Daisies || Max Mayfield

5: Wake

I woke up at 7:27 AM, Steve shouting at us all to wake up.

"Get up! You little shits are gonna make me late for work!" He shouted frantically.

I kicked Max awake, and she woke up grumbling about a dream or something.

"Get up," I said, carefully stepping over her.

"Ugh."She groaned, pulling herself to her feet. "What time is it?" 

"7:30!" Mike exclaimed. "Shit!" He clambered out of the blanket he and Lucas shared, running up the stairs behind him. "I'll be back!" 

Lucas groaned and sat up, reaching for his bag. He headed to the bathroom to change, glancing at the two girls behind.

"Don't look," Max warned him, grabbing her bag and bringing it back behind the wall. "Uh, Daisy, are you gonna change out there?" She asked, peeking around the wall.

"I guess not." Steve was already gone, but if one of the boys came back when I was changing that would be extremely awkward.

"Come on." She said from behind the wall.

"Okay." I grabbed my bag, pulling a shirt and the pair of pants I'd brought out.

She had her shirt off, digging through her bag in just a bra and jeans looking for her shirt. "Hey." She said, pulling it out.

"Hey." I turned awkwardly, ignoring anything going on behind me. I quickly slipped out of my sweatpants and pulled on the pair of high-waisted mom jeans I had. I pulled out the two shirts I had, one long sleeve and one short sleeve.

"Is it gonna be cold today?" I asked.

"Eh." She shrugged, adjusting her t-shirt hem that was tucked in her pants. "I'd bring a sweater if you have one."

"Okay."

I put on a loose white t-shirt with a print of the sky on the front, tucking the front into my jeans. The jacket I'd had around my waist was somewhere in the room, but it wasn't hard to find a bright pink, yellow, and teal jacket. 

Once my shirt was tucked fully, I located my jacket and pulled it over my shoulders. I noticed it compared to Max's red zip-up sweater and could immediately tell the difference in our personalities.

Lucas exited the bathroom wearing different clothes, his backpack dragging behind him. 

"Steve's in the car!" Mike shouted down the staircase, footsteps thundering on the floor above.

"Come on!" Max exclaimed, running up the stairs. She threw open the door and quickly slipped on her vans before running out the door.

I copied, though I didn't have time to lace my converse. I just grabbed them and ran down the driveway in my socks, hopping in the backseat with Max. Mike climbed in the trunk behind us, leaning against the back of Max and I's seats.

"Finally." He exited the driveway annoyed. "We've still got to get Dustin."

"Hey, you should've woken us up earlier," Mike added from behind me as I laced up my shoes.

"I would've set an alarm but I didn't have one," Steve replied, turning down a familiar corner I recognized from the day before.

"Put your shoes on," Mike said to me.

"Jesus, what's wrong with your face?" Lucas exclaimed.

"What?" I asked. "What's on my face?"

He pointed to my cheek, which I suddenly remembered. "That."

"Oh, yeah, nothing happened, it's fine," I replied, finally finishing lacing my shoes.

"You dumbass, how did you not already see that?" Mike asked.

"I don't know?" Lucas answered. "The lighting in the basement is bad!"

"Okay, you guys can shut up now," Max said annoyed.

"Thank you." My brother added from the front.

"Sorry," Lucas muttered. 

I still had my foot propped up on the seat, so I decided to cuff my pants. They did reach my ankles, and my shoe was higher, so what was the problem with raising them just a bit?

Max glanced at me while I did it.

Steve slowed down, turning around to face Dustin's driveway. The boy ran down his driveway, climbing in the trunk with Mike. 

"Hey!" He smiled a toothy grin. "Hi, Daisy."

"Hi Dustin," I replied.

"How's it going?"

"Good."

"Good." He smiled. "Steve, are you getting us tonight?"

"Uh," He checked his watch. "If you guys don't make me late enough to work then yeah."

"That's not my fault." He replied.

"I know, it's theirs." He nodded to the back with me, Max, Lucas, and Mike. "I'll do my best, but I might be a bit late. We're working on a bridge today, so I can't exactly leave in the middle of it."

"Bridge?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah. I work for a construction company for now." He explained. "Gotta pay for college somehow." He smiled in the rear view mirror.

"Alright," I mumbled.

"Uh, look, can someone take Daisy to the office?" He asked. "I already called in."

"Sure," Max replied. She rolled her eyes as if annoyed to be doing something she just volunteered to do.

"Thanks. And make sure she gets her schedule."

"'Kay." She tucked her skateboard closer to her body, shuffling in the car.

My brother slowed down, turning into a huge parking lot. He drove around the parking spots, pulling up by an entrance to the school. 

"All right you shits, get out." He muttered.

I left my seat, walking around the side of the car to Max. She nodded in my direction.

Mike and Dustin crawled out of the back, both running to meet a boy with a horrendous bowl cut. Lucas scrambled out the front as well, joining the boy by a blocky orange car, and a happy man sitting in front.

I'd already reached for the headphones resting around my neck, but Max pulled my hand away. 

"Come on, that's Will." She said. She grabbed my hand and led me to the guys, who had begun walking in.

"Is that her?" The boy whispered to Mike.

"Yeah." He replied.

"Hi." He looked at me, while still walking. "I'm Will."

I nodded. "Daisy."

"You're Steve's sister?" He asked.

"Yeah."

"Cool. What happened to your cheek?"

"Nothing."

"Okay."

I smiled in return.

Max continued to hold my hand as we wove through a tight group of people, all heading to the main entrance.

"Office is just this way!" She shouted over the loud chatter, pulling me to a door sticking out of the wall.

She paused open the door against the sea of people crowding by lockers and dropped my hand as we entered the office.