Daisy

The first half of the last year of hell at Crown High had ended. This meant for Daisy, she and her friends were halfway there graduating, going to college together, and leaving this town for good. It wasn't that she didn't love her folks and all, but she couldn't help but to crave more from what the bigger, brighter world had to offer. Luckily, her two best friends shared that same feeling, which made it easier knowing she would both, not be doing this alone, and she wouldn't be saying goodbye to them. Saying goodbye to her parents would be hard enough. But, all of that came later. Right now, Daisy was focused on conquering the first day back to school tomorrow with a fresh new outfit, nails already done, shoes and accessories picked out, having read three chapters of the assigned reading for lit class early, and took her notes, but the most important part hadn't been done yet. Daisy whips out her iPhone and pulls up her first best friend's contact info. In the contact picture showed a girl with vibrant blonde hair tied in a ponytail, blue eyes like the ocean, rocking her favorite pink blouse, contact name: Peachy Queen. Daisy presses the call button, puts the sound on speaker, and looks back over herself in the mirror. She was wearing her orange crop top that twisted in the front and had an open back, dark skinny jeans that hugged her hips and her ankle high black thick heeled boots. Her phone rings once before Peach answers.

"Hey Daisy, are you almost ready?" Peach's light and bubbly voice is heard over some pop music she had been playing, likely while she was also getting ready. "Did you still want me to drive?"

"Yes, and yes," Daisy goes on to answer with a small laugh, brushing her fingers through her auburn hair. "How is Rosalina doing? I know she isn't much of a party-goer but she's still up for it, right? I kept telling her we weren't going to leave her alone."

"I already called her, and she says she's done getting ready too. She sounded nervous, but she'll be just fine while she has us," Peach assures her. Daisy couldn't see it, but she was confident her pink loving best friend was smiling. As long as she was sure, then. Rosalina tended to be more of the homebody between the three of them, preferring to stay in, watch movies, eat ice cream and relax. There was no problems with that, but Daisy wasn't very good at sticking to small get-togethers like that. She wanted the added excitement of large groups of people, boys and sometimes girls trying to show off and get her attention on them, loud music, not even recognizing half of the kids who show up cause they're also coming from rivaling high schools. Okay, and maybe she also enjoyed that there was always drama at these parties. Someone was always getting cheated on, starting fights with exes and rivals, best friend betrayals, that sort of thing. As long as it wasn't drama that involved her, Daisy was always all ears for it. After approving of her look one last time and applying a fresh layer of gloss to make her mauve pink lipstick pop, Daisy picked back up her phone and went towards the door There, she also grabbed her signature white flower shaped cross body bag.

"Sounds like a plan, Peach. Well, I'm officially ready. I'll go ahead and walk over to you," she tells her friend, sliding on a black jacket. It was the beginning of winter, but once inside the large house filled with a bunch of teenagers, and a drink or two, it would be way too hot for the extra layer. This was just to be sure she didn't get too cold walking up to the front door, depending on where they had to park.

"Okay, I'll see you in a few minutes then," Peach agrees. Daisy hears her blow a kiss on the other line of the phone, so Daisy laughs and does the same before hanging up. She puts her phone into her purse and walks to the front door. Her parents were both out late for a date night. As far as they knew, she and Peach were spending the night at Rosalina's house, and Peach would drive them to school the next morning. It wasn't a total lie. That was what they were going to do after the party. Daisy picked up her overnight bag that was waiting for her at the front door, along with her book bag. Then she walks out, locks the door, and walks to the white house on the right. Daisy and Peach have lived next door to each other since their families first moved into the neighborhood. The two girls were the same age, their parents hit it off, so it was fate that decided the two of them would be best friends. Daisy waits next to Peach's metallic rose pink convertible. Yes, her best friend was basically the girl who lives the perfect Barbie Girl Dream Lifestyle. It definitely didn't fit for Daisy, but as long as Peach loved it and was happy, she'd hop into a full Barbie pink mansion with her.

Daisy only had to wait a few minutes before Peach walked out, her parents behind her. She gave them each a kiss on the cheek before going down with her bags. "Bye Momma, bye Daddy!" she called over her shoulder. Her parents smiled and waved to her, then also waved to Daisy.

"Bye, girls! Please be careful!" Peach's mom called out. Daisy gives them both a wave in return.

"We'll be fine! I still don't think Peach realizes you can go above 50 yet!" Daisy says jokingly. Peach's head snapped to her friend with wide blue eyes, mouth gapping at her.

"Daisy! That's so not true!" she huffs, giving Daisy a playful nudge.

"I'd be happier to know that is true," Peach's dad chuckles before turning to head out. "Bye, girls." Peach's Mom waits and watches the girls laugh and put their bags into the pretty pink car. Then the girls get inside, Peach in the driver seat, and with one more wave, the car starts and pulls out of the driveway.

After picking up Rosalina on the way, Peach was driving towards the party location. One of the cheerleaders on the team was holding a party as a last hurrah before going to school tomorrow. She opened it up to anyone, including rival schools, since she was a believer of everyone needing a last blow out party before tackling the next school year. And maybe she was hoping to throw a team or two from the other schools for a bit of a loop. Either way, there was no mistaking where the party house was. In one of the large manors, gated all around but open to where you could see all the teenagers dancing, laughing, drinking, some even swimming in what Daisy could only assume was a temperature controlled pool. Daisy whistles as she looks over the large building, and the number of cars. Luckily, this manor was more secluded, no other buildings very close to it, so there were plenty of places to park, and no one they were going to disturb.

"Look, I knew Rachel was loaded, but this is the first time I've ever been to her place," Daisy admits.

"This isn't even her main house. This is actually just where her family holds large parties. I have no idea how she convinced her parents to let her use it," Peach responds, looking around the parking. "I think she said she made a spot close to the front for specifically cheer-members, but I don't… Oh!" And right there, with even one person standing by with a clipboard, was a gold and red themed parking area with a banner that read 'For Royal Cheer ONLY'. That would be for them.

"This… looks like it could get out of hand really quickly. Are we all sure we want to go in?" Rosalina then chimes in, her nerves sounding like they were getting the best of her again. Daisy towards their friend in the backseat and smiles at her.

"I promised we'd stay close to you the whole time, right? Don't worry, Rosa, we would never let anything bad happen, okay?" she assures her. She then reaches her hand out to take one of Rosalina's. A soft smile came to her second best friend's face with the gesture. Rosalina was an Amazon with platinum, silver blonde hair, and light blue eyes. Her hair was always parted towards the right, covering her right eye. She wore a plain long sleeve teal blouse and boot cut jeans, with a pair of black booties as well. She wasn't exactly one for trying to make herself stand out amongst everyone else, Rosa just didn't want the attention. She was a cheer member too, but Daisy knew her whole heart was really set with her robotics and astronomy clubs. Daisy remembered when she first met Rosalina, first day of freshman year, and Rosalina was by herself in the back corner of the class, head down in a book. Daisy had gone right over to her, sat down, knocked on Rosa's desk to startle her before suddenly introducing herself and launching into a conversation. At the time, the blonde had looked extremely put off by the behavior, almost like she was looking for a place to escape to, but after a few minutes, she had relaxed and was laughing. After introducing her to Peach later in the day, and explaining their goal to join the cheer squad, they pushed Rosalina to come with them. There may have been a lot of pleading, pushing, and then Peach bribing her with a bookstore visit after, but all three of them had made the cut.

"I know. I just also don't like large crowds like this… I'm sorry, I may end up disappearing a few times if I can find any place that is either quiet, or I can put my earbuds in," Rosalina then admits. Daisy nods in acknowledgment before looking towards the front again. Peach had pulled up to the reserved parking and was rolling down her window for the gentleman standing there.

"Name?" is all he asked, looking over each teen girl.

"I'm Peach, and the others are Daisy and Rosalina," Peach introduces with a nod. He looks over the clipboard, the papers rustling as he leafed through them. Then he nods, steps aside, and appears to be crossing something out. Likely their names so no one tries to reuse them.

"Come in, lock your car, and if you choose to leave valuables inside the car or the manor, know that we are not responsible if anything goes missing," he reads off, likely from a practiced script. Peach drives into the small reserved area and parks in an empty spot away from some of the other cars. After that, each girl unbuckled and got out of the car.

"If you want to, you can leave your purses either with me, or in the trunk," Peach offers to Daisy and Rosalina. Peach had already put her purse in the trunk, only keeping her phone on her. Rosalina hadn't even brought her purse, but Daisy thought a moment before opting to take Peach's offer.

"Yeah, the trunk is probably safest, thanks."

They had stayed at the party for over an hour, and while Daisy was at least enjoying the drinks, there wasn't much of anything else going on. When it's just her and Peach, usually Daisy can sneak off and find where betrayals or fights were going on or being talked about, but she was always going to stay true to her word with Rosalina. Rosa didn't like to be in large crowds, especially large crowds of people and her not knowing anyone. She hadn't found a way to get her second friend to relax yet. Maybe continuing to try and bring her to parties to get her out of her comfort zone just wasn't the move. Well, in that case, if the other two were maybe going to leave, she'd at least get one more drink.

"Hey, Peachy~, I'm gonna grab one more drink. Do you want anything?" Daisy offers. Peach and Rosalina don't drink, which is fine. But she can always bring them something else.

"Water is fine, are you sure you don't want me to get it?" Peach asks, looking to Daisy with a bit of concern. It was the nurturing part of Peach that really stood out to Daisy, making her smile. She shakes her head and laughs.

"I'm fine, I'm fine! I'll be right back, okay?" Daisy says. She then stands up, slightly wobbly on her feet, before catching her balance. She flashes Peach and Rosalina another confident grin before pushing past the other teens and going towards the kitchen. Admittedly, maybe she wanted to also linger a little in case there was a chance of hearing some juicy gossip while grabbing refreshments. The kitchen tended to be just a little quieter, but people still spoke about as loud as they would if the music was cranked all the way up. Daisy first went and got two cold bottles of water, and she first made sure they were unopened. After that, she grabbed a red solo cup and poured herself a refill from the beer keg. Daisy then turns and starts her way towards her friends again, when she trips and falls into someone, spilling her beer on both herself and the unsuspecting person, and the two bottles of water dropping from her arms. She had expected to hit the ground hard but was shocked to never feel it. Either she was actually too drunk to notice the pain, unless… had someone caught her? She opened her eyes, not having realized she had even closed them, looking up to see a guy with his arms around her, leaned back against the wall which kept them both from falling. He was wearing a plain black T-shirt with dark jeans, a few silver chains looped and hanging loosely from his pants loops, making soft jingling sounds from the movement. He was also staring right at her with blue-gray eyes. Daisy felt a flush of embarrassment run over her cheeks. Oh shit. I have no idea who this is, and I just dumped beer all over him!

"I-I'm so sorry, I must have lost my footing!" she quickly apologized, trying to pull herself away. He moved his hands to be on her shoulders, stabilizing her before standing up straighter. He then raises a brow at her.

"You looked like you lost more than just your footing," he comments bluntly, looking over his soaked shirt and jeans. That only made her blush darken and she puts her head down.

"I know. I'm really sorry," she apologizes again.

"Whatever. You clearly need to slow down. In fact, I'd recommend going home before you make any other mistakes while you're here," he says roughly. Now, this was where the alcohol plus her headstrong nature always got the better of her. Daisy could feel her blood start to boil, and the anger rising up in her. She apologized. Twice. And he was going to stand there and start talking down to her like she doesn't know her own limits and can't take care of herself?!

"I don't think I asked your fucking opinion, now did I?" she snaps, now glaring up at him. The guy raises an eyebrow at her, and for a moment, she could have sworn he looked amused. What did he think was so funny? "I said I was sorry, I didn't ask for a fucking lecture."

"I wouldn't call it a lecture, Princess. More of a warning. There's shitty people in the world, people who would see a stumbling hot brown haired girl with her tits about to pop out of that tank top, and they'd take advantage of that. Either by seeing if they can make you drink more, or slip something into your drink before you notice," He says, his eyes trailing over her body. She could feel his eyes running down her face, stopping at her chest, making her pulse pound faster. Then they went down her stomach, lingering at the exposed skin, before following the curve of her hips and thighs, then slowly making their way back up to her face. "So, instead of getting upset with me, drink some water, and sit down."

"I'm fine. I am no where near that far gone, and don't fucking look at me like that. I don't even know who you are or where you get off on talking down to me like that!" Daisy yells at him, now taking a step towards him, glaring at him. She clenched her fists tightly, her lips pursed in a thin line. Most people at their school knew not to piss off Daisy. This had to be some asshole from a rivaling school who likely recognized her as one of the cheerleaders. "If you're going to be condescending, you can at least give me your name."

"L. And it's not to be condescending. However, a lot of girls who stumble and fall into me and pour beer all over me like that tend to have hit a limit. Also, you like to be looked at, doll. You're the one who wants to be fawned over and seen in your friend group," he adds in as he side stepped away from Daisy. However, he still brushed his body close to her left side as he walked past. "Your teal girlfriend wants to hide, only to be seen by a few, and your pink friend likes to be dotted on while she performs. You want the attention at all times to yourself. Don't worry… I've been watching." He walked out of the kitchen before Daisy could react. She was left standing in the kitchen, no one acknowledging her, or noticing there was a spill.

Did he say he had been watching me? Daisy shook her head and huffed, picking up the two bottled waters. She then stomped out of the kitchen and moved back to her friends. Peach was talking to some guy in red, but Daisy grabbed her hand and pulled her aside, along with Rosalina.

"We're going to Rosalina's," Daisy demands. Peach struggled a bit, and managed to pull away from Daisy's grip. Rosalina wasn't going to argue the idea though, as she had been ready to head home.

"What? Daisy, this was your idea! We just got here, plus I was talking to someone," she complained, pouting at her friend.

"Well, I'm not having fun, and I know Rosa isn't so that makes two against one," Daisy argues, crossing her arms.

"I mean, you're right, but… Daisy, I'm surprised, you looked like you were having fun earlier… Did something happen?" Rosalina asks, moving closer to Daisy.

"I'm fine! Come on, Peach, let's go!" Daisy says again. Peach looked behind her, held up one finger to Daisy and running back to the guy she was talking with. It looked like she was quickly exchanging numbers with him, giggling before waving and rejoining her friends.

"At least let me get his number, Daisy… I would have thought you were looking for a boy too," she teased her as they went to the car. Daisy feels her cheeks burn at the thought, remembering the guy she ran into in the kitchen. L. What kind of a name was that?

"Pfft, as if! There was never a guy here worth my time," Daisy concludes, lifting her chin up. Peach likely doesn't believe her, and that's fine. But for now, Daisy really didn't want to talk about the kitchen incident.

L

L walked over towards his brother, who was still watching the Barbie Queen walk out of the party in awe. It hadn't taken long for his brother to have fallen for the pretty little blonde. L was sure all she had to do was smile and say 'Hi.' And he was already smitten.

"Mario, she's gone. There's nothing left for you to stare at of her," L says, punching his older brother in the should to wake him up. Mario grunts and rubs his arm, giving L a playful glare before sighing.

"Peach. Her name is Peach. And I got her phone number!" he says rejoicingly, showing the phone number in his contacts. "And I found out we will be going to the same school with her and her friends, so now we'll know more people before school starts tomorrow."

"Perfect, so now you'll have people to keep you busy, so you're not bothering me," L replies, pushing Mario's phone away. "Are we done here? I still can't believe you dragged me here."

"Look, it already sucks enough that we moved, again, right before senior year ended. I just wanted to try and make it easier for us to fit in, less of a shock tomorrow," Mario answers with a shrug, putting his phone away. "And you like parties."

"No, I hate parties. I like the girls I can find there sometimes, there's a difference," he answers, rolling his eyes. At this point the three girls that they had their eyes on were heading home by now. That meant they could start on their own walk home. The only good thing about it being a small town, most places were either in walking or biking distance. It worked out since the two of them didn't have their first car yet. L shoved his hands in his pockets and started to leave out the front door, Mario quickly following beside him.

"Hey… why are your clothes wet? You didn't go in the pool did you?" Mario jokes with him.

"Nope, Daisy spilled her beer on me."

"Wait, on purpose?"

"No, she tripped." Then there was a moment of silence. Mario looks over at him and arches a brow at him. "What?"

"And…. What? What did you do? Is this why you wanted to leave the party, cause she rejected you?" Mario starts asking multiple questions, a mischievous grin spreading across his face. Before L could say something to deny that, he laughed and playfully shoved him. "She shot you down, and you got your feelings hurt that your "charm" didn't work. Come on, what did you say to her? This ought to be good."

"Nothing. She fell, I caught her. And then I told her she should be careful and drink some water because someone would take advantage of her," L says with a shrug. Then there was another long pause as the two brothers continue to walk.

"Say psyche right were not that stupid to say that to her," Mario then says sighing and shaking his head. He clearly already knew his answer.

"I did. It was true, any girl I see stumbling like that—" L starts but Mario groans and shakes his head.

"L, come on, dude, you can't just use that as an opener! And of all the girls, you went after Daisy like that? I'm surprised she didn't try to kick your ass, Peach says she's a real firecracker," Mario goes on. "You know better than that!"

"Patience," L then says with a small shrug.

"What?"

"Patience. Give me time. I don't fail when I set my mind on something I want."