Chapter One
ON THE MORNING SHE WAS supposed to care about first impressions, Daisy was still covered in yesterday’s paint when a knock sounded on her studio door.
Rolling her eyes, she called, “Come in.”
A mess of dark curls peeked in first. Daisy quickly turned down Pink Floyd and sighed. “Hi, Mom.”
“Good morning, honey.” Her mother stepped in, pausing to admire the canvas Daisy had been bent over all night. “Wow. Nani and Pop are going to love it.” She smiled, then knit her brows. “How long have you been at this?”
Daisy looked down, suddenly fascinated by the paint stains on her fingers. “A while.”
“How long, Daisy?”
She bit her lip. Honesty was her downfall.
“All night,” she whispered.
“All night?” Her mother’s voice sharpened. “Honey, we’ve talked about this. I let it go during summer, but today is your first day of high school. You need rest. I won’t have you performing poorly because of this… hobby.”
Daisy’s eyes narrowed. Hobby. Her father’s word. Never her mother’s.
Almost instantly, her mom backtracked. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine.” Daisy forced a smile. “I just wanted to finish before school. I promise I won’t stay up late during the year.”
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.
For half a second, she thought she caught someone’s gaze across the room. A boy, tall, leaning casually back in his chair like the noise didn’t touch him. His eyes, though she couldn’t be sure at this distance, seemed startlingly bright.
Anna’s wave cut through her thoughts, pulling Daisy’s attention away and toward the crowded table her friend sat at.
Daisy shook her head and mouthed, “No room.” Right then, her bold friend shoved the kid sitting to her right, clearing just enough space.
“Hey, Double D!” Anna chimed.
The guys at the table looked down at Daisy’s chest in perplexity, then laughed.
Daisy sat down quickly and pivoted toward Anna, cheeks burning. “I see you’ve made some new friends.”
Anna subtly squealed next to her. “I know! I met Ryan”—she pointed to the guy on her left—“in my geometry class, and he told me to sit with him today at lunch! He’s a senior, Daisy… a senior!”
On the outside, Daisy smiled and sheepishly giggled with her friend, but on the inside, she couldn’t help but wonder why Anna wasn’t more concerned with the fact that he was a senior in her freshman geometry class.
After being introduced to Ryan and the other people at the lunch table, Daisy felt a slight pull on her shoulder. Looking over, she noticed Sean standing above her with a scowl on his face.
“Hello, sister.”
“Hello, brother. Can I help you?”
“Yes. You can move. I want to sit.”
Daisy smirked at her brother because while she might have been annoyed that he was trying to boss her around outside of the house, she couldn’t help but be happy to see another familiar face.
“I’m sure this guy wouldn’t mind scooting over, would you?” The large boy sitting next to her gave her brother a nod and moved over.
From across the table, someone called, “Looks like Sean’s making his move!”
“Ewwww!” Daisy and Sean shouted in unison, frantically clarifying their relationship.
When the laughter died down, another voice rang out. “Well then, I call dibs!”
Sean’s fists clenched and his eyes narrowed at the perpetrator of the comment. But before her brother could ream him, Daisy looked up at the boy she had previously been introduced to and uncharacteristically said, “Sorry, Aiden, but I don’t think you’re my brother’s type.”
A booming roar overcame their table, which in turn made everyone look their way. Everyone, including Aiden, was laughing hysterically. Her brother, along with some of the other kids, patted her on the back, still rolling with laughter. Daisy ducked her head, startled by her own boldness.
When she finally looked up, her gaze locked with a pair of piercing blue eyes.
He sat one table over, impossibly handsome, smirking like he knew every secret she’d ever had. His smile was devastating.
Then he winked.
Heat rushed up Daisy’s neck. She dropped her eyes.
Why do I have to be this way?
For a heartbeat, she dared herself. Look up. Smile back.
Daisy wanted nothing more than to be as fearless as Anna. If she were a more confident girl, perhaps she would’ve flirted back, maybe even returned the wink he had sent over.
After a prolonged deliberation in her head, Daisy made up her mind. She would look back up at the boy with the piercing blue eyes and wink. Yes, that’s what she would do, and if he simply laughed at her na?veté, she would retreat into the hole she had just crawled out of.
Before she could lose her nerve, Daisy’s eyes lifted to the table across the way.
When no baby blues could be found, she carefully searched the perimeter of the cafeteria for the boy who had fascinated her, the handsome boy who, without even knowing it, had just given her a small boost of confidence.