chapter two, girl talk

"HURRICANE AGATHA continues its steady march towards Kildare Island on the Outer Banks of North Carolina..."

"Shit," Lorelei cursed under her breath. "I have to call the landscapers." She pulled her phone from the glass side table at her right and began dialing numbers.

Kai lounged with his aunt under the early morning rays, out on the back patio with his headphones on and volume at max. He only had on a pair of blue banana peel swim trunks and black sunglasses.

The patio door slid open, Daisy popping her head out to find where her aunt and brother had gone. She was the third in the house to wake up, Anna usually got up last at some time in the early afternoon.

She shuffled over to her brother's chair, pushing his legs over to make room for herself. Eyeing his choice of attire, she made a bit of a face.

"Good morning Daisy, how'd you sleep?" Lorelei took notice that the other girl had joined them.

"Probably the comfiest bed I've ever slept in." Daisy replied. And it really was.

Lorelei smiled in response, just as her phone began to buzz. Her eyes lit up at the screen and she quickly answered.

She stood up from her chair. "Landscapers." She mouthed pointing to the phone. There was a slight switch in her tone as she took the call. You know, those fake 'friendly' voices that moms put on when they're on the phone.

Daisy leaned back in the chair, causing Kai to scrunch his face and shift over a little. "Landscapers." She mocked. "I could never get used to this." Her head turned to look at her brother.

Kai turned his head to face Daisy too, taking out his ear buds. "You should've heard her earlier, she talks about 'remodeling the kitchen' like it's as normal as replacing a house plant." He spoke lowly.

Daisy giggled, shaking her head. "You suck for ditching me yesterday, by the way."

"If you don't have friends, just say that." Kai smirked.

"Shut up," She lightly shoved him. "How you still do have friends is the real question."

He shrugged, looking back up at the sky again. "I guess I never stopped being friends with them." Kai licked his lips.

Daisy stared at the side of his face, expecting him to give some kind of indicator of sarcasm. When he gave none, her eyebrow arched in surprise.

"Really?"

"Uh-huh."

All this time, Daisy sort of assumed that they both fell out of sorts with their friends. But apparently it was just her. It made her envy Kai in a way, which was a rare occurrence since she absolutely despised her brother's entire existence.

He noticed her long silence after that. "You?" He asked.

Daisy shook her head, no. "I thought it was pointless since we were never coming back."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

She picked at the arm of the pool chair, thinking about yesterday again. It had finally occurred to her that she probably wouldn't have anyone to hangout with all summer. The way Kiara stared at her with such dislike, there wasn't any coming back from that. She could only imagine how the others must feel about her now.

Kai pushed up off of the chair, stuffing the towel he brought in his arm and pushing his sunglasses up on his forehead. "Sarah asked about you." Daisy looked up at her brother, towering over her.

"Sarah Cameron?"

"No, Sarah Cameron." He answered in a stupid voice. Daisy rolled her eyes.

Then Kai nodded, "Anyways, you could tag along to hang with her the next time I ride with Topper." Then he adds, "If you want.". The words felt wrong coming out of Kai's mouth. Inviting his sister anywhere?

"Okay, cool." Daisy shrugged to show that she didn't care. Though, inside she was now a little more hopeful that the summer wouldn't be so bad.

DAISY ATE HER BREAKFAST alone at the kitchen island. Anna was also sitting with her, but she hadn't spoke more than two words all morning so it didn't really count. She dug into her bowl of cereal with her spoon.

Everyone had been stuck in the house for the past few days due to Hurricane Agatha. It wasn't so bad though, considering Lorelei had pretty much anything and everything to do at home to occupy Daisy's time. She spent most of the days binging tv in the screen room, destroying her brother in foosball, and trying every flavor cereal in Lorelei's kitchen. (So far she's counted 12).

Just as Daisy was finishing her thirteenth cereal flavor, Lorelei strut her way into the kitchen and went straight towards the fridge. The sounds of heavy machinery followed in the direction she came from. She snapped open the refrigerator, grabbing a smoothie and pushing it shut again.

"Power lines are down," She ranted loudly. Daisy slurped the milk from her bowl with watchful eyes. "It'll be hours before we get some air conditioning in here again."

"All from the hurricane?" Daisy knew it was a dumb question as soon as she asked, but she was trying to sound somewhat interested in the conversation.

Lorelei chuckled bitterly, "Agatha's a bitch." She quickly recovered from her tangent. "The garden looks much better though."

Daisy carried her bowl to the sink and dumped it, running a little water to rinse it out. Afterwards, she went back to her seat at the counter.

"Good morning my lovely family." Kai announced his presence to the entire kitchen. He stretched his arms above his head, flexing his muscles underneath his pajama shirt.

"Someone's in a good mood." Lorelei crooned.

Daisy eyed her brother. "Yeah, why are you in such a good mood?" Her eyes never leaving his moving figure.

"Topper's coming later, something about the beach? I don't remember." Kai picked an orange out of the bowl on the counter. "Plus the storm is finally over."

"I'm glad you're making friends again on the island so quickly." Lorelei's slightly dropped jaw turned up into a smile.

She then sat down at the kitchen island next to Daisy, opening a planner of some kind. "Making responsible choices I hope?"

"Of course."

"Good! Then you can start bringing your sister along too, I'm sure Daisy would love to get out of the house for a change."

Daisy's eyes widened. "Today?—"

"Yes?" Lorelei kept her eyes on the planner.

Daisy shot an annoyed look at her brother, who looked just as unhappy with the situation as she did. Neither of them dared argue any further. Their aunt had been so kind to let them stay with her for the time being. At the very least, they could give her that.

"We're leaving in thirty." Kai announced on his way out of the kitchen. "I'm not waiting forever for you to get ready,"

She looked at Lorelei again, who was focused on the paperwork in front of her. Daisy sighed and followed after her brother to start getting ready.

Daisy finished in a total of 'thirty-two minutes' according to her brother. It was 95 degrees outside and still humid from Hurricane Agatha. So after her shower, she threw on a pair of ripped jean shorts and a cropped tank top. Her hair was braided back into two messily done braids, anything else would've left her hair in a hot mess. Kai insisted they wouldn't have time for her to blow dry her hair.

They would've in fact had time.

Topper showed up in his fancy black jeep, another twenty minutes after they were already done getting dressed. Daisy was forced to sit in the backseat with Kelce. Him and Kai switched seats before they pulled off. She knew her brother was only doing it to annoy her. It wasn't that she didn't like Kelce...he just never stops talking.

"Your cousin threw the absolute craziest kickback last summer before school." Kelce cackled. "Yo Top, remember Anna's party last year?"

Topper looked back at them through the rear-view mirror. "Your Aunt was super chill about it." He said, glancing at Kai.

Kai had his legs kicked up on the dashboard. "I was thinking of asking her if I could throw a party." He rested his elbow on the door.

"That would be such a dope comeback!" Kelce jumped in his seat.

"Make sure you let me know when." Daisy shut her eyes and leaned her head back against the seat.

Kelce turned to her, "Why? You in too?" Daisy couldn't see, but she knew he was grinning.

"No. So I can make sure I'm as far away from the house as possible."

Topper pulled up to the front of the Cameron house, right up behind another expensive car sitting in their driveway. The four teens got out the car and walked towards the door.

Rafe appeared in the frame to let them in just as they reached the top stair. The boys fist-bumped in their usual 'boyish' manner before following each other inside. Daisy was last to go in. Rafe blocked the entrance with his body before she could get past.

"Wasn't expecting to see you again."

She looked up at him. "I wasn't exactly planning on being here." Rafe standing over her suddenly made Daisy slightly uncomfortable. "Was that all you stopped me for?"

Rafe's lips were pressed together into a tight line as he stood over her. "Mhm," The corners of his mouth turned up into a smile. "Come on in." He stood aside, gesturing for her to pass by.

Daisy let out a quiet exhale, rushing past him to catch up with the rest of the group.

"I thought you said Daisy was coming?"

"She was right behind us."

Kai was pointing to Daisy just as she was walking into the kitchen. She was surprised to find Sarah standing there across from her brother.

"Daisy!" The blonde raced over to her across the kitchen.

"Oh! Hey..." Daisy mumbled, slightly caught off-guard. Although, she had to admit it was a little nice to know that one person was happy to see her again.

"Yo, you guys down to shoot some pool?" Rafe slipped passed Daisy towards the guys.

Kai pushed himself up off the counter. "Hell yeah."

"Let's go!"

The guys followed Rafe up a set of stairs that lead somewhere else in the Cameron house. Before Topper left, he glanced back at Sarah.

"Are you gonna be good?" He said, moving closer to her.

Sarah pushed against his chest softly. "Yes, you can go play pool." She mused.

His eyes lit up with complete and utter adoration for his girlfriend. Topper pulled Sarah in for a small peck on the lips, her hands cupping the sides of his face. Daisy sort of felt like an intruder watching something she shouldn't be, so she slightly faced her body away from them, giving the two a little privacy.

If she was being honest, the two of them surprised her. Sarah was so kind and Topper was kind of a dick — at least he was the way Daisy remembered him. But then again the pair of them almost made sense?

"Call me if you need anything?" He said before leaving.

Sarah rolled her eyes, "Topper relax, you're literally only going upstairs, go." She chuckled.

He made a face as if to realize he did sound a little dramatic, and left the two girls in the kitchen.

Sarah turned to Daisy again. "Wanna hangout in my room?" She placed her hands on her hips, looking exasperated.

"Sure."

THE TWO GIRLS sat crisscross apple sauce on Sarah's bed up in her room. Daisy had been telling Sarah about her life back at home: friends, school, literally anything that came to mind.

It was honestly refreshing to finally be able to have some 'girl talk' again. Anna was still mute and Lorelei was so preoccupied with her own drama that she had no time for Daisy's too.

Sarah, however, was just in awe over Daisy's life. The Ka'uhane girl would've thought hers was boring in comparison to the Cameron girl. But by the expression on Sarah's face, maybe that wasn't the case.

"Okay, okay. Enough about me." Daisy began feeling bashful after talking about herself for so long. "Now, explain how you and frosted tips happened."

"Daisy! That's mean." Sarah scrunched her nose.

In response, Daisy shrugged.

Sarah groaned, falling backwards onto the bed. "No." She covered her face.

"I need to know!" Daisy pleaded.

"Do you?"

"Yes."

Sarah gave in, a smile breaking out onto her face. "Okay, but only because I'm having a lot of fun right now." She sat up again.

The words struck Daisy in a weird way. She and Sarah were never that close growing up. Of course the two had play dates with Anna — since they both attended the same schools — and when their families would gather together. But that was only a handful of times. Other than that they just never had much in common.

Now, it felt oddly comforting to be back in Sarah's room like old times, giggling, gossiping, like friends do.

Daisy's heart melted. "I'm having fun too." She admitted. "I honestly thought I wouldn't have anyone to talk to all summer."

"Well now you have me." Sarah said as a matter-of-factly. "Okay back to Topper."

"Right."

Sarah went on to describe how the pair knew of each other from school, but officially met through their parents. Topper fell for her first; then came the flower showering, and sweet gestures (which sounded a lot like love bombing to Daisy, but she didn't say this to her). Sarah did admit that the feelings were one-sided for a while, up until eight months ago when Sarah started to reciprocate said feelings. Since then they'd been together.

Daisy thought Sarah would've sounded more fond, telling such a story. However, she couldn't help but hear the tinge of disappointment in Sarah's voice as she came to the end of her happy tale. It was almost like she wanted say more but held her tongue.

"He sounds so sweet." Daisy cooed.

Sarah's cheeks reddened. "The sweetest."

"Must be nice." Daisy sighed. "All I have to count for in my love life is a cheater-ex from freshman year and a few hookups."

"You've...done stuff?" Sarah queried in a hushed tone.

Daisy furrowed her brows for a second, confused what 'stuff' meant before realization hit. "You haven't?"

The silence after was all too telling for Daisy. "Oh my God you're still a virgi—"

"Shhh!" Sarah quickly hushed her. "It's bad I know!" She hugged her legs up to her chest.

Daisy had only been teasing when she made the statement, but could tell Sarah took it to heart a little. "Not bad, just shocking?" Sarah's face frowned up at this.

"It's just— I mean, you said you guys have been together for eight months so I assumed..."

Sarah cringed. "Oh I suck." She whined.

"No you don't." Daisy quickly interjected. "I'm a dumbass okay? Trust me you're better off waiting than being in a rush." She muttered that last part.

"Do you regret it?"

"Maybe not the act itself, but the person, yeah."

"I think that's what I'm scared of..." Sarah sighed.

A chime sounded from one of their phones sitting on the bed. It was Sarah's, she grabbed it and looked like she was reading something on the screen. Her face was an expression of contemplating before she looked back up at Daisy.

"Have you ever been to a kegger?" Sarah slowly grinned.

Daisy matched the grin with one of her own. "I have not."

Sarah stood up from the bed and held out her hand. "Might I have the honor of being your first?" She asked in a theatrical voice. Daisy took the hand, allowing herself to be pulled up from the bed

"I would love that."

AUTHOR'S NOTE——

hello my loves! there's not too many changes in this chapter, i just did a little bit of editing :)

alsooo we're getting a daisy + pogue reunionnnn next chapter!! in the meantime i finally made a wp tik tok account (well it's just my old editing acc) so i'll be making edits of this book and any future ones:

@m0thermya on tt

as always please leave a comment & vote if you're enjoying the story!! see you next update