Renata Santos doesn't expect her heart to flutter when she catches a boy stealing flowers out of her backyard. But as she unravels his reputation, she realizes puppy-eyed delinquent Isaac Marshall may just be the sunshine she needs to turn her life...
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D A F F O D I L
[narcissus poeticus] ➳ sympathy.
WITH THIRTY MINUTES LEFT, I breezed out of the exam room, smirking as my classmates jotted equations or stared off into space at their desks. Every bit of chemistry I'd learned since Sunday morning oozed out my consciousness, reverting my brain to its usual state.
I still had three exams to go, but I was more than happy to tick one off the list.
Isaac didn't have any finals today, so he wasn't at school. Instead, he'd completely isolated himself to study for the math exam tomorrow. I wasn't sure if he would last that long, but for now, he wasn't even replying to my texts.
I didn't mind, because the previous night had given me plenty to think about.
Over dinner, Mom and Dad had interrogated him about everything, from his parents to his pizza-eating habits. We'd had a brief misunderstanding over the correct ways to hold forks and knives, but that had thankfully been the only cultural faux-pas of the night.
Everything else had gone exceedingly well.
I reeled through our conversations over and over again. Every time I hit replay, I heard Isaac tell a story about a stray animal, saw my parents' looks of approval when he mentioned non-profit work, and felt elation bubble up inside of me. I swore my feelings had taken on the colour and consistency of cotton candy.
It took someone calling my name to shake me from my reverie. Leo stood by the school's exit, sporting a haircut he must've gotten after the last time we talked. That felt like eons ago.
"Hey, Ren," he repeated, walking up to me. He twisted his watch around on his wrist, creating an itchy-looking red band on his skin. "Have you seen Jackie?"
I shook my head. I was curious about how their friendship had grown since I'd introduced them as tutor and tutee, but not enough to ask. "I only came to school for the chemistry final."
"Yeah, me too. It was pretty easy," he said, instantly putting me at ease. Even when Leo was fidgeting, he couldn't resist talking about school and how good he was at it. I found it kind of endearing. "Jackie had an English exam earlier so I thought I'd catch her before she left, but I don't think she actually made it to school."
I paused. "That's weird." And by weird, I meant concerning. "Why do you say that?"
Leo cast his eyes to the ground. "Because of something I heard from my dad. If you see her, can you make sure she texts me back?"
I frowned. "Sure." I wanted clarification, but the fact his dad was a police officer intimidated me — made me feel like I couldn't ask what he meant by that. "Maybe we can catch up sometime?"
"Sounds good." His gaze flickered back to mine, and his lips tugged into a slightly less serious expression than the one he usually wore. I could tell he was trying to be casual, and that we were both dancing around the topic of how our friendship had withered away over the last several weeks.
