Bad Idea (3 page)

“Can your car drive to Mars?”

“I wish.” Daisy spun the key ring on her
finger. “What do you think? We should decide while we’ve still got
cover on the way to the parking lot. Once everyone’s in class, the
deans are going to notice us heading out that way.”

“Listen to the pro.”

Daisy shrugged. “This place sucks sometimes.
And the beach is a lot prettier, and it isn’t far.”

“Not too cold, either. I guess that’s one
thing Florida’s got over New Jersey.”

“Yeah, we’re sort of famous for that.” Daisy
threw the keys, caught them, and closed her fist around them. “So,
are we doing this?”

Riva’s eyes were still wary. “Why are you
being so nice to me?”

Daisy hesitated.
Because I have the hugest
crush on you
wasn’t going to work. She also couldn’t say,
Because I just heard you like girls, and I’m really hoping
that’s true and that you’ll tell me all about it.
She didn’t
want to outright lie, though. She settled on something true but
vague.

“Look, whatever was going on just now, I
think we’re all scared something like that will happen to us. If I
ever did wind up getting stared at like that, I hope someone would
take me to the beach.”

“So, like a pay it forward sort of
thing.”

“I guess.” Daisy wanted to do better than
that, though. Riva looked so fragile. Daisy wanted to give her a
little more. She adjusted her purse on her hip and pretended to
study her fingernails—though she didn’t paint them, so there wasn’t
much to look at. “Also, I mean, you seem cool. I wouldn’t mind
being friends.”

Riva laughed, but not mockingly. The
improvement in her mood made her even prettier. “Seriously? You
seem so…busy all the time.”

Daisy grinned back. “Hey, we can talk about
this as much as we want at the beach, but we have to make our
escape first. Are you in?”

“Yeah. Let’s do this.”

Daisy led the way out of the bathroom. She
knew which corridors the deans didn’t check too often, and she’d
left during the school day plenty of times. There was no reason for
her to be nervous. It wasn’t cutting school that was making Daisy’s
hands tremble, though.
Riva Corley was about to get in her car
and ride with her to the beach.

* * * *

Who’s the boring coward now?

Skipping class with Daisy Mejia might not
have been the sexy solution Benton had in mind to the problem of
Riva’s boring, video-game playing existence, but it was way more up
her alley than propositioning Emmy Barnes had been. And she did
feel brave and exciting following Daisy to the parking lot.

Daisy didn’t walk. She
strode
. Her
long, dark calves rippled with muscles as she moved, and Riva found
herself picking up that strong, confident swing as she imitated it.
She wasn’t sure how just following Daisy could make her feel so
awesome, but she didn’t want to question anything good right now.
She could use whatever nice things she could get. Her social life
at school was basically over, and, despite having made that
sacrifice, Benton would still be disappointed in her.

Cursing under her breath, Daisy stopped
walking. Riva didn’t react in time and bumped into her, her nose
pressing into Daisy’s thick, curly hair. Daisy went suddenly stiff
and quiet, full of a sort of tension Riva didn’t understand. She
took a step back, feeling uncertain.

“What’s the matter?”

“The deans have already blocked the parking
lot. There are a bunch of them between here and the entrance.”

That was disappointing. It looked like Riva’s
exciting adventure was over before it had begun. “I guess I held us
up too long in the bathroom,” she said. “I’m really sorry. I should
have decided faster. I just…I’ve never done anything like…”

Daisy shot a look over her shoulder, one
perfectly plucked eyebrow lifted. “You think we’re giving up that
easily?”

“Uh…”

“Please.” Daisy glanced at Riva’s feet. “Can
you climb in those shoes?”

“Huh?”

She sighed. “How about, can you climb?”

“I don’t really…”

Daisy was on the girls’ varsity volleyball
team, so this was probably no big deal to her. Riva found she
didn’t want to admit how little physical activity her life
required. What if Daisy decided she didn’t want to be friends after
all?

“When I play
Assassin’s Creed
, I’m
great at climbing,” she tried, offering a shrug and a lopsided
grin.

“
Assassin’s Creed
? Is that, like, a
sport?”

Riva cringed. “It’s a video game.”

“Oh.” Daisy was quiet for a few seconds while
Riva tortured herself internally.

You had to bring up video games? Way to prove
you’re boring after all.

She was surprised when Daisy caught the
sleeve of her T-shirt. Riva couldn’t remember having been touched
like that before. Daisy held the material delicately, between her
finger and thumb, as if it was something precious. The gesture
wasn’t casual at all, and it seemed oddly gentle. Riva met Daisy’s
eyes, full of questions she couldn’t quite articulate.

“Do you still want to do this?” Daisy asked.
“I’m not trying to push you. If you want to go to class…”

“No, I really want to go with you.” Riva
worked to control her tone, not wanting to reveal exactly how
much
she wanted to. “I’m just sorry I’m not more
athletic.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m okay with risking
it. Are you? If you don’t make it over the fence, we might get in
trouble, but otherwise, we’ll be out.”

Daisy seemed so serious. Riva was sort of
surprised she cared so much. She could just picture how Benton
would behave in this situation, mocking her for only being good at
climbing in video games, annoyed that she was yet again ruining his
fun. Now Riva wanted to go with Daisy even more than she had
before.

“I’ll risk it,” she said. “That’s cool with
me.”

“Great.” Daisy grinned. “Come on.”

She pulled her fingers away from Riva’s
sleeve, making the fabric bounce back against Riva’s arm with a
light snap, and headed back the way they’d come. The halls were
only thinly populated. The majority of students had made it to
class. Daisy moved faster now. Riva trotted at times to keep up
with her.

Daisy led them through a tangle of hallways
until they came out on one side of the Ag building, separated from
the parking lot by a chain-link fence several feet taller than
Riva.

“You ready?” Daisy asked. “My car’s the pile
of rust by the exit. See it? That Honda? When we go, we have to go
fast. Climb as hard as you can, then run for the car.”

Riva swallowed. She was pretty sure this was
all going to end in a phone call to her mother, but that didn’t
stop her from wanting to do it. She nodded.

“Okay,” Daisy said. “One. Two. Three.
Go!
”

She was off with a burst of long-legged
muscle. For a second, Riva just watched Daisy, awestruck by the way
she moved. Then Daisy flung herself at the fence, and Riva
remembered that if she wanted to hang out with her, she needed to
run, too.

Riva’s side cramped almost immediately, but
she was not about to let that stop her. The deans had seen them and
were shouting. Riva was scared, but she motivated herself by
thinking about how the rest of the day might go. If she gave in to
being a boring coward, she was going to end up waiting for her mom
in the principal’s office. If she kept up with Daisy, she would be
sunning herself at the beach instead, making a real friend for the
first time since her mom had forced her to come to Florida.

Her body did not want to move, but she
reached the chain-link fence anyway, her backpack banging against
her lower back. The metal bit into her palms when she tried to haul
herself up. Daisy had picked a good spot to climb—the deans were
running toward them, but they had to skirt almost the entire
parking lot to reach them. Still, if Riva couldn’t climb at all,
that wasn’t going to make enough of a difference.

“Climb with your legs, not your arms,” Daisy
hissed from somewhere above her. “Pretend you’re on really steep
stairs.” With that, she flipped her body up and over the top of the
fence, landing eye to eye with Riva. Daisy was a little taller than
she was, but the depressing fact was Riva hadn’t climbed very far
at all.

“Don’t get in trouble because of me,” Riva
said. “The deans are coming. Run to your car. It’s really
fine.”

Daisy rolled her eyes. “Shut up. I said I
would risk it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, but you’d better at least try to
climb. Hurry up!”

Legs, not arms. Legs, not arms.
Riva
chanted to herself, and was surprised to find how quickly she
scaled the fence that way. She got to the top and looked down at
Daisy, dismayed to find that the height made her head spin.

“Come on! We can make it!”

The deans were shouting from somewhere much
closer now, but Riva didn’t waste time tracking them. She needed
this beach trip. She needed a friend like Daisy. She needed to not
be a boring coward. She crossed the top of the fence, then
froze.

“I think I’m scared of heights.”

“Jump down, Riva. You can do it. I’m right
here.”

Riva gulped and flung herself awkwardly down
in Daisy’s direction. She stumbled and dropped to one knee, but
Daisy hauled her up right away, taking her hand and dragging her
toward the car. With Daisy pulling her, Riva managed to go much
faster than she thought she could run. Her knee throbbed, but she
didn’t let it stop her. She only had eyes for Daisy’s rusty car and
the parking lot exit just beyond. All she could feel was Daisy’s
hand, which seemed like the most solid thing in the world.

“Get in, get in, get in!”

Riva’s momentum carried her a moment longer
than it should have. She crashed into Daisy’s car, banging her
shins on the back bumper, then forced herself to recover and run
for the passenger seat. The deans had gotten close. They were
shouting for the girls to stop.

“Come on, come on.”

Daisy’s continued chants seemed more for
herself at this point than for Riva. Both girls rushed into the
car. Daisy gunned the engine the second Riva buckled her seatbelt.
The car’s engine growled, then roared as they shot toward the
parking lot’s exit.

Then they were on smooth, black road. Daisy
was grinning and shouting, and Riva’s heart was still pounding. She
glanced back toward the receding school, then at Daisy’s face. The
tension rushed from her body in an awkward laugh.

“I cannot believe we just did that.
Seriously, I can
not
.”

“I didn’t know you were such a good girl,”
Daisy said.

Riva stilled. “Is that…? You probably think
that’s super uncool.”

Daisy laughed and shook her head. “I’m not
judging you. I just didn’t know.”

Examining one of her fingernails, Riva tried
to talk herself out of what she wanted to say next. She didn’t want
to come off as insecure, but she’d felt invisible since she and her
mom moved to Florida. This sudden special attention from Daisy made
no sense to her, and she couldn’t bring herself to entirely trust
it. They drove a few minutes in silence, and then Riva went for
it.

“So…wouldn’t you normally do something like
this with your friend Jo?”

Daisy shrugged, too casually. “I mean, yeah.
But it’s nice to do it with you.” She gave Riva a smile that seemed
strangely tentative coming from a girl as gorgeous, confident, and
popular as her.

“More exciting to almost get caught by the
deans?”

The smile changed in a way Riva couldn’t
read.

“Something like that.”

“Well,” Riva said. She cleared her throat.
She didn’t want to think about what had happened in French class,
but now that they were out of immediate danger of getting caught,
the memory intruded and made it hard to think about anything else.
“I should warn you, I’m about to become a social pariah. You might
not want to be seen hanging out with me.”

A hunted expression flickered over Daisy’s
face. Riva felt bad and almost offered to go home and never speak
to her again. Then strength seeped into the set of Daisy’s mouth,
and she squared her shoulders and sat up straighter in the driver’s
seat.

“Like I said, I think we’re all scared of
stuff like what just happened to you. It scares me, too. But if we
were friends…I wouldn’t abandon you over that, I swear. I don’t
want to be scared all my life, you know?”

Riva sat back in her chair for a moment.
Outside the car window, the bright world rushed past. She couldn’t
get over how often the sun was out in Florida. It seemed to produce
twice as much light and heat as it had in Jersey. She’d felt sad
and lonely since coming here, and that made her feel weird when it
was always so pretty outside. She looked at Daisy again, and she
couldn’t understand why this girl was bothering with her at all.
Daisy was best friends with Jo Quang, one of the most popular girls
in school. Riva couldn’t see what she could contribute that Daisy
didn’t already have.

“You don’t even know me,” Riva said. She
gulped, remembering French class. “You don’t know what people are
going to be saying about me.”

“You said you didn’t want to talk about it. I
don’t want to pressure you.” Daisy took one hand off the steering
wheel and fiddled with her large hoop earring. “But if you want to
tell me, I’m pretty sure I’ll be cool with it. I mean, I’m pretty,
um, open-minded.”

Riva couldn’t help snorting. “It doesn’t
matter how open-minded you are. I’m still going to sound like an
idiot.”

“Maybe not to me,” Daisy said.

“It’s really stupid.” Riva shook her head.
“So stupid.”

“Asking a girl out isn’t stupid,” Daisy said
softly.

Oh.