Daisy With Thorns | The Music Freaks (TMF)

Chapter 4

Walking to his next class all that he could think about were the whispers that came from students in the hallways. Whether it was then judging his attractiveness, or people spreading their jealousy of him getting such a catch of a girl. Daisy was a lot more popular than he expected, I guess only hanging out with his friend group shut him out from other peoples opinions and status. Despite popular belief, Jake actually isn't all too popular himself. Not that he wants to be, anyway...
A sudden large outburst caused the halls of the high school to calm down for only but a mere second. But it was long enough to catch Jake's attention.
"I told you I'm working on it," The frail girl's grasp around her phone tightened as she stared with fury in her eyes.
"Well clearly not fast enough!" A more masculine tone arose after hers, making her eyebrows sink even more.
"Hey, guys... what's going on?" Jake intertwined between two boys who stood around the others arguing.
"Oh man, Jake, this is bad news!" Henry held onto Jake's shoulders for dear life. Liam stood beside him as zoned out as ever. Jake turned his head to look at Henry, which queued him to speak.
"I was walking with Lia when this guy came and started attacking her! I think it's a Daisy fanboy!"
"Like you," Liam snorted, but quickly grabbing his gut as Henry's elbow made impact.
"Do something, Jake!! Lia's in danger!" Henry pleaded, receiving a sigh from Jake as he adjusted the collar on his jacket. He took a few step forward before putting his right hand on the perpetrators shoulder, making him whip his head back swiftly.
"What do you want? Can't you see I'm busy?" The vulgar tone made Jake's hairs shiver, but he kept his stare deep and condescending.
"Leave her alone." Jake's assertive tone made the male fume, and Lia locked eyes in Jake's, silent. 
"I would if this girl would delete that damn article, but she won't listen to-" The male was quickly cut off by Jake repeating his previous words, but all the more raspy. This made the one standing between Lia and Jake whimper, shoving Jake's hand off his shoulder as he huffed away.
"Nice going, man! You were like a totally different person!" Henry wailed, hitting Jake on the back lightly, making him flinch. The others gathered around Jake, but Lia hadn't left her spot. Her eyes were glued to his, before she ran off to her next class, Henry yelling her name, with no response. 

The next class was dreadful for everyone, everything felt so out of place, even Henry was feeling the bad vibes. Time passed ever so slowly, the boys chatting about their everyday activities, but Jake felt something was wrong. Really wrong.
After what felt like hours, the bell expressed what it's only known to do, frightening Lia slightly who had been zoning out. She collected her papers and shoved them into her backpack, standing up and throwing it over her shoulder, making her way to the door. Following the other students, she noticed Zoey hadn't come along with her, but had turned to speak to a few other female students in their class. Noticing that none of them were looking back towards the door, Lia to this opportunity to hide under the teachers desk, which she did quite unsuccessfully. While sliding under, she banged her ankle on the metal foots of the table, groaning as she grasped her ankle to rub it. Hopefully nobody heard that.
"Can you believe it? Jake is actually dating that goody-two-shoes girl?" Student 1 giggled, browsing on her phone.
"I mean, he has liked her since middle school, right? It was almost like love at first sight." Student 1 nodded at the response and agreed, taking a sip from her coffee.
"Don't even get me started. And Lia's liked that guy since freshman year. What was she thinking? He's clearly not into stuck up girls like her." The three girls giggled, then began to pack up. Lia was frozen in shock.

That was Zoey's voice.
Someone who she always had her back for, called her stuck up, behind her back. She couldn't believe her ears. This is messy.

Her feet dragged her sulked body for as long as it could. It gave forth near the scents of freshly bloomed sunflowers and tulips. Her breath was shaky, but her heart felt more out of place and in pain than her own swollen ankle. Tears welted to her eyes, she sniffled in hopes that they would go away quickly.
"Lia?" The vulnerable girl flinched at the feminine call of her name, worrying at the worst. Her back was turned to the voice, facing towards the fields. The voice came from a distance away, the echo of the air flowing through their ears.
"That's you, right, Lia?" The voice called her name once again, making her come to her senses. She swiftly wiped her tears away and turned her head around, eyes welting once more at the sight of a bright and lighthearted white-haired girl. One of the last people she wanted to see. Despite Lia's dreadful yearn to see the girl, she was the total opposite. She quickly scurried to Lia's side, worried planted all over her face and baby blue eyes.
"Were you crying, Lia? Is something wrong?" The two of them never really talked. Lia felt uncomfortable questioning why she was being so friendly at a girl who makes fun of her friends. Lia's eyes trailed to hers then she turned her head back to face the fields.
"It's nothing, Daisy." Lia fidgeted with her bracelets, hoping Daisy would walk away and leave her alone to let her emotions loose.
"You know, this gives me a bit of deja vu," Daisy grinned and looked around the garden, reminiscing to old times, "back in middle school, I also cried in the fields. Someone came and startled me, too. Jake, he--"
"Don't say that name. Not right now." Daisy was cut off suddenly by Lia's stern response, making Daisy's eyes glance towards Lia's high ponytail, which would be drooping if it showed emotion.
"Is something wrong with Jake? Did something happen...?" Her confused tone turned Lia's despaired emotions into irritance as she tightened her fists. She turned her heel to face Daisy directly eye-to-eye.
"Why do you always get all the boys you want? The one boy I finally felt I had a chance with and he's gone." Her tone was deep, her teeth grit as her body trembled. Daisy took instant notice of these and met her eyes with Lia's.
"What do you mean?" Her eyebrows sulked as a frown was shown on her face, making Lia's pupils foreshorten, "If this is regarding Jake, he's a friend of mine. He's... not my boy."
"You don't need to lie to me. I know you two are dating." She crossed her arms around her chest, anger filling up within her.
"Oh... right. I can explain, though-"
"Explain what? That you two are madly in love and I'm left alone in a ditch?" Lia scoffed, rolling her eyes and starting to walk away.
"Wait! Really- really... I can explain. It's not what you think it is," Lia groaned and kept walking, but suddenly came to a stop, "Jake and I aren't actually dating." Daisy followed Lia's footsteps and caught up to her, turning her body to face Lia's direction towards the school.
"Please let me explain." She pleaded, holding her hands towards her chest in desperation. Hesitantly, Lia nodded, making Daisy give a slight grin.
"If you're worried about the school newspaper, it's fake. We were just walking to the library to drop off books per a teachers request." Her insistency in her voice made Lia backtrack. Honestly, whether she was lying or not, Lia felt like her words couldn't come out of her mouth. Daisy was competition. A fellow competitor for Jake's heart, and she was winning. Lia has no say in their relationship anyway.