Prologue
Daisy Robertson should never have gone to the bonfire at the lake. She knew ahead of time that she was playing with fire, but she had chosen to ignore her instincts and allowed some kids from school to talk her into going. Luke, her older brother had begged her not to go, but Daisy was in a rebellious phase of her teenage years.
“Daisy, I don’t want you to go. I have to work at the video store until eleven. I won’t be able to go and watch over you,” Luke insisted when Daisy told him about the party.
“Look Luke, I am sixteen-years old. I can take care of myself. I don’t need a baby sitter,” Daisy huffed. Luke began to protest, but Daisy stopped him. “Just mind your own business. This is my life and I’m going to live it. I have friends inviting me to a party for the first time, Luke. You know I’m not popular like you. I don’t get invited to parties all the time. And besides, it’s not like Mom will care where I’m at anyway.”
“Daisy, I know that mom isn’t the best mom in the world, but that’s no excuse to put yourself in harm’s way. I have a bad feeling about this party. I know you want to have friends and have fun, but I don’t think this party will be fun for you,” Luke said as he tried to reason with her.
“Just stop, Luke. I’m going and that’s final,” Daisy declared. Luke shook his head in defeat. Daisy had made up her mind and there’s no way she was changing it, so he would just have to deal with it.
Daisy didn’t really have many friends at school like Luke did. He was a jock. He was on the football team in the fall, played basketball in the winter, and baseball in the spring and summer. Luke was outgoing and never met a stranger. He was already tall for seventeen-years old, at six-feet-two-inches with dark wavy hair and deep blue eyes. He was buff from all the sports he played and his insistence on staying fit. His life goal was to become a Marine. He had watched the movieFull Metal Jacketand he had made it his life’s dream to become a Marine.
Daisy was not popular even being Luke’s little sister. She was short at five-feet-two-inches, chubby, and could not run a mile if her life depended on it. Her dark brown curly hair was untamable, and she never had appropriate, stylish clothes. Daisy was smart though and was labeled as a nerd early on. Their family was poor although Luke made a conscious effort to keep that fact hidden from the kids at school. He worked hard to protect Daisy and their younger brothers from bullies at school, but he couldn’t be with them all the time. Daisy was often the butt of jokes by the popular girls at school, especially when they got into high school.
Their mother was a flighty woman. She could never keep a job for more than a few weeks or months at a time. She moved them around all the time, because of her inabilities to pay the rent and utilities. A string of men came and went frequently, but she never settled down. Once Daisy and Luke had entered high school Luke insisted that she allow them to attend the same school until they both graduated. It wasn’t an easy task. Luke had been forced to get a job so that they could live in the same house for four years.
Daisy was walking down the hall to her locker one Wednesday afternoon when she was approached by a group of girls from Luke’s class. Daisy felt sick. She just knew they were going to start picking on her. Daisy hated conflict and began looking for a way out.
“Hey Daisy!” Amy Gaskings greeted her with a big smile. Daisy smiled back nervously. She wondered what was about to go down. “I just wanted to invite you to the bonfire we are having at the lake tomorrow night. I feel bad that I haven’t gotten to know you better. I know Luke so well and I want us to be friends,” Amy concluded. Daisy stared at her in surprise for a moment before finding her voice.
“Really? You want me to come to your party?” Daisy couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“Yes, definitely! You are Luke’s sister and he and I are practically dating,” Amy responded. “I want us to be good friends. You know my brother John, right?” Daisy nodded. “Well don’t tell him I told you, but I overheard him telling Luke how much he likes you. I know Luke has to work, but John will be there. Maybe the two of you can hookup at the bonfire. What do you say? Please say you will come.” Amy put on her puppy dog eyes and pouted her lower lip, while cocking her head to the side.
“Okay, I’ll come if you are sure you really want me to,” Daisy responded skeptically.
“Awesome!” Amy jumped up and down clapping her hands. “I’ll pick you up at seven, don’t be late!” Amy bounced off down the hall. Daisy stood staring in disbelief. What had just happened? Could her luck be changing for real? It was too much to take in, but Daisy wasn’t going to question it. She had wanted this for so long.
Daisy was thrilled to be invited and was hoping that tomorrow night would be her break into the active social circle at school. While she was wasn’t very outgoing, it still hurt to never be included in girl talk in the bathroom at school. Worst was when the girls would have slumber parties on the weekends and talk about how much fun they had had. Daisy always felt sad to be on the outside looking in.
She really did like John. He was so much like her brother. He was always sweet and kind to her when he would visit their house. John was not as tall as Luke. He was about five-feet-eleven-inches with short blonde hair. He had a sharp, chiseled jawline. He was buff like her brother though, and he filled out his t-shirts well. Daisy could see his muscles flex under his shirt when he moved. Daisy had secretly been hoping he might ask her out sometime.
Daisy was picked up by Amy and a few of her other friends. The drive to the lake had seemed to go well. Amy had complimented her on her outfit and hair. Daisy had put a lot of effort into dressing just right. Luke had managed to come up with a little money for her to buy some clothes from the local Goodwill store. Daisy had felt pretty for the first time in her life. She had tried to tame her hair and had pulled it into a bun on top of her head. She had applied a little make-up and some of her mother’s perfume.
Once they arrived at the party, everyone was really welcoming. It was almost surreal how everyone told her she looked pretty and wanted to talk to her. It didn’t take long for the boys to pull coolers from their trucks and the booze started flowing. Daisy didn’t want to drink. She had seen enough out of her mother’s boyfriends to decide that getting drunk was not for her. She sipped at the nasty beer that had been pushed into her hand.
When some of the girls started commenting about her not drinking her beer, Daisy decided to hide the fact she wasn’t drinking. She wanted to fit in after all. Whenever she could catch the others not looking, Daisy would pour out some of the foul drink. As soon as it was empty, they handed her another one. It went on like that for a while. Daisy decided to continue to play along even though she was miserable. She laughed at their stupid jokes and antics.
The girls decided they needed to play a game, spin the bottle. Daisy was nervous. She had heard stories about such games and the participants were expected to engage in kissing at the least and full on sex at the worst. The guys were going to spin, and it would land on a random girl. Then both parties would go into the dark out of the light from the bonfire to spend,eleven minutes in Heaven. Daisy was very nervous. She had never even kissed a boy before. She didn’t want her first kiss to be some random boy. As if Amy could sense her nervousness, she came over to reassure her.
“Daisy, don’t worry about it. You will be fine. You might not even get picked.” Amy wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a half hug. “It will be fun. I promise.” Daisy nodded despite her fear and sick feeling in her stomach. She had seen John watching her, but he had never come over to talk to her. Daisy was beginning to regret not listening to Luke’s advice.
The game started and things seemed to be okay at first. A couple of guys Daisy had seen around school had spun the bottle in the center of the circle of girls. When the bottle stopped the couple would leave and come back looking disheveled. Up next was John. He didn’t look happy about the situation. He spun the bottle; it went around and around finally come to rest pointing straight at Daisy. Suddenly Daisy wished she was anywhere, but here.
“OHHH! Get her John! Pop that cherry!” Jeannie, one of the cheerleaders from school, called.
“Yeah, John! Hit a home run!” Robert Thomas yelled out. Daisy could feel the heat in her face as she blushed at their crude comments. John came to her side and took her hand and lead her away from the crowd. He seemed as nervous as she was and refused to look at her. Daisy was shaking almost violently by the time, John stopped walking and turned to face her. Daisy kept her eyes down, staring at her trembling hands.
“Hey, look at me,” John said quietly. Daisy raised her eyes to look at him. Daisy felt certain he could see the terror in her eyes and on her pale face. “Daisy, I’m not sure what you are doing here. Why would you come to one of these parties? You don’t seem to be the kind of girl to do this.”
“What do you mean? You are here. Amy’s your sister. She invited me. I never get invited to anything. I just wanted to have some fun and make friends.” Daisy said once she had found her voice.
“Look, I’m only here as a friend to Luke. He had to work and couldn’t be here to watch over you, so I volunteered to take his place,” John explained. “Those girls don’t want to be your friend, Daisy. I don’t know what their motive is, but it’s not to be your friend or include you in their group. Those girls are bitches, including my sister.”
Daisy was stunned. She didn’t know what to say. She just wished she could go home. Tears were beginning to well in her eyes. She took a couple of deep breaths and tried to swallow the lump in her throat. John sighed heavily and continued.
“Luke would kill me if I laid a hand on you. We are going to stand here for a while then go back, okay? I will take you home in a little while. I don’t know what you were expecting. I would never try to force myself on you. I can’t say the same of some of those other jerks that are here. Besides, I have a girlfriend. She goes to a different school, so no one at school knows about her, except my sister. I should have made you leave before this shit started,” John said harshly. Daisy felt even more embarrassed than she had before, and let her anger at the situation come out. Unfortunately, John was the receiver of her wrath.
