Page 33 of Beaches, Bagels & Babes
“T-thanks,” Daisy told her, and Candace nodded, tight-lipped.
After she started driving, Demi glanced back in the rearview. “So,” she asked, “are you going to college, Daisy? I start at Rowan in the fall.”
“No, I’ve got to run the cafe.”
“Oh, um… That’s—”
“But I don’t think it’s for me anyway,” Daisy added in a rush. “My grades were never all that great, so it’d be a waste of money.”
She did her best to keep her tone light. Dismissive of the idea. That did not stop the sting, though. Just like the rest of her life, everyone else was allowed to go off and do what they wanted. Meanwhile, she was stuck here.
Daisy tried to move the conversation off of herself, saying, “I hear Rowan is a nice school. What are you going for?”
“Art and design. I want to move to Cali and work in a big-name animation studio. Just don’t tell mytheia. She thinks I’m going to work at the diner forever. You still make art, too, right? We had that class together where you put together that driftwood and seaglass sculpture.”
“Um, not recently. Been a bit busy.”
What happened recently?
Daisy could feel them think, and realize that she meant since her parents’ accident. Awkwardness spread like a miasma. Needing to dispel the tension, Daisy kept talking.
“Er, Candace. Where are you going to school?”
“Columbia, for business accounting,” she answered succinctly with her eyes trained on the floor.
“Wow. That’s really impressive. You must have worked hard.”
Finally, briefly, Candace locked eyes with Daisy as a small, shy smile curved her lips. “Thanks. I did.”
“And I hate it!” Demi whined, “You’re not allowed to leave me all alone.”
Demi’s boyfriend grumbled, “You’ve got me…”
“Are you Can-can? No. But I guess you’ll have to do.”
The pair continued their bickering all the way to the cove. Candace, meanwhile, stayed quiet, sitting stiff as a board. Out of the corner of her eyes, Daisy could not help watching her. She’d changed from her school uniform to a sunflower yellow crop top and black mini skirt, which showed far more skin than Daisy’s suppressed libido could handle. Very acutely, Daisy wished she’d picked something more stylish than her faded, ripped jean shorts and plain black tank.
When they were close, Demi parked on a side street, and they continued to the cove on foot. It was packed with teenagers. There were a few adult ‘chaperones’ hovering, but they did not seem the least bit concerned with the rowdy goings on around them. In fact, Daisy saw the football coach from the prep carrying a beer pong table with her school’s theatre director. If unity—or, more accurately, a gigantic party—was what the two schools were hoping to achieve, they succeeded.
Twilight had given way to darkness, but once they passed the duneline before the beach, light from the bonfire engulfed them. The central fire was large enough to light a vast space, and smaller ones surrounded by individual groups were also spread out amongst the area.
Wading into the chaos, Daisy was glad for the excuse to stay close to Candace. She seemed to know everyone, with happy greetings called out in their wake. Her responses were just as enthusiastic, but Daisy sensed something.
The way Candace was with them was different. She was bright and cheerful, almost ditzy compared to the shy, high-achieving girl from the car. They called her ‘Candy’ and Pier Princess, and maybe that was who she was around these people. When she looked over her shoulder to see if Daisy still followed, though, her eyes were all Candace.
It made Daisy’s heart leap.
The sound of Kesha’s “TiK ToK” song blared from a speaker on a nearby temporary stage. Red Solo cups were all around, doing the bare minimum to disguise their alcoholic beverages. It was bold of them to drink at what was technically a school event; however, as long as no one went overboard, the Wonderwood police would look the other way. When half of the attendees were the children or relatives of cops or other well-connected locals, a blind eye was the simpler solution.
So, as Demi passed her a cup filled with a hoppy-smelling beverage, Daisy took it. The only other times she’d had alcohol were tastes of her parents’ occasional adult drinks. But, she did not want to turn it down when Candace accepted her own.
“C’mon,” Demi urged. “Let’s find the others.”
The “others” were the rest of the group who had been tagging along at the boardwalk earlier, plus a few extras. All popular, rich, connected (or some combination of the three) students from both schools. Not the loner outcasts she generally drifted to when forced to attend social gatheringswith her peers. Daisy could feel their surprise seeing her in tow. If Candace had not offered her a seat on the fireside driftwood log that two boys eagerly cleared, she might have run away. Instead, she sat, caught between terror and elation as her knee brushed against the one reason she wanted to be here.
Of course, the main topic of conversation centered on everyone’s future plans. This person got accepted to Yale, that person had a full ride to two separate universities, someone else was getting into modeling after signing a contract with some fashion line… it went on and on like that until Daisy wanted to disappear. Before she knew it, her drink was empty.
Candace was going to leave Wonderwood and never look back. Maybe she would visit, a tourist who flitted in and out of Daisy’s life while the years passed. And she seemed so happy. When she detailed her plans to the group, it was the happiest Daisy had ever seen her. Happy and ready for a future far from here.
