𝖋𝖑𝖔𝖜𝖊𝖗 𝖕𝖔𝖜𝖊𝖗 ⋆ 𝕶𝖊𝖛𝖎𝖓 𝖉𝖆𝖞

𝖙𝖜𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖞 𝖘𝖎𝖝 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖆 𝖍𝖆𝖑𝖋

         ╔═══°∴,*⋅✲══〖✰〗══✲⋅*,∴°═══╗

          Daisy loves Annabel. Loves loves loves Annabel. Loves what Annabel gave her, loves the freedom and the yummy sweet taste on her tongue and loves the pretty pretty lights on the court-- the court!!

          Hand on the doorframe. Step through the glass window-- is it glass? Daisy lets go in case her fingers crack the glass and break into a million billion trillion little pieces. Pretty shiny shoes on the floor click-click-clicking; pretty shoes that match the pretty silky dress that is pink and almost the colour of her skin but if she sat in the sun too long. Hands running over the fabric at her hips to feel the soft and smooth under her fingertips.

          "DAISYDAISYDAISYDAISYDAISY," says a voice beside her, even though she suspects that her name was said only once and very quietly. She doesn't remember walking to the table or sitting down, but now she's sitting at the table with her legs folded neatly in front of her. Good job Daisy, nobody will ever guess that anything is wrong with you. She turns slowly in her seat, stares at the man next to her. "You were gone forever."

          "I had to pee," she replies. Her voice comes from a million miles away and echoes back into her mouth, where she catches it and chews on the words like carrot sticks.

          "I gathered that," says the pretty boy. "Look, the only vegan food is this seeded loaf and the fruit salad for desert."

          Daisy smiles, bites down on the insides of her cheeks to stop a laugh from bubbling out ouch ouch owie ouch! "Okay," she says. "Where's the fruit?"

          Bananas and apples and oranges and melon and-- oh, kiwi! I love kiwi, my favourite fruit of all! It reminds me of the ice cream cake Abba got me for my sixth birthday, and it had delicious fruits on top and some whipped cream and then Jack accidentally dropped it when he took it out of the fridge and it made me very sad-- oh, don't cry you silly billy! Jacky is dead but not really but we don't cry about Jacky anymore, Betsy-Wetsy said so---!

          "They'll bring it out with the rest of desert," Kevin says, and Daisy nods.

          "Oki-doki."

          And then Daisy blinks and she's standing next to one of the little ones near the edge of the court, near the punch bowl that looks oh-so-pretty pink in the lights from the Christmas tree. Daisy thinks about her pretty pink dress, and her pretty pink nightlight, then tugs on the ends of her hair and sees that it's almost pretty pink too.

          "Should I dye my hair pink?" she asks nobody in particular.

          Neil looks at her with a look of vague disgust. "Why should I give a shit?"

          "You suck," she replies. He does suck, actually, because he is weird and he thinks he's better than everybody which actually he might be better than some people but that's not Daisy's place to say, it's Kevin's place to say and he says that Neil is better than some people but we can't tell anybody because then Neil will think he's won and he HAS NOT WON anyway do you know that saying speak of the devil because that comes true sometimes.

          "Coach says we're leaving in a half hour," he says to the pair of them. "Nobody wants to hang around longer than we need to."

          "I want to hang around," says Daisy, bottom lip jutting out. She's using that high pitched voice again, the one Betsy said we can't use anymore, the one she used to use to get what she wanted from Jack and his friends without having to give them something in return. Sometimes it slips out by accident like oops I didn't mean to do that but sometimes I forget that I'm supposed to be getting better. "I like it here. All my friends are here."