Ransom(39)

He nods. “Okay.”

“I didn’t want to tell you anything because I knew you would come back, and I couldn’t do that to you. But it got… it messed me up. I started to have a really hard time when people would look at me. Or talk to me. I was nervous all the time. Really weird and anxious about stuff. I had to… I had to leave school before graduation.”

He jumps to his feet. “I want to know who did this, Daisy. Who the fuck… what, bullied you? Who was so bad you had to leave school?”

“Daltrey—”

“No, don’t try to calm me down. This is a really big deal.”

I almost laugh at that. As if I don’t know how big of a deal it was. “Dalt, please sit down. I’m not done yet.” I grab his hand, tugging until he sits down again. “My dad got me into therapy, and it really helped. I decided to go to school somewhere far away, someplace where no one knew me. That helped, too. I’m feeling much better now, and I would honestly rather just try to forget about it, okay?”

“Daisy, how could you have kept this from me? I understand you not wanting to distract me from the tour, but once it got to the point that it was affecting you so bad, you should have told me. You’re my best friend.”

“I wanted to,” I say. “A lot of times. But once you started to get famous, I just couldn’t, Dalt. I couldn’t do that to you. And I couldn’t do it to me, either.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, look at this life of yours.” I gesture at the closed door and the noises of party behind it. “A few months ago, there was no way I could handle this. All these people. All those eyes. I would have lost it. Jesus, Dalt, I failed a class because I was supposed to give a presentation. I couldn’t even handle having my classmates look at me for ten minutes. How could I have been around you, been around all this?”

He shakes his head. “I would have figured out a way to help you without getting you involved in all this.”

I smile, rubbing the hand I still hold between my own. “But I figured out how to get through it on my own. And I’m probably stronger for it.” I don’t know if that’s true, but I can’t stand the idea that he feels guilty because of my weakness.

He releases a huge breath. “Fine. I guess I can accept that. But you need to promise me that the next time something shitty happens, you tell me about it. You can’t be keeping stuff like this from me, Daisy. Look at what happens. We completely stopped being friends. That’s not okay with me.”

“You’re right.” I feel terrible now, knowing that there are still things I’m not telling him. But how can I bear to mention Justin or the pictures or the reasons I ended up at Horizons? He watches my face closely, and I wonder if maybe he suspects that there might be more to my story.

“So are we…” He pauses. “We’re okay now, right?”

I grin, pushing my guilty thoughts away. “Yeah, Daltrey. We’re okay.”





Chapter Fourteen


Daltrey





It takes everything I have not to try to figure out who put Daisy through such hell while I was away. From what she said about not being able to go online, I’m assuming they attacked her through social media. I’ve never gotten into any of that stuff, though the band does have accounts on all the major sites. Still, it would probably be easy to do a little sleuthing and discover who the culprit was.

But Daisy asked me to drop it, and we are supposed to trust each other. I know she’ll be mad if I go behind her back. But how am I supposed to just sit around and do nothing? She was in therapy, for fuck’s sake. I have a feeling things were even worse than she described. I’m pretty certain she was holding something back last night.

I shake my head, trying to dispel the doubts and anger. The important thing is that she’s here now. I haven’t lost her. In fact, she’s going to follow the tour with her friends for the next three weeks. And I plan to make sure she sticks around even longer than that.

I’m whistling when I meet Dad and my brothers in the hotel restaurant for breakfast. We’re staying on in Boston for another show tonight, and I’m grateful for the chance to be in one place for more than twelve hours.

“Oh, God,” Cash mutters as I pull out my chair. “Look at you. Yesterday you were being a giant, whining bee-otch. Then Daisy shows up, and you’re all sunshine and roses. Pathetic.”

I give him my sweetest smile while flipping him off.

“Her friends are pretty hot, though,” he goes on. “Especially that Karen girl. Remind me to thank Daisy later.”