When she got in, her mother was on a call.
"Hey Dee. Where have you been?" Her mother asked as soon as she dropped the call.
"I went out " Daisy replied sharply and her mother faced her smiling.
"What's his name?"
Daisy blushed and her cheeks felt hot. "He's a friend and am not uttering any other word. "
Her mother laughed.
"Well, your cousin Ryan is coming home tomorrow and we're throwing a big welcome party for him. "
Daisy tried to remember who Ryan was. He was the son of Jerry's eldest sister, Jolene. He joined the army five years before, and was deployed the previous year. Obviously, it was going to be a very big party.
The positive side to that effect was that, it meant they were going to travel to New York and she'd get the opportunity to see her friend Star.
She waited in anticipation for the next day to come. Her phone rang instantly and then after looking around to make sure no one was around; Her mum had left, she answered the call.
"Hey Jake. " She greeted loudly in enthusiasm. She was really so happy to hear his voice.
"Hi Buttercup." He said, also enthusiastically.
"Do not call me that, or I'll give you a weird nickname too. " Daisy laughed, and after a series of thoughts, she finally decided on a name for him.
"Hot stuff" She said shyly.
"Awwn, come on, buttercup. That's not a nice nickname to call me. How are you doing by the way? "
"Am fine. Hmm, I forgot to tell you that I'm going to New York tomorrow."
"Why? " Jake asked silently.
"My cousin who is a soldier, just returned from a tour last week and the family is throwing a welcome party. "
"Oh. I'm going to miss you buttercup " He said.
"I'll miss you too hot stuff." She replied.
They both chatted for a few minutes before he ended the call. She went to her room and started undressing when her mother came in.
"You've not started packing?" Her mother asked.
Daisy raised her eyebrows at her mother. "I thought we were going tomorrow"
"No. We're leaving right this minute and you ought to have been done packing by now. "
Daisy sat down with indignation and shook her head.
"Mum, this is past seven. There is no way we'll reach New York this evening, with this bad traffic "
Her mother shot her an Are-you-silly kind of look.
"We're going with flight and the plane is due to leave in an hour. "
"What the heck, mum? And you're just telling me now? " Daisy quickly brought out a suitcase and began throwing some clothes in there, while her mother left.
Five minutes later, she was ready. She went to the parlour and the entire family was there. Her brother Danny was tapping his feet on the ground impatiently.
"Where the hell have you been Daisy? I've been here for almost an hour. " Danny said as soon as he saw her.
Daisy whipped her head back to look at him.
"I beg your pardon!! When I returned, mum was the only one in the house." She fired back.
Surprisingly, Her parents and Danny were just looking at her.
"What?! " She threw back at all of them.
Danny broke into a frenzied laughter.
"Honey, this is the loudest I've ever heard you shout in all your sixteen years." Her dad said.
"It's that boy, isn't it? The one you won't tell me his name. " Danny winked at her.
"Daisy is seeing a boy? Really? Since when? How come no one told me about this?" Her dad quizzed.
Daisy covered her ears. "Will everyone just stop fussing all over me?" She turned to her mum. "Mum!! Talk to them " She pointed to her father and brother.
"We're leaving now." Her mum said sternly.
****
"I didn't know you could swim Daisy. " Her aunt Julia said. Daisy smiled inwardly. Being with Jake had taught her a lot of things. It brought out her sense of self-worth and it also built her self esteem. She had always thought that she didn't have beautiful skin.
"Your skin is so soft and well - tanned. Kudos to the new boyfriend" Her best friend Star said with a wink.
"I don't ha... I didn't... " It was hard to argue with her family and best friend Star. It was like pouring water in a basket.
"Nah. Don't lie. I mean I've raised four teenagers on my own. I've had a lot of experiences and it's even obvious. You look... what's the word.... Happier. So who is he? " aunt Julia said breathlessly.
"I don't want to talk about him. " Daisy said.
"Well, then we're gonna have to find out the hard way. " Star replied with a note of seriousness and then screamed "Two hundred dollars bet each and whoever manages to find out the person, gets the money "
Daisy gasped.
To her surprise, everyone started placing bets. Her aunt placed her own bet, Her parents placed theirs, Her cousin placed theirs too and to her greatest surprise,her grandmothers placed bets too.
Everyone really wanted to find out who she was seeing.
But the question was, would she classify Jake as a boyfriend? He hadn't asked her yet which means he was still a normal friend.
****
Two days later, Daisy and her family returned back to Los Angeles. She could hardly wait to see Jake the next day in school.
As soon as she got home, she quickly logged onto facebook to check her messages. Sure enough, all ten messages were from Jake. She replied him.
"Hey, what's up. Two days without hearing from you. "
Luckily, he was online so he responded almost immediately "I'm not the one who decided not to check her messages. "
Daisy laughed before sending " My dad has a strict policy of no phones during family gatherings. "
"Okay then. How was your little vacation? I missed the hell out of you."
She was about to reply when Danny barged into her room. She really should have locked the door.
"What? " She shouted in frustration at her brother.
"You couldn't even wait till you've treated before you started chatting with HIM. Anyways, I came to announce to you that we've had two hundred bets now. " He announced to her.
She slowly turned to face him.
"Damn!!! What the hell??!! You mean two hundred people have placed a bet to know who I'm dating? "
"Including mum, dad and Mrs Green " He added.
"Unbelievable " Daisy replied. She laughed at the absurdity of his statement. She couldn't tell him though, that his statement was absurd.
"Well, come down for dinner. We're all waiting for you "
Daisy went downstairs and had dinner with her family, before retiring to her bedroom. She saw some messages from Jake on facebook, buy because she was stressed from the journey back home, she just sent him a short message
"See you tomorrow. Bye" and she slept off.
****
The following day, there were tons of work and projects to complete at school and so Daisy didn't get the chance to see Jake until lunch, when she was getting some iced cream sandwich.
"Hey buttercup "
Jake whispered and nuzzled behind her. She could swear that she felt his breath wave through her neck.
"Hi hot stuff " She replied, also quietly so that the other students would not hear her. But Jake had plans of his own. He dragged her to the teachers lounge.
He looked into her eyes and placed both his palms on both sides of her cheek.
Oh God!
Daisy knew what was coming next and she was prepared and fully ready for it. At least, reading all those romance novels had given her a lot of insight of what to expect on her first kiss. He leaned in towards her and she closed the gap between them covering his mouth with hers. He pulled his head back to look at her, realizing what he just did.