HEARTBREAK HIGH; •Spencer White•

twenty nine - after all

DAISY HAD A BAD FEELING. It had sat heavy in her chest, sharp and unrelenting, like something was about to go very, very wrong. Her pen tapped anxiously against her desk, too fast, too loud, until even she noticed it, forcing her hand still against the page. It didn't help, nothing did. Her leg bounced under the table, her eyes flicking toward the classroom door every few seconds like she was expecting it to burst open at any moment.

"I'd like us to complete the following sentence. No wrong answers, okay?" Miss Obah spoke gently from the front of the room, trying to regain control of the class. "Some people might choose not to hɑvе sеx because..."

The words barely registered. Daisy's phone had buzzed only minutes earlier, lighting up her screen with a message from Nan. Short and panicked. Cops. That was it, no explanation. Just enough to make Daisy's stomach twist violently, her throat going dry as everything inside her screamed that something was wrong.

By the time the distant wail of sirens reached the school grounds, she already knew. Her chair scraped loudly against the floor as she shot to her feet. "No," she muttered, shaking her head, her heart beginning to race. "No, no, no—"

Students turned, Miss Obah pausing mid-sentence. Daisy didn't care, she was already moving. The classroom door flew open as she shoved it, stumbling slightly as she rushed into the corridor, and that's when she saw him.

Cash sprinting across the school yard, his bag half slipping off his shoulder, officers close behind him as police cars screeched in at the gates. Everything blurred around him, but Daisy saw it clearly, the panic, the desperation, the way he didn't even hesitate.

"Doug—" her voice broke as she pushed forward.
He reached her in seconds.

"Thank you," he mumbled quickly as he brushed past her, barely slowing down, his voice breathless and wrecked as he bolted straight into the classroom. Daisy stood frozen in the doorway for half a second, then followed.

"I love you, Darren."

Daisy stopped just inside the doorway, her breath catching as tears instantly welled in her eyes, spilling over before she could stop them. Her chest tightened painfully as she watched it all unfold, Cash standing there, shaking, raw and exposed in a way she'd never seen before.

And then— the police. Two burst past her first, barely sparing her a glance as they rushed toward him. "He hasn't done anything wrong!" Daisy cried instantly, turning toward them, her hands coming up instinctively like she could physically stop this from happening. "You've got the wrong guy, you don't understand—" They ignored her.

Instead they moved straight for Cash. "Officers—please," her voice cracked, desperation bleeding through every word as she stumbled after them. "It's not him, he didn't do anything, I swear—"
A third officer, female, paused beside her, her hand resting lightly on Daisy's arm.

"Hey—"

"Ma'am, please," Daisy choked, turning to her, tears streaming freely now. "You've got it wrong, it's not him—he hasn't done anything, I swear to you—" Behind her, metal clicked, the sound was deafening.

Daisy whipped around just in time to see it.. Cash being cuffed. "No—" her voice broke completely, shaking her head as she stepped forward, hands trembling. "Doug, no—this wasn't supposed to happen, this can't be happening—"

They started pulling him toward the door. Tears streamed down his face too, but somehow he was still trying to smile, trying to make it easier for her.

"Daisy Mae, it's okay," he said quickly, voice uneven, forcing the words out as he was dragged past her. "I'm okay, yeah? I'm okay—"

"No, you're not," she sobbed, covering her mouth with shaking hands, her whole body trembling. "You're not okay—"

"Daisy Mae, you're going to be okay," he insisted, even as his voice cracked, even as he was being pulled further away. "It's okay—" It wasn't, none of this was okay. Daisy broke completely, crying into her hands as the rest of the class slowly spilled out into the hallway, drawn by the noise, by the chaos, by him being taken away.

"Daisy." A voice cut through. Spider stepped in beside her, wrapping an arm carefully around her shoulders as she cried, pulling her slightly into him."It'll be okay," he murmured softly, trying, failing, to sound certain. "He'll be fine."

Daisy shook her head violently, pulling away from him almost instantly, her eyes scanning the crowd until they landed on Amerie.

"You have to tell Harper to say something," Daisy begged, her voice breaking as she stumbled toward her, hands shaking. "Please, Amerie—he didn't mean to, he did his best, he—he tried—"
Amerie flinched, and that was enough. Daisy felt something inside her crack.