She wheezed with each step as she ran down the sidewalk. “I should— have kept— that al— alarm clock— on!” she muttered between gasping breaths. “Gonna be late!”
She stopped at a corner to catch her breath and look around. On her left was a gloomy forest; ahead was a long street lined with parked cars.
“Shortcut,” she gasped, and ran into the forest.
She tripped and landed face down on the ground. She sat up, shaking, and looked back at the root she’d tripped over. She tried to get up, managed to get her weight onto her feet, and then winced and sat back. “Agh, now I’ll be late for sure!”
She leaned back against a tree, counted to thirty, and then tried again. Her scraped, bloody knees began to wobble as she put her weight on them. She sat back with a hiss of pain, saw that there was blood on her skirt, and moaned.
Leaves rustled behind her tree. She froze, then turned and tried to peer around it.
“Are you alright?” a man asked.
Her head whipped around, and she saw an old man in jeans and a black jacket standing in front of her.
“I think so,” she answered, “but I can’t get up.”
He held out his hand. She took it, let him help her up, and then fell against him with a cry of pain.
He put an arm around her waist and held her up. “What’s your name?”
“Daisy.”
“I’m Chris. Are you sure you’re okay? You don’t look so good.”
Daisy looked down at her knees. “They might get infected if I don’t get them bandaged.”
Chris leaned her against the tree, knelt, and took some cloth from his bag. It had an angel printed on it. He ripped it in half and wrapped one piece around each knee, pulling so tight that she cried out again.
He got up. “That’ll hold you until you get to a first aid kit. Do you need a ride?”
Daisy nodded eagerly. “Yes, please.”
Chris put his arm around her waist and helped her out of the woods and to his car. He guided her into the passenger seat, got into the driver’s side seat, and started the car.
“Just go left, right, left,” she told him.
He started the car, pulled out of his space, and drove her silently to the front of the school.
Daisy heard the late bell ring. “Argh,” she sighed.
Chris got out of the car and went around to the passenger seat. He helped her out of the car and into the front office.
“You’re an hour late,” the desk woman scolded, handing her a slip of paper.
“Try to walk,” Chris told Daisy, letting go of her. “I’m not leaving until you can.”
She took a few slow, wobbling steps away from him.
“Walk back to me.”
She turned and walked a little more quickly back to Chris.
“Now walk in a circle.”
Daisy raised an eyebrow at him.
“Walk in a circle,” he repeated.
Daisy did, and without losing her balance.
“Good. I should be going now. See you around.”
Daisy watched Chris head out the door, and then carefully walked down the main hall.
She passed two boys talking about what they had done in science class. “Did you see that frog on Mr. Richards’ head?” one asked the other.
“Everyone was chasing after it! Someone knocked over the fish tank!”
One of them saw Daisy passing. “You would have had so much fun if you were there, Daisy.”
“If I didn’t trip over a root, I would have chased a frog, too,” Daisy muttered.
“What?”
“Nothing.” She walked away from them and into the gym. Class was already in session. She handed her late slip to the teacher and headed into the girls’ locker room to change and put her backpack up.
When she returned, she saw that some of the students had gathered in a circle near the center of the gym floor. None of them looked up at her. She approached, shouldered into the group, and saw that they were gathered around two irate girls. One punched the other in the shoulder.
“Rachel!” Daisy cried, trying to grab the one who had been punched. “What’s going on?”
They both ignored her, intent on each other.
Someone grabbed Daisy from behind and pulled her out of harm’s way. “No stopping them,” he said, letting go of her.
She turned and blinked up at him. “What’s going on, Ricky? Are they just joking around?”
“No, but I doubt they’ll kill each other. It’s all over a guy named David. I think Tammy has the upper hand. She fights dirty.”
Daisy sighed. “Why do girls always have to fight over boys?”
“I thought you could tell me that!” Ricky teased, patting Daisy’s shoulder.
The crowd parted as Tammy shoved Rachel, who slammed into Ricky and Daisy, knocking them over. Daisy’s wounded right knee hit the gym floor; she yelped, grabbed her leg, and started to curse in German.
Everyone stared at her. Tammy blinked at her in surprise, then smiled and kicked her in the leg.
Daisy screamed high and loud; everyone nearby covered their ears and winced. She shot to her feet, enraged, and kicked Tammy in the stomach.
Tammy hit the gym floor hard, arms wrapped around her middle, and howled.
“You okay?” another girl cried, running up to her.
“I knew you were bad!” a third girl shouted as she rushed up behind Daisy.
Daisy did a back flip over her head, landed behind her, and calmly ordered, “Leave me alone.”
The gym teacher shoved between them, his face red with fury. He grabbed Daisy and Rachel and shouted in their faces, “Go to the principal’s office!” He turned to the girls gathered around Tammy and ordered, “Take her to the nurse.”
Daisy hung her head and left the gym with Rachel, feeling the other students’ stares on her back as they went. Her knees were still bleeding.
“Are you okay?” Rachel whispered.
“I feel… different.”
They reached a door with a plaque that read, ‘ROBERTS – PRINCIPAL’. They sighed, opened the door, and walked in.
The principal looked up from the paperwork on her desk and watched them sit down. “What did you two do wrong?”
Rachel began, “Well…”
Daisy lost interest, leaned back in her chair, and stared at the ceiling for a few minutes.
Rachel reached over and grabbed her shoulder. “Pay attention!”
“I was!”
Mrs. Roberts shook her head. “Is it the same story, Miss Fisher?”
“Yes.” Daisy looked down at her knee. It was still bleeding.
“Alright, then. Both of you will get—”
Daisy moaned. “I don’t… feel…”
Slowly, she slid out of her chair and onto the floor. Blood puddled all around her on the white office tiles.
Rachel screamed. “Daisy, are you okay?”
Mrs. Roberts grabbed her phone, snapped, “Get the nurse in here!” and then got up and ran around the desk to Daisy. She sloshed through the blood, sending sprays of it all over Daisy, but didn’t seem to notice.
“The blood,” Daisy whispered dizzily.
“There’s blood on her knee!” Rachel cried.
“On the… floor,” she gasped.
Rachel gave her a puzzled look. “There is?”
Daisy closed her eyes.