Wow, sorry it's taken me so long to update, but I was wanting to get this chapter just right. I'm not sure it's there yet but its good for now. If I feel like tweaking it later I'll let you know.
I don't own anything Mario.
Chapter 5- The Drama
Daisy was not looking forward to basketball practice because of one big reason: Beth. Even though Luigi had helped mellow Daisy's earlier anger, she found it all coming back to the surface when she saw her in the locker room.
"Beth we need to talk." Daisy pulled her aside trying to remain calm.
"Sure, what about?" She asked innocently.
"What's with the Cutest Couple category?" Daisy snapped not in the mood to play games.
She blinked. "What do you mean?"
"There's never been a Cutest Couple before, and it makes no sense to have one now when there is only one senior couple. Unless, you're trying to keep me out of another category." Daisy spelled out for her.
"Do you think I'm purposely sabotaging your chance to win Most Athletic?" Beth asked with mock surprise.
"Are you?" Daisy accused, unphased by her little performance.
"Ah Daisy. You're taking this the wrong way. I mean let's face it. Luigi is not going to win Best Personality. I thought that this way he would be in the yearbook, right there with you." Beth explained placing her hand on her arm.
Daisy started getting the feeling that Beth had already pre-planned this speech of hers. However, it did exactly what it was designed to do. It made Daisy feel selfish and guilty.
"He could win." Daisy tried to defend unenthusiastically. "Besides, Luigi and I talked it over and we would rather not win a favorite at all compared to being given a spot."
Beth frowned obviously not expecting this. "Oh well, okay. If that's how you guys feel, I'll talk to the yearbook committee tomorrow."
Daisy felt relieved. She had been too quick to turn on her friend. Beth had been on her side the whole time. She should know better than to listen to ideal gossip.
"Thanks Beth. You're the best." Daisy told her.
"I know." She teased leading them out of the locker room.
Practice was long and grueling, but Daisy would be lying to say that she didn't enjoy it. The lining up and running, maybe not, but she loved playing the game. Daisy was always the last one to leave since she would stay later to shoot, so it was six before she got out. She instantly felt bad realizing that Luigi would have been waiting on her the whole time. She walked into the gym surprised that he wasn't sitting in the stands. Come to think of it, she didn't seem him throughout the entire practice.
She figured he must be waiting by her car but had the same luck. No Luigi. She got in her car and started it up waiting for him to show up. She reached over to turn on her phone since she had left it after lunch and found Luigi's text. She was surprised by Danielle's generosity, but didn't worry about it too much. She sent him a reply and pulled out towards her house.
She lived on the other side of the school from Luigi which was a bummer when she wanted to walk over to his place or vice versa. Her house was ridiculously bigger because her father was a doctor and her mother worked for the government. From what Daisy understood it was one of those, I'd tell you but then have to kill you, jobs.
She was usually on her own until about eight, but she was surprised to see her mom's car in the driveway. Excited for some real girl time, Daisy pulled up and hopped out fast. She gathered up her stuff and entered into the large foyer.
"Mom? You home?" Daisy hollered into the dark house.
She passed through the foyer into the living room and set down her bags. Eventually she would have to lug it upstairs to her room, but for the moment it was fine right there.
"Mom!" Daisy tried again louder.
She went on into the dining room then the kitchen hoping to find her, but no such luck. She finally went back to the foyer to walk up the large staircase where all of their bedrooms were located. She tried her mother's room, the study, and her father's den with the same results. Finally, she leaned over the balcony at the end of the hallway to see movement in the greenhouse below.
Grinning wildly Daisy ran back down the stairs and out the back door, headed toward the greenhouse. She was about to open the door when her mom appeared before her.
"There you are. I was afraid you were avoiding me." Daisy told her giving her a hug.
"Daisy!" Her mother cried shocked. "I didn't expect to see you."
"Yep, I didn't have to give Luigi a ride today so I got home fairly early."
"Why? What's wrong?" Her mom asked concerned.
"Nothing, he just caught a ride with someone else." Daisy assured her.
Her mother started leading her back into the house. She was acting different from usually being jumpy and calculating. Daisy figured it must have been a bad day even though she didn't know what a bad day at work would consist of for her mom.
"Daisy, are you happy?" Her mother finally asked.
"What do you mean?" Daisy asked wrinkling up her nose at the strange behavior of her mother.
"With me, your father, basketball, this life. Are you happy?" Her mother asked again.
"Well, yeah. I mean today kind of sucked, but I would say overall life is good."
"And what about Luigi? Is that a serious commitment?"
"Mom, what is it with your twenty questions?" Daisy teased but her mother remained in that same anxious state.
"Just answer me. How serious are you and Luigi?"
Daisy thought about it. "I guess pretty serious. I mean, we haven't talked about marriage or anything, but I could definitely see myself settling down with him. Why?"
Her mom didn't respond right away. In fact, she seemed more upset by the answer.
"Mom, you're kind of freaking me out." Daisy commented.
"Hmm? Oh, right. Sorry sweetie. I guess work is getting to me. In fact, I'm going to have to go back to the office here pretty quick." She admitted.
Daisy tried to hide her devastation. "But Mom. I thought we could hang out, and have some girl time."
"I'm so sorry Daisy." Her mom said before moving towards the door. However, she stopped right before she turned the knob and looked back at her daughter. "Daisy, just promise me one thing. When the time comes, no matter how heartbreaking, you'll just let events unfold. Don't try to stop it, okay?"
Daisy was so completely lost. "Mom, what are you talking about?"
"Look all I'm saying is that certain people come in and out of your life. And when it's their time to leave, you need to just let them go."
"Mom, you're kind of scaring me." Daisy confessed feeling rather uncomfortable.
"I know, but someday you'll understand." She told her giving a sad smile. "I love you, Daisy."
"Love you too Mom." Daisy told her giving her a hug.
For whatever reason this felt like a real goodbye. Daisy was getting the strange feeling that she would never see her mom again. She blew off her paranoia and watched as her mother walked through the front door, leaving Daisy alone in an empty house.
Feeling lonely, she tried texting Luigi seeing if he wanted to come over and keep her company. She didn't get a reply back which was strange, but not out of character. Luigi probably could have misplaced his phone or was too busy working on homework.
Instead, Daisy found herself going through her normal routine. She went into the kitchen, pulled out some leftovers to heat up, turned on the TV in the living room, acted like she was doing her homework, ate, and put on her pjs. She wouldn't go to bed until one of her parent's got home, but she liked being comfty after a long day.
She stared at her phone hoping to have gotten a text by now when Danielle's number popped up. Surprised Daisy clicked the button to see the text.
Scroll down if you want to see the kind of boyfriend you really have.
Daisy was slightly unnerved, but went ahead and obeyed seeing the photo. It was a picture of Danielle and Luigi at Luigi's house. However, that wasn't the disturbing part. What freaked Daisy out was the fact that they were practically all over each other.
At first Daisy was hurt, but then she started noticing some of the things that were off about the photo. For one thing Luigi looked pinned up against his door. Secondly, she noticed that he looked flustered and embarrassed. Then she saw the smile on Danielle's face. She realized that this had been staged, for whatever reason Daisy had yet to fathom.
She quickly texted Luigi telling him that they needed to talk. She instantly got a reply back much to her satisfaction. She wanted to make sure that she wasn't just seeing what she wanted to see. However, the more she looked the more confident she was in her assumption. She was starting to get mad at Danielle and figured that Luigi wouldn't be the only one she interrogated tomorrow. She was going to find out what those senior girls' deal was one way or another.
Like I said not my best chapter, but I think it works for now. Also I'm only a few chapters away from sending them to Mario World so please be patient with me. Thanks and don't forget to review.