Page 10 of Grace

“Daisy…”

“Daisy? What’s up with Daisy?”

“Just come with me, please,” he insisted gently.

I growled, kicked the blanket off, and stumbled after Jamie, blinking. I rubbed my eyes over and over, trying to adjust to the light.

When I entered Jamie’s room, however, my sleepiness vanished in an instant. Daisy was sitting on the edge of Jamie’s bed, wrapped in a blanket. Behind her, there was a red spot on the bedsheet. Daisy seemed to be fine.

I ran to her.

“What happened?” I asked her, worried.

“We had sex, but when he turned the light on, the blood made him sick. I told him I was fine and that this was normal, but he insisted on asking you to check me out.”

“What?” I asked in disbelief. Daisy was so nonchalant about losing her virginity, as if it meant nothing for her.

I cast my eyes down, trying to process what had just happened. The sight of the used condom, tossed next to the bed—its outside bright red with blood, its inside filled with my brother’s semen—made me sick.

My heart was racing. I stepped away from my friend, leaned against the cool wall, and closed my eyes.

“How could this happen?”

“My parents think we’re having a sleepover. And I think it’s best if I go to your room after showering before your parents get home.”

I looked at her, fuming. Daisy stood up, grabbed her bag, and left for the bathroom.

I was furious with them both—my brother and my best friend. A heavy anger boiled up in me like a thick sludge.

“Jamie.” I pursed my lips so that I wouldn’t start yelling, clenched a fist and punched the wall. My brother looked down in shame.

I cracked my knuckles loudly. They hurt.

“Daisy is only fifteen!” I fumed. I was so stressed out that my nervousness—combined with the helpless look on my brother’s face—almost made me cry.

“I know,” he said, nervously raking his long fingers through his medium-length hair. “She wanted to lose it with someone older. She’d been planning it for a long time. She brought it up whenever you left us alone. And she said she had a crush on me and thought having an older boyfriend was cool.”

“Cool?” I asked, my mouth agape. How could he be such an idiot? “Are you serious? You are an idiot! If something doesn’t work out the way she’d like it to, you can get into so much trouble!” I hissed at him through clenched teeth. I wanted to shout at him to vent my anger.

“You cannot have sex with girls her age! Didn’t you think about the consequences at all?”

“What should I do now?”

“We’ll clean up your room while she’s showering and forget this night forever. Anything after this is on you,” I said, rubbing my brow. “I’ll try to talk to her and tell her this is a very bad idea. But if she doesn’t back off, you’ll have to figure out how to avoid getting her hurt. You are the grown-up, Jamie.”

“Thanks, Grace.”

“I’m not touching that,” I said with venom, looking at the condom. Then I grabbed the bedsheet and started peeling it off the bed. We were lucky that Mom always put a thicker blanket under the sheet, so the blood hadn’t reached the mattress. She would definitely look for it later, but changing the sheets wasn’t due for another week—and by then, we’d come up with something.

I folded the dirty white fabric and started walking downstairs, holding it away from my body, when Jamie’s voice stopped me.

“Grace.”

“Hmm?”

“What if… what if I like her company, too?”

I spun around and gave him a disapproving look. Daisy definitely hadn’t held a gun to his head to sleep with her—but still, this wasn’t right.