Summer was beginning to set in. Anna-Rose was sat in front of a small desk fan doing physics problems, while Daisy was correcting errors in her entomology workbook. Having come from the Australian outback Daisy didn't understand how people couldn't bear heat that was barely spring weather for her. "You look stupid sitting in front of that fan," she muttered.
Anna-Rose sat upright and looked over to her. "We can't all be inhuman like you are, Daisy. It's freaking hot." Daisy shook her head.
"It's barely thirty degrees. You're overreacting. I'm used to heat much worse than this, and back at home I generally had to do ploughing in that kind of heat."
"Note how you said you're used to it. I'm not you." Anna-Rose went back to her work. After the incident with Alfonse, the two of them had been sticking together out of school more often, in case another jealous or deranged student with a Stand attacked them. However, after Alfonse arrived back at school from the hospital, people were tending to steer clear of the two girls and their fearsome Stand powers.
Delaware knocked at the apartment door, and Anna-Rose let him in. "What on earth are you two doing inside with this weather? Come outside, I'm going to shoot some hoops." Daisy shut her book and stood.
"I don't know my way around New York yet. I'd come play basketball with you if you showed me around town a bit." Delaware chuckled, pulling down his red beanie.
"Well, I can't say no to that request. Anna-Rose, will you be fine on your own?" The physics Specialist looked up and nodded.
"After Alfonse, I don't think people are going to be chomping at the bit to raid one of our apartments. I'll be okay."
Delaware acknowledged this, and the two left the apartment complex. Delaware looked over at Daisy, and smiled. "So, do you have any idea where the sports centre is?" Daisy shook her head, and the Brooklyn native sighed. "Sheesh, this is going to be a long tour. You know where the general store is, right?"
"Yeah. I'm not completely dense. I have to eat." The redhead rolled her eyes a little. "Of course I know where the damn store is."
Delaware nodded. "I assumed so, but it never hurts to ask, you feel me?"
"I guess." She sighed. She was starting to feel a little homesick, and with all the crazy things she'd been through over the last couple of weeks, she really wasn't sure if she wanted to keep going to that bizarre school. "Hey, Delaware… what kind of philosophy do you live by?"
Delaware was shocked. "Well, I guess I like to live in the moment, and do whatever I get a chance to. I'm the type of person that wants to live in the fast lane. That's why I hate people who get fast tracked to where they want to go without effort." Daisy smiled, gesturing to herself.
"My whole life, nobody cared about my interest. Before coming to America I'd be lucky if I saw a fly in the dead heat of the outback, and every year you'd have to spray the crops with pesticide to kill the moth grubs. Insects have always been my passion, and I learnt whatever I could in books, or online. I guess in that regard, I feel the same way as you about people who don't put in any effort to become clever, or strong, or anything. That's why I respect you and Anna-Rose, I suppose. You two have both put in a lot of effort to be so talented, and so powerful as Stand users. I mean, not everyone can stop a bullet, you know."
Delaware blushed a little. "Hey, I'd feel terrible if I didn't stop it."
"That you would." Daisy giggled, looking around. "Uh, where are we?"
"We're at the courts. You promised me a game." Delaware called out to two people sitting in the bleachers. One of them was a tall woman of African American descent, and the other was an athletic Anglo-Saxon male. Both of them looked about Delaware's age.
The girl spoke up first. "Del, who is this skinny chick and what the hell is she doin' here?"
Delaware sighed, trying to calm her down. "She's chill, Sally, don't worry. She moved here from Australia recently, and we're neighbours. The athletic boy placed his hand on Sally's shoulder.
"I trust her. I mean, come on, that awkward smile can't be from a bad person."
Daisy tried her best to make her smile not awkward after it was pointed out. "Uh… hi, I'm Daisy. Nice to meet you two." Sally shook her hand vigorously.
"Anyone Del and Liam trust is a friend of mine, girl. You're from Australia, huh? You don't look like you wrestle crocodiles." She chuckled, and Daisy did as well.
"No, no, I'm not that type. Though I did once catch a dingo in a headlock to stop it from stealing a sheep. No joke."
Liam walked up to Daisy and gave her a bear hug. Delaware pulled him away before he did some real damage. "Sorry, Daisy. Liam here's a hugger and a gym junkie." Daisy checked for cracked ribs, before cracking another awkward smile.
"Anyway, I thought you said we were playing some basketball?" Sally passed Daisy a ball.
"You start. You might be a country girl, but here in Brooklyn we play city ball. Just 'cause you're new to America it doesn't mean we won't school you."
Liam decided to team with Daisy, who began playing a speedy offensive. Delaware and Sally were great players, but Daisy was moving so nimbly that she was tough, but not impossible, to catch. She gave Liam quite a few lay-ups, while Delaware was also scoring a fair few points when he could get the ball in his hands. After a half hour of playing, Liam and Daisy had far and away won the game.
"Good game, country girl. Seems you're not so lost out here after all." Daisy smiled, shaking Sally's hand once more.
"Same to you, city slicker. You're tougher than I thought."
Delaware parted ways with his friends and he and Daisy walked towards home. After some thought, Daisy approached him with a question. "Does Sally have a Stand?"
"What kind of a question is that?" Delaware brushed off the question.
"Does she? It kind of felt like she did, but I can't tell."
"To be honest, I don't know. I've never used They Might Be Giants anywhere near her, because I'm afraid she'll think I'm a freak." Delaware smirked. "Though, to be honest, she's one hell of a good sportswoman. She wants to be an Olympian, and that is certainly a goal that would awaken a Stand user."
"So, if she has a Stand, she probably thinks the same way you do about yours?"
"Yeah, if you look at it that way, I guess." He dragged his feet a little. "Have you spoken with your family at all since coming here? About your Stand, about anything?"
"Pfft, of course I have." Daisy chuckled a bit as they arrived at the apartment complex. "See you, I suppose." Delaware nodded, opening the door for both of them, and they wordlessly walked back to their apartments. Daisy arrived home to see that Anna-Rose had left. She walked over to the phone, and dialled her parents' number.
"Hello? …Oh, hi, dad. Is mum there? …wait, what? What do you mean? Is she alright? What happened?" Daisy was starting to get anxious, as her father described something horrific. "Uh, do you need me back home? Yeah, I know I wanted to come to this school, but if you need my help I'll come back. Alright, if you say so, dad. I'll see you at Christmas. Love you too." She hung up, on the verge of tears. Her poor mother, suffering from something as horrible as schizophrenia… she wanted so badly to go home to comfort her father, but school was important and she understood that.
"Only a few weeks until summer. I'll go home then."
New York School for Specialist Children, Rule Number 1:
No bullying. If there is any unnecessary violence or abuse towards another student in school hours, it will be punished.