panic and try to see if I was sick.
"Daisy!" John shouted as I heard my front door slam shut.
I scrambled to pull my red and gray baseball shirt over my head and then tug on my black skinny jeans. "Fuck." I said as I nearly tripped.
"Well good morning, what's taking so long?" John asked suddenly appearing in my doorway. He was drinking a coffee and in the other hand he had an ice coffee that I knew was for me.
I reached forward to grab the coffee from him while smiling up at him, "Nothing. I woke up late." I lied and John came me a skeptical look.
He sat on the edge of my bed and took another sip of his coffee before saying, "You're a bad liar." I took a sip of my coffee so I wouldn't have to say anything before I placed it on the dresser.
I turned back around to look at John who was still watching me, waiting for me to tell him the truth. "Cole and I are hanging after school, I want him to think I actually tried."
"Oh. Well hurry up, breakfast is gonna get cold." John said before standing up and walking out.
I huffed in annoyance. I was expecting John to help me get ready but I guess he just wasn't in the mood this morning. I put on socks and shoved my feet into my Converses before running a brush through my long brunette hair. I looked at myself in the mirror and after deciding I didn't look complete I pulled on a gray beanie, grabbed my coffee and ran out of my room.
John was waiting in the living room and when he saw me, he flicked off the TV. "No backpack?" he questioned.
"No. We never do anything on the first day." I told John as we walked out of my house. I locked the door behind us before following John down to his car.
"Breakfast." John said handing me a brown paper bag that had Dunkin Donuts written across the front before starting his car.
I reached into the bag and pulled out a breakfast sandwich and smiled. "Want cream cheese on your bagel babe?" I asked before chomping into the sausage, egg and cheese on an onion bagel.
"Yeah." John answered. I put my sandwich down on the wrapper in my lap before pulling out John's plain bagel.
"I hate this crap, I don't know why you like it so much." I said while wrinkling my nose at the smell of John's pepper jack cream cheese.
"It's good."
"It smells like shit."
"I like it."
"I've noticed, trust me."
I finished spreading the cream cheese on the first half of the bagel before offering it to John. He opened his mouth and I sighed as I brought it up so he could take a bite of it. By the time I finished feeding John his the first half and had cream cheesed the second half we had gotten to school. We got out of the car and we walked towards where we usually met the other guys as we finished our breakfasts. When we reached the picnic table Tim was already there with Pat and Garrett. Pat looked his usual perky self and Garrett looked about ready to sprint off of school grounds.
"What's the matter Gare?" I asked while I sat down next to him. Garrett's head thumped against the table and he mumbled something I couldn't understand. "I can't even hear you."
"I said I'm tired." Garrett whined as he lifted his head off of the table. I chuckled seeing the red spot where his head had hit the table and then offered him some of my coffee.
Garrett sucked down the coffee and I pushed at his head. "Don't drink it all dumbass, I want some too." I snapped and he pulled away before sticking his tongue out at me.
"I want some too." Jared said suddenly appearing behind me and leaning over me to get a sip.
"No! Go drink John's coffee!" I shouted while trying to protect my coffee. Jared moved away from me and towards John who instantly stood on the table and held the coffee high above his head. "John you're drinking a hot coffee, I'm not taking you to the hospital if you spill it on yourself."
John looked down at me from where he was and frowned. "Why not? I would take you to the hospital!"
"Cause hospitals smell like old people and floor cleaner." I explained and John frowned but slowly climbed down from the table more carefully than he usually would.
Slowly the rest of the guys arrived, Halvo being last like always. When we were finally all together we walked into the school, Garrett and Pat practically needed to be dragged in but the rest of us were happy. This was our final year here unlike the other two and we would never have to come back. We wanted to get this done and over with as soon as possible. Pat and Garrett's homeroom was a few classroom before ours so they left the group first, saying goodbye and promising to try to find us at lunch before turning into their homeroom.
"Our homeroom is here guys." Halvo said turning to Tim and smacking Kennedy to get his attention once we reached the end of the hall.
"We'll probably see you in class." Tim said to me, Jared and John before they walked into the classroom.
I sighed and walked into the last classroom in the hallway. "I hate being last." I told John as we all tried to find three open seats that were next to each other.
Once we found three seats John sat down, I sat in the middle and Jared sat on the other side before turning to look at us. "Blame our parents, our last names begin with some of the last letters in the alphabet." Jared pointed out and I nodded knowingly.
Homerooms were arranged by class and then by last name. Since we were seniors and our last names began with M, O, and T, we got the last homeroom in the hall. Our homeroom teacher walked in and instantly I groaned. It was Mr. Stanley, he was short, fat and old. He was also disgusting and rude. Most of the time he could be found sitting in front of the class picking earwax from his ears with a pencil. Mr. Stanley was also a jerk, he was known for making freshman cry and he couldn't even teach. He often just sat around, gave us some problems to do and expected us to learn.
"Great, of course we get this douche." John said softly into my ear and I nodded in agreement.
Homeroom was generally only about ten minutes long but since it was the first day it was extended. Mr. Stanley chose Angela Smith, the biggest teacher's pet in our year to pass out the papers and when she passed us she glared. She hadn't liked me or John since our freshman year when we didn't start our History Day project until the night before it was due and then got a higher grade than her.
"Hi Angie." John cooed while waving at her and she looked disgusted as she threw three papers at us.
I laughed and Jared frowned. "Why doesn't she like me? I didn't do anything." he said sadly and I laughed.
"You're guilty by association Jared." I told him and Jared sighed as I handed him his paper.
"Sweet! Do you know what this is?" John exclaimed while holding out the paper to me. I shook my head and took the paper he offered me. "It's the permission slip for senior privileges." John said happily.
I smiled as I read through the paper. The list of privileges we had included being able to come in late or leave early if we didn't have a first or last period class, we could leave school grounds for lunch(John and I already did that so it wasn't that big of a deal), we finally had access to the special senior parking lot which was closer to the school, and we were given a discount in the school store. My eyes went down the page and I frowned when they reached the bottom. I needed a parent's signature so I could get them and my parents wouldn't be home for another two weeks.
I poked John in the arm and he looked down at me. "Do you think your mom would sign this for me?" I inquired and John nodded.
"Yup." he said before raising his hand when Mr. Stanley called out his name.
The rest of homeroom went quickly and then we all went off to our first classes of the day. Much to my delight both John and I had a free period first so once we got our permission slips in we could come in late. The rest of the day went by quickly, most of my classes had John, Tim, Jared and Kennedy in them and we all had lunch with Garrett. Poor Pat though was stuck in second lunch by himself. By the time the last bell rang I was a nervous wreck. Cole had asked me to meet him in front of the school so there I was, my heart beating wildly. I was terrified that he would be playing a joke on me and I would just stand here like an idiot for the next hour but to my surprise I saw him coming from school, a smile on his face as he waved me over.
"Hey!" he said happily while shoving his hands into the pockets of the tan cargo shorts he was wearing.
I smiled shyly, "Hi." I said softly while I toyed with the rainbow colored yarn bracelet on my wrist.
"How was your first day?" Cole questioned while pulling a white and red fitted hat from his bag and putting it on his head.
I followed after him to his car as I told him about my day. He asked me a couple questions about my classes and I answered them all but I didn't make any efforts to continue the conversation. I was so scared that I would make a fool of myself that I could barely think of answers to his questions, forget actually come up with something smart to say. When we got into his car Cole turned to me and he looked kind of guilty.
Instantly I began to panic. What if he says he doesn't actually want to hang out? Or what if he thought I was weird or annoying? My breath quickened and I tried to calm myself, a panic attack would not help him like me anymore.
"So you wouldn't mind if we hung out with my friends right? I mean I told them I was hanging with you but they said to just bring you along. You don't care, right?" he asked while grinning at me.
I smiled back, my panic slowly ebbing away as I nodded. "It's not a problem." I said smoothly though inside my heart was still beating against my chest like I had been running for hours.
"Cool." Cole said before starting the car. He pulled out of his parking spot before grabbing my hand and I hoped that my hands wouldn't get sweaty.
I watched Cole as he drove and I couldn't help but smile. He was perfect. His hair looked soft and it fell perfectly into his face, his lips were curved into a perfect smile and his brown eyes? They were to die for. I was so lost in his face I didn't even notice that he had stopped the car and he was squeezing my hand gently.
"We're here." Cole said shaking me out of my thoughts. I laughed nervously, he had noticed I was staring. I silently yelled at myself in my head as I let go out of his hand and climbed out of the car.
I followed Cole into the backyard where there was already a large group of people who seemed to be fighting. Two of the bigger guys who I recognized as part of the football team were screaming back and forth at each other as one of the smaller guys who I also recognized from the football team tried to get in the middle.
"I'll be right back, I have to break this up before they kill each other." Cole said before running towards the group of guys.
I stayed by the fence as I watched Cole run between the two guys. I couldn't hear what he was saying but he looked like he was threatening them because both guys quickly shut their mouths. Cole's mouth continued to move and he pointed at the two guys and then towards me. Every single pair of eyes fell on me and I blushed before waving shyly. One of the guys waved back but the rest just stared. Finally it seemed like Cole was done chastising the boys because he came back towards me.
He frowned at me and held out his hand, "I'm really sorry about them. They're such dumbasses sometimes." Cole explained as I took his hand and he lead me over to where they were now sitting around a table.
"There's only one seat left so I can stand." I told Cole once we reached the table and he shook his head.
He sat down and then pulled me into his lap, "We can sit this way." Cole said as he wrapped his arms around my waist.
I rested my hands over his and looked around, there was only two other girls and they were both seated on guys' laps. One I recognized as Katie, she was really pretty and really nice. We had had English together Sophomore year and she was one of the only cheerleaders I got along with. The other girl was Marie, I had never actually had a class with her but I had learned early on to stay away from her when Freshman year she pushed some girl into a trash can for looking at her boyfriend.
I sighed and leaned back against Cole as I listened to the guys talk. The girls I noticed, said little to nothing, only talking when they were responding to somebody's question. I had no problem with not talking and I was hoping to follow their lead and stay silent but the guys kept asking me questions. Some of the questions like what my name was and how old I was were easy to answer but questions like if Cole and I were dating had me unsure of what to say.
It was nearing four when my phone went off and I pulled it from my pocket to see I had a message from John saying his mom invited me over to dinner. "Cole." I said softly and he looked up at me.
"What's up Daisy?" he asked and I chewed on my lip. I didn't want to leave but if I didn't go to dinner at John's then I would have to make something for myself and I just wasn't up to it tonight.
"Uh, my friend's mom invited me over for dinner and I kind of have to go." I told him and he frowned.
"Oh…okay." he said and I suddenly felt extremely guilty.
"I-I'm s-sorry." I stuttered out while standing up, "You don't have to drive me, you can stay with your friends." I told him instantly, my voice getting softer and softer. I didn't want to make things even worse by making him leave his friends to drive me to John's.
Cole shook is head quickly while standing up. "Don't worry about it and I'll drive you, okay?" he said in a voice that I knew meant there was no point in fighting with him, he was just going to drive me anyways before he turned to his friends. "Guys, I'm gonna drive Daisy home and I'll be back." Cold said before grabbing my hand and gently pulling me from the yard.
We walked quietly for a moment and then I tugged on his hand so he would look at me. "You don't have to drive me you know, I can walk. It's no problem." I said and Cole shook his head no.
"I want to drive you Daisy, stop worrying." he said and I wanted to tell him I couldn't. I wanted to tell him how nervous he made me but I realized that would only embarrass me.
"Oh-kay." I said softly and Cole gave me a wide smile before opening my door for me.
I climbed in and he shut the door for me before going around to his side. After he backed out of the driveway he grabbed my hand again. "So where am I bringing you to?" he questioned.
I told him where I was going softly and before I knew it we were in front of John's house. We were sitting awkwardly in the car and I didn't really know what to do. The last boyfriend I had had was in tenth grade before anybody I knew had cars. The boy's mom had dropped me off at my house after our "date" so we hadn't really kissed.
"Well, uh, thanks." I said turning to open the door.
Cole cleared his throat though and I turned to look at him again, "Daisy?"
"Yes Cole?" I said trying to sound normal. My stomach was bubbling and I hoped that if he did kiss me I wouldn't puke.
I was about to start hyperventilating when Cole grabbed my face and pulled me towards him before kissing me deeply. I kissed back and a second later he pulled away, "Will you be my girlfriend?"
I was so shocked that all I could do was nod dumbly. Cole smiled and then said he would call me later before I slowly got out of the car. I walked up the driveway and to the door before walking in like I always did. I was still amazed about Cole asking me to be his girlfriend when I got up to John's room and landed on my back on his bed. John looked up from his computer and gave me a strange look.
"Why do you look so dazed Daisy?" John questioned as he plopped down on the bed beside me.
"Cole asked me out and he kissed me!" I told John happily.
I looked up at him and an emotion I didn't recognize flickered across John's face before he smiled. "That's great Daisy!" John gushed and I nodded, completely forgetting about the look that was on his face for only a second.
"I know! I'm so happy!" I said and I was. I had just gotten asked out by one of the hottest kids at school, he had kissed me, AND my best friend was happy for me. Life was going so good and I hoped the rest of Senior year would go like this.