DAISY

Fear has been the only thing I had been feeling since I got out of bed the morning. Or better yet, the moment I came to realize that it was the first day of classes. It meant new friends, new teachers, harder work, and not to mention the directions. I hadn't exactly been given a tour of the school, so you could imagine the amount of anxiousness I was feeling. I awoke six am in the morning, by a loud bang indicating that Jason had left at the time.

I groaned and rolled over, after my mental debate over if I should just skip the day. That idea sounded quite pleasing, but I wouldn't want a bad reputation on my first day. Even if I did skip the first day, it wouldve meant that tomorrow would then be my first day.

First days of school were inevitable.

The week had been going relatively okay. I had met up with Penny about three times, where we had coffee and heart to hearts about life in a tarts and coffee shop called Sweet Kisses. I had fallen in love with it the moment I stepped foot into the cute little café. It was close by, so I imagined myself going there occasionally. Penny and I had a unique, spontaneous bond. As if we could relate to each other's thoughts and feelings instantly, and I liked that. I felt like I was already improving my life. My fresh start was going well.

As for my roommate, I rarely saw him. He was always out late at night and crept back in in the mornings at about five am. He slept until noon after that and left yet again when I got back to the dorm after leaving with Penny. I appreciated that. I didn't want to speak to him after he had judged me on the first day, and besides that, I was generally an awkward person. What would someone like him and someone like me talk about anyways? The weather?

A sigh escaped my lips. I pulled out a high waisted, knee-length, floral skirt from Jason and I's shared closet, with a white crop top and a pair of black flats. I wanted to look pretty, not only because I got self-conscious but also because I wanted to look good in front of Penny's friends. They were coming back from a trip and, as Penny said, I was exactly their type of friend. I couldn't wait, Penny's perspectives on them were great. They were an odd group of five altogether. From the oldest, it was Michael, Jaxon, Mavis, Grayson and lastly Penny. I really couldn't wait to meet them.

After taking a quick shower I dressed in my chosen outfit and packed my bag. On the verge of stuffing a fat chemistry textbook in my bookbag, the door suddenly burst open. On instinct, I jumped in fright. I held a frightened hand over my heart and spun around. In all his might and glory, a sexy looking Jason stood before me with a nonchalant expression on his handsome face. Was I seriously finding this prejudice jerk handsome? If his personality didnt suck so much, he would be the ideal school-girl crush.

"Good morning." I greeted him, throwing in a smile. See how I was being nice even after he was rude? People deserved second chances when they made mistakes. However, only if they regretted it and felt guilty. If they didnt, they didnt deserve any second chances.

"Hey." He muttered. Okay, this was progress.

"What have you been up to?" I asked curiously.

"None of your business." He suddenly snapped.

"Gee, relax." I rolled my eyes and proceeded to continue packing my bag. I was stopped short after a long moment when a hand was suddenly placed on my waist. I froze mid-pack.

"You look beautiful." His deep voice whispered next to my ear.

I suppressed a shiver of delight. Lets just say, I have never had any male contact that was pleasant before. The feeling was foreign.

"Thank-"

"But it's too revealing. Go change." He demanded suddenly.

I frowned at his change in attitude and reluctantly spun around.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"I said, go change." He glared at me openly and I nearly gasped. How could someone be so rude? I barely knew him, yet he thought that he could order me around.

"No, you have no say in what I wear whatsoever." I scowled.

His dark eyes visibly darkened and I shrunk small in fear. "Fucking change or I swear to god I will rip your clothes off and change you myself."

My breath hitched and I swallowed the lump formed in my throat. "Uhm. . .okay, I'll go change." I slowly walked away from him, not before grabbing my bag. I pretended to walk towards my closet while I looked his way. His back was facing me as he fidgeted with my unused books on the table. A small grin took over my lips. 1. . . 2. . .3. . . I tiptoed over to the door, and in a haste, I quickly unlocked it. I mentally cheered as I ripped the door open and ran outside. There was nothing better than the smell of fresh. . . failure. But eh, that is better than facing the wrath of an angry roommate. I giggled as I ran towards Sweet Kisses.

I didn't want to change. This was the perfect outfit for the first day of classes. I also wanted to impress Penny's friends, I didn't know why but I did. The idea of making new friends was all so new to me, so forgive me if my excitement was on a crazy level. I slowed down to catch my breath as I checked the time on my wrist. It was almost eight am, but classes started at nine on Mondays. An hour will be perfectly fine for breakfast and meeting new friends. I didnt ponder too long on why Jason suddenly decided to notice me after a week, and then blatantly order me around. I focused rather on more promising things, like making new and long-lasting friends.

Just as I thought, Penny was seated in a booth at the corner of the coffee shop with strangers all seated around her. I noticed there was a seat left open for me, and I mentally sighed. Slowly, I pushed the transparent doors open and a jingle was heard, indicating someone new has entered. I breathed in slowly and gripped my bookbag tightly as I made my way over to the booth. They seemed happy as if theyve missed each other dearly. Like best friends would act. But what would I have known? All I have ever had was neglectful siblings and Cassandra.

It was then that Penny took note of my awkward self, standing to the side.

"Daisy!" She screeched. "You made it!"

I sighed with a small smile on my face. The way her expression brightened further when she spotted me was enough to make me feel wanted. And man, had I not felt that in a long time. The fuzziness in my chest caused me to smile even wider as I embraced Penny in a hug. The girl had too much enthusiasm for me to keep up with. The first day we met a week ago, she seemed quiet, soft-spoken, and shy. But once weve became friends I took note of her huge change of mood. I guess she warmed up to me. Which was a good thing because I didn't want our friendship to be one-sided.

"I know this is weird and I saw you yesterday, but god I missed you DayDay." Penny gushed as she squished me in a hug.

Yes, that nickname was officially what she had decided to call me. And I was not happy about it at all, but cheers, what was the worst? She was my only friend after all. And as for Jason, let's consider him as my rude, blunt, and gorgeous roommate. Seriously? I had to stop thinking about him like that. Of course, Jason was attractive, but also rude, disrespectful and covered in tattoos and piercings. He seemed exactly like the kind of guy I would stay away from, and he reminded me too much of the intolerable jerks back home. He's proven himself to be mean, and this assured my subconscious that I wasn't judging him. I was only basing my judgments on his previous actions.

"I missed you too, PenPen." I teased, smirking slightly.

Penny shot me a dry look. "Don't call me that."

"Fine, then don't call me DayDay."

"But I came up with that first-" her whiny voice was cut short when a voice interrupted us.

"Penny, I think it is very rude to keep us in the dark. But since you are not so great with introductions I think I will get on with that myself. Hi! I'm Mavis." A slim and tanned hand stuck out eagerly for me to shake. My eyes traveled to her face for a moment before I placed my hand in hers to shake. She was pretty, with tanned skin, warm dark brown eyes, and elbow-length brown hair that was bouncy on her shoulders.

"It's so nice to meet you. Penny told us you are really pretty, but she was totally understating it. You are gorgeous!" I noticed she had a slight Australian accent, and I wondered curiously why she was here in the US.

"It's nice to meet you too. You're extremely pretty yourself." I smiled as I complimented her.

"Hush, Mavis. It's my turn now," A deep voice said. I spotted him almost immediately. White blonde hair, ocean blue eyes and very skinny, but not too skinny.

"I'm Jaxon, and you must be Daisy right?" He placed a warm kiss on my hand. I couldn't help but shiver. Unfamiliar physical contact, especially from a male, made me uncomfortable. But something about Jaxon's blue eyes set me at ease.

"Yep. Daisy McKenway, that's me." I chuckled nervously. I tended to get nervous in front of good-looking guys, especially when they acted like gentlemen.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Daisy."

"You too."

"Okay, okay, cut the googly eyes, Jax. That guy over there is Grayson and that's all. You may have a seat, DayDay." Penny interrupted.

"But I wanted to introduce myself. She's pretty." Grayson whined. I chuckled and took the empty seat beside Mavis who scooted a bit further in the booth. These people seemed extremely nice, but I was so sure that Penny mentioned someone else too. I think his name was Michael or something.

"Our other friend, Michael, couldn't make it this week, though he'll probably be here next week," Penny mentioned as if she read my thoughts. I nodded.

"So, tell me about yourself, Daisy." I looked at Grayson who had questioned me.

"There's nothing much, my favorite colors are pink and green, my favorite snacks are gummi bears and Nutella, I love writing and reading, I'm seventeen years old, my birthday is on the fourteenth of January and I come from. . . downtown," I muttered the last part. They gave me curious looks, all beside Penny. I told her everything she needed to know already. Not everything though, I reminded myself. I was still keeping some things to myself. Things I would rather they never knew. I didnt want their opinions about me to change, most especially Pennys.

"Interesting. . ." Jaxon scrutinized me curiously. I held my breath in hopes that he wouldn't suspect anything, but surprisingly his mouth burst into a full-blown grin. "You're only seventeen. Like a baby." He gushed and reached over the table to pinch at my cheeks.

My eyes widened and I squeaked uncomfortably.

"Jaxon, you jackass, leave her alone." Mavis slapped his hand away and he chuckled in amusement.

"Mind him. He's just a bit on the slow side. But forget that, Penny got you a blueberry muffin before you came. And me being a generous person, I thought I should buy my new potential friend a coffee." She said and handed me a brown bag and a light brown cup. I took it from her in thanks. How thoughtful of them? I initially wanted to pull a hundred dollars from my savings just to spend it on my meals and not seem poor, but I guess god had other plans for me.

"Thank you." I smiled gratefully. I usually didn't accept things from strangers or anyone in general, but she seemed so kind I couldn't deny. Besides, I was really hungry, having only eaten around five pm yesterday.

I opened the bag and happily took the warm muffin out. I bit into it after a moment and accidentally moaned. I couldn't help it. Sometimes I felt a bit undernourished from the amount of food I ate. Sometimes it was because there wasnt any food left back home, other times I just wanted to save money. One of my biggest problems however, was unintentionally skipping meals.

They chuckled and thankfully went back to their conversations. I nearly sighed in relief - I hated it when the attention was on me - but abruptly stopped when there came a jingle at the door. Since my vision was directly facing it I could see exactly who had entered. And oh boy had my breath gotten stuck in my throat when a very moody looking Jason walked inside. It wasn't the fact that he walked in that made me scared, but the fact that his expression looked as if it could kill right then, and that Purple was walking next to him. Oh, God. I sunk deep into my seat while my shoulders slumped in fear. I breathed deeply and dove into my crazy thoughts. I bet he asked Purple to help find me before they crazy killed me with forks. Maybe I was being a teensy bit dramatic, but Jason seemed pissed this morning for a reason I couldn't think of since I knew nothing about him. All I knew about him was that his sleeping schedule was messed up.

"Daisy, are you okay? You look like you have seen a ghost." Penny asked.

"No, worse," I whispered.

"What?" She asked in confusion.

"An angry roommate."

"Where?"

"Over there, next to the purple head."

"Oh," Mavis said dryly. "That's Jason and Alexis. The duo two. Honestly, every time I see them, I feel this overwhelming fear."

I narrowed my eyes in question. "What do you mean?"

Jaxon piped up, "They are pure evil, I tell you. The duo two. They hang out all of the time and Jason is super protective over her. I think Jason has been here for two years already, if you consider the time he has left our high school, and it's Alexis' first year at this college like us."

"Define evil." I wondered. All this new information was giving me a headache.

"Evil. . ." Mavis started, placing her pointy finger on her chin in thought. "Firstly, we're all new here, so I don't know what sort of disaster or escapades theyve managed to cause at this college. But back home, where basically all of this college lives-"

"Wait," I interjected. "Where's back home?"

"You don't know? It's the surrounding areas. Downtown. Where you said you live, where we all live. Don't tell me you haven't heard the rumors spreading across town about Jason and his crew. They are like the talk."

I shifted uncomfortably. I lived around. . . about an hour drive away from here in Declyn Drive. I lied about downtown, that would be about a thirty-minute drive from here. But I didn't want them to know I lived in Declyn Drive. The neighboring town of this one - where I lived - was like the homeland of druggies, alcoholics, and prostitutes. Society created stereotypes about people who came from bad areas. They generalized all of us because of the gang violence and drug use. I wasnt anything like Cassandra and her friends, I was confident in saying that. However, not everyone could see that.

"I guess I was just an indoors person," I chuckled shakily. "I never knew what was happening around me." It wasnt a lie. I always only left the house to go to school and then come back immediately afterwards. Unless it was the exception of the towns small library that I visited sometimes to do assignments and make use of the resources. I overheard some conversations at home, but never bothered with it, too focused on planning my getaway and too drowned into my schoolwork.

"Oh, okay then. . . well Jason is part of this huge gang that originated here in this town and spread to different parts of the country." Mavis began to explain, lowering her voice. I waited anxiously for her to continue. "In the neighbouring town, stays the rivalry gang of the one here, and there are always disastrous fights between the two gangs. The leader of their gang is Lucien Santiago. Damn, I watch the news way too often." She sighed.

I was frozen in shock, registering her words.

I moved away from Lucien and his pervert gang members for a fresh start and to get away from that kind of life, only to find out I entered another gang's territory, where they were possibly worse.

As for Jason? I was disappointed to hear this news about him. Maybe he was like the men back home, who treated me poorly and with no respect. They were involved in gang activity just like him, and a part of me hoped that his tattoos and appearance was just his style but given the new information I knew that it wasn't. Respected gangs always had tattoos, given the way I interpreted it from back home. It was tradition for every member of a certain gang to having at least one matching tattoo, to mark where their loyalty stood. I knew way too much about gang lifestyles and it made me want to puke, given all the things I've witnessed before, while living under the roof of Lucien Santiago.

Deep in thought, I was suddenly hauled out of my seat. My eyes widened and gasps came from around me. I looked over at Penny for help but all she did was stare in shock. I knew exactly who it was, so I denied fighting against him either.

"Come with me, Daisy." I shivered when his cool breath fanned across my cheek.

"What do you want?" I asked warily.

"Come." he demanded. I nodded meekly and followed him all the way towards the door. He was so fast I missed that little jingle when you entered and left. The cool air outside hit me directly in my face and I shivered. I hadn't noticed how warm it was in the coffee shop before. The cool air would have been refreshing if it weren't for the cold hand gripping my wrist.

"What do you want, Jason?"

I was far more wary of him now, since I've found out who he was. At first, he seemed to be a normal and everyday male. Perhaps even decent. But oh boy, I seriously suspected that he wasnt.

"I want to know why the fuck you ran out when I told you to fucking change your clothes." He hissed, his grip tightening even further.

"Ouch, let go of me." I glared at him in anger and ripped my hand free even though I was so sure he let go willingly. I massaged my sore wrist. "Now to answer your question, you do not own me. You are not even my friend so leave me be, please." I said.

He slowly walked forwards with me in front of him. I was confused so I followed his movements until my back was pressed tightly to the side wall of the café. He leaned down, until his head was in my neck. My breath hitched in surprise.

"I'm your roommate, baby, I'm just looking out for you." He breathed huskily.

Oh my god.

"Last week you were more than happy to kick me to the curb." I stated confusedly.

"Things change, baby doll."

"I'm not a baby, nor am I a doll. So please refrain from calling me such pet names." I made a bleurgh sound.

Jason chuckled lowly and glared at me. "Let's just cut to the chase. Your preppy little friends must have probably filled you up about me, so I'm warning you now don't mess with me. And I have no clue where the fuck you come from with those pink suitcases, but I know that it is not from around here. Are you part of some other gang? Did you purposely become my roommate to spy on me? Because I swear if you did the consequences won't be any good. I will torture you so slow-

"Woah, hold on," I stopped him. "I moved here from London a few weeks ago." I lied through my teeth. "And seriously, another gang? I have no idea what you're talking about." I huffed impatiently. I knew exactly what he was talking about. I might have lived with his rivalry gang for three years, but it didnt mean that I was a part of them. I felt ashamed that he would even think that. I didn't know why Jasons name never rang a bell, but then again, I always had nothing to do with Lucien's gang business. I only ever lived there because Cassandra took me under her wing, and she was part of the gang. Well, sort of.

"I damn hope you're not lying. And London? What the fuck are doing here then?" He asked, his expression hinting that he didnt belief my life for a second.

"Change of scenery I guess."

"So, you moved continents for a change of scenery? How fucking smart? And where the fuck is your accent?" He scoffed. "You're a damn liar."

"I wasn't born there! I didn't catch the accent." I defended myself quickly. "Look, I was happily having breakfast with my friends when you showed up and dragged me away. Please leave me be, I swear I won't bother you."

"Just," he sighed, as if what he was about to say next was forced. "Don't wear revealing clothes ever again, Daisy. This shithole place isnt safe. Take this," he ripped his black leather jacket off and handed it to me. I gratefully took it from his grasp, feeling cold. I began internally praising his thoughtfulness, when my subconscious reminded me who he was.

"I have no idea why you decided to wear this when you knew it's cold outside. Dumb girls." He muttered the last part.

"Hey! I am not dumb," I protested. "I just wanted to look nice on my first day."

"Whatever, your classes start in about ten minutes. You better hurry."

How would he even know that?

My eyes widened and I hurriedly pulled on his jacket. Mm, warm. And it smelled good too even though it was big. I hurried to the doors of the coffee shop, not forgetting to yell over my shoulder,

"Thanks for the jacket, Jason."

"Yeah whatever, keep the shit. You can give it back later."

Well, at least I knew we were on speaking terms. I sighed. He was beyond confusing. He swore in nearly every sentence that he spoke, and he demanded I do things like I was some sort of puppet. He also judged me to be a rich daddys girl when he knew nothing about me. However, given all that he still worried about my safety and whether I would get cold. He was kind enough to lend me his jacket, risking that he would get cold today, and not me.

Damn. This was too much.

I feared that I had escaped my old life only to get back into the same kind of life again. When will it ever end?