Bad Idea

Chapter 2: Nice Ride

Chapter 2: Nice Ride

Daisy Mejia tried to pretend she wasn’t hanging on every part of the weird interaction between Emmy Barnes and Riva Corley. It didn’t matter that everyone else was totally watching. Daisy had always been careful not to pay too much attention to either of those girls. Even if she might have liked to be friends with Emmy, she’d always feared that getting close to a girl who was out might make people notice things about her, like that she’d never had a boyfriend. As for Riva—well, Daisy always handled her crushes with total avoidance. She barely let herself look at Riva, even when her whole being ached to, and the idea of talking to Riva basically made Daisy want to explode.

Daisy’s best friend, Jo Quang, finished packing up her advanced French books and came around from behind Madame Bellamy’s desk, never taking her gaze off Riva and Emmy. She grinned at Daisy. “Something was going on with them for the whole last half of class,” she whispered, leaning in so no one else could hear. “Did you see?”

Do not blush, Daisy ordered herself. Her skin was dark enough that most people wouldn’t have noticed, but Jo knew everything about her. Everything, that is, except for that one really important thing she’d never told anybody, which Daisy absolutely could not let Jo know and which meant there was no way she could stand here and talk about Riva Corley.

She shrugged. “Madame Bellamy gave me a bunch of papers to grade. I wasn’t really looking.”

That, at least, was true. Just about every day, Daisy regretted letting Jo talk her into signing up to be Madame Bellamy’s student aide. She didn’t even take French, and despite Jo going on about how fun it would be to sit at the side of the class together while Jo worked on her advanced independent study, Jo actually cared about this class and didn’t have time to slack off and hang out with Daisy. That left Daisy doing whatever busy work Madame Bellamy could come up with and desperately resisting the urge to make her crush obvious to all of French III by staring constantly at Riva Corley. She’d gotten pretty good at keeping her eyes on Madame Bellamy’s paperwork for seventy-five minutes straight and twisting her head to the left, away from Riva, if she did need to look up.

Emmy’s strained, pissed-off tone made everyone in the room turn toward her and Riva now. Daisy had never seen Emmy so angry, but, of course, that wasn’t what drew Daisy’s eye. Riva looked miserable, on the verge of tears, but her vulnerability made her even more beautiful to Daisy. Riva seemed so perfect so much of the time that Daisy couldn’t envision what to do if she did ever find herself alone with her. What could they talk about? How could Daisy approach her? Now that Riva’s full, coppery lips were trembling, Daisy imagined herself swooping in, asking what was wrong, offering to comfort her. Maybe Riva would want a ride somewhere—to an ice cream place, a park, whatever—and Daisy could tell her she’d just bought a car over winter break. Then Daisy could listen to whatever Riva had to say and also finally be free to look at her soft, round face while she spoke.

Emmy stomped out of the classroom, just about snapping a desk in half in the process, and slammed the door behind her.

Jo nudged Daisy. “Wow. I did not know Riva Corley was gay.”

“Huh?” Daisy had been so busy fantasizing that she hadn’t processed anything Emmy and Riva had been saying. Was Riva Corley actually gay? If so, Daisy was going to have to light a candle the next time she was in church, because the god of closeted lesbian teenagers had apparently answered her most fervent prayers.

“Were you not listening to that?”

Jo tucked a strand of straight, shiny black hair behind one delicate ear. Daisy recognized the performance element of the gesture and figured the display of perfect grooming was for the benefit of some boy on the other side of the room. Yup. Jo was looking at a spot just past Daisy’s shoulder.

Daisy normally smiled indulgently and waited for Jo’s attention to return to her. Jo was boy-crazy enough for both of them, and Daisy half-hoped people would read her as straight by association. This conversation, however, was way too significant to be put on the back burner so Jo’s crush of the week could claim a spot up front.

Daisy waved a hand in front of Jo’s face. “Stay with me for a second here,” she whispered urgently. “What makes you think…um, about Riva, how did you…”

Daisy braved a glance in Riva’s direction. She had frozen when Emmy stalked off, tears brimming in her eyes. Daisy wanted to go to her, but now she really didn’t know what she would say.

Hey, does being out of the closet suck as much as being in it does? Because that’s my biggest fear. Want to go secretly make out?

Jo rolled her eyes. “Daisy, I swear. You know nothing about lesbians.”

Jo didn’t know how right she was. Despite being one, Daisy had no idea whatsoever how to go about her life. Emmy seemed so certain of herself. Did she sign up for a mailing list when she came out that hooked her up with all the key information, or had she been born with special knowledge? Daisy’s late-night Internet searches and secret viewings of I Can’t Think Straight had left her with more questions than answers.

She sighed. “Enlighten me.”

“Emmy was mad that Riva wanted to ‘experiment’ with her. It’s obvious, right? ‘Experiment’ is code for…whatever lesbians do with each other.”

Jo’s attitude irritated Daisy, but she tried to remind herself that she couldn’t take it personally since she’d never told Jo how personal it was. It probably wasn’t a good idea to shoot back, but Daisy couldn’t resist a small comment.

“And what do you call whatever you’re planning to do with that person you’re eyeballing over my shoulder?”

Jo batted her eyelashes and grinned, her lip gloss shimmering. “I am way past the experimental phase.” She put her hands on her hips and gave a little shimmy. “This is market-tested and ready to go.”

“Wow.”

That earned a giggle from Jo, and Daisy laughed along uncomfortably. Daisy avoided conversations about boys because she didn’t think she could manage them without giving herself away, so Jo thought she was a prude. That wasn’t it exactly, but Jo did seem so adult and experienced sometimes. Daisy couldn’t help wondering how far she’d gone and how she felt about it.

The door to the classroom slammed again.

“Ooh, check that out,” Jo said. “Riva’s going after her. Or something.”

“Yeah?” Daisy pretended to glance casually in the direction Riva had gone. “Do you think she’s okay?”

“I don’t know. Why don’t you go see?” Jo giggled again like she was kidding, but there was something to that. Daisy’s throat clenched.

Could she actually follow Riva? What about her carefully guarded secret?

Jo caught Daisy’s sleeve. “He’s coming over here. Can you clear out? I’ll text you if I still need to ride home with you later.”

Daisy shook her head. Jo worked fast, and her confidence was supreme. Another time, Daisy might have lingered, or argued with Jo that she shouldn’t angle for a ride home with a boy she barely knew. She probably still should. Friends did stuff like that for each other.

On the other hand, Jo had just given her the best push she was ever going to get to talk to Riva Corley in the flesh, for real.

“Yeah,” Daisy said, grabbing her stuff. “I just remembered I…need something from my locker.”

Now that she’d decided to follow Riva, Daisy worried she’d taken too long. She rushed out the door and glanced frantically up and down the hall. For a second, it seemed she was out of luck. She didn’t see Riva’s familiar green backpack receding in any direction. Then a flicker of motion caught her eye, and she noticed the heel of a leather sandal just as the girls’ bathroom door swung shut.

If that had been anyone but Riva, Daisy wouldn’t have stood a chance of recognizing her from that brief glimpse. For all the time she spent avoiding looking at Riva, though, Daisy had somehow memorized the complete catalog of her clothing. She had absorbed, as if by osmosis, every fold of Riva’s heel and freckle on her cheek. She took a deep breath and headed for the bathroom.

Daisy pushed open the door just as someone else was heading out. The girl smirked and inclined her head toward the still miserable Riva. Daisy nodded awkwardly and pressed inside. It was close enough to the next bell that the bathroom was now empty except for her and Riva, and likely to stay that way—at least until the deans came through to check for people trying to cut class.

Gathering every shred of courage she possessed, Daisy turned toward Riva and offered a tentative smile.

The moment just about did her in. Riva was much lighter than Daisy, but just too dark to be fully white. She wore video game T-shirts with sandals and capri pants, her outfits sort of declaring that she didn’t care, but decorated with enough girly touches to contradict that impression. Her short black hair was meticulously styled into the controlled waves of a twenties flapper, and she had big, dark eyes that both thrilled and frightened Daisy. Riva was obviously smart, and Daisy worried sometimes exactly how much Riva saw.

Riva met Daisy’s scrutiny defiantly, though her eyes were red. Her flowing tears carried streaks of mascara down her face, washing away her foundation in the process. “Look, if you came here to laugh at me, you had plenty of time to do that in the classroom.”

Daisy shook her head. “No. I—”

“I’m not going to tell you anything, either.”

Though she hoped Riva would change her mind, Daisy understood the sentiment. If she’d been outed in front of the entire French class, she wouldn’t have wanted to talk about it either. The fantasy she’d had earlier returned to her mind, and inspiration struck. She fished her keys out of her purse and showed Riva the Honda logo on one of them.

“I came to see if you want to get out of here.”

She usually did this with Jo, but she went alone often enough that her best friend wouldn’t be suspicious. Besides, Jo really seemed to think she had that boy on lock. Daisy doubted she’d be texting for a ride later.

Riva’s eyebrows climbed. “Like, totally out?”

“Yeah. Wherever you want to go.”

“Can your car drive to Mars?”

“I wish.” Daisy spun the key ring on her finger. “What do you think? We should decide while we’ve still got cover on the way to the parking lot. Once everyone’s in class, the deans are going to notice us heading out that way.”

“Listen to the pro.”

Daisy shrugged. “This place sucks sometimes. And the beach is a lot prettier, and it isn’t far.”

“Not too cold, either. I guess that’s one thing Florida’s got over New Jersey.”

“Yeah, we’re sort of famous for that.” Daisy threw the keys, caught them, and closed her fist around them. “So, are we doing this?”

Riva’s eyes were still wary. “Why are you being so nice to me?”

Daisy hesitated. Because I have the hugest crush on you wasn’t going to work. She also couldn’t say, Because I just heard you like girls, and I’m really hoping that’s true and that you’ll tell me all about it. She didn’t want to outright lie, though. She settled on something true but vague.

“Look, whatever was going on just now, I think we’re all scared something like that will happen to us. If I ever did wind up getting stared at like that, I hope someone would take me to the beach.”

“So, like a pay it forward sort of thing.”

“I guess.” Daisy wanted to do better than that, though. Riva looked so fragile. Daisy wanted to give her a little more. She adjusted her purse on her hip and pretended to study her fingernails—though she didn’t paint them, so there wasn’t much to look at. “Also, I mean, you seem cool. I wouldn’t mind being friends.”

Riva laughed, but not mockingly. The improvement in her mood made her even prettier. “Seriously? You seem so…busy all the time.”

Daisy grinned back. “Hey, we can talk about this as much as we want at the beach, but we have to make our escape first. Are you in?”

“Yeah. Let’s do this.”

Daisy led the way out of the bathroom. She knew which corridors the deans didn’t check too often, and she’d left during the school day plenty of times. There was no reason for her to be nervous. It wasn’t cutting school that was making Daisy’s hands tremble, though. Riva Corley was about to get in her car and ride with her to the beach.