"GAH!" Natalie screamed as she walked into the bedroom.

"Could you keep it down? I'm busy here!" I said, annoyed at her outburst.

I was sitting on the right edge of my bed. My body angled in the perfect position to take an amazing photo. The bright lights hit my finely crafted features in the most subtle way, capturing my freshly done makeup.

"Um?" Natalie stammered out as she squinted her eyes, putting one hand up to cover them. "Why do you have all of these giant lights on?"

"They're called ring and box lights." I rolled my eyes as I was saving the photo onto my phone. "I just got done filming a makeup video for my channel."

There was a thud as her body made contact with the carpeted floor. The backpack that stumbled her, lying beneath her feet. "Ughh," she groaned. "Could you please turn one of them off? I can't even see where I'm going."

I sighed at her clumsiness. She better be lucky I already stopped filming. I reached over in front of me, then to my left and right, turning the three tall lights off. The room's bright whiteness soon dulled back. The warm sun shining in through the window being the only source of light now.

"Much better," Natalie stood up, rubbing her left eye. "So tell me, Daisy, how does all of this.. erm, work for you? You know, the whole social media thing."

"Depends on what I do," I said nonchalantly. I crossed my legs as I looked down, typing on my phone. "I mostly get paid for endorsements but since I'm not legal yet, I don't really make that much."

And definitely not enough to buy couture like how I used to when we were still rich.

"Really?" She asked me. Her eyes widened as she was slightly stunned. "I thought you made a ton of money just by posting a picture! Don't you have millions of followers and subscribers?"

I smirked at her enthusiasm. "2 million for Instagram and only 1.1 million on Youtube."

"That's still an unbelievable amount." She blew a few strands of hair out of her face. "Hey? Do you think I could make a channel?"

I took a quick glance at her optimistic form. "Eh," I cocked my head slightly to the side. "Sure, why not? Nowadays, even the most plain looking people are making it on social media."

"Thanks!" She grinned before thinking my words over again. This time, an offended look was replaced. "Hey, wait a minute!"

"Did you want something?! I have a video to edit here!" I retorted as I laid flat on my stomach, finishing up the edit on my video.

"Relax, Moody Queen. I was just coming in here to grab my phone charger," she said as she began searching her side of the room. "Man. I can't find it." She soon got up from looking under her bed.

"I think you last left it in my mom's car last night," I mumbled, too preoccupied with my video.

"Oh right!" She perked up. "Speaking of which," she began.

I rolled my eyes at the slyness in her voice as she spoke the last sentence. Ugh, I knew where this was going...

"Did you and Ryan have a good time last night?"

There it was. Natalie has been trying to get juicy details out of the date, er-- not date, hangout maybe? That Ryan and I had ever since I came home late last night, probably around 1 a.m..

"It was good."

"Hm? Just good?"

I looked over at her. A conniving smirk rested on her tanned face. Geez, can't a girl keep some secrets to herself? "Really good, I guess. I don't know."

Oh, but I did know. And it was amazing. What started out simple, turned out to be a terrific night. At first I thought I was going to hate the movie, especially with all of those peasants surrounding us, but I actually really liked it! Ryan sure did have great cinematic taste. When I had asked him why he took me to the movies in the first place, he nonchalantly said that I needed something to take my mind off of the horrible encounter with Chad. Oh, and by the end of it, he turned into the gentleman I once saw before. Down from when he opened and closed my car door when we left the theater, to when he...get ready for it...

KISSED MY CHEEK GOODNIGHT!

I was secretly hoping that he'd aim a little more for the lips region, but I guess Ryan just doesn't feel comfortable kissing on the first date. Can't relate.

"Whatever you say," she said, somewhat content with my answer. Deep down, however, I could tell she already knew my true feelings because her smirk remained.

"Where are you going by the way?" I asked her.

"Oh," she responded as she grabbed her pair of converse from the closet. "I'm meeting Alex and Kaitlyn at Lilac's Café."

Noticing the slightly confused look on my face, she clarified, "It's the same café I took you to when you first arrived here."

"Ohhh," I nodded as the events lined up in my head. "The one with the great pastries!"

"Yeah, also known as the one where you almost annihilated a barista because she called you 'ma'am' instead of 'miss'," Natalie said, rolling her eyes.

"Hey! She had it coming!"

"Right," Natalie said sarcastically. "Well you're free to come along. Just as long as you don't pulverize one of the workers."

"No promises," I sighed as I casually got up from the bed, making my way out of the room.

------

Scents of freshly baked pastries and light roast coffee beans filled my nostrils once I walked into the cozy, medium sized café. I spotted Alex and Kaitlyn almost immediately. They were seated at a booth by the large front window at the far end of the room. The small fairy lights hung from the ceiling, illuminating the place with a subtle glow.

"Hey guys!" Natalie greeted, taking the empty spot next to Alex.

"Oh my gosh, Daisy!" Kaitlyn beamed as I reluctantly sat next to her. "I just watched the makeup tutorial you just uploaded. You are so talented!"

This girl is always cheery. Especially when it comes to me. I don't know if it's cute or creepy at this point.

"Hm, thanks," I responded.

Sighing, she put her elbow on the smooth, wooden table in front of us and slumped her cheek unto her palm. "I wish I could go viral on the internet like you did."

"You girls are way too into social media," Alex said. A challenging smirk rested on his face.

"Psh," Natalie scoffed. "You know you're just as much into your phone as everyone else our age."

"Maybe," he nonchalantly shrugged. "But at least I know when to take breaks in order to detox myself."

"You just snapchatted a picture of the both of us literally five minutes before Daisy and Natalie showed up," Kaitlyn retorted.

"Ok, you got me," he chuckled. "Well then tomorrow I will start my detox."

I watched as they began another conversation. The three of them laughed and grinned as they shared inside jokes and notable memories. I don't know how long they have all been friends, but it was obviously long enough for them to build such a strong bond amongst one another. I secretly wished that me and my clique could have a genuine friendship that strong. But alas, I know that is just a pipe dream. Status and reputation will always be valued more.

A soft smile tugged at the upper corner of my pink lipstick stained lips. "You know, you guys are actually quite moving."

"Aww, why is that, Daisy?" Kaitlyn smiled.

"Because even though you are all poor, you still somehow manage a way to be happy together."

The table then went silent. Alex blinked a few times blankly before speaking up first. "You know, money doesn't buy you happiness, Daisy."

"And poverty doesn't buy you anything."

A sigh escaped Natalie's lips across from me. She unwrapped the chocolate chip muffin that sat in front of Alex. He didn't seem to mind as she took a bite. "He's right, Daisy. Money isn't necessarily the solution to living a happy life."

I slightly rolled my eyes at her naivety. "Look. I respect your opinion, Natalie, but let's be real here, that is just what the have nots say in order to make themselves feel better about their mediocre lives."

The atmosphere thickened slightly after I told them the gut wrenching truth that probably shook their little worlds. Breaking the silence, Kaitlyn stood up. "Well I'm going to order a piece of cake."

The mood soon went back somewhat normal as Natalie and Alex started talking about an English quiz that they took. They were going on and on about how hard it was. I bit my lip in order to refrain myself. It might not be best to tell them that the quiz could not possibly have been as hard as they were making it out to be, considering that they were placed in a simple regular class, nowhere near an advanced level one.

'Wow, my self control and sympathy for others is honestly top tier. I might as well do part time humanitarian stuff. You know what? Ew. Scratch that. Working is gross.'

My thoughts got cut off as Kaitlyn slowly walked back to the booth. A strange, gloom look plastered across her face as she sat down.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Alex asked. Slight worry spread across his face.

"I got the last piece of the famous vanilla cake."

"Isn't that a good thing?" I rolled my eyes as I scrolled through my admiring comments on Instagram.

"No. No, Daisy it isn't," her voice croaked. "This is the last piece because they will not be making this cake anymore."

"What?" Natalie asked, confused. "That is Mrs. Lilac's best seller. Why would she stop making it?"

'Goodness. Who cares? Just order another flavor. Or is cake really all that these dummies can think about?'

"B-because," Kaitlyn sniffed, a few short moments away from full blown tears. "She's going out of business next week."

"No way," Alex gaped.

"Yes. So I better enjoy this fluffy delight while I still can," she spoke before taking a finger, licking the thick icing off of the slice.

"Guys, we have to do something!" Natalie retorted.

I looked up from my phone at her. By "we", she better mean everyone here, excluding me.

"Like what, Nat?" Alex sighed, leaning back in his seat. "Obviously Mrs. Lilac needs a lot of money to keep this place up and going."

Her eyebrows furrowed, determination with a hint of unsureness written across her face. "I don't know yet. But we can't let this place shut down! This is really the only spot where a lot of us can come to hang out. We have way too many memories in this place to let it be erased!"

"Could we start a fundraiser?" Kaitlyn suggested.

Natalie's eyes burned bright at the idea, as if an actual light bulb went off in her head. "Yes! Great thinking Kaitlyn. Now all we need is enough supporters."

"Well good luck to 'ya," I said. "If she had enough supporters then she wouldn't be going out of business in the first place."

"We have to think positively, Daisy," Natalie said.

A short older woman with a fluffy, grey bob cut soon walked to the table next to us. She sat a brown box on the table as she began taking pictures off the back wall.

"Mrs. Lilac!" Alex greeted the woman.

A seldom look was on her face as she turned towards us. "Oh, hey kids."

"Mrs. Lilac, we heard the news. This is awful. You can't shut down!" Natalie expressed.

A sad smile spread across her face as she took another framed picture off. It was of her standing next to an older man with a smiling customer standing in front of them. Her eyes wavered over it slightly longer before she placed it into the box. "I know dear, but this is completely out of my control. Business just isn't what it used to be when Mr. Lilac was still here. I can't keep up with the payments anymore."

A frown graced everyone's face as she picked up the box and walked away. I was even slightly disappointed. The empty brick wall next to us was a sad reminder of a long broken dream.

-----
The next day I was sitting in homeroom when Ryan walked in. I hadn't talked to him since our movie night, but I was hoping that we would be closer because of it. Or at least less snarky with one another.

"Hey," he spoke as he casually sat in his usual seat next to me.

"Hey," I replied with a small smile.

When he sat an iced green tea on his desk, I noticed the familiar logo on it. Small words reading Lilac's Café were stamped with a small lavender flower below it.
"Did you hear she's going out of business?"

He stopped going through his backpack and looked up at me. Realizing I was talking about the cup, he nodded. "Yeah. That's why I picked up a cup of tea this morning. Hopefully every customer counts."

Ugh. Hot, intelligent and selfless. Are we exactly the same or what?

"Natalie wants to start a fundraiser for the café," I chuckled.

"That's great."

"Yes, on paper. But in reality there's no way she could earn enough in one week to keep the shop afloat."

"She?" Ryan questioned. "You don't want to help too?"

"Oh no. Don't tell me you're disappointed," I rolled my eyes. "The whole thing is futile anyway."

A small smirk tugged at his lips. "Not disappointed at all actually. I Should have figured that type of stuff is definitely not your thing."

Ryan clearly didn't feel the need to give any further elaboration seeing as he turned his body to face the front of the room, getting his material ready for class. What did he mean by helping was not my thing? Does he think I'm really incapable of having sympathy or something? Well I bet he doesn't know about that time when I helped the needy by selling my last season jeans online. Okay, I may have charged twice as much more than what they were worth, but they did go on my lovely body, thus making them worth more at that point.

Well if Ryan doesn't think I can hold a fundraiser then he thought wrong. I'll show him and anyone else that doubts Daisy Nickels.

And I know the perfect way to do it.