CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
[27]

song: young & unafraid by the moth & the flame

THE ENERGY AT SCHOOL ON THE LAST DAY BEFORE WINTER BREAK WAS ALWAYS WEIRD. You were either completely stressed about finals, or you were so over the constant test taking that you've just given up.

As the final hour of the day rolled around, Daisy was anxious to just get out of this school and go home. Gym class didn't even have a final, so everyone just sat in the locker room waiting for the bell to ring.

And when it did, the halls erupted in cheers as the first semester came to an end. Daisy piled out of the doors with everyone else, bumping into people as they were just as ready to go home and not think about school for three weeks.

Daisy met eyes with Jen, who looked completely blank and anxious as she walked out of Econ. "What's wrong?" Daisy asks, narrowing her eyebrows at Jen as she met up beside her.

"I totally just failed that test." Jen says, with worried eyes.

Daisy shrugs as they continue walking down the hall and towards the doors. "Oh well."

Jen looked taken back. "Oh well?" She says. "Daisy if we don't do well on these tests we don't graduate."

Daisy inhales deeply and shrugs again. Jen eyes Daisy warily, before turning back to walk down the hall with her. "Well," She begins. "I'll see you over break, right?" Jen asks.

Daisy nods, as she looks over everyone's heads in the hall for Kai, who stood waiting by the front doors. "Mhm." Daisy says, waiting for the this conversation to finish up so she could go see him.

Jen raised her eyebrows, completely aware that Daisy was not listening to a word she said. "Yeah." She said quietly. "I'll see you. Merry Christmas." Jen says, turning on her heel and walking away from Daisy.

Daisy quickly made her way over to where Kai stood. He smiled and turned towards her, readjusting the backpack on his shoulders. "How'd your finals go?" He asks.

"No fucking clue." Daisy says. "I think it got to a point where I just started filling in the C bubble for every answer."

Kai laughs, then looks past Daisy to see Josette approaching them. "Have you told her yet?" Kai asks.

Daisy glances behind her at Josette and turns back to Kai. "I will. Tonight." She says.

Kai nods quickly, looking a bit on edge. "She probably won't take if well." He says. "She'll probably say some weird shit— that you just have to ignore."

"What do you mean?" Daisy questions.

He inhales sharply. "I don't know but you just have to ignore her." He shakes his head, the conversation dies down as Josette joins them by their side.

"Ready to go?" Josette asks, raising her eyebrows. Kai nods, turning and walking towards the doors to the parking lot.

Daisy gives Josette a faint smile, "What are you doing tonight?" She asks.

Josette shrugs. "I don't think anything, why?"

"Want to get milkshakes at Cody's?" Daisy asks, as they push open the front doors to the harsh cold from the outside.

Josette smiles. "Yeah, sure."

—

Cody's was strung with holiday lights, there was a cheap tree sat by the kitchen door and Frank Sinatra's Christmas classics played through the old speakers. As Josette and Daisy sat down at one of the booths, Daisy caught a glance outside the window at the dark winter sky, that came earlier in the day now.

"When do you guys leave for New York?" Daisy asks, as she holds up the menu to scan for what she wants to order.

Josette cocked her head to the side a bit. "How'd you know we were going to New York?"

Daisy raised her eyebrows and quickly tried to think something up. But there was no use in making excuses, as Josette was going to find out anyways. "Kai mentioned it." She shrugged.

"Oh." Josette nodded, holding up the menu.

Daisy inhaled deeply. "Speaking of Kai—"

"Thank you so much, for being so patient with him." Josette interrupted. Daisy sunk back in her seat. "I know he can be, really difficult to be around but... he has a lot of issues that we're trying to fix and I just— I appreciate that you're taking the time to give him a chance." Josette's eyes grow empathetic.

Daisy narrowed her eyebrows, "Issues?"

Josette took a deep breath. "I— well—" She searched for words. "Kai has a lot of, um, problems with his mentality and stuff." She shrugs, and looked regretful that she was even telling Daisy this, but she continued off. "He's been diagnosed with a bunch of things, and I know it's really hard for people to understand how mental illness work so, just, thank you for being so patient."

"What was he diagnosed with?" Daisy asks.

Josette looked confused with Daisy's sudden curiosity, but carried on. "Um," she thought for a second. "Antisocial personality disorder, bipolar depression, most recently OCD—" Josette stops herself and shakes her head. "I shouldn't be telling you this."

Daisy shrugs. "I don't care."

"I know it's just— my dad doesn't want a lot of people to know." Josette forces a quick smile.

The waitress approaches the table, a notepad in hand, the two order their milkshakes and as the waitress walks away, Daisy thinks of the reason the two were here in the first place.

"Um," Daisy thinks of her words. "I've been meaning to tell you something." Josette raises her eyebrows in response, and Daisy could feel her heartbeat increase with her nerves. "So, I— well I have— I—" She stumbles on her words, wishing she had actually thought out what she was going to say.

Josette lets out a little chuckle. "What?"

Daisy takes a quick deep breath. "Kai and I..." She thinks for a second. "Kai and I have been dating for a few months." Daisy let out. Josette's smile quickly faded. Her skin went pale and her eyes were stuck in the same stunned expression. "We should've told you sooner but we have kept it kind of a secret from everyone—" Daisy watched as Josette's expression stayed the same, and so she just kept rambling on. "He was there for me when Tommy died and I— we really get along and we really like each other and—"

Josette quickly grabs Daisy's hands, stopping her mid sentence and looking deep into her eyes. "Daisy." Josette says, in the most serious tone Daisy had ever heard from her. "You can't be with him."

Daisy narrowed her eyebrows at Josette confusedly. "Why do you care?" She asked, with a subtle scoff.

Josette inhaled deeply, looking around with worried eyes before turning back to Daisy. "For your own good, please, Daisy, just listen to me—" Daisy yanked her hands away. Josette bit her lip as she tried to carefully choose her words. "I know things might seem good now but Kai is—"

"What?" Daisy scoffs. "Dangerous?"

"Yes." Josette nodded sincerely. "He is not the person you think he is."

What Josette didn't know was that Kai was exactly the person Daisy thought he was, and Daisy was not the person Josette thought she was.

"Please, Daisy." Josette begs. "I don't know what he's told you but—"

"He told me you'd say shit like this." Daisy scoffs.

Josette wanted to scream, but she contained herself and took another deep breath. He was clearly already inside Daisy's head and there was nothing she could do about it. "I care about you, Daisy, you're my friend—"

"If you were my friend you would support me." Daisy interrupted her. The waitress wandered back over to the table, with two milkshakes in hand. Daisy reached into her pocket and tossed a ten dollar bill on the table, standing up and looking at Josette. "My treat." She smiled sarcastically, before walking past the waitress and towards the door.

"Daisy!" Josette shouts as Daisy shoved the diner's door open and leaves.

a/n
sorry for the filler chapter :/
also thank you so so so much for all the support. your comments make me so happy and rly help me w the motivation to update!!! ily🥺 thank u sm for reading🥺✨🌈🌞💖