Page 17 of Beaches, Bagels & Babes

While Daisy’s heart beat furiously to the echo of those words, the teens moved on to talking about what they would wear to the bonfire, and whose house they would party at afterwards.

Candace joined in the conversation, back to her usual, bubbly self.

But, more than once, her regard drifted back to Daisy.

When the oven buzzer went off, it made them both jump.

Once Daisy dolled out the group’s order, they began to amble off. Candace, however, lingered. Releasing the lip she chewed on, she suggested, “You should come tonight.”

“Do you want me to?”

For a long beat, the Pier Princess held Daisy in the churning depths of her impossible-to-read gaze. She repeated, “You should come.”

It took Daisy three tries to leave her house before she managed to keep going.

Even then, it was only out of sheer stubbornness.

She knew her neighbors watched her waffling, and eventually, one of them would come outside and comment on it.

They were well-meaning, but nosy. Ever since her parents’ accident, people she hardly knew wanted the details of her personal life when they had been perfectly content to ignore her before.

So, Daisy did her best to keep a strong outward front. She did not want their pity or whatever help they offered to make themselves feel better. Daisy was fine on her own, and she would prove it. She was a normal teenager, going to hang out with other normal teenagers.

Like Candace Perry.

Why did she tell Daisy to come? The idea that Candace thought of her, ever, past their brief interactions, seemed impossible.

But maybe, just maybe, she remembered the first time they met.

Maybe, some impossible maybe, Daisy was not crazy, and the attraction she felt was mutual. It could not be that.

And yet…

Daisy was glad that she had a somewhat long walk to the beach cove so that she could calm her anxious fretting.

Her parents’ bungalow—her bungalow, now—was on the south side of the island with the other blue-collar worker homes, closer to the bay than the boardwalk.

It was a walkable distance, but it gave her some time to think. Or, more likely, obsess .

Until the very object of her fretting appeared once again.

Demi, driving her old Jeep Cherokee with its sides open, pulled up alongside Daisy. Her boyfriend, a band kid who also attended Wonderwood Public, was seated in the passenger seat. Candace, of course, was in the back.

“Hey again!” Demi greeted in a chipper tone, “You’re coming to the cove after all! Need a lift?”

Daisy forgot how to speak. She looked from Demi’s expectant gaze to Candace. The other girl did not meet Daisy’s eye. However, as she unbuckled herself and scooted over to make room, it was all the permission Daisy needed. Thanking Demi, she scuttled into the jeep with the grace of a hermit crab.

“All good?” Demi asked.

The seatbelt was like a slippery noodle in Daisy’s shaking grip.

A hand, Candace’s hand, helped to steady her.

The contact went on long enough that Daisy could marvel over how velvet-smooth the other girl’s skin was.

Long enough that it felt intentional, like Candace, too, was conducting her own covert investigation.

Then, she withdrew as if it were nothing.

“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 my theia . 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 gatherings with 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.

Daisy wondered what it was like. She loved this town, she really did. But she hated not having a choice.

“So,” one girl, Amanda, asked, “are you going to work for your uncle once you get your degree? Bet it’s a nice gig. Must be nice to be the Pier Princess.”

Candace scoffed. “As if. I don’t ever want to set foot on that pier again.”

“Boo!” Demi hooted, “You’re just afraid I’ll beat you at air hockey.”

“It’s not fair! Your reaction time isn’t human!”

“True. I’m the abomination produced by endless male cousins. At least I only heckle when I beat you. They write ‘loser’ on my forehead.”

One of the girls’ boyfriends asked, “Didn’t the pier just open a new roller coaster?”