Fifteen years old
Stuffing my books under my arm, I followed Alexis outside. Well, I wouldn’t say followed. People parted for her like she was the queen, but as soon as she was clear, they’d fold back in, and I was left to wait my turn.
It was fine. It didn’t bother me.
John Newman bothered me. “What’s up, brace face?” He nudged me in my side, making me wince. “What? Think just because you got Burnell wrapped around your dirty, paint-smeared finger means you’re too good, do ya?”
I didn’t say anything, knowing that if I did, it’d just get worse.
I made it outside the classroom and was halfway to my locker when he started in again. “Ya know, you used to be kinda pretty before you got all that metal put in your mouth. Kinda.”
Still ignoring him, I kept walking to my locker. “One of these days, Burnell won’t be around to protect you, gangly legs. Whatcha gonna do then, huh?”
When I still didn’t answer, he stuck his foot out to trip me. I dodged it but lost my balance, falling on my butt anyway. My books landed around me. Someone stepped on my hand, and I heard something crack, a sharp stinging pain shooting from my finger and zinging up my arm. “Oh, gosh. So sorry,” someone said, before rushing away.
“Dais?”
I was whimpering, cradling my hand to my chest when I looked up and saw Quinn shoving people back to get to me. “Daisy, what the hell happened?”
I shook my head, biting my tongue to keep from crying. The pain in my finger throbbed so badly it sent my stomach lurching. He bent down, taking my hand off my chest. I couldn’t suppress my yelp, and his expression grew even more concerned. “Are you okay? Is your wrist sprained or something?”
I looked around for Alexis, but she must’ve gone to our next class already. “I-I don’t know. I think my finger maybe.”
Putting his hands under my arms, he effortlessly lifted me from the floor while Jordan, one of his teammates, picked up my books for me. “Thank you,” I said, moving to take them from him.
He looked at me with a tiny smile. “Nah, open your locker, and I’ll put them in for you.”
Jordan was okay, so I nodded, moving a few lockers down the hall until I reached mine and opened it. He put them inside as Quinn asked, “Dais, tell me what happened, or I’ll ask someone else.”
When I hesitated, Annie, one of the girls from the cheerleading squad, piped up, “John Newman tripped her, Quinn. He was saying some horrible stuff too.”
I knew she was just sucking up to Quinn and didn’t actually give a damn about me. Still, I was grateful for not having to spill what happened. He didn’t need any more details than what Annie had already provided.
Quinn grabbed my chin, turning me to face him. His eyes darted back and forth between mine, his jaw clenching. “That true?”
Swallowing, I nodded. “Yeah, but—”
“No buts. The dickhead has messed with you for the last damn time.”
“Quinn,” I said, but he’d already turned to Jordan, talking too quietly for me to hear. Turning back to me, he wrapped an arm around my waist and grabbed my bag from my locker. “Need anything else in here?”
“No thanks.”
He shut the door and guided me down the hall to the school nurse, who wrapped my finger and gave me an ice pack to rest my hand on. Quinn stood by the bed, his expression growing more enraged and distant by the second. “Hey,” I said, looking at him upside down. “Come here.”
“What’d he say to you this time?”
“It’s not important.” I took his hand with my uninjured one, placing it on my belly and running my fingers over the top of his hand.
His face relaxed some, but not enough. “This is bullshit, Daisy. Everyone knows we’d end up together anyway. Why not just admit we already are?”
We’d been going out for almost eight months, but I didn’t want anyone to treat me differently. I guessed they’d treat me how they wanted regardless, though. “Yeah, I’m done caring about that.”
He blinked. “You are?”
Smiling sheepishly, I said, “It won’t make much difference to people like John Newman, so who cares.”
“I do,” he said. “I don’t want you doing anything that makes you scared or uncomfortable.”
It still stunned me. Made me want to pinch myself to see if this sweet, beautiful boy was really mine.
“I’ve got you.” I blinked tears away, feeling so much as I looked up at his face. Always feeling too much around him. If I feared anything, it was that I’d run out of room to contain it, and I’d burst.
His face softened, and he sat down beside me, dropping his head beside my stomach. My hand left his to run through his hair. His eyes shut, a sigh leaving him that made his whole body shudder and droop. “I can’t stand it. It makes me feel sick. Physically sick.”
“I know,” I said. “But he’ll give it up. One day.”
His eyes opened, the green specks battling the gold around his dark pupils. “You don’t get it.”
“Get what?”
He chuckled, then groaned, rubbing his forehead into my side with the shake of his head. Looking back at me, he said, “He likes you. So did Daniel, who used to pick on you in math.”
I scoffed, trying not to laugh. “Don’t make me laugh right now, Quinn. It’ll hurt.”
His grin was both beautiful and menacing. “I’m not kidding.”
Frowning, I thought about it for a second. “Where is Daniel?” Quinn dropped his head and started tracing circles on my palm. “Quinn.”
“Fine,” he grumbled. “I had a talk with him. He thought it’d be in his best interest to transfer to McMullen’s class instead.”
The ice shifted on my hand as I tensed. Quinn gently reached over and moved it back in place. “You had a talk?”
He tilted a shoulder, laying his head back down. “Yeah.”
“Really.”
“Really.”
“Quinn, don’t you even try to lie to me.”
Groaning, he sat up. “Okay, it was more of a really big suggestion.”
“Suggestion?”
We were interrupted by the nurse, who came to check my finger. She whistled. “This is going to be quite sore for a while, missy.”
Quinn asked, “Is there anything else we can do?”
She shook her head. “Nope. Afraid not. Just keep it strapped to the next finger. I’ve called your mom; she’s just left work to go pick up some pain medication, then she’ll be right on over.”
I nodded, thanking her as she walked back to her little office.
“You’re going to bully John Newman for being a bully?” I asked when I was sure she was out of earshot.
Quinn blanched. “No.” I raised a brow. “The guy is an annoying turd. He’s gotta learn when enough is enough.”
“I don’t need you to fight my battles for me,” I said, sitting up. He grabbed my arm, steadying me when my head spun.
“But there’s no greater honor.” Giggling, I slapped his arm, and he stepped toward me to place a soft kiss on my head. “Don’t worry about me.”
“Mr. Burnell, I think it’s time for you to get back to class.” The nurse appeared in the doorway, her brows bouncing as her eyes swung back and forth between us.
Quinn hesitated, so I said, “Go. And behave.”
Winking, he grabbed his bag. “I’ll come see you when I get home.”
I watched him leave, the throbbing in my pinky finger not feeling as bad.
The nurse tsk’d. “Oh, girly. You got it bad.”
Flushing, I ducked my head.
The crickets chirping outside my bedroom window stopped, and then came the thump as Quinn heaved himself inside and rolled to a stand on my yellow rug. “How’re you feeling?”
“I’m okay.”
He took a seat on the bed, kicking off his shoes before lying down beside me. “Show me.”
Carefully, he took my hand, lifting the tape and inspecting it with help from the late afternoon light that shone through the window in bursts of burnt orange. “Looks sore.”
“It is, but it’s not as bad now that I’ve had some painkillers.” I was just glad it was my left pinky finger, since I was right handed.
He hummed, gently folding the tape back over and placing my hand down on his hard stomach. My breathing sped up, and I drew in a few quick breaths, hoping it wasn’t obvious. “Where’ve you been?”
I wasn’t the nagging type. But if he said he was coming over after school, then he’d always come straight here. Besides, I had a really good hunch where he’d been. “Nowhere, just hung back for a while with Jordan and a few of the guys.”
I picked up his hand and brought it to my face. No bruised knuckles or scrapes. Still, I didn’t believe him. “What’d you really do?”
“Daisy …” My mom opened the door, halting when she saw Quinn. She clucked her tongue. “Up, Quinn. Joseph’s just gotten home.”
He jumped to his feet, a contrite look on his face as he scratched the back of his head.
I sat up just as my dad walked in the front door, hearing it clang to a close behind him. “Where is she?” he asked my mom, who’d walked out to greet him.
“In her room with Quinn.”
He grunted. “Door open?”
He didn’t wait for her answer. I could hear his heavy footfalls heading to my room a second later.
“Daisy.” The lines on his face creased with worry when he looked at my hand. “Hey, Quinn.” He jerked his head at Quinn, who was trying to look busy with my stack of … Jane Austen novels.
“Hey, Joe.”
Trying not to laugh as Quinn shrugged helplessly behind my dad’s turned back, I returned my attention to dad. “Which punk did this to you?”
“No one did this to me. I fell and someone accidentally stepped on my hand.”
He didn’t seem appeased. At all. The creases lining his forehead deepened, and he turned to Quinn. “A word?”
Quinn nodded. Getting up and following my dad out the door, he winked at me before he disappeared.
I strained to hear, but they’d moved out to the front porch, and my window was on the back of the house. Sighing, I sat back against my pillows and waited.
Quinn came back a moment later, his and my dad’s laughter traveling down the hall.
Leaving the door ajar, he sat back down on my bed. “Did he ask you for names, ages, addresses, and their last known whereabouts?”
Snickering, Quinn shook his head. “Nah, just made sure I took care of it.” He flopped backward onto the bed, below my feet.
“And that’s what you were doing earlier? Taking care of it?”
His finger started tracing lazy circles over my ankle, making some of my irritation flee. “Yep.”
That was all he said. “You going to elaborate?”
“Nope.”
Grumbling under my breath, I turned my gaze out the window, feeling petulant but unable to stop it. I knew he was just looking out for me, and I loved him for that and a million other reasons, but I didn’t want him getting in trouble because of me, and I told him as much.
“Dais,” he said, rolling onto his stomach to look at me. “I didn’t do anything bad. I just … scared him a little.”
“How?”
His brows scrunched adorably. “What do you mean? We just went to talk to him.”
Oh, boy. “We? How many of you?”
Pursing his lips, he twisted them and hesitated. “Uh, just half the team.”
“Oh, for crying out loud.”
Chuckling, he yanked on my ankle, then placed a soft kiss on top of my foot. “I don’t think you get it, Dais. I’ll never stand by and just let stuff like that happen to you. No one treats you like anything other than the kind, beautiful ray of sunshine you are.”
“I think I do,” I whispered.
“You do what?”
“Get it.”
Eyes melting, he quickly glanced at my bedroom door before scooting up the bed lightning fast to press his lips to mine.
“Quinn?” my dad asked from what sounded like the kitchen. He had a sixth sense, I swear.
Grinning, Quinn backed away. “Yeah?”
We heard my mom tell my dad to shush, his answering grumble, and then both rolled our faces into the sheets to muffle our laughter.