I rolled under the covers for about the 1000th time to find a comfortable position.

The discomfort in my lower abdomen could only mean one thing. Hm, no wonder I was so bloated, emotional, tired, and was having different cravings yesterday. 

UGH! It's a good thing I had a feeling last night and put on a pad just in case.

Cool air soon hit my skin as the warm cover was yanked off. I instantly glared over at the perpetrator.

"Daisy, get up! We were almost late yesterday. I don't want a repeat of that today," Natalie said, putting her hand on her hip.

"I'm not going today," I pulled the covers back over me. "I feel horrible."

"Why? Did you catch a cold last night?"

I turned to my right side to get comfortable. "No, I'm cramping."

"Oh, I see," she nodded. "Cramping during the menstruation phase is extremely common for teen girls and women. However, some ranges of pain can be quite excruciating."

I turned to look at her. "Okay, I already know that, but thanks, wikipedia."

She reached up a hand to scratch the back of her head. "Yeah, I tend to use full on medical terms sometimes. I want to study to become a doctor one day."

I rolled my eyes at her frivolous chatter. It's way too early to have a full blown conversation. Especially when I also feel like crap. "Good to know. Now leave, I want to be alone."

"Well here." She then sat a bottle of Tylenol on my bedside table. "I bought these because I'm supposed to start soon too, but you can have them," she smiled down at me.

Oh no, we're already synched up! I have to get my own room asap!

"Um, thanks," I nodded to her.

"Alright. Well, I'll see you later," she said, grabbing her backpack.

"Oh wait!" I said, stopping her. "If you see Ryan, can you tell him I won't make it to work on the project today."

"Sure," she smiled as she left out.

I heard her engine rev outside. Knowing the coast was clear, I secretly reached underneath my pillow to pull out a chocolate bar. There was no way I was going to get caught eating processed foods! No matter what hormonal cravings I was having at the moment, I still had a reputation to uphold, afterall.

I exciteldy unwrapped the milk chocolatey goodness.

Mmm, just what I needed! 

Afterwards, I took the pills with some water and drifted back to sleep. I could hibernate all day honestly.

▪︎▪︎
A few hours later, I jolted up from being awoken to banging on the front door. 

I knew I would be alone today, so there was no else at home. Also, Natalie, aunt Hana and mother all have keys to get in. So who could that be?!

Oh no. This is how it ends. Some tacky burglar is trying to get in and steal everything! 

No Daisy, you must be strong and protect what matters most to you!

 Naturally, the first thought that came to thought was my Celine bags!

I quickly got up to lock the bedroom door. I then frantically looked around to find a weapon. No one was going to steal one of my designer purses without me going down with a fight!

The closest thing I could find to a weapon was a soccer ball underneath Natalie's bed. Dang it! Why couldn't she have played softball instead?! Imagine the damage I could do with a baseball bat!

Holding the black and white sports ball in front of me, I made my way over to my phone to call for help.

As I unlocked my phone, I heard the front door knob turning. Someone had a key.

Now why would they knock if they had a key in the first place? It must be Natalie, aunt Hana, or mother coming in. So basically, I just had this panic attack for nothing?!

"Daisy? Are you here?" 

Wait a minute. That's no feminine voice!

I unlocked the bedroom door to find Ryan standing in the hallway.

"Ugh! What are you doing here? How did you get in?!" I demanded.

A strangely casual look rested his face as he moved past me, sauntering his way inside the room. "I knocked and no one answered, so I looked under the doormat and found a spare key. By the way, you should probably move it to another area. Everyone knows that spare keys are usually underneath the doormat."

I looked at him quizzically. He said it so casually, as if he didn't think it was a big deal that he just technically snuck into this house.

"And why on earth did you think that was an okay thing to do?!" I said, making my way over to the covers to wrap myself in them.

"Natalie told me you weren't feeling good, and that you were canceling our study session," he said, folding his arms across his broad chest.

Aww, did Ryan come over just to check on me to make sure I was feeling fine? That's cute.

"So I came over to tell you that having a minor cold is no excuse. We have a deadline to meet, and I won't have you setting us back," he said.

My eyes narrowed at his cold statement. Ugh, never mind. Ryan is not so cute and nice after all!

"Oh, silly Ryan," I shook my head. "See, Natalie didn't tell you the whole reason as to why I don't feel good."

 I then pulled out from under the covers, a warm heating pad. "This is a heating pad. Girls use this on their lower abdomen to relieve cramps," I fake smiled at him. 

"So, no Ryan, I don't have a 'minor cold'. Instead, the inner lining of my uterus is literally shedding out of my body and my hormones have dropped to almost zero, so I feel like crap! Oh, and let's not forget that I've been eating sugary and fattening foods all day!" I cried.

I saw Ryan stiffen up a bit once I finished my emotional monologue. "Oh, um, I didn't know. Sorry."

"Whatever," I said as I laid back in the bed to face the opposite direction of him. I was too tired to even continue the conversation.

"Well, um, if it helps, I brought over some chicken noodle soup. I thought it would help you feel better as we studied."

I quickly sat up, seeing the black thermos in his hand that he pulled out of his backpack.

"Your ignorance is forgiven," I said, taking the soup from him. 

He then handed me a plastic wrapped spoon as he began to take out his red iMac laptop.

He then took a seat on my bed as we both began the research part of the project. 

As I finished the soup, I took notice of Ryan's mannerisms. He was sitting near the end of the bed, slightly farther from me. He said that he wanted to make sure 'I had enough room'. He also was doing the majority of the heavy work, and kept asking if I needed a break or something from the kitchen. He even went to make me a cup of herbal tea, as he thought it would ease my discomfort.

He must have sensed my gaze, because he stopped typing on his laptop and looked over at me. His face was still stoic as ever, but his pools of midnight black were softer. I soon started to feel light butterflies. Wow, I haven't felt those since I first started dating Chad. However, these ones felt different. A good different, and I think I liked them.

"Um," I started getting nervous. "I'm just going to take a little bathroom break," I said while getting up.

As I was washing my hands. I got lost in my thoughts. 

Ryan has been very kind and generous to me today. He couldn't be up to a trick could he? Nah, I'm just overthinking. Although, he should have been nice to me from the jump anyway! I don't give out free brownie points! 

Oh, and what was up with that fuzzy feeling I had when we stared into each other's eyes? I never felt something quite like that ever in my life. I really liked it, but I'm a little scared of it also.

I dried my hands before turning the doorknob to go back into the room. 

Ryan was still sitting in the same spot. His eyes were wandering over to my side of the room. I had some of my decorative pillows put on the bed from my old room. I also pasted up a few pictures and glittery decors on the wall.

"I haven't had time to fully decorate my side," I spoke up.

He turned his head towards me with a smirk. "It's fine, I like it actually."

Crap. There goes that feeling again!

I made my way over to my bed, sitting closer to him this time. I don't know why. My body just naturally reacted.

He didn't seem to move away either, instead he actually SMILED at me. 

"I take it, you're feeling better?" He asked.

"Yeah, I really think the tea helped," I smiled back.

"Great. Glad to hear it," he said with a cute smirk.

He then looked at me a bit more intensely this time. I shifted slightly under his gaze, feeling utterly exposed. I don't like it when I can't figure out what people are thinking when they stare at me.

"What is it?" I asked, a bit nervously.

"Nothing, it's just." He took a short pause. "You look a bit different is all."

Oh yeah, I didn't think I was going to be having company today, so my hair was up in a big messy bun. I haven't brushed through it at all today. I didn't have on any makeup either, just a little left over mascara that I couldn't seem to get off from last night. That and tinted lip balm that I recently applied to keep my lips from drying out. Oh, and let's not even start on my unmatching shorts and tank top.

"Yeah, I'm not exactly at my best today," I giggled.

"No. You look perfect," he said softly to me.

I held back the water that I felt well up in my eyes. No guy had ever said that to me before with such sincerity in their face and voice. It's like he was looking right through me. As if he was talking to the inner Daisy, not just my outer beauty.

 I could feel his face inching closer to mine. Is he about to kiss me? And why is my heart racing so fast? These butterflies are even back too!

I subconsciously inched closer a little too, desperately craving to close the space between us.

That was until my door swung open..

"Daisy, cupcake, I bought you more pads, just like you texted me too," Mother sang as she entered the room.

Ryan and I quickly moved apart upon noticing her sudden presence. Had we been so caught up in one another that we didn't even hear anyone enter the house? 

"Oh!" She exclaimed, clearly surprised to see Ryan in the room with me. "I'll, uh, just leave them here," she said as she sat the plastic bag on the dresser and quickly made her her way out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Ugh great. I can already picture her squealing to me in excitement later on tonight. She's going to want to know all about Ryan now.

"Uh, sorry about that," I nervously giggled.

"No, don't apologize," Ryan said, averting his eyes away a little. I could tell he wished we didn't get interrupted. The air was quite awkward now.

He then stood up, putting his laptop back in his bag. 

"Oh, are we done?" I asked, a bit caught off guard. "I figured we had at least another ten minutes left in order for us to finish up our research section."

"Hm, we're done for today. You need your rest anyway," he said with a slight smile.

"Oh, okay," I said a bit sadly. I don't know why, but I felt sadness at the thought of him leaving.

"Don't worry, I'll be back tomorrow," he said, as he adjusted his back pack strap on his shoulder. "I take it that you won't be at school tomorrow either."

I giggled at his last statement. "No Ryan, I have a test in my A.P. english class. So I'll be at school tomorrow."

He smiled down at me. "Okay, well then I'll see you tomorrow, Daisy."

I gave a smile back as I watched him leave out the room, closing the door behind him.

Wait, did he just call me 'Daisy' and not his usual princess? He also said it with a genuine smile and not a cocky smirk this time!

*Gasp* What could this mean? Is he finally acknowledging my superiority?

Or maybe he actually likes me?

But the big question here, is do I like Ryan back? Of course I know he's hot but do I REALLY like Ryan?

I flopped backwards on the bed, still thinking about it.

"This is going to get messy real fast," I said aloud.