Her mother moved closer, coffee steaming between her hands. “You know your father and I are proud of you. We just want to make sure school doesn’t suffer because of your…” She corrected herself. “Art.”
“It won’t.”
She knew they were supportive. After all, they’d converted the pool house into her art studio, but her father’s silence on the subject always stung. He wanted his children to follow in his footsteps and join his law practice one day. Sean, her older brother, was happy to oblige. Daisy was not.
Her mother glanced at the wall clock. “Clean up and get ready. We’re leaving early. I’m letting your brother drive.”
Daisy’s eyes widened. “Please, no! Do you not want your only daughter to survive her first day of high school?”
“Oh, he isn’t that bad.”
“Mom, no offense, but he drives worse than… well, you.”
Her mother didn’t argue.
“Exactly why he needs practice. Now go get ready.”
Daisy had pictured the first day of high school as something almost cinematic: sunlight streaming through the halls,whispers of possibility, maybe even a spark of freedom. Instead, she was clutching the car’s door handle, certain she’d die before homeroom.
Some beginning.
Daisy stumbled out of the car, stomach queasy from her brother’s whiplash braking and near miss with a cyclist. She barely made it to her first class without throwing up.
“What’s up, Double D?”
Anna, Daisy’s best friend, grinned as she slid into the seat beside her. She’d recently latched onto the nickname, and Daisy was already starting to loathe it.
She groaned. “Please stop calling me that.”
“What? I’m manifesting it! You’re just a late bloomer. Besides, it’s the perfect play on your name, Daisy Daniels.”
She shot her a death stare.
Anna had been her best friend since fourth grade, the kind of girl who collected gossip the way Daisy collected art. Where Daisy blended into the back row with her sketchpad, Anna lit up every room with too-loud laughter and reckless abandon. Daisy sometimes envied her confidence, but more often, she clung to it like a ladder.
Anna continued, “So what’s your schedule like?”
“We probably don’t have any other classes together.”
“Let me see.”
Daisy handed her the list of classes. Anna’s face twisted. “What the… you’re in all the smart-kid classes. Honors biology this year?”
Daisy shrugged. Her dad had “strongly recommended” the honors track.
“Well, at least we’ve got this class.”
Daisy smiled. “Yeah. At least we have this one.”
Chaos.
That was the first word that popped into Daisy’s mind as she searched the crowded lunchroom for her friend.
The cafeteria was chaos.
It reeked of reheated lasagna and sour milk. Trays clattered, voices ricocheted off concrete, and somewhere a kid drummed on a soda can like no one could hear.
Daisy hesitated at the entrance, her heart thudding. Crowds weren’t her thing. Give her solitude and a paintbrush any day.
