Page 73 of In the Danger Zone
“I know you’re not some malicious liar, Daisy. I saw the way Asher treated you when semester first started,” she mumbled with an eye roll. “The guy is a loser. Hopefully he starts another fight and gets his ass kicked again.”
“I wouldn’t m-mind seeing that happen. Is that b-bad to say?”
“Nope! Not at all.”
My phone vibrated in my pocket suddenly, catching my attention. When I looked down at it, I saw that I had an email from the administration office. I scanned the words carefully, my eyes lighting up when I saw that my refund had finally come through.
“Oh m-my God,” I told Leena. “The refund. They sent over the m-money. Ten years later.”
Leena perked up at that. “You finally got it? Your laptop is barely hanging on, huh?”
“It’s on the b-brink of death. I n-need a n-new one b-bad. Do you wanna come with m-me to the office?”
Leena sent me a bright smile, linking her arm with mine. “Let’s go.”
We moved out of the library shelves, and I allowed myself to enjoy the fact that I had someone like Leena in my life. Evan too. The feeling was foreign, and sometimes it all felt like something I didn’t entirely deserve. But I knew I had to get out of that old mentality. Things were changing fast. They were good changes. Changes I had needed for the longest time.
But I knew very well that I still had to look Evan in the eyes and tell him the truth about me and my past and the shame I had been holding on to. He had been so understanding about everything else.
Leena’s words repeated in my head.He’s a good guy, right? He was thebest. Evan could be trusted.
I had to tell him everything. I knew I did. I just needed some time.
Chapter 33
DAISY
It had only taken ten weeks for my refund to come through. Ten long, slow weeks.
I stared down at my new laptop in the library, tracing my fingers across the smooth silver gingerly. Part of me didn’t even really like using it. It was too damn expensive to use, so I had been mostly just focusing on fairly minuscule tasks. Quick emails, some quizzes, a very short art video or two. I had spent some time checking out a few of Sam’s newest articles as well. It reminded me that her card that I always kept on my desk had disappeared. I had looked all over my dorm for that thing and still couldn’t find it.
I thought about my old laptop for a moment. It had been hanging on for as long as it could, but even opening up Word was a struggle. Essays meant having a million different tabs open and it just couldn’t handle all the work I had to do. I’d still keep it. It was weirdly precious to me. I couldn’t just throw it out.
My phone buzzed obnoxiously on the desk and I quickly grabbed it. It was my dad calling. I grinned, answering the call quickly.
“Hello?” I said, my voice bright.
“Hey, darling,” my dad replied. “Hope you’re not in class or anything.”
“Just in the library, Dad.”
“Oh, I’m disturbing you. I’ll call you later.”
“N-No,” I quickly assured him. “I m-miss talking to you. And M-Mom. We can talk. Promise.”
“Well, okay. And we miss you too, honey. What have you been up to? You haven’t been writing us back. It’s been a little hard to get a hold of you these days.”
“I’m sorry. I’ve b-been pretty b-busy lately.”
“What have you been up to?”
“That refund finally came through. I got it a week ago. M-Me and a friend went shopping right after so I could get a n-new laptop.”
“Oh,finally,” Dad sighed. “I remember you talking about that in your letter. The old one wasn’t hanging on, huh? I’m sorry we couldn’t get you something better sooner. I’m still doing those odd jobs here and there. Gardening, painting, washing people’s cars. Usually in the next town over. Can’t do much around here… But we can try and send you some money soon. Everything is just so expensive right now…”
I felt a pang in my heart. I had a ten-thousand-dollar check sitting in my room that I could have sent my parents. What kind of daughter was I if I didn’t help them when I had the opportunity to do so? What kind of girlfriend was I if I lied to Evan about my family?What kind of person had I become?“It’s fine, Dad. You don’t have to send m-me anything.”
“We can send you—”
